One of the days during my field experience, I stayed for the entire school day. The morning part was run how it always is, with their literacy block being from 8:00-10:15. Then the class goes to specials for an hour. When they come back they usually have some sort of busy work to keep them occupied, because 20 minutes after returning from specials, they go to lunch. Lunch ended around noon.
After they get back from lunch, they have their math block. The way math is set up, is by Daily 3. They have a group lesson to start of the subject, but then they move into 3 rotations for the remainder of the hour and a half. My cooperating teacher had a small group every rotation where she worked on mini lessons with a few kids. The other kids were working on flash cards, math related apps on their iPads, or math worksheets. They are placed in a new section each round, it isn't their choice where they end up each round. I think having Daily 5 for reading and Daily 3 for math is a good idea, because it brings a lot of consistency to the classroom. The whole day is run under the same type of schedule, so the kids always know what to expect.
After math is over, they have recess. But recess happens to be the very last thing the kids do before going home for the day. I found that to be a little weird, because I'm so used to having recess around lunch time, but there was almost a 2 hour difference between lunch and recess. I think the kids might benefit from having an earlier recess, because it would give them a chance to run around and burn off some energy throughout the day, rather than doing it right before getting on the bus.
I'm glad I got to stay and experience a whole day in their classroom. I found some things I liked and some things I didn't like as much after seeing an entire day. I think Daily 3 in math would be something I would consider bringing into my own classroom someday. Although having recess at the very end of the day would be something I would try to avoid.
Hi Alicia, that is awesome that you stayed at your field experience for a whole day! After reading this, I wish that I had done that for a day, too. I agree that seems really odd that their recess was at the end of the day. To me, that almost seems to defeat the purpose of having recess. My class's recess was at 10:45, I would help them get their outdoor clothes on right before I left for the day. Also, I know you mentioned reading and math, but did your class have social studies and science everyday or was that only a few times a week?
ReplyDelete