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.

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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.

Daily schedule and back to school with BIC

Back to school is right around the corner. It was such a good summer! I'm sad to see it end but I'm also so excited to meet my new little kindergartners! Here we go again . . .

I added two new packs to my teachers pay teachers store to help you get ready for back to school.

Book labels

Monthly homework

I keep all my books in Ikea magazine holders. Then I stick a book label on the box to help me easily find what I'm looking for.

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I also updated my daily schedule. Here is a peek into my day!

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I love new school years and the fresh start they bring. Have you heard about BIC's new campaign? Fight For Your Write. Find out about it here.

Look at all these goodies for writing!!

 

3 tips that will inspire kids to write

1. Set aside specific times during the day for kids to write and share back. You can look at my daily schedule above to see when I do it.

2. Have a variety of colorful pens, pencils and markers for kids to choose from. This gets them excited about writing.

3. Give each kid a designated area to write. This year I bought special carpet squares for each child so that they have their own designated spot to work. {carpet squares are from IKEA}

Check out BIC Fight For Your Write for more fun tips.

my daily schedule

This is my daily schedule for the beginning of the year. I modeled it after Mrs. Jump's schedule. Seriously, how do you fit it all in? The days go too quickly.

What does your schedule look like? To see how other teachers schedule their day and share your own schedule link up here or here.