Welcome to my Blog! Today's Topic Is About Warm Ups.

I cannot say enough about how important establishing a routine with a warm up is, which some teachers might call a bell ringer.  Students need structure, and when middle school students are shuffling in from class to class, the warm up will give them a reason to go to their seats and begin class.  My students have a little more in their routine.  The students line up outside my classroom while I am doing hall duty between classes.  I greet them as they come inside the class, and for the first month of school, I remind them to write their homework down (which is posted on the board) and begin their warm up.  The warm up is on a weekly sheet.  I have tried putting warm ups on the smart board each day for them to write down in their notebooks, but I like giving them a weekly handout instead.  That way they can keep up with it if they are absent or late to class.  It also just gives me a sense of peace that this part of the routine is ready to go for a week.  In addition to the warm up,

I also have the students write a reading response entry in their composition books right after they finish the warm up (see my freebie link).  Between the warm up and the reading response (using their independent reading), it gives me that few minutes I need to take attendance and get make up work to the students who were absent.  Then we do a share out of answers.  If you don't follow through and do a share out, I can pretty much guarantee that you will have students who will catch on and then not do the work.  Accountability is key.  I have used a variety of warm ups over the years.  I have recently made a new product putting my warm ups in a format that addresses a variety of skills.  Below is the link if you are interested in it.  I am temporarily adding in a sample from this set as a freebie.  Here is the link for the freebie.  Just copy and paste it into your browser. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Weekly-Warm-Up-Freebie-Language-Arts-Middle-School-2800011

Below is the link for the entire set:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Weekly-Warm-Up-for-Middle-School-Language-Arts-Editable-2780151

Have a great week!