Be a Fly on My Wall

I'm so excited to be linking up with Jodi Southard over at Fun in First for her Fly on My Wall linky party! I always love taking a peek into other teacher's classrooms! 

Lemme start off by saying this was all kinds of hard! Ha! Going back through my pictures, I feel like I missed about a gazillion things that happen during my CRAzy day! 

First up...

The kiddos start arriving at 7:15... yes... at the break.of.dawn. After they unpack, they get started on morning work. My morning work comes from Second Story Window. I love it because it reinforces what we're learning, and my kiddos can complete it independently! I also have designated days that my kids can "shop for books" from the classroom library and use the computer in the morning (Once their done with morning work of course!). Morning announcements come on at 7:50. After that we check morning work. 

At 8:00 we jump right into reading. I usually start with a quick mini-lesson, followed by some type of independent practice assignment, and then I choose two kids to share their reader's responses from the day. Depending on the concept I'm teaching that day, this block of time can last anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. If time allows before writing, we do a quick round of Daily Five.

Next up is writer's workshop from 9:00-9:30. I usually start off with a quick 6+1 Traits lesson. I copy our trait practice on a half sheet of paper. I get my 6+1 Traits' lessons from Evan-Moor. My kiddos have some time to work on their writing pieces, then I choose two students for share chair. While my kids are writing, I conduct writing conferences.

My math workshop block is actually broken into two chunks (9:30-10:00 and 10:30-11:05) because I have two kids push in from another class right in the middle of this block of time for Social Studies/Science. Did I mention my schedule is kind of crazy?! I have kids coming and going all.day.long! I have about six different alarms set on my phone just to keep track! I digress... back to math. I model, model, model concepts for about fifteen minutes, then my kids work on an independent assignment. I usually try and check over their work right then so I can pull any kiddos that are struggling during Guided Math time. While I'm working with kids in smaller groups or individually, my other kids are working on their math tubs for the week. I have six tubs. Five have center type activities and one is a math journal prompt.

I alternate between Social Studies and Science from 10:00-10:30. This week we've been working on plant life cycles. I like to use the workbooks that are provided for us because I think it keeps me focused on the most important concepts my students to know.

We have recess from 11:05-11:20, specials from 11:20-12:00, and lunch from 12:08-12:38.

After lunch, I have a little block of time set aside for language. During this time we work on spelling, grammar, etc... This week we have been focusing on prefixes and suffixes. I read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and I had my kiddos come up with adjectives to describe Lilly. Then we went through our adjectives and found words that had prefixes or suffixes. 

After my language block, we do Daily Five and Guided Reading. I have three Guided Reading groups and I keep all the materials I need for Guided Reading in the drawers pictures above. The drawers are right behind my small group table. My kiddos choose their Daily Five rotation and place their "tickets", courtesy of Ladybug Teacher Files, next to their number in the pocket chart. Language and D5/Guided Reading lasts from 12:40-1:45ish.

At 1:45 we pack and stack. I sign behavior calendars and my kids do their afternoon jobs. We start dismissal at 2:00. My team rotates afternoon duties each week.

and.... That is it! My day in a nut shell. Thank you so much for joining me! I wanna be a fly on the wall in your classroom too! Link up with Jodi and be sure to check out her day too!

Clip art and fonts from Cara Carroll, The Enlightened Elephant, and Sonya Dehart.