Half-day Kinder Schedule

Putting together my daily schedule for this coming school year has been a bit of a nightmare since I am going back to teaching half-day kindergarten after a year of teaching full-day. Three hours is just not long enough to squeeze everything in! I am waiting for the day my school district decides to do away with half-day for good! I know some of you other half-day teachers were interested in my schedule, so here is what I'm planning for this year:

Half-day Kindergarten Schedule (A.M. Class)

8:45 Arrival and Seatwork (handwriting practice or independent reading from book boxes)
9:00 Shared Reading (alphabet chart, poems & big books)
9:10 Writing Workshop (mini-lesson, independent writing, and then sharing)
9:40 Guided Reading Groups & Literacy Centers (three 15-minute rotations)
10:25 Recess
10:40 Specials (art/music/P.E./technology classes)
11:05 Math (10 minutes each for: calendar, math lesson in workbook, and 1 math station)
11:35 Theme work (quick science/social studies activity or read aloud)
11:45 Pack-up
11:50 Dismissal

I didn't post the schedule for my P.M. class because it looks pretty much exactly the same, I just do everything all over again with my afternoon class from 12:20-3:25 p.m. The most important thing for me as I made my schedule was that I carve out big chunks of time EVERY day for the kids to have guided reading and centers (45 minutes), writing workshop (30 minutes), and math (30 minutes). My half-day students will be going to first grade with kids that have been in full-day kindergartens so they need to spend lots of time on literacy and math each day so that they aren't behind.

You'll notice that lots of things on my schedule only get 10 minutes. A 10 minute mini-lesson is totally doable though! Especially in the afternoon class, because you'll have already taught that EXACT same lesson in the morning and you'll probably be better at teaching it the second time (at least that's what I remember from teaching half-day in prior years).

For my 10 minute shared reading lesson, we do the alphabet chart each day, and then usually just work on one poem or big book per week (although depending on the length of the big book and poem, sometimes you can do both). I have found that having some sort of weekly schedule for shared reading works best when you have so little time. For example:

Monday: introduce the new big book/poem
Tuesday: work on new vocabulary and comprehension skills with the book/poem
Wednesday: work on concepts of print (locating: first word/last word, specific letters, spaces, punctuation, counting letters and words, etc.)
Thursday: work on sight words in the book/poem
Friday: work on rhyming words/word families in the book

This way you make sure you cover lots of different skills throughout the week, even though you only have a tiny bit of time each day (in full-day kinder I had time to do many of these things everyday in shared reading).

I have set aside 30 minutes for writing workshop each day since I think it's really important for kindergarten kids to practice writing every day. I plan to spend about 10 minutes on my mini-lesson-this will usually be a modeled writing or interactive writing lesson. Then I will give students 15 minutes of independent writing at their seats. I will end with 5 minutes of sharing time (I let one table share per day). 15 minutes isn't much for independent writing, but my students will also visit the writing center each week during literacy center time, so they can also work on their writing then as well (and of course we practice writing skills during guided reading groups some days).

I think math is going to be my biggest challenge. In full-day I had so much time that I could teach my lesson in the workbook and then still have a full half hour for my students to do math work stations. This year I will only have 30 minutes for math each day and that will include my calendar time. My plan is to start the year splitting that 30 minutes into three 10-minute sections. So I would start with 10 minutes of calendar, then do 10 minutes of whole class math in the workbook, and then finish with 10 minutes for the kids to do 1 math station with a partner. By January, I plan to do calendar every other day since the kids will have many of the basic calendar concepts learned by then, so this way some days my kids will have an extra 10 minutes to do a second math work station. Actually, I have found that doing calendar every other day when you teach half-day kindergarten is ideal. One day you can do calendar with your morning class and then the next day you can do calendar with your afternoon class, and this way you can avoid having to re-set the calendar and everything else that goes with it on your lunch break so your second class can do it all over again.

