I haven't fired up my laptop since relocating to our temporary housing #1 and it's difficult to post and comment with my ipad, so I am bringing out the big guns today to bring you this post--
I woke up to an email in my inbox from my lovely team partner
Mrs. Bee this morning alerting me to the fact that we had received some scheduling info from our principal via district email. I immediately checked it out and Mrs. Bee's lament was confirmed--half day Kinder classes do not have specials this year.
::sigh::
With only 2 hours and 20 minutes to cram in everything we are mandated to do, it is challenging to find time for specials. Last year we started with 10 minutes each of Library, PE, and Music in our classrooms. The time flew by and it was a little cramped, especially for PE, but the kids loved that time of day and the activities were great to break up the very academic lessons that we do with them. By mid-year, we started doing 30 minutes of PE in the gym and the kids would just have PE once every 6 day rotation rather than twice. By the end of the year, we also added a 30 minute computer/library checkout session once every 6 days as well and we started bringing our kiddos to the Music room rather than having our Music teacher come to us since his room houses all the great instruments and it's literally just down the hall from us.
At the end of last year, our Librarian positions were cut, so I am guessing that the schedule change for our specials is a result of that. I am sure it will be more challenging to fit in specials now that we no longer have three different specials to attend, but we are still disappointed that specials have been entirely removed from half day Kinder.
The nature of Kindergarten has changed so much in recent years leaving the children with a very rigorous, fast-paced, academic session devoid of play time, recess, and daily snack. We are constantly rushed with our short half days and although as the teacher, I would love to gain the additional time with my kiddos, I know how much enjoyment they get from Mucic, PE, and Library, so I am sad for them. I am hoping we can arrange to have at least one PE session per rotation, but I understand that the master schedule for the entire school has undergone changes and it may not be simple to "just add us in once."
Bummer.
At least now, I have a copy of the schedule and I can start to figure out how my day will go. I still have 30 minutes of pull out ELD for some kiddos, so my day pretty much revolves around when those kids leave. The morning class is scheduled to have ELD from 9:30-10:00, which means I have 40 minutes with the kiddos once they return. Last year, there were only 10 minutes once they returned, so it was story time and then we got backpacks and headed for the bus. That was nice, so I am trying to process what activity I will save for last because it's difficult to get something productive accomplished once they return. I know this because my afternoon class had ELD last year from 1:15-1:45 and then we had ten minutes before specials followed by 20 more minutes of class time, which meant math at the end of the day was really tough to get through. Also, we frequently have issues with the children not being returned exactly on time, which makes it difficult to transition smoothly into a new activity upon their return.
Lots to think about.
I think the morning will go like this...
8:10-8:20 morning work at tables
8:20 Announcements immediately followed by good morning song and transition to morning greeting carpet.
8:20-8:30 Greeting time, review daily schedule, morning message of sorts, review of letter of the week/sight word of the week==> transition to the new carpet (fingers are crossed that our amazing new carpets will arrive in time for the first day of school!!!)
8:30-9:00 Fast Track Phonics lesson (first part at the carpet, writing part at tables)
9:00-9:30 Math- Start at the carpet for daily math routine, then go into lesson. The Daily Math routine has some movement and this year I am going to add music to it, so this can be a more active time prior to the lesson where the kiddos most likely sit.
9:30-10:00 ELD. This will be the time where I do my daily activity with the kids who remain (Math games on Monday, Travel Tuesdays, Words on Wednesdays, Thoughtful Thursdays, Flexible Fridays). Hopefully I can train the kiddos well enough so that as soon as the kids return from ELD, we can quickly clean up and transition to the last activity of the day.
10:00-10:30 Additional Reading/Sight Words. Last year in the PM class, I found it was much easier to have kids doing more hands on things during this last block as opposed to sitting and listening to a math lesson. During this time we do things like paste die cut letters to make our sight word of the week, letter looking, letter cut and paste etc.
10:30 Star of the Week
10:40 Dissmissal
I used to do star of the week at the beginning of the day after our greeting, but this year I am going to try it at the end of the day. Hopefully it doesn't feel as rushed.
The PM schedule will be different because the ELD block is closer to the end of the day leaving only 10 minutes after the kiddos return. I can do Star of the Week at that time, but only if the kiddos returning are on time. I guess I have a little bit of flexibility because the buses sit outside for 10 minutes after the bell, so it's not like we need to leave the room exactly at 2:25, but I prefer for my kiddos to get on the buses earlier than the older kids. I also have to figure out if I want to do straight Reading/Literacy and then Math or put Math in the middle to break up the phonics lesson and the sight word practice.
And, this is based on the schedule that was sent to us, which is subject to change....
What are your thoughts on half day Kindergartners not having specials? I waffle in my perspective...sometimes feeling like it's such a short day at school that they can certainly play when they are not at school, yet on the other hand, I feel like getting to know the specialists, being exposed to those classes, and walking in the hallway are all very important parts of school that might as well start in Kindergarten.
How do you configure your daily schedule? We are required to teach certain things for certain lengths of time, so I don't have a ton of say, but I do try to make sure that the kids have enough transitions and are not sitting for too long. My daily schedule works best (for me) when it is very consistent, especially since I have two different groups of kiddos with difference schedules). I can keep track better if we basically do the same thing at the same time each day. That inevitably gets interrupted, but for the most part, I try to keep things consistent.
