Back when I worked in a preschool classroom, we did “circle time” every morning. Kathryn was across the hall in another class, doing the same thing. When we began homeschooling for her kindergarten year (7 years ago!), we didn’t bother with continuing circle time because it wasn’t necessary.

This year, however, our first grade girl and preschool boy need much more practice with things like days of the week, the concept of time, temperature, and so on. We’re still trying to convince the four-year-old “tomorrow” isn’t a day of the week, and neither of them knows if a minute or an hour is longer. We needed a fun but intentional way to learn this stuff, and a morning board sounded like the answer I was looking for.

Therefore, with internet research and Kathryn’s help, we have…

Our morning board and calendar!

Every weekday morning (and some Saturdays), the kids sit down here and we go over everything on the board. We practice the memory verse of the week, taken from Little Hearts for His Glory. We talk about the date, the day of the week, and what day of the week yesterday was and what tomorrow will be. We look out the window and discuss what the weather is like today, then stick on the appropriate weather symbol. We check the temperature inside and outside and fill that in. We set the clock to whatever time we’re doing our morning board. We talk about our character trait for the week and recite the kid-friendly definition. We recite our address, and will soon start on phone numbers.

While we’re there, we listen to a song to help us memorize the Bible verse. Most of these are on Hide Em in Your Heart, a CD of kid-friendly songs that don’t make me cringe AND are super-effective in learning Bible verses!

A closer view of our morning board:

How I made it:

After scouring blogland for examples of morning boards, I combined the ideas that worked best for us and made it into this. {See resources and supply list below.} I used plain white poster board for my base, and built onto that.

Clock: I printed a clock onto yellow cardstock, added another yellow rectangle below, then laminated both onto white cardstock. I hole-punched the middle, and added clock hands with a brad.

Today’s Temperature: simply printed on cardstock, then glued onto red cardstock for decorative purposes, and laminated them before attaching to my board.

The Weather Outside: I printed all components on cardstock, cut them out, laminated them, then attached velcro so we can change them out each day. I keep a little metal bucket on a shelf nearby with the extras. Kathryn drew the pretty little sun, cloud, and rainbow.

To make pockets for our virtue and memory verse, I trimmed a page protector to the correct size (opening on top, obviously), and attached to the board with double-sided tape.

“Our Address” and “Yesterday/Tomorrow” are simply printed out and laminated.

The hanging date at the bottom is all printed on cardstock and laminated, then hole punched. I put them on metal binder rings, and used stick-on hooks to hang; we simply flip them to the next one as needed.

I highly recommend laminating the calendar and calendar numbers. I didn’t at first because it was shiny and felt sturdy, but when we changed from August to September, we nearly ripped it to shreds. Thankfully we we able to salvage it and made a quick run to the store to get it all laminated properly, then used a sticky putty to attach the dates. This is working SO much better.

My resources:

• Debbie Mumm School Days Calendar from Teacher Storehouse ($12.99)
• Hanging dates and weather from Mama Jenn (free)
• Clock from Calendar Notebook at Mama’s Learning Corner (free)
  
• Temperature from Homeschool Creations (free)
• Character Trait card from We Choose Virtues (affiliate link)
• Bible Verse, Address/Phone, and Yesterday/Today: created myself

Supplies I used:

• white poster board
• white cardstock
• colored cardstock
• metal brad (just one)
• 1-inch metal binder rings
• plastic page protectors
• velcro squares
• double-sided tape
• stick-on hooks
• Elmer’s Tac N’ Stik

The kids look forward to this time every day, and they are rapidly learning! I’m liking the structure morning time gives to our routine. Even though our schedule varies each day, this has become an anchor to our homeschool days.

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »