A Day in Kindergarten: Part one

Each day begins with morning work. Morning work can be anything that the students can do successfully and independently. This can be independent reading, playing with play-doh, morning tubs, finishing work from the previous afternoon, journal writing, or a quick skill review. We do this for 20-30 minutes.

Example of one of our morning tubs

Then I grab my big pencil and the kiddos know it is time for handwriting. We have a super short mini lesson on the carpet. I use the big pencil to "skywrite" the letter formations we are learning. Following the mini lesson I set my timer for 10 minutes and start circulating around the room as the students work in their Handwriting Without Tears workbook.

*this is an affiliate link*

As soon as the timer goes off it is time for Calendar math. I use Every Day Counts: Calendar Math.

Up next is shared reading. We spend 10 minutes each day doing shared reading. This can be a big book, enlarged poem, or song. We revisit the same book/poem over multiple days while working on a different skill each time we read it.

After a little brain break we move right into reading workshop. I use the units of study by Lucy Calkins. The units of study can be a little overwhelming if you don't know how to unpack the units. I  unpacked the first two reading units. You should be able to plan a ten minute mini lesson on a single sticky note. When you are ready to teach the mini lesson all you need to take with you is the post-it note. I summarized each mini lesson for Super Powers unit 2 on a single post-it note. You can grab the unit here or by clicking one of the pictures below. This is how I organized my unit using a 1-inch view binder. I put everything I would need to teach each session into a pocket sleeve. It makes me feel organized and makes teaching the units of study so easy.