March Morning Tubs: a Great Alternative to Morning Worksheets

March Morning Tubs

Using morning tubs is a great alternative for morning worksheets! 

Who says that fun has to stop after kindergarten?  It’s certainly not me!  I am a big believer that children learn best through play and exploration.  With that philosophy in mind, I developed these morning tubs using many of the “play” components younger children love and combined that with basic skills and standards necessary for success in second, third, and fourth grades.

Here's a closer look at the March morning tubs.

March Morning Tubs - ELA

All of the tubs (whether 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade) contain the same activities for ELA.

Students will read the clues in the squares on each whiteboard and find the puzzle pieces with the answers.  When all of the pieces are placed on the correct clues, a picture will be revealed.

The students will choose picture cards and write stories, including rich details about the pictures.

Optional: Use the document camera to reflect the picture onto the big screen.  Use as a writing assignment for the entire class.

Students will use the magnetic letters to spell the vocabulary words.  Two levels are included: with words and without.  Students can copy the words, or they can use the blank cards to spell the words.  This can be used with a cookie sheet (I bought mine for only $1 at the Dollar Tree) or with any magnetic surface, including the side of a filing cabinet.

The students will walk around the room quietly and look at the animal cards.  The students will write the animals under the correct habitats.

The student will read the passage about an unusual animal and then complete the activities.

Optional: This activity could be used as a whole-group activity by showing the passage on your overhead projector and then having students complete a different activity daily.  (I have also included a link to a video about mountain chickens.)

Students will put the mini puzzles together by putting the words in alphabetical order.

Students will connect the words together to make compound words.

The first part of the compound word can be copied on a different color from the second word if you would like.

Extra supplies needed: plastic links

This game can be played with 2-4 players.  Turn all letter tiles upside down.  Each student will begin with five letter tiles.  The student will place two letters at a time on the board and then draw two tiles so that he or she always has five letters.  The student who completes a word gets a block.  The person with the most blocks when all of the words have been completed is the winner.

Extra supplies needed: small blocks

Place each stack of cards on the game board facedown.  The students will take turns rolling a die.  The first student will take a card from the stack with the number shown on the die.  If the student can give an answer, he or she can keep the card.  If the student can’t give an answer, it is returned to the bottom of the stack.  The winner is the person with the most cards at the end of the game.

Extra supplies needed: a die

March Morning Tubs - Math

The student will choose an answer by poking a hole with a straw or pencil.  When the card is turned over, the student will check to see if the straw or pencil is through the hole with the circle.
Extra supplies needed: a straw or pencil

2nd & 3rd Grades: 

The students will draw four flowers from the bag or basket and place the numbers on the flowerpot.  The students will add the four numbers in order to “grow” the flowers.

Option: Students can use place value blocks if needed.

4th Grade: 

The students will choose only two numbers and multiply.

Extra supplies needed: dry-erase marker and eraser

Students will clip the answers with clothespins.

Optional: Students can use dry-erase markers to circle the answers.

Extra supplies needed: clothespins

2nd Grade: Students will put the puzzles together by counting within 1,000.
3rd Grade: Students will put the puzzles together by counting to 100,000.
4th Grade: Students will put the puzzles together by counting within the millions.

Optional: Add a small magnetic strip to the back of each puzzle strip.  Students can then use magnetic surfaces for completing the puzzles.

2nd Grade: 
Students will turn all coins facedown.  The students will take turns turning over a card.  If the answer is on the board, the coin will be placed on top of it.  The winner is the first person who finds all of the gold at the end of the rainbow and fills up the page.
 3rd and 4th Grades:
This is the same as second grade, just with products and quotients.

2nd and 3rd Grades:

The students will draw the shapes in sand.

4th Grade: Students will draw items such as parallel lines and different kinds of angles.

This game can be used for 2-4 players.  Print each board on a different color of cardstock.  The students will take turns rolling the dice, adding them together, and covering that number on their boards.  If the number is already covered, the  turn is over.  The winner is the student who covers his or her board first.

Two gameboards are included for adding two or three numbers.

*The third gameboard can be used for students who are working on multiplication.  Use two dice for this board.

Extra supplies needed: small seasonal erasers or small blocks; dice

The students will use mental math to find six different equations that show the answers on the pots of gold.

The student will spin the spinner using a paper clip and a pencil.  The student will then take that color of Skittle and add it to his or her mat.  The student will continue until he or she has collected ten Skittles.  The student will then make fractions with the information. 

Extra supplies needed: Skittles

March Morning Tubs - Fine Motor Skills

Laminate the word cards. The students will trace the spring words written in cursive.
Extra supplies needed: dry-erase marker and eraser

Laminate.  The students will trace the pictures with dry-erase markers.

Optional: Print on regular copy paper.

Laminate.  The students will complete the pictures by drawing the mirror images of the parts shown.

Extra supplies needed: dry-erase marker and eraser

March Morning Tubs - Critical Thinking Skills

Students will read the clues to find the tangled paths and place all of the pictures in the correct places.

Laminate.  The student will complete each grid square to draw a complete picture.

Optional: Print on regular copy paper.

Extra supplies needed: dry-erase marker and eraser

Not only do morning tubs help set the tone for the day, but they get students excited about coming to school each and every day.  Who wouldn’t LOVE beginning the day with some play?  Students enjoy playing the activities so much that they don’t even realize that they are actually practicing needed skills to be successful in school.

Find these March morning tubs in my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking on the pictures below.  Feel free to pin also.  You can get one for free by subscribing to my emails.  See below for the info.

Click on the picture below to grab these seven activities for anytime of the year to give morning tubs a try.

Keeping learning fun and engaging for students with morning tubs, that's just...

My Kind of Teaching!