Since joining the instagram teacher community, I have received lots of questions about how we run things in my classroom. One of the most frequently requested topics is my daily schedule. Quite honestly, I planned on writing a blog post a few months ago on this topic, but it's actually really challenging to write about! Scheduling is tough. period. I am going to post about my schedule from this past school year (2017-2018). I plan on making major changes to my schedule next year, but that is for another blog post!
My Classroom Dynamic
It's important for you to know how much assistance I have in my classroom before I post about our schedule. I have 7 students, 3 of which require a one on one paraprofessional for significant health needs. I have 5 paraprofessionals assigned to my classroom. Our district also hires "reduction aides" who come in over our lunch hour so that our para's can go to lunch. They are hired for 2 hour time blocks, and they basically "relieve" our aides so that they can eat.
Where to Begin
When considering my scheduling, the first thing I do, is "assign" paraprofessionals to a student for the year. Our district rotates paraprofessionals every year, so I always have new para's to train. When assigning them students, I take in to consideration their personalities, their strengths and their weaknesses. I want it to be a good pair. Honestly, sometimes it doesn't work out. I may realize within the first two weeks that my match wasn't a good one, and I'll change it. This happened to me twice this past school year. After I have decided whom is going to work with who, I create a chart and start plugging away. I add in the gen ed times first so that I know I'll need coverage for those specific time frames. I also gray out the boxes below to let me know that they don't start until a specific time. Our district only hires "part time" paraprofessionals, so I have to stagger their start and end times so I have coverage throughout the day.
My master schedule
Greeting
We meet our students at the door. I like to make sure we are the first thing they see in the morning, and we all wait in the commons together. Once we have everyone together, we head back to the classroom to begin our day.
Morning Work/Check-in
We make sure to do the same routine every single day. Our morning work consists of the following routine:
- unpack backpack
- put lunch box in bin
- put folder in basket
- name work
- breakfast (for those who eat it at school)
- check-in
- sensory break
I have a post on my instagram page about how I differentiate their name work. We work on those consistently, every day. Our check-in system is also on my instagram page. We use boardmaker studio and students will drag their names to here/not here. This helps us work on identifying our names out of a field of 7. Once my students have completed all of their work, they have a bit of sensory and/or free choice. I set a timer, and when the timer rings it's time for our morning meeting.
Name Practice differentiation (see my instagram for videos!)
Boardmaker Studio Check-in
Morning Meeting
I have a blog post dedicated to this topic. Check it out for more details on this routine! It is definitely an essential part or our day. This gets things off and rolling, and sets the tone for learning.
Calendar Time at Morning Meeting
Writing
In the schedule above, my kindergartners go out to recess during my writing block. This gives me a chance to work with my older students who are working on typing skills. We use the keyboarding without tears program. I have also dedicated a post to how I structure and differentiate my writing block. Click on the writer's workshop tab to the right of this post if you want some more information on that!
Writing
Reading
While the kindergartners and third graders are out of the room, it's just me and my second grader. We do one on one reading time. She is working on Edmark, sight word recognition, and spelling during this time. My other third graders go to another intervention specialist who is teaching LLI for enrichment. We co-teach based on student abilities, so if I have students who are the level she is teaching reading, they will go to her. If she has students who are at my level, they will come to me.
Co-Teaching Block
I schedule an entire 30 minute block in my day for co-teaching with my related service providers. This is my absolute favorite time of our day. I plan on doing a more detailed blog post on how we do this in the future, so for now here is our co-teaching schedule:
Monday- AAC Group: focusing on introducing new core vocabulary through play with our SLP
Tuesday- Center Time (no therapist, just rotating centers and reinforcing newly learned skills)
Wednesday- OT Group- Fine motor activities through play
Thursday- Language Group: Language focused activities with our SLP
Friday- Center Time (no therapist, just rotating centers and reinforcing newly learned skills)
Sample Center of reinforcing skills. Core word focus: Open, OT skill: Open tissue paper
IEP rotation
Our district has built in an "enrichment/reinforcement" block in everyone's day. We call this Q-time. Students can travel to different teachers for either enrichment or reinforcement. Since I am doing intensive interventions all day long, we use this time to work specifically on IEP goals. I have them broken into 2 groups and have a rotation schedule for them. Each day they work with a different adult on IEP goals. Their are schedules in their IEP bins on the activities I want them to do and a data collection sheet for the para. We use this time to really focus on their goals, collect data, and I love that the students get the opportunity to work with a new adult every day.
Unique Learning System
With my higher level students, I schedule a block to work on the content from ULS. With my lower level students, I am integrating this into their IEP goal work and rotations. I like to integrate those topics for them that way they are getting the content, but at their own level and it's meaningful to them.
Math
Right now in Math, my students are all over the place as to different levels. One student is working on double digit addition, one is working on one to one correspondence and my lowest level learners are working on sorting. So this time is truly difficult. We also have NO math curriculum. I shouldn't complain, because a lot of districts don't have curriculum for anything for units like mine, but after being spoiled with unique, and leveled literacy intervention, not having a math curriculum is challenging. During this time, I rotate working with students. One day I will work with my higher level, while my paras are working on math skills with my lower, and then we switch.
1-1 rotation
1-1 rotation is basically the same thing as IEP rotation but the activities for this one are math based. This is where we hit the math IEP goals, and really focus on everyone's individual need.
How do you manage your scheduling? I personally feel it's one of the most challenging things about our job as special educators! I hope this helps if you are in a schedule rut!
