I used Darryl's days in the hospital and worked on some lesson plans. With K-5 it is key (at least in my mind) to find a balance between key subjects like reading, math and phonics, the fun subjects like Science, History and PH and the skills like handwriting and "calender time" all while remembering that at this age you only get a couple of hours out of the kids at the most. Our schedule is pretty straight forward - I just broke our morning up into 15 or 30 minute segments. The plan is as follows:
9:00-9:15 - Calender time. Yes, quick and to the point. Just going over the date, weather and a little time study.
9:15-9:45 - Math. We'll go through "Life of Fred" each day for about 15 minutes and then they will have workbox work to do (I'll get into work box stuff at a later date). They will have Math Worksheet(s) and Handwriting to work on during down time.
9:45-10:15 - Phonics. We'll work on our SSWR lesson and workbook pages
10:15-10:30 - Break time and snack time as needed.
10:30-11:00 - Reading - This is the time we will work on Five in a Row lessons which will include reading the story and doing some quick activities.
11:00-11:30 - This time frame is busy. I would like to do some basic US Geography (very, very basic), go through lessons in our Science Magazines, do some PE Lessons on a few days, ect. We may do some cooking (which counts a science, right?) We may do learning games or computer games during this time too. So, as you can see, it will vary based on the day.
11:30-12:00 - The boys will need to finish up any worksheets not done and then will be able to do an activity in their workbox until lunch which could include computer time, a game or reading or . .yes, just play time.
I will not be super strict about the time frames. Some days we may finish Math in 20 minutes so we'll move right on into Phonics. Or if a reading activity takes longer on a given day we will skip the "extra" stuff that day.
The other strategy I have decided to do is to plan in groups of 6 weeks. The lesson plans include 5 weeks of straight plans then, week 6 is mostly "catch up" on subjects. We may be current on everything except Phonics so we'll spend time working on phonics lessons but take a break from the other stuff. This week is also a great time to plan a field trip or give the boys the opportunity to go to Papa and Nana's house for a few days. OR this "Sixth Week" allows freedom in the other five for the extra things because I know we can catch up before hitting the next 6 weeks.
The boys are getting excited about school especially when I tell them that by the end of the year, they will know how to read. I'm excited about it too! This is what many of my days consist of right now:
Planning, Planning and more planning!!
