Sunday, September 22, 2013

My Weekly Plan

Every week is exactly the same. We do the same activities every week. I think this set up would be good for home-pre-school, so I thought I would share.

My day starts with an hour of homework. Every day.

Then we have a snack and recess.

Followed by twenty minutes on the computer. The students are only allowed on educational sites. Such as pbskids.org, coolmath.com, starfall.com or hoodamath.com. Starfall is great for younger kids.

Then we have twenty minutes of PE. This is different from recess because it is organized and they have to play the game we are playing.

The last thing we do each day is "rotation." This activity changes depending on the day of the week.
Monday: Prevention. This is typically a lesson on a social  or life skill such as bullying, or being healthy. After Christmas we start with anti-drug with older children.
Tuesday: Science. This could be any kind of science experiment, lesson or activity. Currently I have done sound, volcanoes, and airplanes.
Wednesday/Thursday: Arts and Crafts. This typically goes with our theme for the week. ie This past week was Hispanic week, so we made pinatas and colored sugar skulls that they then put glitter on. Sometime we just color.
 Friday: Creative writing/Math: I switch weeks with my co teacher. Sometimes we just hand out math work sheets and other times we play a math game. Or we may give them a writing prompt and have them write.

Fridays are longer than the rest of the week for after-school program.  So we also have "sports" which I just let them have an extra long recess and every other week we have yoga. A yoga teacher comes in and teaches kid friendly yoga to the class. If we don't have yoga we have computers. Also on Friday we have "club." This doesn't go over well with my students. I make them play a game with me and then they have free time.

That is how my week goes.I don't plan or teach all the lessons because I have a team teacher.

Any questions? Don't forget to raise your hand.

Miss Hadleigh

1 comment:

  1. I was suprised at how simple my daughter's half day kindergarten schedule is. The first 20 minutes the students come in, hang up their personal items, find their seat on one of the 4 color coded tables and begin their self starter. At this age the self starter is being able to write their 1 name, 2 phone number, 3 address, legibly. I think the kids who have passed off their address are working on their penmenship on numbers 1 to 20. Then they, some days, have a 10 minute student presentation like student if the day (parents can come to help with this). Next is rug time. The teacher moves through predictible activities. First is posters where they go over who is present in or absent from class, then the letter of the day, then numbers, where they go over numbers 1-30. When they finished 30 they started a weather poster. Then they have a sorting poster. Next she works in the board area where they say the pledge of allegiance, go over days of the week, months of the year, today's date, the number of days they have been in school (counting ones, tens, and hundreds) and estimating. A couple kids guess how many objects are in a jar each day, then they count them together to see who was closest (think of the price is right). Then the go over the 3 sight words of the week. Then the teacher reads aloud a story focusing on teaching them the parts if the book, cover, title, author, illustrator.
    This is where I have one minor difference if opinion with the teacher, the books she chooses to read seem random. I would like to see the books relate in some way to something they are learning that day. See how unimportant that is? Give her some credit, it is only her second time teaching kindergarten.
    Next comes recess.
    Back in class the kids have deskwork which has been practicing the letter if the day, then they divide by table into centers. The kids spend the next hour or so rotating between time with the teacher (practicing reading aloud, testing, etc.), the listening center where they read along and listen to the same book on cd every day for a week before doing a book related activity like identifying and drawing the setting, characters, or doing a worksheet like a maze. The third center is the activity center where the kids do a craft, or learning game, or practice worksheets. The fourth center is the puzzle center where the kids play on the rug with puzzles or blocks. Each center lasts ten to 15 minutes.
    Then it is time to clean up and go home.
    If there is time, the teacher will quiz the kids about what they learned that day or week.
    I think the key to keeping 20 kids on task is organization. The kids know what to expect, so they know how to act. When kids do act up, my daughter's teacher has two discipline methods. First is points. If kids talk when the teacher is talking, the teacher gets points. Kids can earn points by passing off their goals on self starters, acting appropriatly without being reminded, etc. Kids are rewarded at the end of the day. If they have more points than the teacher they get an after school treat as they walk out the door. Often the treat relates in some way to the letter if the day. (r is for rice krispy treats). If the teacher has more points, they lose their treat for that day.
    If their are individual students acting out, and not the class as a whole, the teacher has a cloth calander-like wall hanging with all the kids' names on it. Kids start with green cards, if they act out, the teacher can pull their card. She slides the green card to the back and the student then has a yellow card. If their card is pulled again, they get a red card and can lose recess, go to the principal's office, or have their parent asked to come into the class or meet with the teacher. But usually the positive discipline is enough.
    Kindergarten is awesome.

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