Knock, Knock!

Who's there?

Teachers.

Teachers who?

Teachers who use jokes in the classroom to up student engagement!

Now that you are done rolling on the floor with laughter, you can focus on this post on humor in the classroom. How can teachers use a joke of the day morning routine to help tame the morning chaos and keep students excited to walk into the classroom each morning?? Read on!

Why use Jokes?

Jokes are super engaging for students. They love to laugh, and who doesn't?! Incorporating humor into your day lightens the mood and boosts morale as well. And when the joke becomes a daily morning routine, kids can't wait to get into the classroom to see what the punch line will be!

Jokes as a Morning Routine

A great way to use jokes in the classroom is for the morning routine. Or if you do morning meeting, use the jokes then! But just how do you use or post the jokes each day? And what does the joke morning routine look like?

Ways to Post the Joke of the Day

• Digitally (slides, powerpoint)
• On a whiteboard
• Under a document camera
• Anchor Chart (this could be a fun way to have a collection of jokes to look back through)
• Printed out for students as cards to glue into a notebook
• Printed out as a writing (more on that later) or drawing prompt (draw your mental image of the joke)
• Printed out as a handwriting prompt

Quick note: If you are interested in the Handwriting prompt idea, good news! We have these already made for you!: Joke Handwriting Prompts

Joke of the Day Morning Routine Procedures

There are a few different ways to introduce a new joke each morning.

During Morning Meeting

Before students enter the classroom, display the daily joke. As mentioned above, these could be displayed digitally, written out, or printed. If you want to post them digitally, then our morning meeting slides are the way to go!

When students come in, they will read their daily laugh. The next step is up to you, but here are a few ideas:

Group Tasks

• After the joke has been read aloud, have groups or partners work together for a short period (like 30 seconds), to figure out what the punch line might be. Have each group share their prediction with the class.
• Have students identify a certain part of speech (noun, verb, or adjective for example) in the joke. They could write these down on a post-it note or whiteboard, etc. Check class answers.

Interactive Notebook/Journal Prompts

Another fun routine with the daily joke is to hand out a small printed version of the joke each day. Students will glue this into a notebook. Then, they will either draw their mental image of the joke or answer a writing prompt about the joke. Here's an example of a writing prompt to use:

Using the joke pictured above, the writing prompt could be, “Monkeys are just one animal at the zoo. What is your favorite zoo animal and why? Give at least two reasons!”

Where Can Teachers Find Jokes to Use?

There is NO need for you to have to scour the internet looking for kid friendly jokes! Team Lucky Little Learners has a few resources already put together for you.

Handwriting Pages

Lucky Little Learners has Joke of the Day handwriting pages that not only feature a punch line but also focus on a number or letter. We have138 joke pages!

Joke of the Day Handwriting Pages

Weekly Emails

Do you receive our weekly emails yet? If not, then you don't know we send out a joke (and freebies)in our Sunday Emails. Be sure not to miss these emails by joining our list here: Lucky Little Learners Newsletter.

Random Joke Generator

Try this Random Kids Joke Generator from ESL kids. (It is always a good idea to prescreen the daily joke!)

Morning Meeting Discussion Slides

Our team has already created a set of Morning Meeting Discussion Slides. You can download those here: Morning Meeting Discussion Slides.

If you liked this post, you must check out this one: 2nd Grade Jokes & Riddles for more hilarious ideas!

Happy Teaching!