Ok, but what about the fun stuff? Well, each class gets 25 minutes a day for specials. Then they also get 15 minutes each day for recess as well. I like to do indoor recess some days instead of going out to the playground so that they can have the chance to do some play centers (housekeeping, blocks, puppets, art, etc.) because my centers during our literacy center time will be more strictly academic (writing center, library center, alphabet center, work work center, pocket chart center, big book center, listening center, etc.). I also try to squeeze in some fun theme-based stuff at the end of each day-but I only give 10 minutes for this. If we have a longer project or craft to go with that week's science/social studies theme, then I will have to end math a little earlier to squeeze in some extra theme time. I also try to make sure the poems/big books I read with the class during shared reading go along with whatever theme we are studying that week.

Finally, my biggest tip is just to stay flexible. Teaching half-day kindergarten is tough-especially when you have colleagues teaching full-day and see all the awesome stuff they have time to do. I think it's okay to occasionally throw out the schedule for a day and do some of those fun activities-we still have 100 day, holiday parties, assemblies, and other days where we just cannot keep to our schedule and that's okay because most days the kids are getting lots of academic instruction even in half a day.

I also don't make myself stick to my schedule the first 6 weeks of school-you are so busy setting up the classroom community, having everyone get to know each other, and working on learning rules/routines/centers/etc. that it is impossible to get with the schedule right away in kindergarten. I also like to have the freedom to spend more time on alphabet activities the first 6 weeks since many of my students come in not knowing their letters and so I don't introduce writing workshop right away so that I can have more alphabet review time. The first month of school we do one letter per day-once that's through I start up writing workshop. Same with guided reading, first 6 weeks we learn and practice centers but I don't pull groups (although hopefully I can squeeze in time to do some initial assessments in between monitoring their attempts at centers).

I find that with half-day I also need to rely on the parents a lot. I send home flashcards and books for the kids to read each night, and I ask the parents to help kids practice things like the alphabet, sight words, and numbers at home since our school day is so short and we just won't have as much time as I want to practice those skills.

Have you decided on your schedule yet for next year? If so, please share! I'd love to see how my blogging friends will be spending their school days- and of course share any scheduling tips you have!

Half-day Kindergarten

This post is for my friends that are teaching half-day kindergarten...and it seems like there aren't too many of us anymore! This year I will be moving back to teaching half-day kindergarten, so I thought I would share some of my tips for keeping organized.

In my school district, we offer both full-day and half-day kindergarten classes, but parents have to pay tuition if they want their child to be in a full-day classroom. The half-day kindergarten teacher in each school teaches two half-day classes, an A.M. class and a P.M. class. That means I'm gearing up for potentially 40-50 students here, estimating that their will be 20-25 in my morning class and 20-25 kids in my afternoon class. So, organization is a MUST!

My biggest half-day tip is color coding everything. I assign each class a color- this year my A.M. class will be red and my P.M. class will be yellow. That way, you know at a glance just by looking at the color, whether something belongs to the A.M. or the P.M. class.

Here is a picture of the cubbies in my classroom. The bottom part of each cubby where backpacks and coats go will be shared by an A.M. kid and P.M. kid, but the top has a small space for each kid to put their personal supplies (red owl tags for A.M. and yellow owl tags for P.M.).

I also put 2 nametags at each table seat. The regular-sized nametags you can buy at teacher stores are too big to fit 2 at each table seat, so I cut up sentence strips I got at Dollar Tree. I know some half-day teachers just skip table nametags altogether, but I always have tons of kids that start school not knowing how to write their name, so I feel like I have to have each child's name on their table spot to help them learn to write it. Again, I use color coding, so each table spot will have 1 red and 1 yellow nametag (I won't write the names on the tags until my class list is finalized!).

