What our day looks like in 2nd grade {Schedule Freebie}

I try to keep our schedule pretty consistent because it helps our class run smoothly. Every morning, students come in take out their journal and answer the prompt on the board. Sometimes, it’s just a question, a story starter, or something where they have to show their understand of what we’re doing in science, social studies, math, or grammar.  On Wednesdays, they do “Wednesday Whatever,” and write about anything at all.

While kiddos are writing, I take attendance, answer any parent e mails, and all of that other morning business that’s required. 

When the timer goes off, students are trained to put all materials down and share with their partner. I use my number shaker and call on 3 friends to share with the class, for a chance to earn the writing award. 

They put their journals away and look at our daily schedule. If I forget to change it, they’ll definitely let me know. These schedule cards are so easy to use. I just laminated them and stuck a piece of maget from my magnetic roll.

Here’s a sample of our entire day

We always do a Go Noodle brain break before we start Phonics. 

With Common Core, we are lacking curriculum from a publisher, so our district has created it and it’s pretty good. Each week, students are introduced to a new sound and spelling for Phonics, as well as six sight words. We play different games each morning to reinforce the skill. They love ANYTHING from my HFW packets!

I come up with random ideas during lessons, so we use our whiteboards often. Kiddos keep their “whiteboard” materials at their desk for easy access.

We also work on Word Study at this time. To meet the needs of all of my friends, I’ve got 5 different Word Study groups.  I’ve been using this program from Kathy Ganske for 9 years and it’s amazing. I love that everything is differentiated.

Time is a bit limited so we don’t spend as much time with Shared Reading. I love using this Project GLAD process grid. It’s a great visual to keep track of the skills we’re learning.

Literacy Workshop, or Centers is my most favorite time of the day. It’s organized chaos where so much learning is going on. I have 5 table groups, which means 5 centers for the ENTIRE week. The groups are heterogenous and I love that because they are responsible for their team. Each team has a container with their tasks and they work on it together.

I’m all about Balanced Literacy so the tasks look like this:

Here’s a short video that shows how I organize the materials for the week.

When students are done with their work, they put it in the turn in basket according to their number. No more “There’s no name, whose is this?”

Students know to complete any unfinished work and then choose a literacy box, which is like a may-do center and includes things from my “I’m Through, What to Do” resource. Administrators and other teachers are always so impressed how independent my kids are. I especially love that they never ask me what to do. It makes running reading groups so much easier. I never have to worry about what so and so is doing across the room.

When the timer goes off, students clean up automatically. I walk over to our Literacy Workshop area and I let the team who cleaned up the best, walk to lunch independently, which is a BIG treat in our class. 

We have a duty-free 45 minute lunch. I make sure the room is cool and music is playing when lunch is over. The lights are off and the kiddos come in and put their heads down to decompress. I loved when my teachers did this growing up. When the lights come on, I do a Read Aloud and my friends with unfinished work, complete it. Once the story is over, we do another brain break. That’s the cue for my little slow pokes to put their work away and join us.

We start math with a number talk, which has revolutionized how my students think about numbers and use mental math. We typically do a lesson and then work independently or with a partner. Not having a proper math book has been a huge adjustment because I have to make so many copies. I got tired of it so I’ve cut back and use whiteboards, task cards, and math centers.

I fell in love with math centers when I taught a combo last year. I keep them in our math area and kiddos pick one when they’re finished with their work. They’re great for early finishers. Find out how I set math centers up.

After math, we transition into writing.  We do a weekly writing process piece based on what we’re learning in class.  Since we’re teaching narrative, informative, and opinion writing throughout the year, we tie that in as best as we can.  At my school, we’re big on cross-curricular teaching, in order to fit everything in.  We’re fortunate to have chrome books once a week so we use them to create our drafting piece.
After recess, we typically have our specials, which include Art, P.E., Computer Lab, Music, and Science Lab.  When the kiddos don’t have pull outs, we are working on Science and Social Studies.  I’m big on hands-on activities that are engaging and fun.
I hope you were able to learn a few things while you snuck a peek into our day.  I’d love to help you get organized with a set of schedule cards.

Click on the above photo to download them.
Join some of my other friends to see how they set up their day!