What Goes On All Day?

I team teach with Mr. Mansfield. I teach reading and writing, and he teaches math, science, and social studies. We each teach the Social Emotional curriculum to our own homeroom students. Students spend time in each classroom every day.

Class Meeting: We have a class meeting three days a week. This is our time to discuss things happening in our classroom community, as well as get focused on our personal or collective intentions for the day. We may play a simple communication or cooperation game during this time, talk about problems that have come up in class, check in on project status, or read a picture book as a lead-in to a lesson.

Reading: Our literacy block is organized using the Daily 3. It is called this because there are three parts to it: reading, writing, and meeting with a small group. The main feature of Daily 3 is that students are able to make choices each day on what they read and what literacy activities they practice. During this time (an hour and a half each day), students are becoming better readers. This is also the time where I am meeting with reading groups.

We also have a block each day where we focus on vocabulary and grammar skills.

Writing Workshop: We practice writing in our classroom using a workshop model. My students will write a personal narrative, persuasive essay, informational text, poetry, tall tales, etc. this year. Writing Standards can be found here.

SEL: Our social emotional curriculum is called Lion's Quest. The focus in fourth grade is on community building, personal development, social development, heath and prevention, and leadership and service.