In my district, 40 minutes of guided reading is required each day- doesn't matter if you teach half-day or full-day. So...I had to make sure I was organized for a whole lot of guided reading groups, since I will be doing it each morning and afternoon and could have 4 or 5 groups in each class. I'm using red baskets and folders for my A.M. class and yellow baskets and folders for my P.M. class. I absolutely LOVE these baskets from Calloway House because they are divided onto 3 sections so I can keep the group's guided reading books for the week in one section, their journals for writing/word work activities in one section, and my folder with lesson plans/running records in another section.

I love those little baskets they have been selling in the Target Dollar Spot the last few years. I have tons of them in all different colors due to my Target addiction. This year, I will use one of the red baskets to hold the math books for my A.M. class and one of the yellow baskets to hold the math books for my P.M. class. When I taught full-day I just had them keep things like math books in their chair pockets, but that is just too much stuff for one chair pocket with half-day kids sharing the chair pockets now.

For my behavior system, I use a clip chart with apples. I clip clothespins onto the sides of the chart and the kids all start each day on the green apple. As they get warnings in class, I move their clip down progressively (to the yellow, "orange," and red apples). The apple chart under the red owl is for A.M. and the chart under the yellow owl is for P.M.

One of my literacy centers is the pocket chart center. I have a big pocket chart at this center that usually has some sort of poem or song that you can put students' names in. For example, we will start the year with "Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?" in the pocket chart. Then students can take nametags with their classmates names/photos and insert them into the poem to read it. I will use the red pocket chart to hold all of the A.M. students' nametags/photos for the pocket chart center and the yellow pocket chart for the P.M. students (these little pocket charts are the ones Target sells in their Dollar Spot each summer).

I know at this point you're probably thinking I'm a bit crazy to take the color-coding so far, but honestly it really helps. I do it with absolutely everything- even their take-home folders and their writing journals. In terms of assessment, I keep a red binder for my A.M. class and a yellow binder for my P.M. class, and then I also have hanging files for each student as well (you can buy colored tabs to put at the top of each hanging file if you want to color code these too).

I will be sharing some of my other half-day teaching ideas as well as my half-day schedule later this summer as I continue getting organized for the upcoming school year...should be fun to try to figure out how to fit in guided reading, writing workshop, and math work stations (not to mention everything else) in under 3 hours!

I would love to hear tips from other half-day teachers out there! Us half-day teachers have to stick together and help each other out!

Math Work Stations

I don't know who loves math work stations more-me or my students! It is one of the few parts of our day that is actually going very smoothly. Here's what we're up to this week:

Station 1: Counting Game

(The kids count how many objects are on the picture card and match it to the corresponding number card. Each kid  in the partnership gets their own little baggie of picture and number cards to work with.)

Station 2: Apple in my Lunch Game

 (Kids roll a dice and place a cube on the apple that has that number. This game is from Mrs. Wills' Back to School Math Work Stations Pack-you can download it on TPT here. I have slightly adapted Deedee's awesome game, and give each kid  in the partnership a gameboard and whoever covers all of their apples first wins.)

Station 3:  Lego Spin and Graph

(Students spin the spinner and then color in what color lego they spun on the corresponding graph-download this free game here)

Station 4: Zoo Game

(Students roll a dice and then place that many zoo animals (actually erasers) on their math mat. Download the free math mat here)

Station 5: Race to Trace

(Student roll the dice and trace the number they rolled on their paper. Download this free game from Sharri Sloane here)

Station 6: Lacing Bead Patterns

(Students make patterns using the lacing beads Target was selling in the dollar spot this summer)

Station 7: More or Less Game

(Kids each take a picture card and count how many objects are in the picture. Then they spin the spinner to see if the kid with more or less in their picture wins the cards. This game is also from Mrs. Wills' Back to School Math Work Stations Pack-you can download it on TPT here)

Station 8: Lego Patterns

(Students pick a paper showing a lego pattern, copy the pattern using the legos, and then try to extend the pattern (actually I think these blocks are technically called Duplos). To download this free game click here)

Station 9: Pattern Block Exploration (Sorry-forgot to take a picture!)

