I'm looking for ways to get the kids back focussed after being "wild" for a while. So far I'm mainly doing classical music, read aloud, and handwriting practice. Then we go straight into our math time.
I have math right after recess. I always have a math message or some other short, independent activity for them to do as soon as they come in. They know that they have to start on the task right away.
After morning recess, the kids come in, sit down with their heads down and I call quiet groups for drinks. After lunch recess, the children come in and sit in the story corner to listen to a read aloud.
After lunch recess I've always had my kids do journals and silent reading. Parents are also taking them out for individual spelling tests during this time.
After the lunch recess, we have silent reading time for 15 minutes. They can read or work on their book reports.
It depends on the year and our schedule. This year we head into readers workshop, a brief comprehension mini-lesson, and a picture book read-aloud. they do settle right down. Lots of times have done a chapter book read-aloud and then handwriting.
