Last year, I tried something new. After we got up and ate breakfast, brushed our teeth, and finished the morning hygiene/quick morning tidying routine, the kids would go straight to their "morning journal" folders. These folders have journal pages that are to be completed each morning. It reviews what day/day it is, what the weather is that day, captures how they are feeling that morning, and asks them to record what they would like to learn that day. I added the "what I want to learn today" after a week or two of starting the morning journal. This little bit extra really added a bit more motivation and excitement to learn each day. It also gave them a goal and they seem to really enjoy tackling that goal. It gave them a sense of accomplishment.
You can download the journal pages I use at http://montessoriforlearning.com/Handwriting/TodayIs.pdf. They are located in my Free Download section. I also invited the kids to draw or write about their dreams they had the night before on the bottom or back of the pages.
