Morning Work

So I've been thinking a lot about my plans for Morning Work this year. Our bell welcomes children to come into the school building at 8:15. Some students come straight to the classroom, but many students go to breakfast. I'm sure these are similar issues many teachers are dealing with. The kiddos who go to breakfast can come in as late as 8:40ish. So the earliest we can get started in our classroom is about 8:45. There's about half of an hour during which most students have the opportunity to participate in Morning Work. I want this time to be meaningful, but it can't be something that is required for everybody or required to be turned in. 

During the first month-ish of school, we do coloring and following directions activities. We use a set of coloring pages about a funny monster named Zeebo and his family. The kids LOVE Zeebo, and they can't wait to learn about the next member of his family. 
After we're through with the Zeebo papers, I thought about doing a weekly routine. This is what I've been thinking:

Monday - Picture of the Day journaling
Tuesday - Time for Kids
Wednesday - Wonder Wednesday
Thursday - Scholastic Weekly News
Friday - Boggle 

MONDAY - When I did Picture of the Day before, I would pick one of Wikipedia's Picture of the Day, and have the students journal about it. I made an anchor chart with sentence starters like "I see..." "I notice..." "This reminds me of..." "In my opinion..." There are plenty of pictures to choose from, but I know that National Geographic also does a Photo of the Day. I usually put this on a Mimio or SMART Notebook slide and it's on the board when the kids enter the room. It's fun to hear their "Ooohs" and "Aaahhs" for some of these gorgeous photographs. 

TUESDAY - Our school did a Time Magazine fundraiser of sorts, and we are getting Time for Kids for free this year! I'm really excited to try it because our grade has gotten Scholastic News for years, and we've wondered about switching to Time for Kids, but couldn't get a free trial to try it. I can't wait to see what this news magazine has to offer! Although the students will take home their copy of that weeks magazine, I will keep a copy in a basket as an option for them to put in their Book Bags for Read to Self/Someone.

WEDNESDAY - I'm going to have a Wonder from Wonderopolis.org projected onto the board as the kiddos come in, and have them follow something similar to what WonderPhillips does in her Wonder Journals. I also plan to print out the Wonder articles using Print Friendly to have the kids read as a group. And I'll put one in a plastic page protectors for the student's Book Bags. 

THURSDAY - I LOVE Scholastic News. I love that it comes with Common Core aligned graphic organizers. The interactive white board games and videos are perfect! Again, the kids will take home their copies, and I'll keep a copy in a basket for their Book Bags. 

FRIDAY - This is the one I'm most nervous about. Is Boggle too hard for 2nd graders? I got my ideas from Miss Martin's Classroom. I'm so appreciative that she has examples of Boggle boards that are teacher tested (no accidental naughty words)! AND she uses Scrabble letters so that students can practice addition with words they create. 

I can't wait to try all of these with my second graders. What do you guys think? Does anyone do Boggle with their early elementary kiddos?