fitting it in

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fitting it in
By Cathy-Dee

I've taught for 8 years now and I don't think I've ever completely finished everything in my units. I do try to cover all the major areas that we are supposed to cover, but some may get covered better than others and you
can't always foresee how the year is going to progress. This year I'm behind in my math units, we had 2 weeks in January where 50 to 70% of the students were away because of flus. And I also had a student teacher this year so we spent more time on one unit than I probably would have if I had been teaching it myself and not training someone new. So we are behind. I will still cover the

areas we haven't done yet, but they will not be covered as extensively as I may have done with a bit more time. I always let the grade 2 teacher know of any areas that were streamlined so that she can pick them up if the students need more work in them.

Each year you will get better at deciding which units require more time, what time of year is better for certain units and how to time yourself to cover them all.

A method I have used (not this year unfortunately) I saw in another school. On a large piece of paper, the teachers made a chart with every month along the top and every subject on the side. Then they slotted in all their themes, topics, etc., for each month. They could then quickly glance at the end of each month to see where they should be and when they should be finishing up a unit to go on to the next. It was great for me as at the time I taught in this school I was replacing a teacher as a sub, so I was able to quickly see what she had covered and what still needed to be covered.