This is another poem that I use at the beginning of our Mental Images unit. I read the poem the first time for enjoyment and then I read it slowly a few times while the kids drew their Mental Image.
8:30-8:45 Chit-Chit book (Morning Message)…see end of post for more
8:45-9:30 Specials (art, music, p.e)-this is my planning time
9:40-10:10 Shared Reading and theme study
10:10-10:40 Writer’s workshop
10:40-10:55 Read Aloud/Get ready for lunch
11:00-11:30 Lunch
11:40-12:30 Centers/Guided Reading- during this time I pull Guided Reading groups while my little sweeties are working on literacy centers. Many of the activities in my units are completed during this time. For example, the alligator chomps book from my zoo unit was completed during literacy center time. The dragonflies that are pictured above were done in a literacy center. At the writing center the kids made the dragonfly and then wrote about it.
12:30-1:00 Reader’s Workshop/Strategy Groups-This is when the anchor chart above was completed. We read the story and then discussed the elements by writing them on the chart. After this lesson the kids read from their reading bags and then discussed story elements from one of their books with a partner.
1:00-1:30 Recess
1:40-2:40 Calendar/Math- Our math time starts with calendar, followed by a mini lesson and then math tubs. During math tubs they work on various activities including graphs, surveys, math journals, etc;
2:40-3:20 Theme study (this is where I do my projects that relate to my
theme…science projects, art projects, etc;)
3:20 Read aloud
3:35 Dismissal
**You will notice that there isn’t a time built in when we go to restrooms and
that sort of thing. The kids go when they need to go UNLESS I’m doing direct
instruction. My transitions are fast and I don’t waste any time. We literally
move from one activity to another. I start playing a movement song (such as The
Silly Pirate Song, My Mother is a Baker, etc;) and the kids clean up and get to
the carpet fast because they don’t want to miss the song.
I talked about my chit-chat book in a previous post but in case you missed it here’s some information and a picture.
CHIT-CHAT-I needed it to have a little bit more “meat” to it and I wanted it to be a way to not only cover the important skills such as phonics, sentence structure and grammar but also serve as a review for what we had learned the previous day.