Station 10: Making Numbers out of Wikki Stix (Again sorry-forgot to take a picture!)

I really like how much math practice my kindergarteners are getting each day as a result of the math stations-and they are working on reinforcing so many different math skills too! One thing I haven't decided yet is how often I will change the math station tubs out. Right now they are getting to do 2 math stations a day, so they get through all 10 in the course of a week. So I am thinking they should be able to go at least 2 or 3 weeks before I change them out. And I have also considered just changing the games slightly to make them more seasonal so the kids are working on the same skills but with different clipart or game pieces that will make it seem fresh. I really hate to take too much of my math time to teach them new stations (because it took forever to teach them these, model correct behavior with each game, etc.). Of course I'm sure that I'll always have a few math work stations that focus on whatever skills we're learning in our current math chapter and then the other stations will all be review.

I'd love to see what stations everyone else is doing for math (or for literacy!). Please share any ideas or tips you have!

Gearing up for week 3!

After 2 weeks with my new kindergarten students I am still feeling exhausted! This week was better than week 1, but the improvement is slow. I certainly have a few little ones that are testing my limits! I think I just have a rambunctious group this year! This week I am planning to work a lot more on getting to know each other, building community, and developing social skills. Anyone have any good suggestions of activities or books for doing this? Here are two books I know I need to read because we have had a few little incidents!

      

Our class just doesn't feel like a family yet, and my kiddos are starting to get on each others' nerves by the end of the day! I did not have these challenges with my students last year, but I know each group is different. We have been working a lot on classroom behavior and learning our routines. I have always used a stoplight for behavior, like the ones below that have green, yellow, orange, and red apples and kids' clips are moved after a warning.

However, I felt like this class needed a bit of an extra incentive, and since we are working so hard on using quiet voices in the classroom, I made us a jar for "quiet critters" and whenever the students are working quietly, cleaning up quietly, walking in the hall quietly, etc. we can earn them.

So far it is working and the kids are very excited about earning "quiet critters" (they are actually just some pom-pom critters I happened to have lying around, but I told the kids they only come out when it is quiet-they don't like noise!). When the jar is full we'll earn a class treat. I'm thinking maybe some popcorn and watching the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD. 

Even though my kinders have been a bit of a challenging bunch, one thing that has been going very well for us are our literacy and math work stations. These are my favorite times of the day. My kids are already pros at reading the work board and figuring out what stations they are assigned to for the day, and they have learned a lot of different station activities already. I have always done literacy work stations, but this is the first year I am doing math work stations. Honestly, I just can't believe I never thought to do math stations before, because they are so wonderful. My kids love their stations and are learning so much-and of course it is freeing up lots of time for me to assess kids (and hopefully I can start working with small groups soon).

I will have to post more on our work stations later in the week-I really need to get back to blogging regularly again - I miss all of my blogging friends! I hope the beginning of school is going well for all of you and that you're not feeling quite as tired as I am!

Exhausted!

Wow-after just 3 days of school I am exhausted! I'm thrilled tomorrow is Friday-I will really need the weekend to recharge and get ready for a full week of kindergarten next week.

I can't decide if I have just blocked out my memories of how difficult the first week of kindergarten is, or if my class this year is just extra challenging! I just don't remember it being this hard last year!

The worst parts of my day by far are the transition times-I truly dread having to get them all organized for lunch and dismissal-and lining up and walking down the long hall  to our special classes (art, music, P.E.) takes forever. I know it will get better as they get into a routine-but it is so hard to be patient and remind them 100 times about the right way to do things in school. I have been trying to use little songs and rhymes whenever possible to help things along.

