Let me start with this year. The schedule I was given from my administration, has me working with grades one, two, and three. Our building is K-4 only. My morning schedule until noon is all spent in the classrooms. My own office/room is merely a dropping zone....I drop off my things in the a.m. and barely get there all morning to check emails. I do begin my morning with a little second grade boy who is struggling in math. We spend ten minutes together working on math skills in my office that are requested by his teacher. We've been working on fact fluency and playing various card and dice games, working on tens buddies, and this upcoming week we have skip counting by fives, as he was the only one in his class who couldn't do that, making counting coins difficult for him last week. From there I head back to his classroom and his teacher is extremely thoughtful of how my time is spent in her classroom. In addition to the two of us, she has a student teacher and pretty much we have a whole group lesson and then break down into small math groups, all teaching the same skills. The students get the advantage of all three of us during the week, benefiting from our various styles.
From there I head next door to another second grade class. They pretty much are working on the same math program, but there are two intervention teachers in there along with the classroom teacher. Instruction is delivered whole group and we all three circulate to trouble shoot and work with various tables around the group. The interesting thing about heading next door as this lesson is often the same lesson taught next door, with a totally different teaching style. I love comparing the two styles and acting as a go between offering suggestions to both teachers, and I am able to work out some of the kinks that exist and misunderstandings students may have by working on the same lesson twice.
Then I head to third grade math. This is a cool time of the day as I really enjoy the teaching style of this teacher. It's also amazing that they are working on the same skills in math as my second graders, but they are extended in the intensity level, which helps me with my second graders in knowing where they will head next! I also love that I have had many of these kids in the past so I have the personal connection with many of them. And the double bonus is that I have recess duty with this grade level, which allows me to get to know those who I don't know well on a more personal level!
Next stop, first grade! My true love. I work with a first grade teacher who I think is phenomenal. And it's Readers Workshop time. We are just getting into our routine but I am looking forward to seeing my emerging readers take off! That truly is the magic of first grade. Plus notice I said "my" as my colleague has no problem sharing her kids with me and making me feel like an integral part of her classroom.
This takes us to noon time. From here I have a quick lunch, playground and lunch duty and I'm back on the clock at 1:00. Here my third grade struggling readers arrive. We all have a long history together and are getting our feet wet with Orton Gillingham together. They all have been with me in intervention for several years, and I am looking forward to seeing if this is the intervention that can truly make a difference for them.
Two groups of first graders follow, with one little ESOL second grader thrown in who is on the same level. These groups are fun and we are currently working on how to put sounds to paper and it's been a CVC party the last few weeks. My ESOL colleague even told me our little guy was writing and wrote his sound boxes on his paper to write "cat". That boy is absorbing like a sponge! LOVE IT! We have a group lesson and then a few days a week for about 10 minutes, I let them play "games" which reinforce the skills we have worked on that week. The flow of these two groups is just as I anticipated.
Then it's back to Orton Gillingham with some struggling second graders. We are starting in the same spot as my third graders, although will not move as fast as the third graders most likely. These four little people are extremely distracted and the multisensory approach is going to be fabulous for them.
Oh...can't forget my planning period which is when everyone is leaving the building and it's very noisy, and I'm exhausted! That's my only minor gripe! So I am usually not that productive, I get ready to leave for the day, and continue my work at home after my long drive home!
So that is currently my day at a glance. The thing I have learned is that this is the schedule for now. It most likely will not be the same for the whole year. Just "go with the flow"!
Until Next Time,
Taryn
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