Primary Classroom

Daily routine

Our day in the Primary grades classroom is exciting and packed with routine.  Immediately following all-school attendance at 8:00 AM in the gymnasium, the Primary students enter their classroom where they have a job to do. (Jobs rotate on a weekly basis.)  Once everyone has finished their assigned job we have morning meeting.  I expect the students to be finished their jobs before we have Morning Meeting at 8:05 a.m.  The classroom jobs consist of morning jobs, all day jobs and afternoon jobs.

Classroom jobs

• Morning Board—requires the students to present the date, weather, temperature, number of days we have been in school, and to lead the class in counting coins that represent those days.
• Line Leader –used throughout the day
• Door Holder—used throughout the day
• Teacher’s Helper—used throughout the day
• Pets—the student makes sure the school turtle is fed and the water is clean
• Substitute—this is used if a student is absent this child gets to do the job of the missing student
• Library— at the end of the day the students are responsible for straightening up the books in the classroom that were used
• Floors— at the end of the day make sure any important items or trash aren’t left on the floor at the end of the day
• Board— at the end of the day make sure everything is erased on the board that doesn’t need to be saved

The students have the classroom jobs to develop a sense of responsibility for the classroom and to make sure they know it isn’t my room, but ours as a whole group.  It also makes it a clean, fun place to come to everyday.  At Morning Meeting we begin our day with a moment of silence “in the manner of Friends.”  We then go around the circle and shake our neighbor’s hand and say, “Hello ____.  How are you today?”  That person will respond and ask the same thing to the next person and then keep going around the circle.  After we have said, “Hello,” to all of our friends, the morning board person presents.

Schedule:

Mornings

Classroom Jobs

Language Arts:

Part 1, Though the language art instruction changes from day-to-day during this period, there is always shared reading of a “big book” or another story that I select for us to read for the entire week.  A big book allows the students to view well a book that I read aloud.  Questions are asked throughout the story and big books also allow the whole class to focus on specific phonics or styles of grammar, which can be discussed in a whole group setting.  On Tuesday and Wednesday we have our language arts shared reading time.

Spelling:

Our spelling program is not like most spelling programs with spelling words every week to memorize.  The Sitton Spelling program is used to help students learn the sound of letters and combinations of letters in different words like the, thing, this, etc.,  know and identify the sound and spelling of the words.  Spelling for first grade does not start right away, so if you ask your child what he/she is doing in spelling and the response is “Nothing,” that is because the program requires the students to have basic reading skills in place first.  If I discover that everyone in the class has appropriate reading skills, then I will begin the program earlier than scheduled. Second grade starts spelling at the beginning of the year.

Math:

During this time I teach both first and second grade math with an aide in the classroom who will help guide the students through their math work.

Snack/Break 15 minutes

Late morning

Language Arts:

Part 2, During this block of language arts we have centers. Centers consist of reading in small groups with me, writing workshop, and other skills that students need to develop with regular practice.

Art: Mondays (60 minutes)

Lunch: 12:05-12:40

Afternoon

Activities: Fridays (90 minutes)

Choir: Wednesdays (30 minutes)

Committees: Tuesdays (30 minutes)

Comp. Tech.: Thursdays (30 minutes)

Creative Arts: Thursdays (60 minutes)

Library: Thursdays (35 minutes – beginning in October)

Meeting for Worship: Wednesdays (11:35-12:05 – all parents invited to attend)

Music: Wednesdays (30 minutes)

PE: Mondays (45 minutes)

Tuesdays (45 minutes)

Spanish: Tuesdays (45 minutes)

Thursdays (30 minutes)

“Theme”—Science and/or Social Studies: Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays (45-55 minutes)

We will also have handwriting every other day for about 20 minutes. Every day we have a read aloud 20-minute block, when I read aloud to the class.