I have been pretty ambitious this week and started both my literacy stations in the morning and math work stations in the afternoon. We have been reviewing and modeling what they can do (and can't do) at each station every day (boy does this take a long time!) and also doing lots of whole class reflection after each station about what went well and what they want to try to do better. For the most part the stations have been VERY simple (for example some of the math stations were pattern blocks, number puzzles, counting bears, and making numbers with wikki stix). I've also been keeping the rotations very short! I think I let them do each station for about 8 minutes- because that was about how long they could focus and I really don't want them getting into any mischief at their stations! So far my kiddos have mastered a few important rules like:

1. You can't leave your station and wander around and pick a new one!
2. You can't put anything at the stations in your mouth-seriously!
3. After stations we go out to recess (okay how can they not remember any of the rules and procedures we talk about yet half the class remembered that recess was right after our literacy stations! I guess they only remember the really important stuff!!)

I was feeling a bit down after the first two days of school since they were so very challenging- but day 3 today went a bit more smoothly. Maybe that's because we started off our day with an introduction to Pete the Cat, who the kids absolutely adore. We kept singing his song, and reading his books, and watching his YouTube videos every chance we got today and that helped keep everything upbeat!

Another big hit today was the "magic playdoh"-I have to thank Jill at Marvelous Multiagers for this idea. It was truly magical as no one ate the playdoh and no playdoh ended up stuck in the carpet or crumbled in chair pockets or smashed in children's hair! They really just played with it-and pretty quietly too! The magic part is that you put a little dot of food coloring in the middle of the white ball of homemade playdoh and as the kids roll the playdoh around in their hands it changes colors. The kids were amazed-and there were tears when I suggested the playdoh stay at school so we could play with it tomorrow instead of bringing it home!!

I hope all you bloggers out there have a good start to the school year and if you have any words of advice-please share!

Classroom Pics!

I feel like I have been living at school lately! After putting in some VERY long hours this last week I feel like my classroom is finally coming together. I'm not sure I'm ready for school to start tomorrow though! Here are some pictures of my kindergarten classroom (I have taken so many great ideas from other bloggers-as I'm sure you'll see in the pics-so please don't think I came up with everything!).

This is the view you get when you first walk through the door.

Here is my whole group teaching area.

Here is my calendar wall (my math work station tubs are numbered and ready to go on the shelf below).

Here is my classroom library-it is my favorite part of the room!

Here is a close-up of one of the library shelves.

On top of this shelf is the leveled section of my library.

I plan to read the class many stories from this comfy green chair I got at Target.

Here is my bulletin board with my lovely tissue paper flowers hanging above.

Here is the writing center.

Here is the alphabet center.

Here is the drama center-so many puppets!

Here is my art easel and my sand table (which is full of play-doh activities right now).

Here is the housekeeping center.

Here is the listening center.

Here is the science center.

Here is the pocket chart center.

Here is the blocks center (later in the year the big book center will be here on the rug).

Here is where I keep my word work activities.

Here is my guided reading table.

Looks like the kids will have a great view of the playground as I am trying to teach them!

Right next to my guided reading table is my "teacher area" to help keep me organized!

Here is a view from the back of the room.

You can see my 4 student tables and then past them are my cubbies against the side wall.

I have a few more pictures I'll have to post later in the week-but right now I'm off to prepare my plans for the first day of school! Hopefully everything goes smoothly tomorrow-I'm getting a little nervous since I have 21 students this year and I've never had so many before (I know lots of you bloggers have even more students than that-so I'll just be thankful I only have 21!).

Several bloggers are having classroom photo linky parties. Head on over to "Pocket Full of Kinders", "Thoughts of a Third Grade Teacher", and "Teaching Blog Addict" to link up and check out all the neat classroom pics!

Looking for Math Games?

I'm super excited to be starting math work stations in my classroom this year. I know my kindergarten students will benefit from all of the hands on math practice! Here are a few math games I've created-I'm using the little foam shapes from Target's dollar spot as game pieces, but you could certainly use something else!

Pick a Coin

Pick A Time

Number Match: Back to School Edition

 

Just click on the titles of the games to download your own copies!

If you're interested in more uses for the little foam shapes, head on over to the Target Treasures blog where I am guest blogging today. There you'll find my top 10 list for ways to use foam blocks.