Saturday, August 17, 2013

Our Schedule

Here is our (tentative) schedule for first grade.  Please note that this schedule will run more smoothly once the kids have more stamina later in the year.


8:05-835 Workshop Way/ tasks/ reading lists
8:40-9:00 Phonograms and new phonics rule
9:00-9:30 Writer's Workshop
9:30-10:00 Daily 5 round 1
10:00-10:10 Bathroom breaks
10:10-11:05 Whole group reading instruction (Journeys)
11:05-11:15 Recess
11:15-11:35 Lunch
11:35-11:45 Bathroom breaks
11:45-12:00 Read aloud/ calendar
12:00-12:30 Daily 5 round 2
12:30-1:15 Math
1:15-1:30 Spelling
1:30-2:00 Daily 5 round 3
2:00-2:15 6 Traits Writing review
2:15-2:25 Snack
2:30-3:00 Arts block
3:00-3:30 Arts block
3:30-3:45 Pack up/ jobs
3:50 Dismissal

Yep, that is a LONG DAY.  But we don't have school on Fridays, so I guess it's okay :)

Monday, August 5, 2013

Little desks

A few days ago, I bought dark wood colored contact paper, although I didn't know why. Meanwhile, my friend and coworker, Lori picked up these half boxes thinking I could somehow use them in my classroom. 


Lori has the best ideas, I swear! She says, why not make little desks out of these! They are perfect for first graders sitting on the floor with their legs stretched out in front of them! And with the wood contact paper (Dollar Tree) they look like real little desks! 


Here I am awkwardly smiling as I am putting the contact paper on one! Haha!


And here I am taping the edges so the contact paper won't come off.


They turned out so nice! I think the kids will really like them and they were really easy to make! We spent 10 minutes (and one dollar) to make each one! Very worth it!

If you are wondering about the box, I took a picture of the side of it side so you could see what it was (we didn't cut the box, it came like that).