HELP! I have a 3rd grade interview tomorrow... What is a typical schedule for your class if you teach in that age range? (This school runs only about 6 hour days, including lunch and specials!) I'd like to have an idea of what to expect, because I'd love to talk about using centers, but I have no idea how to while still getting all subjects plus readers workshop, writers workshop, etc..... THANKS!
Most people do centers while they meet with their Small Guided Reading Group. My day goes this way: 1. Shared Reading (15-20 minutes) WHOLE GROUP 2. Small Guided Reading Groups- I have my students independently read and respond during this time. 3. On Thursdays and Fridays, I conference with my students on their reading. 4. Writing 5. Lunch 6. Math for 1 hour 7. Science, Social Studies, or Art You will learn that you just CAN'T get it all in in one day. Some days I don't do writing and do both Science and Social Studies. You have to find what your students needs are and go from there. Good Luck!
Do you choose not to do centers? I am coming to think it might be more worthwhile to have the kids read independently instead of doing centers, or maybe have one centers day per week.
here is a detailed schedule a typical day 8:10-8:50 Specials 8:50-9:00 snack bathroom 9:00-10:00 Math time-( some days I do a mini lesson and then pull small math groups while the others are in centers, other days I do a full group lesson and then we practice independently) 10:00-10:40 Science or Social Studies 10:40-11:10 Group one in reading (the others are in centers: computer center, listening center, practice center, and DEAR center) 11:10-11:40 Group two in reading 11:40-12:30 Lunch and Recess 12:30-1:00 Group three in reading 1:00-2:00 Writing ( mini lesson and then conferences) 2:00-2:15 pack up, pass out homework, and read aloud
This is what I had as my schedule when I taught 3rd grade: 8:05 - 8:15 Morning Work 8:15 - 9:15 Math 9:15 - 10:00 Writer's Workshop 10:00 - 10:15 RECESS 10:15 - 10:30 Snack/Shared Reading 10:30 - 11:00 Spelling 11:00 - 11:30 SPECIALS 11:40 - 12:25 LUNCH/RECESS 12:30 - 1:30 Reading/Guided Reading 1:30 - 1:45 RECESS 1:45 - 2:30 Science/Social Studies (alternate)
Mine was: 9-10 Reading Workshop 10-11 Specials 11-12 Math 12-1 Writer's Workshop 1-1:45 Lunch/Recess 1:45-2:10 Agenda Books and Read Aloud 2:10-2:30 Spanish 2:30-3:00 Social Studies or Science 3:15 Dismissal
Here is my schedule.. I teach in a private school, so it's a little different. http://teacherweb.com/WA/TheLittleSchool/JessicasClass/Table0.stm
THREE RECESSES ? Wow. I know Snicky has been commenting looking for Chicago Public jobs. Most of our schools have NO RECESS. Or if they're lucky 1/4 of the schools have a 15 minute recess! This is K-8! Some of our Kindergartens don't even get recess. Pre-K still does (though some schools don't have a playground so it's all on the blacktop). I think recess is important, but I did my student teaching in Madison and don't remember that many recesses! Does this continue up until 5th grade?
I'd like to have three recesses. I'm interviewing tomorrow in CPS for 3rd... My guess is there's a recess/lunch combo, max. We'll see if that's the case! (Nice neighborhood, so I don't think safety's an issue, but it's near a highway, so who knows.)
The recess thing is actually due to the shortened school day in most cases. We're right on two major streets, but we still have recess (we have a fence!) Our neighborhood has been somewhat cleaned up, though there are still problems. There is a grass roots campaign to bring recess back, but not sure how that is going. I am glad that my principal values it and the kids get out. I couldn't imagine 5 year olds with no Recess! Good luck with your interview! (I'd ask about Recess, shows you know a little bit about CPS politics--!) I asked at my interview. I also have continued to ask at future ones. It is important to me. At any age. As for the center question. The Walk through teams do talk about centers and that they want to see them. Though the different AIO teams could want different things.
