A pond
is an active place. It is bursting with activity, noise and life. Our little learning pond is much the same. It is bustling
with activity as children make new discoveries about the themselves and the world around them.
The central hub of the learning pad is the watering hole (carpet area). Here we hold our class meetings, group lessons,
listen to stories, and share together.
Our day begins with morning devotions and Bible. The children come in, greet their friends (just as we do when we get
to work) and then gather in the community meeting area (the watering hole) for Bible devotions.
Following our devotional time we move into writer's workshop. This is one of our favorite times of the day. Each workshop begins with a mini lesson that teaches
us something about becoming great writers and authors. After the mini lesson, kids have the opportunity to try out the things
we have been learning as they write from self selected topics.
We break for recess at 10:00 for a brain break and refresher.
Following recess we regroup for
Math MAGIC. Our math time focuses on real world mathematics. We spend extended time using many strategies to solve
mathematical problems. All kinds of manipulatives are available to the students to model mathematics. We model
math, apply math strategies to improve our fact accuracy, play games to reinforce math skills, work independently and
make connections to the real world. We are very active during our math workshop!
By
this time we are famished and ready for lunch and recess!
After lunch we
get right back into work with our study of language and spelling. Here we study
word patterns, spelling rules, do word building and have fun exploring the written language. We also learn about language
structure and grammar.
Reader's Workshop is next. It begins with a read aloud
and a group lesson, often focusing on a particular reading strategy I want the kids to try out. During reader's workshop children
dive into reading as they work on their personal learning targets. Kids can choose to read alone, with a friend, in a book
club or digitally (ipod, laptop, etc.). They read from just right books of their choice to better their reading skills. During
this time I confer with children helping them develop reading skills and strategies at their instructional level. The room
is a busy place during reader's workshop. We end reader's workshop with a sharing circle where we share our learning.
Science and social studies bring our learning
day to a closure. It's a great way to end the day. We use many read alouds to explore American history and science
topics. We explore, discover and sometimes get a little messy as we actively learn about God's world.
Our day ends with a time of reflection
and packing up our learning. We review daily targets, share aha moments and reflect on how our day went before packing
up to go home.
Our day is full of fun and learning!
