multiage

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Home : 2001 : December : 3

multiage
By melanie

Wow, it would be difficult to do guided reading without multiple copies, even though you might only need two or so copies. For the first graders you might even invest in some of those books at the teacher store that have
ready to make Little Books that you could print up for them. You just run copies off their masters and then staple them together. I use them quite a bit. It doesn't take horribly long to set up the work folders and you don't need a lot of premade stuff to start. The time you will want to spend is teaching HOW to work independently. WHERE is everything, HOW do they do it, WHAT to do if

they have a question (I don't let kids interrupt me during guided reading), etc. I try to cover as many literacy areas as possible, however
I do have a separate writer's workshop and spelling time. If you buy Word Matters it will go into detail explaining the spelling program. It has been a great tool for me. My daily schedule is as follows:
7:50 - 9:15 Guided Reading, Ind. Centers
9:15 - 9:30 Spelling
9:30 - 9:50 Recess
9:50 - 10:00 Calendar Math, Shared Read
10:00 - 11:00 Math
11:00 - 11:25 SSR
11:25 - 12:10 Lunch
12:10 - 12:35 or so I read them a book
12:40 - 1:00 Writers Workshop
1:00 - 1:15 Recess
1:15 - 1:40 Writers Workshop continued
1:40 - 1:55 Interactive Writing or other
2:00 Home!
As you can see, my district is concentrating on literacy and math. They encourage social studies and science to be integrated within the curriculum. It does work out fine in primary grades but I'm not sure about intermediate. This is my second year with a multiage class. Last year I absolutely hated it, but this year things are working out so much better. I think I like it! I will keep my first graders for the next two years. The start of the second year was a breeze! I didn't have to teach my former students the rules, procedures, etc. Stick with it and hopefully you will find out it's pretty neat, too.