I do not do centers at all. I feel like my students need to be reading as much as possible. And from all of the research I have read, independent reading is the most valuable to my students. Not to mention, I don't want to spend my time organizing centers. I would rather conference with my kids on their reading. So my students read independently and then respond in their response journals. It takes awhile for my students to learn to do it but they know my expectations. I teach third grade but when I had a 1st and 2nd grade split, the little ones also learned to do it. My reading scores show that it works. And it really works for me!
Yep, 3 recesses. K - 3rd have 3 recesses and 4th and 5th have 2. They are 15 mins a piece. This seems to be fairly common around my area and I'm not too far away from Madison...
I agree with you 100% about the independent reading. I do not use centers. I had 1st grade and then 2nd grade and my reading scores were consistently among the highest throughout each year.
What do the other students do when you're working with a reading group? Respond in their journals? If I did use centers, what kind of centers would be appropriate/effective for this grade level? This is my first year and I'm just curious what you all think? In college the whole center thing was preached, but I DO want my kids to have enough reading time as well. We are not self contained so I will only be teaching 2 subjects which is nice. Also, what is your opinion about reading group levels...how to group them? Highs with highs, lows with lows? Thanks!
My students read independently for approximately 20-30 minutes. Then they respond to their reading in the reading journal. They may make connections, predict, infer, etc.- whatever strategy we may be working on at that moment. If you do decide to do centers- I would highly recommend "Literacy Workstations" by Debbie Diller. As far as reading groups- I assess what my students are doing as they read by giving them a running record. Once I find out what is going on, I will decide that this many students need help with predicting- so I group those students together for that strategy. Basically- assess to see what their needs are and then form your groups from there.
my schedule was pretty scripted for me last year...this is what it looked like 8:02-8:55- Writers Workshop 9:00-10:45 SFA (reading program) 10:45-12:00 Math 12:00-12:45 Lunch/Recess 12:55-1:45 Special 1:45-2:15 Sciecne or Social Studies 2:15-2:30 Clean Up/Pack Up Go HOme it was a jam packed schedule and there was little time to do much besides what was scripted...i am hoping this year will be a little better becasue we are getting a new reading program...we have to have 45 minutes of writing, 90 minutes of reading, 75 minutes of math, and then fit in sciecne or social studies when we have the time...its truely crazy
Yup, my kids do the reading and responding also. I just read Revisiting the Reading Workshop by Barbara Orebovec and Marybeth Alley that explains a lot about this. My groups are not set, they are flexible and are called together depending on what the need is. Of course, you can have fixed groups for a quarter or semester or whatever and then re-assess and form you new groups based on this information.
This is the schedule that I've come up with so far. However, I have to discuss some things with my grade level team and it may need to be changed. 8:00-8:45 morning work, L to J, character ed. 8:50-9:25 specials 9:30-10:30 Math 10:30-10:50 (unsure of what will go here yet) 10:55-11:25 Recess/Lunch 11:30-1:00 Reading Workshop 1:00-1:20 Recess 1:20-2:00 Writing Workshop 2:00-3:00 Science/ Social Studies on alternate days 3:00-3:15 fill out agendas, pack up, pass out homework
You have a very early lunch... I think you should make time for a snack in the afternoon. For that 20 minutes, could you do a read aloud, or morning meeting? You could give them "centers" where they have some choices for activity (computer, math games, word games, etc.) Since it is after math, if your program doesn't have a lot of games, math games would be a great thing to do at this time. If art isn't one of your specials, or even if it is, art would be good for that time also.
Some of this got decided for me today when the most current schedules came out. Now I'll have Tech. lab on Mondays for that first morning time starting at 8:10. On Tues. I'll have library time starting at 8:10. Wed. are short days so that 20 minutes doesn't exist which just leaves Thurs. and Friday. So, that 20 minutes now needs to be switched to L to J and character ed. The first part of the morning on Thurs. and Fri. (the last one of the month being a school assembly). I think Thurs. will be the spelling test and Fri. will be for getting new words/pretest. Yikes! Yes, our lunch is really early but believe it or not it is not the earliest. I was looking at having a snack during or immediately before or after the afternoon recess. Thanks for the suggestions!
