A Day In My Shoes Linky Party

Today I've got the day off, and I've been puttering around my apartment getting various things cleaned and organized, and then I'm about to head to my classroom - I know, I know, a day off and I'm going to school. But, I really can't think of anything else I'd rather do (besides maybe go shopping, and my bank account can't handle that right now). I have the whole afternoon to work in my classroom without any student interruptions or other teacher distractions, so I'm going to take advantage of it - plus, on Friday, my students got to launch the catapults they built and designed, and it took us right up until dismissal time to get it all done, so my room is a mess! 

Before I head out, though, I found a new linky party to join. This one is is called A Day in My Shoes, and it's hosted by Katie Klohn from Adventures of A 6th Grade Teacher. Head over to her blog if you want to link up, too!

Here's my typical day:

6:00 - My first alarm goes off on my phone. My alarms are all labeled, and this one says "Time to wake up!" The subsequent ones that follow are: 6:15 - No, seriously, wake up!, 6:25 - You'd better be up and dressed by now!, 6:35 - Time to be in the car! Do NOT still be in bed! Needless to say, I'm usually just getting out of bed by the 6:35 alarm. Oh well. 

6:35 - Get dressed, brush my teeth, figure out how to tame my mess of curly hair (I shower at night and go to sleep with my hair wet - some mornings my hair looks presentable; most mornings, it goes into a low bun or ponytail). Heat up tea to take to go (I hate coffee but I love chai tea - I buy chai tea concentrate and it tastes JUST like Starbucks - I just can't figure out how to "foam" my soy milk like they do - that's how Starbucks gets me!).

6:45 - Make sure kitties have food and water; grab tea, teaching bag, and purse and get my butt out the door.

7:00 - Arrive at school. Have to go through the front door by the office because they don't have an ID badge swiper for the doors by my classroom. Usually there are already kids waiting by the time I arrive - always makes me cringe because if my day feels long, I can't imagine how long it must feel for a child who is already at school by 7:00. Head to my room; unpack, check e-mail, make last minute copies or arrangements, if necessary. 

7:20 - First bell rings, kiddos descend. Students are expected to put away their folders, turn in homework, put their lunchboxes and backpacks away, then get started on their morning work. Sometimes I make them packets that last for the whole week; other times it varies from day to day. Every Friday, I write a prompt on the board and my students will write about it in their personal journals.

7:40 - Tardy bell; announcements start. We have a 5th grade AV team, and they broadcast the morning announcements live every morning. It's pretty cool, and my kids get to go on every few weeks or so to help say the pledges on air. 

8:00 - Check morning work using projector and document camera; move in to math lessons. I have several kids that get pulled for intervention classes during the morning, so I try to get started with math as soon as possible so they don't miss much. 

9:45, or thereabouts - Word work/vocabulary study - basically our time to focus on that week's spelling pattern or language arts skill. When we work on our spelling words, the activities vary from dictionary skills, alphabetical order, syllable sort, word finders, or anything else I can think of to make it more fun. The language arts activities also vary, depending on how far into the skill we've gotten.

10:15 - Intro to science or social studies, whichever I'm direct teaching that day. Science usually ends up being the subject I spend time direct teaching, since there are usually hands-on activities and experiments that go with it, so our social studies lessons usually end up being integrated into my guided reading or read to self stations (Daily 5, really, but my kids have taken to calling it read to self stations, so that's what I call it!). 

10:30 - Snack and recess. A break! Thank goodness - and since the weather's been wet and cold, we've been having indoor recess recently, and it's been great having an extra chunk of free time to answer e-mails, get myself ready for the next lessons, etc. 

10:50 - Specials/my conference time. Kids will either go to art, PE, or music, and this year, they've clustered our kids by gender, not by teacher, so ALL of the third grade boys will go to PE together, and then the third grade girls are then split into art or music - it's been a really good thing for the kids and for the specials teachers, because they get to focus more on the specific needs, wants, and social skills of boys and girls. While the kids are gone, I'm usually responding to e-mails, copying, working on the rest of the day's plans (especially my guided reading schedule), meeting with my team (if we need it), and taking care of various errands. We have a "quick copy" service at our school, and we can send off the copies we need to make to them and they'll have them back to us the very next day, in most cases, which is awesome (and it doesn't count against our copying code, so it's basically free for us!). But, it does take a lot of planning ahead to make sure you get it sent in on time, because as I've found out, just because you request it to be ready by a certain date, they do get backed up and it's not always for sure going to come to you on time, so the earlier you can request things, the better!

11:35 - Pick kids up from specials and continue with science lessons. 

