I absolutely LOVE seeing what everyone else is doing in the classroom, so I figure what better way to start my blog by letting you all know what my daily schedule is. I really enjoy my schedule overall, although it is the first year that my reading block has been split in this way. I prefer having it in one large chunk, but with the way our ELD (English Language Development) teachers’ schedule is, it just didn’t work out that way this year. However, I find that it gives students a good break in between the 2 mini-lessons.
We use Benchmark Advance, and they operate on two mini-lessons a day. One lesson is a reading strategy and the other lesson is usually vocabulary or grammar based, but sometimes there are two reading strategy lessons in a day. I really have enjoyed the 15-20 minute lessons, as I feel like they are long enough to allow students to practice the strategy, but not long enough before students start to tune out. I could write a whole blog post on Benchmark (and I will), but let’s get back to the schedule!
My school day starts at 8:00, and I stand at the outside door and greet my students until the tardy bell rings at 8:05. From there I take attendance, send students down to get breakfast, we have our morning meeting, and we start our first reading mini-lesson. Here is the breakdown:
8:05-8:30 Do Now/Morning Meeting
8:30-8:45 Reading Lesson 1
8:45-9:35 Specials
I really like my planning time because I don’t feel rushed in the morning before school. All I need to prepare for is the first chunk of the day, and then I use my plan time to make sure I have everything for the rest of the day and even start looking ahead to the rest of the week as I have time. We have a long chunk of time between specials and lunch, but it often goes by fast as we have a lot of content packed into that time.
9:35-9:45 Read Aloud
9:45-10:30 WIN Time (ELD pullout)
10:30-10:50 Reading Lesson 2
10:50-11:05 Phonics
11:05-11:40 Writing
11:40-12:25 Math
12:25-1:05 Lunch/Recess
See! Nothing ever feels like it drags on too long. There is a nice, steady pace to the rest of the morning that keeps us from getting bored. One thing I have started doing is allowing my students a “passing period” in between subjects. I teach 5th grade, so they can be hard to sell on brain breaks. They LOVE the idea of passing periods though, as it’s just a 3-4 minute period where they can chat with their friends and move around the room. I haven’t had any issue with them getting out of control. It’s great for me too as it gives me time to set up my materials for the next class while they are busy, rather than trying to crowd control while also getting set up.
After lunch the day seems to fly by as we have done a lot of the heavy lifting already. We do a lot of the whole group math lesson before lunch, and they start their partner/independent work. After lunch, they have time to come in and finish that work while I help the students who are struggling with that concept. We are lucky enough to have two WIN times, and it allows me to meet with all of my students every single day for a small reading group. I will write another blog post about how I run my reading groups!
1:05-1:45 Math
1:45-2:25 Science/Social Studies
2:10-2:40 Social Studies
2:25-2:55 WIN Time (Newcomers pulled)
2:55-3:00 Clean up & Go home
I really do enjoy this schedule a lot! I am really appreciative that my principal and assistant principal created our schedules for us this year as it took that task off our plates. As a new teacher to the district, not having to worry about that at the beginning of the year was such a relief! It was the first time I haven’t made my schedule, and part of me missed not having that puzzle to solve, but it truly has been amazing overall.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my day as much as I enjoy reading about other teacher’s days! I think it adds a sense of community when we all get to see what each other is doing.
The Blissful Teacher
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The Blissful Teacher 