How to Set Up a Must Do May Do Classroom Routine
It never fails, every single day you have a group of students who completes their work in 5 minutes and another group who completes their work in 30 minutes or more. The first group is shouting, “I’m done! What can I do now??” and the second is shouting, “I’m not done, can we have a few more minutes?”
And each time you’re stuck in the middle trying to figure out what is best for you to do for your students and how you can help them each know what to do.
Having a must do may do classroom routine ensures students always know what is top priority, what they have to do next, and what they can do if they finish early.
No more interruptions, no more distractions, just a classroom that runs efficiently and with everyone’s best interest in mind. Including yours.
What Is a Must Do May Do Routine?
A must do may do classroom routine is a system you use in your classroom to help students understand what they must do now and what they may do when they are finished with what they must do. While having these two categories makes up the most basic of must do may do classroom routines, many of them up to four total categories for students to know what to work on.
The categories are:
- Must Do: Required assignments or tasks students must complete first.
- May Do: Activities students can choose from after completing their required work.
- Catch Up: An optional component you may choose to use if you want students to work on unfinished work.
- Pick One: An optional choice-based component you may choose to use if you want to give students a choice of required work to do once they have finished their must do work.
The must do may do classroom management system is perfect for independent work time, small group rotations, or any other structured classroom activity time.
Here is an example of how you might use a must do may do routine in your classroom.
Why Use Must Do May Do in Your Classroom?
A Must Do May Do routine is perfect for your busy elementary classroom. It helps you keep students on task and reduces constant interruptions while you’re working with other students. Here are other reasons to use aMust Do May Do routine in your classroom.
Build Student Independence
As students learn and use the Must Do May Do classroom management system, they learn to be more independent. You teach them where to look and how to find out what they need to do during each scenario so they can stop asking you what’s next.
Make Classroom Expectations Clear
With a Must Do May Do classroom routine, students always know what is expected of them. And if you have an added visual element, they aren't just told what to do next, they can see it for themselves when they are ready to move on.
Support Different Learning Paces
You’ll always have some students who finish quickly and others that need the full allotted time (or more!). Having a must do may do system in your classroom helps students who finish early have meaningful choices and allows students who need extra time to know they aren’t missing anything by taking their time on their assignments.
Encourage Student Choice
May Do activities give students some ownership over their learning. When you include May Do options for students, they are allowed to choose what they want to do, which makes them feel like they have more autonomy and gives them more control over what they learn.
How to Set Up Your Must Do/May Do Routine
Setting up your Must Do May Do routine may seem daunting right now, but I’m going to walk you through how to do it, step-by-step, so it feels a lot less overwhelming. You’ll feel much more prepared to implement the routine and your students will be able to start the routine with confidence very soon.
Step 1: Decide When to Use Your Routine
The very first thing you have to do is decide when you want to use your Must Do May Do classroom routine. There are several possible times when you might want to use the routine. You also may want to use it more than once throughout the day to keep your student’s expectations consistent. Possible times for using the must do may do routine include:
- Independent Work Time.
- Literacy Blocks.
- Math Blocks.
- Small Group Instruction Time.
Take a moment and decide just one time you want to implement the Must Do May Do routine into your classroom this week. You can always add more times later, so start with just one for now.
I recommend starting with the time block that you have the most students asking what they should do next and the most early finishers.
Step 2: Choose Your Must Do Activities
After you’ve decided which time block to use, you need to determine what is required work and what expectations you have for students as far as completion of that required work.
It is tempting for students to rush through required assignments so they can get to the more enjoyable May Do activities. Clear expectations help students understand that completing their must do work properly comes before moving on to May Do activities.
To help you pick your Must Do activities, look at your lesson plans for the day you want to implement the Must Do May Do system and choose the activity or activities that will be required in order for a student to demonstrate mastery over the skill they are learning or practicing that day. That is your must do activity.
Before introducing the routine, make sure students understand what completing each activity looks like. For example, do they need to answer every question, show their work, or check their answers before moving on?
Step 3: Create Your May Do Options
Once you’ve come up with your Must Do options, it’s time to create your May Do options, or what students can work on once they are finished with the required activities.
May Do options should give students something meaningful they can work on independently or with a partner who is also finished. You don’t want to tell them to just color or draw (unless you’re an art teacher) or tell them to put their head down. The choice element makes students feel like they have some say in their learning and always gets kids excited because they tend to be lighter, more fun activities.
Even if your May Do activities are fun, you still want to make sure they are educational and relate to your students’ learning needs and goals. Your May Do options will differ based on the grade level you teach, but here are a few suggestions to help you get started:
- Independent reading
- Review games
- Logic puzzles and brain teasers
- Skill practice activities
- Enrichment activities related to your current unit or lesson
Be sure to choose activities that students can do with minimal help from you. The goal is to give them something productive to do without causing interruptions to regular instruction or the students completing their Must Do work.
Step 4: Organize Your Materials
There are a number of ways you may choose to organize your Must Do May Do routine. You can list your activities on a classroom display, keep them in labeled bins, use folders to organize your activities, or use a student choice board to see activities at a glance.
The most important thing to consider when you are organizing your materials is that it should be easily accessible for students and not cause unnecessary distractions. Remember, what works for fifth graders is likely not to work for kindergarten, so really think about your classroom set up, your management style, and the age of your students when you set up your system.
You may even want to use multiple organization methods, which is totally valid and doable.
Step 5: Make the Routine Visible
You’ll want to make sure your routine includes a visual component. If you stand in front of your class and list off 10 May Do activities, you’ll get just as many questions as if you hadn’t planned anything at all.
There are a number of ways to add visuals to your routine. My favorite way is by using Must Do May Do slides, but you can also use white board labels, bin labels, and signs to hang around your classroom.
Step 6: Teach and Practice the Routine
The last, and arguably most important step, is to teach your students how the routine works. Regardless of whether you’re using the Must Do May Do routine with fifth graders or preschoolers, all students will need to be taught how to do the Must Do May Do routine.
Explicitly teaching your students your routine teaches them what to do and what to expect. They will have fewer questions and will know what to do if they have questions.
Here are a few ways to teach the routine to your students:
- Model yourself or with a few volunteers how to complete the routine.
- During the first few times you use the routine, practice each transition and talk through what they should do as they do it.
- Review expectations frequently! Even if you’ve been doing a routine for a month, students always need reminders so they know what you expect and when
- Adjust the routine as needed. What works for the teacher down the hall isn’t what will always work for you. There is nothing wrong with making changes and tweaking your routine to fit your needs and your students’ needs.
It may take a few days, but by the end of your first week students will know exactly what to do and when!
Make Your Must Do/May Do Routine Easier to Manage
You don't have to create every part of your Must Do/May Do routine from scratch! I've created coordinating resources to help you organize your materials, display daily expectations, and give students clear choices.
The Must Do/May Do Classroom Management Bundle includes folder labels, classroom bin and drawer labels, editable daily slides, and choice boards. You can use the resources together for a coordinated system or choose individual pieces to fit your classroom's needs.
Ready to spend less time organizing and more time teaching? Explore the Must Do/May Do resources at Unearthed Learning Roots and find the tools that work for your classroom!
