"AFT member Greg Cruey of McDowell County, W.V. submitted his question for Hillary Clinton on community schools through the AFT eActivist network contest and was selected to join 25 AFT members for a conversation with Hillary Clinton." (Via AFT)
Samedifference61
Shared posts
10 May 08:25
It’s been a while since I snuggled up with my laptop, put fingertips to keyboard and tapped out a bit of a longwinded and rambly post round these parts, so today I thought I’d do exactly that and get into the nitty gritty of why I love makeup… ‘Some people collect stamps, I collect lipsticks‘... Read more »
Why I Love Makeup
by Anna
19 Jan 07:20
A Day in the Life Linky
by Aimee
Have you ever wondered how other teachers spend their instructional day? I know I'm always curious! Amelia, from Where the Wild Things Learn is hosting a fun linky on this very topic!
**DUH! I just realized that I left off our dismissal time. Sorry about that! At 3:10 we start packing up as dismissal time is at 3:21.**
Morning Routine: Those 15 minutes go by super fast, so the time is spent collecting homework while the students fill in their agenda for the day. Some students are faster than others, so they know to work on unfinished work or to read silently as they wait for 9:15 to roll around.
Smart Groups: Smart Groups are ability based groups. Smart stands for "Students Moving Around Teachers." They take the place of small reading and math groups within the classroom. We group our students by grade level and the students move to another teacher (in many cases) to receive instruction at their level. The problem with this is while the intervention groups may be smaller, the average groups are larger than an actual class size. This is a school wide system and Mondays-Wednesdays have been set aside for reading instruction and Thursdays-Fridays have been set aside for math instruction. I work with the struggling second graders and each day is spent focusing on different skills.
Math: We are required to teach 70 minutes of math a day. We use enVision, and supplement as needed since our curriculum is not aligned to CCSS. Some days we need all 70 minutes to finish a lesson. Other days, we don't need that much time. In that case, the students get to work with a partner to play various math games. I change the games out each month (pardon the old photo).
Phonics: We use Saxon Phonics. It is a scripted program, but I have made it my own.
Lunch: Lunch is entirely way too short. This 30 minute break includes eating and playing. In my opinion, our students do not get enough recess time.at.all.
Writing/Grammar: Most days, we write, but some days, we grammar it up! When we focus on grammar, we do hands on activities to make learning fun. Here are a few older examples of some hands on grammar fun.
When we write, I present a mini-lesson, then the kids write independently (first on the assigned topic, and then on any topic of their choosing in their writer's notebook) as I conference with them (at their own desks because it simply does not work to have them come to me). At the end of our period, the students share their writing with their teaching buddy, or the class.
Social Studies/Science: My favorite time of the day!! I love to integrate these subjects with language arts and hands on fun. I always have! This year, I have been incorporating one constructed response a week in this subject area. If I could set aside 2 hours a day for this subject, I would be one happy camper!
Specials: P.E. (twice a week), Music, Library, Art; thankfully, we have teachers for each of these classes, which means I get a daily prep. I am very grateful for that.
Whole Group Reading: Our whole group reading is when we use our adopted curriculum: Trophies. It's ancient and with the adoption of CCSS, we have had to pare it down in order to bring in other materials including A-Z readers, reading passages, and novel studies. We usually spend 4 days on our story of the week (we read it, focus on a comprehension skill, respond to the literature, etc.) and then finish up the week by reading our Scholastic News.
Be sure to head on over to Where the Wild Things Learn to see how everyone else spends their day!
Morning Routine: Those 15 minutes go by super fast, so the time is spent collecting homework while the students fill in their agenda for the day. Some students are faster than others, so they know to work on unfinished work or to read silently as they wait for 9:15 to roll around.
Smart Groups: Smart Groups are ability based groups. Smart stands for "Students Moving Around Teachers." They take the place of small reading and math groups within the classroom. We group our students by grade level and the students move to another teacher (in many cases) to receive instruction at their level. The problem with this is while the intervention groups may be smaller, the average groups are larger than an actual class size. This is a school wide system and Mondays-Wednesdays have been set aside for reading instruction and Thursdays-Fridays have been set aside for math instruction. I work with the struggling second graders and each day is spent focusing on different skills.
Math: We are required to teach 70 minutes of math a day. We use enVision, and supplement as needed since our curriculum is not aligned to CCSS. Some days we need all 70 minutes to finish a lesson. Other days, we don't need that much time. In that case, the students get to work with a partner to play various math games. I change the games out each month (pardon the old photo).
Phonics: We use Saxon Phonics. It is a scripted program, but I have made it my own.
Lunch: Lunch is entirely way too short. This 30 minute break includes eating and playing. In my opinion, our students do not get enough recess time.at.all.
Writing/Grammar: Most days, we write, but some days, we grammar it up! When we focus on grammar, we do hands on activities to make learning fun. Here are a few older examples of some hands on grammar fun.
When we write, I present a mini-lesson, then the kids write independently (first on the assigned topic, and then on any topic of their choosing in their writer's notebook) as I conference with them (at their own desks because it simply does not work to have them come to me). At the end of our period, the students share their writing with their teaching buddy, or the class.
Social Studies/Science: My favorite time of the day!! I love to integrate these subjects with language arts and hands on fun. I always have! This year, I have been incorporating one constructed response a week in this subject area. If I could set aside 2 hours a day for this subject, I would be one happy camper!
Specials: P.E. (twice a week), Music, Library, Art; thankfully, we have teachers for each of these classes, which means I get a daily prep. I am very grateful for that.
Whole Group Reading: Our whole group reading is when we use our adopted curriculum: Trophies. It's ancient and with the adoption of CCSS, we have had to pare it down in order to bring in other materials including A-Z readers, reading passages, and novel studies. We usually spend 4 days on our story of the week (we read it, focus on a comprehension skill, respond to the literature, etc.) and then finish up the week by reading our Scholastic News.
Be sure to head on over to Where the Wild Things Learn to see how everyone else spends their day!
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