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Take the planning for Classroom Connections off of your plate!
This free daily resource gives educators a five minute opening routine that builds belonging, connection, and consistency, before the bell rings.
- Free daily resource, trusted by more than 150,000 educators
- A five minute opening routine that builds connection, care, and character
- Delivered every morning at 7:00 AM EST
- Available for Junior (PK–1), Primary (2–5), Secondary (6–12), and Spanish classrooms
What does The First Five look like?
The First Five gives educators a simple daily routine that helps students feel welcomed, valued, and ready to learn. Each edition is thoughtfully designed to build connection, care, and character in just five minutes a day.
Whether you use it for morning meeting, advisory, homeroom, MTSS, restorative practices, or simply a positive way to start class, the First Five fits naturally into your day. More than just an activity, it helps strengthen relationships, increase engagement, and create classrooms where every student feels seen, connected, and ready to thrive.
Examples
Here’s a quick peek at the kind of content you can expect each morning. Fun, thoughtful, and ready to use ideas to kick off class with connection.
Where It All Began
When the world shut down in March 2020, so did my work as an educational consultant. With schools closed and travel halted, I returned to the classroom. This time it was at John Horn High School in Mesquite, TX. That fall, school felt different. Masks, distancing, and safety protocols took over, and the focus on relationships, something I’d spent years promoting, felt like it had disappeared.
I couldn’t visit classrooms to support teachers anymore, but I still believed deeply in the power of connection. So I started emailing one simple idea each morning, something teachers could use in the first five minutes of class to build community. That small daily gesture grew fast. Educators responded. They needed it. And the First Five was born.
A few years later I teamed up with my longtime friend and colleague, John Whalen, and we launched Edtomorrow with the First Five at its core. From our first partner districts in Upstate New York to the team that has joined us along the way, this journey has always been about helping educators make those first five minutes count.
What started as a stopgap became a movement and a reminder that connection still comes first.
-Doug Overton