Language arts

Every Monday three new word wall words are introduced; some of the words have a star next to them and they are words that are in a word family.  We also use the word wall to play games. When the students are writing I expect them to spell the word wall words correctly.  The guided reading and shared reading program that we use is Wright Group.  The Wright Group program fosters student understanding and comprehension of the books by activating prior knowledge before the book is even read, asking questions during the reading, and using different types of comprehension questions.  Wright Group also has a skills bank, where students work on phonics, phonological awareness, word structure, vocabulary, and concepts of print.  This is usually incorporated during our centers if I find it a necessary concept for the child.  We also integrate other arts like visually creating a picture or puppet and then acting out the book, or writing something related to the book in their “draw and write” notebook.

Language Arts is divided into two parts. 1.) Shared reading when a poem and big book is read for the week. Comprehension questions presented by me.  Also there are some mini activities that relate to the book that are done during centers, which happens during the second half of language arts. 2.) Centers consist of guided reading, which is where I work with each student in small groups to strengthen reading skills.  Some other centers include “read around the room,” where students search around the room for specific kinds of words – for example, words with short i.  We also have a listening center where the students listen to the big book on tape, while they follow in their own individual book.  This is also a time when students write in their “draw and write” journal, a majority of the time the students are free to write about what they wish, but sometime they will have prompts for writing.  Another center is “poetry.” In this center, students illustrate the poem(s) of the week, paired reading, independent free reading, and “ABC,” which can be many thing combined with a mini lesson.

Handwriting and spelling

The handwriting program that we use is Zaner-Bloser, which focuses on four Keys to Legibility—shape, size, spacing, and slant.  Throughout all our writing we are using Zaner-Bloser materials to keep the lines for handwriting consistent.  At the end of each line of handwriting the students stop and check which letter is written the best by circling it.  My own personal rule is that I do not allow the students to erase, so they can take their time when writing.

1^st Grade

We have not yet begun the Sitton Spelling program. You will receive a notification when your child begins the spelling program.  Rebecca Sitton planned Level 1 to be started once students had developed basic reading skills.  This program is a recycled program, where concepts are repeated in more than one unit adding more and more details to concepts each time.  Each unit has three sections Build Skills and Word Experience, this is where students expand their knowledge of words, patterns, sounds, letters, meanings. It helps the student discover elements of language to form solid word skills. “Assess Words and Skill,” occurs when the students are given a cloze story word test and a sentence dictation.  Students do not need to study words. Cloze story word tests are whole-class tests.  The students do not pre-study words for these tests, but the words they do miss on the tests become their spelling words, which are differentiated to each students writing needs.  They are usually words the students use in everyday writing.  The assessments are used more to evaluate the skills they have been taught during the unit.

2^nd Grade

The Sitton Spelling program in second grade focuses on two main parts Build Skills and Word Experiences and Assess Words and Skills.  Each of these two parts are divided into sections that support the focus.

Build Skills and Word Experiences

This section focuses on how all words work.  During these sections the students expand their knowledge of words for writing, reading, speaking, and thinking.  It enables them to make discoveries about all elements of language and its correct use, which allows them to form a solid word-skills foundation.

Assess Words and Skills

This is where students get “spelling words.”  These are identifies through ongoing whole-class tests; the Close Story Words Tests and Sentence Dictation Tests for students who need more practice or a greater challenge.  Cloze story word tests are whole-class tests.  The students do not pre-study words for these tests, but the words they do miss on the tests become their spelling words, which are differentiated to each students writing needs.  They are usually words the students use in everyday writing.  The assessments are used more to evaluate the skills they have been taught during the unit.  The words that are tested are researched high-frequency writing words called Core Words.  They are introduced in frequency-of-use order.  Having master these words makes writing easier for emerging writers, which is the goral of the Sitton Spelling program.  This program also helps students learn “how to proofread” and develop a proofreading habit through their everyday writing.

