Earlier this spring, I posted about my morning work schedule. I constantly am changing my schedule to make everything fit! As the kiddos start to be able to listen longer, work longer, and so on, my schedule changes to meet their needs. One thing I always struggle with is having enough time to fit it all in!
One thing that I have noticed from many other schedules that other bloggers have posted is that there is no rest time or free play time. We are lucky enough that our district has not told us to let those important times in a 5 year olds day go! I know that if I eliminated these times in the day, I would have more time to fit things in, but I’m just not ready to let them go! (And I don’t think my little babies are ready either!)
So, I allow for 25 minutes of rest time in my schedule (this time evolves into quiet reading, dictation, additional writing, etc. as the children mature – but it is always dark in the room with quiet music!), and an additional 30-40 minutes of free play at the end of the day. The free play is just that – free play! I have a separate time for literacy and math centers. Sometimes, I will pull small groups to do art projects or other activities (as well as individual assessments). I also have about 25 minutes for recess. Throughout the day we have lots of songs and dancing too!
I am wondering --- what does your schedule look like? How do you fit it all in?
Here is a sample of my schedule/lesson plans from the beginning of the year:
(Yes, I know, my plans are detailed – I have to do it that way otherwise I forget!!)
{Click HERE if you would like to download them}
And, from the end of the year: (As you can see, both rest time and play time have shortened –“to get ready for first grade!”)
{Click HERE to download}
With all that said, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see your daily schedules and hear about how you fit everything in! Do you have a play time and rest time? Did your district require you to cut those times out?
Link up with me and share your schedule! (Be sure to grab my button for your post!)
Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteYa for you and for your district! I, too, would love to "get rid of" rest time and centers just to have the extra time but I think they are necessary. We do phase out rest time by November but I keep centers all year long. It's time I can do assessments or small group/reteaching and the kids can work on necessary social skills! I'll try to post my schedule...I'm not too technical!
Thank you for sharing your schedule!! I am so excited to see the schedules that get linked up too! I have taught half day kindergarten for 7 years now and will be teaching all day kindergarten next year. So, I do not have a schedule to share because I have to figure out how to teach all day kindergarten. :) I know I will enjoy having extra time with my students. Thank you again for this schedule sharing link up, I know seeing other people's schedules will really help me as I work this summer to figure out my new role as a kindergarten teacher.
ReplyDeleteHere was my schedule when I taught full day K:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kinderpond.com/schedule.html
Jennifer
Thanks!! I LOVE seeing other schedules!! What are "WIN" and "INSTR para" in your schedule? Do you have complete flexibility with your teaching (no mandatory reading series or pacing guides)?
ReplyDeleteHeather - WIN stands for "What Individuals Need" - it is essentially our RTI time - in the beginning of the school year, most kids were in some sort of group because everybody needed something - whether it was the whole gammot of letters, letter sounds, rhyming, etc. or just a few letter sounds. Once kids got to where we needed them to be, they went back into the large group. We combined 2 K classrooms to do this and had 2 classroom teachers, 2 reading paras, 1 reading specialist, and 2 special ed. strategists working with kids. We exceeded our proficiency goal this year (92%) and ended up with 97% proficient!! RTI really works if it is done right - next year things might change because of cuts to the Title 1 budget :( Instructional Para is essentially health, although each school can decide what they want their instructional para(professional) to do - it basically gives teachers their extra 30 minutes of planning time (K-2) since Spanish starts in 3rd grade. Hope that answered your question!
ReplyDeleteOh - and --pacing -- our district adopted Scott Foresman a couple of years ago, and it is used differently in each classroom/building. Some teachers supplement it, some teachers use parts and some don't use any of it. We are working on adopting the common core standards and developing somewhat of a pacing guide with that. It's a long process though!
ReplyDeleteWhat is MMO?
ReplyDeletehttp://phoenixchristianschool.org/about-pcs/faculty-staff/204
This is my school webpage. If you scroll down a little ways, there is a link to my daily schedule from this past year (as well as to my blog)
I like the writer's workshop concepts you listed (What do writer's do? They go back and read. Etc.) Do you have more of that? I want to improve my writing time.
Yes, we have free choice centers at the end of the day. It's just so important for them to practice social skills, and get to make choices. It also provides me with time to do catch up work with individual students, or assessments, etc.
We don't have rest time, but we have quiet reading after lunch, and I tell them that they may read or rest. I used to turn off half the lights so it was a little dimmer at least, but I had a child with vision challenges this year, so I kept the lights on.
My schedules are on my school computer, but we have quiet time and free play time as well - 2 things I could NOT live without. However, the only part of our day that is strictly non-negotiable at our school for all grades is reading block from 8am to 9:30am (9:45 for 3,4,5). This is a sacred time that allows for no interruptions - no phone calls, try to minimize bathroom trips, etc.
ReplyDeleteAs for kinder - We have quiet time right after lunch (and recess)for 30-45 mins depending on what I need to get done during that time (I get homework ready to go home, ind assessments, parent communication and other misc things). At the beginning of the year we lay on the floor for this - we move to our desks about 1/2 way through the year and at that point I turn on an educational program during quiet time. By the end of the year I also allow reading in their heads:) I still have kids conked out at the end of the year at their desks.
