A Look At My Day

Hey y'all!  It's Thursday and that means today's Teacher Week Topic is WHEN....

It's all about our schedules today!

I've taught for 13 years.  In those 13 years, I've taught at 4 different schools and in 3 different grades {K-3}.  Each year I feel like I have the "best schedule ever".  Really.  But I have to say, the schedule I've had the past two years just might take the cake.  Let's take a peek, shall we?!

Now let's break it down.

Our kids all meet in the cafeteria every morning.  That means no parent drop offs in the classroom.  Except for the first two days of school.  Every day after that, the kids get dropped off in the cafeteria for Morning Meeting.  This is where one teacher from each pod watches the kids and then around 8 am, our principals play fun and engaging music...typically Dr. Jean...and the kids dance.  Then we say the pledges, offer a moment of silence, and recognize and celebrate the kids who have a birthday.  This was started in an effort to decrease the amount of tardies and from what I've seen, it totally works!  I *rarely* have kids who are tardy to the party!

When the kids arrive in the classroom...most times before 8:20...they all come in as a group since they're coming from Morning Meeting.  We do a little "wake up work" when they come in.   This is typically hands-on.  Something to get the kids going.  We work on fine motor activities, out of the box thinking, and lots of other things.  

At this time, half of the class leaves for a specials class {science/social studies, library, computer, art}.  The other half stays for small group guided reading instruction and literacy tubs/stations.

So it works out to where I only have about 9-10 kids for an hour.  I get to meet with each one individually for guided reading while the rest of the kids work at their literacy stations/tubs.

At 9:30, the half of the class that left for specials comes back. Then the WHOLE class leaves for PE/Music and we have an hour for conference/planning.

At 10:30, we pick our kids up and bring them all back to the room.  Then the other half of my class who previously had guided reading instruction leaves for their specials class.  The half that was in specials earlier gets to stay for small group guided reading instruction & literacy tubs/stations.

Around 11:30, my half group comes back in and the whole class meets on the carpet for calendar concepts/morning message/daily dish.  

At 11:50 we go to lunch.  We walk the kids to the cafeteria and then we head out to shovel food down our throats as fast as we can :)  A "working lunch" if you will ;)

The kids get picked up at 12:20 and then we head back to the room for a quick brain break.  No time to be tired after eating :)  Around 12:30ish...give or take... we move right into Writer's Workshop.  Depending on the day, this lasts anywhere from 20-30 minutes.  A quick mini lesson and then independent writing.  I spend this time doing individual writing conferences as well.

Around 1:00 or a little thereafter, we start on Math.  Whole group and math tubs.  I'm really flexible with the timing here because some days lend themselves to a longer whole group lesson/longer tub time than others.  We spend between 15-30 minutes on a whole group lesson/game/activity and then the rest of the time is spent on working in math tubs.  I also do math conferences during this time.

We head outside for recess around 2:00 and let the kids play for about 30 minutes...give or take ;)  Because it's so hot here, the kids spend a good bit of time at the beginning of the year playing indoor for recess.  

When we're all back inside, we finish the day with "theme".  This typically involves a read aloud, thinking maps, research, writing, and craftivities...but not all on the same day, of course ;)    We end about 10ish minutes early to pass out agendas and end the day with a fun little read aloud or a quick "look at what we did today!!!".  Then it's backpacks and time for dismissal!

Dismissal happens around 3:30, but we have kids in our classroom until about 4:15-4:30.  That's usually when the last student leaves.  We keep all of our kids in the room until the parents and buses pick them up for the day.  The silver lining in that arrangement is that it gives us more time to pull kids for one-on-one intervention :)  We're not required to instruct during this time....there's usually a movie on to calm the masses...but it definitely gives us time to target the kids who need the extra help {if they're not one of the first kids to leave}.

Not too shabby!

That's what a day in my classroom looks like {in a nutshell}.

And just for my first grade friends, by request I created and uploaded a printable packet of back to school no prep math and literacy activities.  You can read all about it HERE or by clicking the pic below.

Have a GREAT day!