Theme

WATER

The first theme that we will be focusing on this year is “Water.”  We will begin by focusing on the importance of water and what we use water for.  We will continue by discussing the water cycle, and we will be talking about water pollution.  We will be reading current event articles on the Gulf Coast Oil spill and writing a letter to President Obama about what happened in the Gulf.  To conclude our water unit we will be discussing different bodies of water, who or what might live there and how you might travel on that body of water.

SKY

The second theme of the school year is “Sky.” We are going to discuss what is in the sky, why the sky is important, what the different planets are as well as the constellations.  One of our larger take-home projects occurs in this theme. Students will discover different things about a specific planet or constellation.  I hope to turn the classroom into the night sky with different constellations around the room and planets hanging from the ceiling.

PLACE AND HABITAT

After that we will learn about “Place and Habitat.”  We will learn about different places like a rainforest, the ocean, forest, mountain, and desert.  The main focus will be on the rainforest and ocean habitat and what living things exist in those different habitats.  This is when our classroom is going to completely transformed into a rainforest! Each student will be responsible for something that exists in a rainforest (animal or plant). Each student will create that living thing and attach important facts about that living thing and how it exists in a rainforest.

LIFE CYCLE

After “Place and Habitat” we will be discussing “Life Cycle.”  This connects very well with our science kit that we will be doing.  In theme, we will talk about different types of life cycles not just of animals, but of plants and people.  We will focus on trees, flowers, people, birds, and fish along with what we learn about in science.  Each student will make a lapbook that shows the life cycle of a living thing.  I would also like them to make a visual representation of the life cycle of their living thing.

“WHAT IS IT MADE OF?”

Our last theme of the school year is “What is it made of?”  I will start this unit with a K-W-L chart and ask them what they know about how things are made and what those things are.  I will also ask them what they want to learn about how things are made.  We are going to learn about how some electronic equipment is made, a specific type of food, and a textile.

Science

The science FOSS (Full Option Science System) kits have six main areas of focus. These kits are completely inquiry based which allows the students freedom to explore the given materials. Their explorations are followed by a class discussion of what the students have discovered when exploring the materials.  This also allows students to ask questions and answer each other’s questions. The materials are then used to reinforce the questions they have asked and what they have discovered.  FOSS also focuses on hands-on active learning, multisensory methods, which incorporate the five senses (minus taste), student-to-student interaction, discourse and reflective thinking. This is accomplished through working in collaborative groups, having whole-class question-and-answer sessions, engaging in content/inquiry wrap up sessions to end investigations, recording observations on student sheets, collecting and organizing data, and responding to sheets to reinforce what the students have learned and to assess what they know.  The last important aspect is “reading and research.” Each FOSS kit includes a book of Science Stories that are based on the kit being discovered.

Math

We use the Chicago Everyday Mathematics Program, which is a spiraling system, in which a child might touch on one concept during Unit 1 and then touch on it again in Unit 3 and then again in Unit 6.  This program allows student to discover mathematical concepts on their own by using math manipulatives, along with being able to come up with a solution to a problem. Everyday Math helps students learn how to explain the thinking behind their answer to a problem. It allows students to understand that there can be more than one way to get to a solution.  Everyday Math also connects the concepts to everyday needs. Communicating with family members about their day’s activities and by doing a home link exercise reinforces at home the activities that are done in class.

Everyday Math introduces six contents in math: number sense, algebra, measurement, geometry, data analysis, and probability.  It also helps students build and maintain basic skills, like fact recall. The program also presents situations that allow students to use their higher-order and critical-thinking skills.  There are ten main highlights of the Everyday Math program:

1. Problem-solving in everyday situations,
2. developing readiness through hands-on activities,
3. establishing links between past experiences and explorations of new concepts,
4. sharing ideas through discussion,
5. cooperative learning through partner and small-group activities,
6. practice through games,
7. ongoing review throughout the year,
8. establishing daily routines,
9. promoting informal assessment, and
10. fostering home and school partnership.” (Everyday Math, Teacher’s Reference Manual, page 4-5)