I don't know that I have anything really to blog about. I'm participating in the clutter free classroom's challenge but I didn't actually get rid of any clutter this week. This week's challenge was to begin the purge. I don't know what happened this week but it got away from me. I started cleaning one of my counters. But I didn't actually get rid of anything. I did put some things away that were left over from Christmas. I still have a lot of work to do on it. I planned to take some pictures but I can't seem to locate my camera. That's another problem in of itself. I'm hoping it's just fallen out of my purse and is my car somewhere. So my plan is to finish that counter and the shelves above it this week. Maybe if I work on a little bit everyday I can get it done. So I didn't link up with the clutter challenge this week. Hopefully next week I can do better.
I'm feeling a little discouraged because I didn't work on much this week but yet was there late everyday. I am ready for next week kind of. I realize that the 100th day is Friday and I"m not really ready. I've asked the kids to send in t-shirts so we can make 100 day shirts. But so far on 2 kids have sent them in. I need to gather some ideas for the day. It has definitely snuck up on me. We have only had 1 snow day this year which is unusual.
I am really struggling to get everything in everyday. I wanted to start Daily 5 this semester and I wanted to work on implementing a writer's workshop type time. While Daily 5 is going pretty well, we're up to 6 minutes on Monday, writing is not going as well. We have written a little bit more since we've been back but I'm having a hard time fitting it into my schedule. It is really hard to accomplish all that I need to in 3 hours. I've already blogged about how discouraged I am with my math instruction. We start a unit on measurement this week and I think I could do a lot of great stuff with it. But it's just a matter of finding the time. So here's my schedule as I put on paper:
8:00-8:20 - Table work time, bathroom break, attendance, lunch count
8:20-8:50 - Calendar and morning meeting. We review a lot during this time and I think it's important
8:50- 9:00 - Phonemic Awareness - we work on our poem of the week
9:00-9:25 - Whole Group Reading, snack
9:25-9:45 - Phonics
9:45-10:05 - Literacy center time and reading group time
10:05-10:15 - Sight word work
10:15 -10:30 - Writing time or daily 5 time
10:30 - Bathroom break and then math
10:50 - Lunch
After lunch the kids have specials and then some of them go home at 12:30.
This is what my schedule looks like when I write it down. But in reality at about 10:50 I realize that I only have about 5 minutes to try to teach math.
I would love to have some input on how I can fit things into my schedule. I've tried some different things with my morning work. On Tuesdays that's usually our sight word practice. I have 16 students in my class right now and 6 of them get pulled out for ELL from 9:15-10:15. It leaves me with 10 students. I've considered just having my phonics lesson as part of my reading group time to give me a little more time. But I also use that time for assessment. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.
Well, I'm sure this is a common kindergarten issue...how to fit everything into such a short amount of time. I don't envy you. I guess I'm just partial to keeping that writing time sacred as much as possible. The cool thing about writing is that kids learn so much about phonemic awareness and phonics through their own writing. That's not to say that we don't teach those things explicitly by themselves, but kids have to use those tools when they write so what better way to practice. I'm not sure that helps. Just my thoughts. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteTammy
www.foreverin1st.blogspot.com
Let me think on it for a little bit!
ReplyDeleteRowdy in First Grade
We have writing as soon as the kids come in. They grab their journals and just start writing. After about 30 minutes, I choose some to share and then we have morning meeting. Can you use Daily Five for your literacy center time? I have one hour for reading this year. I do a short read aloud and two or three sessions of Daily Five. You can do short mini lessons in between the sessions (your phonics, phonemic awareness poem, and then let them share after the third round). You can use some of the centers as choices for word work. You can also do two reading groups during the first two sessions and then assess during the third session if you want.
ReplyDeleteSo, that is what I would do. Try to integrate the other literacy activities into Daily Five. It makes it all work!
Good luck!