12:25 - Lunch! Third grade has the last lunch of the day, so I have to make sure my kids get to the cafeteria on time because not only are they starving by this point, but the cafeteria ladies need to get my kids served so they can start cleaning up and get on with their day, too! By the time I get my kids to the bathrooms and handwashing station and then in to the cafeteria, I usually have about 20 minutes left for myself to eat and do whatever else I need to do, so that usually involves eating while doing other things. I keep a lunch bag of snacks at school so that I do not have to pack my lunch every day, and it has been a huge time saver in the morning, and I think it keeps me healthier! I always have cheese, apples or clementines, crackers or pretzels, and almonds on hand - sometimes I have chocolate milk, too (not from the school, though; my boyfriend's mom keeps me stocked with the Costco organic chocolate milks, and they satisfy me completely if I'm craving something sweet!). 

1:00 - Pick up kids from lunch; back to the room for a read aloud from our chapter book (which I need to start tomorrow - I haven't started one yet since we've been back to school, that's so terrible!). Then we move into guided reading and read to self stations. I've followed the Daily 5/Cafe ideas, and made it work for my class. Students don't get to choose the "station" they go to, unless that station has choices within it. I have 4 stations, and the kids start off at that station with their group, and they must complete that station's activity/assignment before they can move in to read to self. My stations are always changing, and to keep things short here, I'll tell about my stations in another post. As soon as students are done with their assignment or choice from their assigned station, they move right in to read to self. Since reading time does come at the end of the day, however, I have a few kiddos who start to get mighty restless and have a hard time remembering what good readers do - I have to give a lot of redirection while I'm trying to focus on my small group, so I need to find a good way to hold my independent workers and readers accountable.

2:30 - Bell rings; chaos ensues dismissal time. My folder people do their job of passing out everyone's folders, my paper people do their job of passing out graded papers or fliers or any other info pages that are supposed to go home to parents; as soon as everything has been passed out, my bus riders get dismissed first, then my walkers, then my car riders and day care kiddos. Students are expected to stack their chairs before they get their belongings, but every day I always have a few scattered chairs, as well as left behind coats and lunch boxes. I swear I wasn't that scatterbrained when I was in third grade!

2:40 - Depending on my dismissal duty (we rotate jobs on my team), I'll take the bus riders to the buses, take the walkers outside to the gym, or wait with the car riders to take them outside after the buses leave. Then the day is over and I go home! Haaaaaaa yeah right.

Depending on the day, I will either have a team leader meeting (Mondays), Destination Imagination practice with my 4th and 5th grade group of kids (Tuesdays and Thursdays), a faculty meeting (Wednesdays), team meetings (Thursdays), or RTI meetings (Tuesdays). I also work out every day that I'm able to with my co-worker - we've been trying to get in at least 3 workouts a week, but she also has a DI team, and she's also the team leader for her 5th grade team, so it doesn't always happen. But, we have really been making it a priority to squeeze in a work out before she has to pick up her daughter from daycare, and my body has been burning thanking me now that I'm on a more regular work out schedule.

Usually, I'm headed home by 5:30 or 6 - most of the after school meetings last until around 4:30, so I prioritize and get those things that must be done at school done first (printing, copying, etc.), then I'll load up my teaching bag with things that can be done at home (grades, lesson plans, etc.), and hopefully head out the door before the sun goes down. If I'm not able to get a work out in at school, I'll do that first thing when I get home, or else I won't do it. Then I make time for myself, to read my blogs, surf Pinterest, answer personal emails, etc., then do whatever else I need to for the evening - dinner, shower, grading, work on crafty things for my much-neglected Etsy shop, etc. I have been much better at making meal plans for myself, and that has greatly reduced my need to go to the store after work. Now that I'm planning ahead for my meals, I do all my grocery shopping over the weekend, and then I'm set for the week - I don't mind coming home after a long day and cooking, because I actually really like to cook, but if I've had to battle it out for a parking spot and stand in long lines at the store before I even get home, then cooking's not gonna happen. My boyfriend helps me cook, which makes the process go faster. Sometimes we'll go out, and sometimes he stays up at his place and doesn't come over at all, and if that's the case, who knows what I'll end up doing for dinner.

Just typing all that out makes me tired - do I really do all that every day?! No wonder I slept in til nine this morning. Of course, that doesn't even include the things I have to do for certain students - the modifications I have to make, the behavior charts I have to keep up with, the reteaching lessons I sometimes have to do with those kids who haven't quite gotten it yet - and the interruptions during the week like counselor, library, computer...but, crazy schedule and high demands aside, I seriously love my job, and I have a wonderful support system at school that includes my team, my administration, and the parents of my students - they definitely help make my job and my day-to-day happenings easier.

I hope you are all enjoying your day off - don't be a crazy person and go to school like I'm about to do!