Hello Monday. You officially win today. I’m beat. But since one of my teacher BFFs (shhhhh don’t tell anyone!) asked me to do this post, I just have to do it. So this post is for you, Jenny From The Block!
I get this question a lot: How do you fit it all in? A couple things. Remember, we have an extended day so we have an extra hour! We do have an 8 hour school day so that helps. We also have small class sizes so that helps too. So here is what my day looks and how much time we spend on each thing.
7:45-8:00-Students arrive. They put things away and work on their journals. (I pull “fire drill” to work with her one on one during this time!)
8:00-Announcements
8:05-8:20-Morning Meeting (This lasts for about 15-20 minutes)
8:20 (8:25ish)-Sing. We sing 4 songs each morning and this usually takes about 10-12 minutes.
We kick off our literacy block routine. To read a detailed post on this routine, CLICK HERE!
After the song, we turn to the screen and do our letters and sounds. I project our letter chart on the screen. We say the letters, pictures and sounds. This takes about 1 minute.
Next, we do sight words. To read about my sight word routine, click here. Sight words take about 5-7 minutes.
Next, we work on our sound and skill for the week. This could be rhyming words, syllables, CVC words, word families, etc. This usually lasts 5-10 minutes.
Then we do our story and work on comprehension. This takes about 15-20 minutes depending on the story and the comprehension skill.
Next the students get independent work as their ticket to centers. This is usually a picture sort or comprehension activity that the students can complete independently. This is when I pull my first group.
All of this happens by 9:00-9:15. When students finish their work, they go to centers. I continue pulling groups. I see each group for about 10 minutes. We work in groups and one on one and at centers until 10:05.
At 11:10 we return from specials and work on writing. This can be predictable charts, shared writing, or independent writing. This lasts for about 20-30 minutes, depending on what we’re writing. When we finish writing, we go back to centers and I pull students one on one during this time.
12:10-Lunch
12:40-Recess
1:00-Water
1:05-Calendar (10 minutes) Our calendar routine helps us meet several Common Core standards every day! And it only takes a few minutes!
Here is our calendar routine: date, count to the day, today, yesterday and tomorrow; number of the day (write the number, draw the picture, make the ten frame, even or odd)
Mental Math-2-3 minutes
Math Review-3-5 minutes
Whole Group lesson 10-15 minutes (sometimes longer depending on the skill and if it’s a new concept)
Independent work or activity to practice what was learned in the whole group lesson)
Small Groups and Centers
Closure-math journals
2:30-3:15-Science/Social Studies/Art/RTI
If have seen every child during our reading block (and I usually see them all in groups and most on on one) we use this time to hit science and social studies and do some art!
3:15-3:30-Afternoon meeting (share 1 thing we learned today, say goodbye) 5-8 minutes
Pack up
3:45-Dismissal
So, that’s our day and how much time we spend on each item. Of course, these are estimates and yes, I move at a very rapid pace. But here are my arguments for the short, rapid fire pacing:
1. Attention-they have attention spans of about 5 minutes! So we change gears frequently to keep them engaged
2. Since we do this daily, we hit the skills over and over again. This allows us to spend a few minutes a day instead of long lectures once or twice. It’s repetitive which is what kindergarten needs.
My differentiation occurs during centers and small groups. I also differentiate during whole group with my questioning (especially during the read aloud) and when asking students to practice a skill such as blending or rhyming.
Questions? Comments? Snide remarks?
Here is a set of calendar numbers for October (actually 2 sets…1 is Halloween and 1 is just pumpkins!)
Thanks for asking for this post Jenny From The Block! Love ya!
If you have something you’d like to see me post about, leave me a comment! I have 2 weeks of Fall Break coming up so I will have lots of time to blog! Just tell me what you’d like and I’m on it!
Join Our Newsletter
Subscribe to get our latest content by email.
10 comments
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hi Greg, Thank you for a window into your day. I feel like I run a marathon everyday – though it is quite the fun run!
2 Scoops of Kindergarten
Thank you for putting your magical days in to writing for me! This is going to be so very helpful in my Pre-K world!! You're such an amazing teacher and I feel so blessed to be working with you! Love you, teacher BFF!!!
You are amazing!!! I would love to know more about your writing time! Also, does your school give you an “outline” of what to teach each day or do you come up with it all on your own?
You are amazing!!! I would love to know more about your writing time! Also, does your school give you an “outline” of what to teach each day or do you come up with it all on your own?
Super-Man…that is all I have to say… You are absolutely incredible and inspiring! Your students are so lucky to have such a fun energetic teacher! I love the schedule and plans that you shared. I just cannot get enough Mr. Greg… Honest. I talked about you all day today to my K-Crew! They are all over your site too. Thank you for sharing such great ideas! At your school do you have a 'core' you follow or did you guys invent your own? I just got done re-inventing the K-Curriculum and aligning it to the Common Core – but I would love to compare it to yours and see what all you have going on! One question a K-Crew chica asked was why you were focusing on letter N this week. So I thought I'd ask if there was a special order you went by when teaching the letters for her. We just started implementing the Writers Workshop by Deanna Jump and the Readers Workshop by Kim Adsit & Deedee Wills. Good stuff… What are your thoughts?? Ugh – I wish I taught with you or could call you! haha! 😉 You are a gem!!! What a lucky district!!!! 🙂 xoxo
Do you get paid extra for extended day? I just wonder how that works. I move at a rapid pace and review syllables, beginning sounds, and rhymes like everyday. Every time I introduce a new word, I ask what sound it begins with and we clap the syllables. Later in the year, I add in ending sounds.
Wow, I am so impressed. I teach 5th and 6th grade and I dont think that I could have that military precision. Although our attention spans are a little longer. Only a little longer though. Interesting insight, cheers.
Creative Critters
Thank you so much for posting this! I was wondering how you have your groups organized/how you call them over to you. Are they at their centers when you have groups come to meet with you? If so do they miss a center activity when they come to your table? I'm trying to re-work my centers a little so I was curious how you do it. You seem like a Kindergarten genius to me 😉
Can you give an example of what you do in small groups for reading in math? I'm so impressed you can meet with each group. I have difficulty meeting with all mine in a day. How many kids do you have in a group? How do you fit it all in with only 10 minutes? You are a genius. I wish I had a teacher like you on my team!