Welcome to 2nd grade! We have a jam-packed day but we always find room for some fun.
8:55-9:10- Arrive + Morning Journals
At 8:30 students are allowed to go from carpool, buses etc. and grab breakfast. They then eat and wait until the first bell rings. Before entering our room all backpacks and jackets are put away and students know to come in quietly, drop off their homework folders in the turn in bin and get started working. I get to stay at the door and greet them all individually as they come in, this is one of my favorite parts of the day! It really can set the tone and mood for the littles. On the smart board I have a morning message and a prompt for each day.
Below is an example of what would be on the board for students to read and write about. This particular week we were reading a story in out Journeys book about how to make a kite, so this tied into our learning!
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9:10-9:25- Morning Meeting
Once students start finishing, they are given the chance to either draw a picture to their writing or come to the carpet and practice sight word cards with a partner. They know that once they see me coming to the carpet that they need to clean up and find their spot.
Yes, I display a morning message on the smart board, but I also do a WEEKLY morning message that we edit daily as a class. This is honestly one of my favorite things and incorporates so many skills! The kids love it, and by about Christmas time students can "be the teacher" and run this on their own. It's AMAZING! I started this my first year teaching (now I'm in year 4!), and it's just something I can't get rid of and refuse to switch to using technology. I originally found it from Fabulous in First, and modify it to fit the needs of my class.
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| Source; Fabulous in First |
Every Friday after school, I write a message on anchor chart paper in preparation for the coming week. I purposely spell things wrong, misuse punctuation, leave blanks, and incorporate spelling words and/or chunks for the following week. Using a weekly message saves SO MUCH TIME and it also gives students practice with editing and revising, as well as models the friendly letter template. {insert all the heart eyes here because I love it so much}
Here is the weekly breakdown:
Monday- fix all the mistakes (I use sticky notes or white tape to cover up and write overtop with a marker)
Tuesday- circle/identify capital letters
Wednesday- circle/identify punctuation marks
Thursday- circle/identify weekly spelling words and/or chunks (to start out we do sight words)
Friday- {THE BEST DAY} we circle the heading, greeting, body, and closing of the letter. Students take turns and its a BIG, I mean BIG deal who gets chosen to circle the body.
9:25-10:10- Shared Reading
At our school we use the Journeys Reading program and we have copies of the text for each student. For this block of time we pass out a text to everyone and I work of the weekly skill with them as we read aloud, work with buddies, and learn all about the stories for the week.
10:15-11:00- Special Area
Students rotate daily to 4 different special areas. Library, P.E. Arts/Humanities, and Computers.
11:05-12:10- Reading Workshop/Centers
{DISCLAIMER: I love, love, love teaching reading and guided reading. It is my happy place}
I won't elaborate too much on how I run centers, if you'd like to learn more,
check out my post here.
12:15-12:40- Lunch
AKA the only time I get to {MAYBE} sit down and if I'm lucky I get to go to the bathroom!
12:45-1:00- Writing
Journeys has a writing pacing guide and supplemental resources that are GREAT for writing! We do a lot of modeling, peer editing and sharing, as well as small group work on specific skills.
1:00- 2:30- Math RTI + Workshop
I've grown to love this time of day! Mostly because I switched things up last year and did all small group Guided Math. You can read all about how it works here.
Some friends are pulled out of the classroom for RTI with interventionists for 30 minutes daily. When they are finished they come back and jump right into their group work/center.
2:35-2:55- Wellness
FINALLY play time!3:00-3:30- Science/Social Studies Centers
These are something new I tried this year. The group I had learned best in small group, and honestly I think it was the best thing we could have done, they LOVED it! {do you see a trend? we love workshop/centers}
I have a file with a timer that I put on the smart board that shows the day, and where each color group goes for their center for that particular day. Because our time is short, only 30 minutes, students spend 15 minutes at their assigned center and then two groups spend 15 minutes with me going over a skill or conducting an experiment in small groups. When the timer goes off we switch and I meet wth the last two groups. {BLOG POST ON ALL THIS COMING SOON}
We use FOSS resources for science as well as Lakeshore Learning centers for both Social Studies and Science. The reading/vocabulary center is always buddy reading from our library on specific content, and friends work to complete a response sheet together.
3:35-3:45- Pack up + Closing meeting
When it is time to go, students go out and get their things and record their Class Dojo Points on their daily calendar. They are responsible for packing their things, completing their classroom job, and getting to the carpet as soon as they can. Once everyone is ready, we discuss how our day went, what we did great and what we may need to work on tomorrow. I write these down on my art cart/board and we use them as reminders for the next day. If there is time left, we read a few pages from Magic Tree House. It is always a crowd favorite!!
3:45- Dismissal
We do dismissal a little different then other schools, or at least different then others that I have worked at and been to. But I like it this way!
Walkers/bike riders are called first. I wait at the door and ALL of my friends are hugged and loved prior to leaving. Following that the car riders are dismissed and again, I hug each one as they leave! Last the kids who are left are bus riders. They line up in order of bus "color". Our buses always {well almost always} pull into the lot in the same order so they are easy to find. I then walk all of my friends out to each of their buses, and you guessed it... Each of them gets a hug before they leave too! The extra little details I learn and personal connections I get to make as they leave are so special. The extra few minutes do take time, but they make a difference!
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