Planning out a daily schedule is always so hard for me. How long for each subject? What should I teach in the morning? When are students at their intervention pull-outs? The list goes on, and fitting it all in can be difficult. I share my 4th grade daily schedule and discuss what each block looks like. Hopefully, it can give you a little inspiration while creating your own schedule.
What a fun link-up this is! Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Lucky Little Learners started a monthly link-up for teachers to share about the topic of the month. This month the topic is: schedules.
We have a master schedule at my charter school this year. I wish that I could teach math in the morning. Maybe next year.
Morning Routines
First thing in the morning, we take care of jobs, attendance, pledge, and announcements. Homework Handlers check in homework from the hot spot, and the Planner Pro checks planners to make sure they’re filled out and signed from the previous night.
ELA
My school has the Houghton Mifflin Journeys reading basal. Three years ago, when we started using the program, I loved it. Not so much anymore. Now that I’m no longer in survival mode of being a new teacher, I’m using my planning time more wisely. I’ve studied the CCSS and looked over the scope and sequence of the program, and while they say the whole program is common core aligned, I’ve found that it’s not. There’s a lot of wasted time in the program spent on material that’s not even in the CCSS for 4th grade. I use some parts of the program still, but not like I used to.
I use Utah Compose every Thursday during our first block of ELA. I each 4-Square Writing on the other days. I don’t give spelling homework this year but give weekly writing homework instead. Our writing has improved tremendously this year! I’m so pleased.
I’m subscribed to Scholastic News and Time for Kids, which we use with Comprehension Toolkit. We also use 6 Minute Solution to work on fluency every day.
Our 4th grade class read alouds are The Lightning Thief, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Little House on the Prairie, and The Lemonade War.
Science
Since science is state tested beginning in 4th grade in Utah, science needs to be taught daily. I love teaching science! The topics we cover in our curriculum are so fun and interesting – weather, water cycle, soil, fossils, rocks & minerals, and Utah’s environments, animals, & plants. We’ve finished up all 5 standards this year, and right now, we’re working on researching a plant and animal from an assigned ecosystem in Utah. Students create a book and a diorama, then we have a big celebration and invite the other grades and parents to see!
Unfortunately, we do not have a textbook or anything for our science curriculum. It’s all Utah based in 4th grade, so we can’t just choose any science textbook for my school to purchase. Luckily, UEN has amazing resources and lesson plans to use, so I don’t have to pull it all out of the sky completely.
Flex
Flextime is exactly that – flexible. Twice a month, we have specials, and this is when those get fit in. Students have music, art, P.E., and keyboarding for 20 minutes each, twice a month. I know, crazy, but that’s what we get at a charter school. Our Jr. High teachers teach music, art, and P.E., and our teaching aide teaches keyboarding. The lack of specials is why we have so much recess in our schedule.
Also included in this time block are social studies on Mondays, business/finance/leadership on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and health on Wednesdays. Once a month I’ll fit in an art lesson, too.
Math
My school has the McGraw-Hill MyMath series. I like it. I feel like it’s easy to follow and does a good job laying out the lessons for the kids. The only thing I wish it had was some sort of review/spiraling concept within it.
Students also do Monster Math multiplication and division timings daily. My kids seriously love it. We also take the time during our math block to practice previous and current topics through project-based learning activities, centers, task cards, and games.