We also have free play at the end of the day for about 45 mins - up to the teacher. In my room it depends on what specials we have to fit in in the afternoon. Because I was in a small portable classroom this last year I had play centers set up and we rotated through them in small groups, about 3 centers a day - just to keep the chaos under control. But next year I'll be in a bigger room so I hope to allow true free play.
@Lynola - MMO is our Monday Morning Opening - every Monday we meet as a school (K-3) for about 15 minutes - we recognize students with good behavior, birthdays, other special acknowledgments as well as talk about our character word of the month.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your schedule. I am moving to full day kindergarten next year for the first time and I'm still trying to figure out what I want my day to look like. This will really help!
ReplyDeletewww.teachinginthecouv.blogspot.com
I also LOVE looking at how others make it all work b/c its a HUGE balancing act!! Some days for sure better than others!! We also have rest time, center time and SNACK time w/ milk!! I LOVE all three and HATE all three equally! I agree in the beginning they are needed to help the kiddos adjust but by semester (Jan) I feel that rest time could be LONG gone and snack w/ milk is always a pain in my side. We moved lunch from 1130 (last) to first @ 11 so I have bumped snack to 230 before centers and its "still" in the way!! LOL. (I am all behind the concept its just hard to make it all work all the time!
ReplyDeleteHow do I add my lesson plan format ?!?! I would love to share and gather ideas! Mine is always changing as kids are growing in & out of things.
Q about your guided reading time....how does that work? I lay mine on top of the literacy centers in the morning and it usually runs about 65 minutes for 3-4 sm groups of instruction. How do you work yours? How do you get the sm gp instruction in?
LOVE LOVE LOVE all the sharing of ideas!!
Sarah
Sarah - I totally feel your pain! It's SO hard to fit everything in!
ReplyDeleteOnce the majority of both of the K classes were where they needed to be, we started out guided reading groups - because essentially, our RTI groups served as GR groups at the beginning of the year. I hated the time for groups - 2:30 was a terrible time, but that was when I could get support. I had 2 reading paras push in, plus me, and I also have a special ed. para in my room at that time. So we were able to have 4 guided groups going on at the same time. Every grade level was able to get at least 2 reading paras for support for guided reading - that might change next year ..the cuts in the title 1 budget might force us to change! :(
Hi! I put my schedule on my blog!
ReplyDeletehttp://read-write-sing.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-daily-schedulekindergarten_08.html
Thank you for posting this idea! On my hunt through Word, searching for my master schedule, I discovered it was transferred to some random Excel file. I reformatted and updated everything for this year; I'm ahead of the game, thanks to you!!
ReadWriteSing
I teach 1st grade- Here is a general schedule that we had this year.
ReplyDeleteMorning Work- calendar, correct a sentence (or 2), journal prompt 30 min beg of day - time allows for breakfast, teacher checking planners, announcements etc
Math- 1 hour including center rotation
lunch- 1/2 hour
Reading- 90 min block
Intervention- 30 min block
Writing- 30 min block
SPA- Teacher Directed Physical Activity 30 min 2x a week
Specials (Music 2x a week, Art - 1x a week, PE- 3x's a week)
Social Studies/Science- 35 min block
Dismissal
Thanks for sharing schedules- I like seeing how others do things
Primary Connections
i LOOOOVE your schedule layout! Do you make it in microsoft word?! If so, would you be willing to share?! I would love to adapt it for my own classroom. I'll share my current schedule here, but if you are willing to email me your editable version my email is gleadallj84@gmail.com! =)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your schedule and lesson plans. I am excited to participate in my first link up!
ReplyDeleteDanielle
http://toadallyawesomeinkindergarten.blogspot.com/2011/06/growing-kinders-schedule-link-up.html
Thank you for hosting this Linky party! I am moving to 1st grade and really have no idea how the schedule for my day and week will be, so I am very glad to have several schedules to look at so when I start writing it all out I have a nice starting point...thanks. If I can find my schedule from last year I'll link up...
ReplyDeleteThank you SO much for this post! I am constantly tweaking my schedule and especially now that we will have no extra money for PTTs/Tutors next year, I really have to work on getting my centers up and running. I totally agree that kids need rest and play time. I do feel guilty sometimes when we have a lot of free play, but I know that they need it and I need it too. I started off having am rest time but as my kids were so developmentally different -- I had 30 JK/Ks at the end of the year, it was very difficult settling them down. This will be my 2nd year teaching K so I will endeavor to try rest time again! Thanks also to all of you who have posted your schedules -- it really helps to see what others do! <3. One of these days I may start a blog too, but until then, I will keep myself busy by reading all of your lovely ones! :)
ReplyDeleteA little late to the party but better late than never. I am a new follower. Love your blog! I just posted a freebie of schedule cards. Check them out at firstgradegarden.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteAnais
I just found your schedule and would also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to have an editable copy! My e-mail is alexandrea.wells@zacharyschools.org if you wouldn't mind helping me out! Thanks so much for EVERYTHING!
ReplyDelete