A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER

I hope you find this note useful in providing information on your child’s daily
routine. It should also help you pose questions if your child doesn’t share a lot of
information about their school day. “Who is the ‘Star of the Week?’”, “What did
you write about during Writer’s Workshop?”, “What story did you hear?”, “What
specials’ teacher did you see today?”

ARRIVAL- After the children arrive and unpack their backpacks, they move their
attendance magnet to “At School”, take care of their belongings, and then sit down
at their workspace for an arrival activity or a “Book Look” at the carpet.

MORNING MEETING-
v Attendance & Announcements- At 9:00 a.m. we take attendance. In addition,
we kick off each morning by viewing the Woodland Meadows announcements.
What a great way to see our peers update us on school happenings and focus
behaviors!
v Calendar– Many math concepts are practiced during calendar. We read the
day, month, date, and year. Then we go over yesterday, today, and
tomorrow. We make a weather report and we count the days in school.
During our day count we review place value, practice counting forwards and
backwards from random numbers and coins (we add 1 cent for each day of
school attended and once we get enough pennies, we make trades for higher
coins).
v Leader Share- Each week we will have a Leader of the Week. The Leader
will share little bits of information about themselves each day. Their special
“All About Me” book will be on display for the entire week.

MATH WORKSHOP – Our math program is Everyday Mathematics by the

University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. It is a program designed to
engage students in mathematical activities that develop number sense, use
geometric relationships and collect and analyze data. We schedule math activities
for 4-5 times a week. The students will participate in math activities/games,
journals, and technology assisted math. The students will receive optional “Home
Links” (homework) at the beginning of each new unit.

READING WORKSHOP – Reading Workshop begins with a mini-lesson (direct

instruction), followed by time to practice skills in centers. We repeat this cycle
two times with one final mini lesson at the end of the workshop to share out our
learning. During Reading Workshop time, the children’s center work includes
phonics activities, listening to stories, reading to self, partner reading, and skills
practice using technology (iPad applications). The most individualized center is
“guided reading”. Your child will come home with books at their level to read to
you. I do a great deal of teaching reading through literature, poems, etc. Our mini
lessons are from Lucy Calkins’ Reading Workshop.

PHONICS- Our Lucy Calkins’ Phonics program parallels the work we do in reading
and writing. This program uses systematic, explicit instruction to build phonemic
awareness, decoding and fluency skills. Students engage in whole group and
individual work sporadically throughout the week.

eSPARK- Students will begin by taking a placement assessment. ESpark will

differentiate instruction, each student’s learning path aligns to his or her skill
level, goals, and learning style.” Learn more about this standards-based learning
opportunity for math and reading here: https://www.esparklearning.com/espark/

BEST FIT – This is a multi-tiered (MTSS) literacy model in First Grade to give all
students the opportunity to make adequate gains in reading. At this time, all
children will be placed into homogenous groups based on skill level in order to meet
their reading needs. This will take place 4 to 5 times per week for 30 minutes per
day. This is in addition to their classroom reading instruction. These groups will
be closely monitored and regrouping will take place every 6 to 8 weeks based on
their changing needs.

LUNCH – 30 minutes

RECESS – We will go outside everyday, weather permitting. Recess is

approximately 20 minutes long. There will be days where we take extra time to be
in the fresh air (3-5 minutes brain breaks).

SPECIALS – The children attend special classes everyday. These classes run 72
minutes and include P.E., Music, Innovation Lab, Art and Media.
READ ALOUD/SNACK- Children should bring 1 snack from home and are given 10
to 15 minutes to eat while listening to a read aloud. Please provide your child with a
daily snack for the afternoon.

WRITING WORKSHOP – Five times a week the children are involved in a Writing
Workshop. I begin the workshop by bringing the children together for a mini-
lesson. During this mini-lesson I give explicit, direct instruction on a specific
skill/genre of writing. Then the students go off to their workspace to practice
these skills. I then circulate around the room to confer with students individually
or in a small group. The writing workshop ends with the children returning to the
carpet to share their work and I reinforce the teaching point.

INTERACTIVE WRITING- Interactive writing is a powerful instructional medium

for teaching phonics, spelling principles, rimes, writing conventions, and other key
early writing skills. This is different than the instruction that takes place in our
daily “message” because during this time the teacher and student share the pen to
create text.

SCIENCE and SOCIAL STUDIES - We rotate between science and social studies
lessons to learn about seasons, weather, life cycles, basic needs, hereditary traits,
and scientific inquiry. This year we will continue to work with Project Lead the
Way- This program empowers students to adopt a design-thinking mindset through
compelling activities, projects, and problems that build upon each other and relate
to the world around them. And as students engage in hands-on activities in
computer science, engineering, and biomedical science, they become creative,
collaborative problem solvers ready to take on any challenge. In social studies, our
focus is on global awareness, equity and the world beyond our classroom walls.

GENIUS HOUR and STEAM - Genius Hour is time set aside in class for students to
study a new idea or skill that they choose and are passionate about once a week for
a set amount of time. Students will continuously research, create, reflect (blog
out) and present their learning during this process. Genius Hour is on Fridays from
approximately 2:30-3:15 p.m. STEAM activities (Science, Technology, Engineering,
Arts and Mathematics) are engaging self directed lessons that usually present a
problem or a task that students need to solve using creativity, critical thinking,
collaboration and communication to get through successfully.
These activities are sure to be a student favorite for the year!

LEADER IN ME - Leader in Me is an evidence-based, social emotional learning

process—developed in partnership with educators—that empowers students with
the leadership and life skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. Students
will participate in weekly lessons centered around “The 7 Habits of Happy Kids”.
Students will be given leadership jobs in the classroom and set/track their goals
both in the classroom and throughout the school building.

First Grade is a wonderful next step from the instruction and foundation built in
kindergarten. We are off to an exciting start! I want the children to share with
and support one another, treat their materials, each other, and me with respect.
As the year goes on, the children will have settled into the routines of first grade
and be able to perform them automatically and with growing independence.

I am looking forward to a great year and can’t wait to get to know all of the
SPECIAL children in my class!!