6:00 a.m.

I wake up and start the morning routine: coffee, breakfast, and get dressed.

6:30 a.m.

I grab my bags and hop in the car to drive to school.

6:45 a.m. – 7:15 a.m.

I arrive at school and check and respond to emails.

7:15 a.m.

Student helpers from years past come in my room to put down chairs and pass out papers.

7:15 - 7:45 a.m.

I get the classroom ready for the day. I post the day’s objectives on the board and get worksheets and books ready.

7:45 a.m.

I pick up my students from the music room and start the morning meeting.

8:00 - 8:30 a.m.

The students are at workstations while I meet with two reading groups for guided reading.

8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

During this time we do Reader's Workshop where we read two books for the whole week and focus on different objectives each day.

9:00 - 9:30 a.m.

During whole group phonics time, we practice sounds, sight words, and spelling words phonetically. 

9:30 - 10:00 a.m.

Students go to another round of workstations, while I meet with the remaining two groups for a guided reading lesson.

10:00 - 10:20 a.m.

During guided/independent writing, students get out their journals and write about our topic of the day. I circulate around the room making sure students are using spaces, capital letters, and punctuation.

10:20 - 10:25 a.m.

Clean up time! Students set up nap mats, and line up to go to Spanish.

10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

This is Spanish time. During this block, I usually go to the restroom, have a snack, answer more emails, and lesson plan. Every other week, I have a meeting with my instructional coach.

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Every other week, my partner teacher in 1st grade and I switch lunch and recess duties. During our break, we eat lunch and relax, while the partner teacher has both classes.

12:30 - 12:40 p.m.

Restroom break

12:40 - 1:30 p.m.

While the students are napping, I lesson plan, answer emails, make worksheets, etc.

1:30 - 3:00 p.m.

Our math block includes a one hour lesson and 30 minutes of workstation time, where I meet with one group.

3:00 - 3:30 p.m.

In Kindergarten, we alternate daily between science and social studies. Students learn about healthy bodies, trees, presidents, and community.

3:30 - 4:00 p.m.

At snack time, we might watch a BrainPOP video, or read a fun book outside. This is fun time for students to talk to each other and pack up for the end of the day.

4:00 - 4:45 p.m.

Students are at excellence classes (soccer, P.E., art, music, and technology), and this is our grade level’s common planning time. We have meetings once a week, and the other days is reserved for individual planning time.

4:45 - 5:15 p.m.

I walk my class and another outside for dismissal and get to interact with parents and siblings, which is something I really enjoy!

5:15 p.m.

I leave the parking lot and head home, but I keep my KIPP phone next to me, just in case one of the staff members calls me.

6:00 p.m.

When I get home, I eat a quick dinner, or go out with friends. I keep my KIPP phone with me until about 8 p.m., when I turn it on silent. I answer parents’ calls about homework or other activities throughout the week.

7:30 - 8:30 p.m.

I veg out in front of the TV and watch one of my many pre-recorded shows.

8:30 p.m.

This is when I start my wind down routine. I pack lunch for the next day, shower, and pick out my outfit.

9:30 p.m.

I get in bed and read a little out of one of my books. It helps me relax and fall asleep before I wake up and repeat!

5:30 a.m.                       

I roll out of bed, put myself together, and prepare food for the day

6:20 a.m.

I drive to work listening to the radio and eating breakfast.

6:45 a.m.

I arrive at work and ensure that my classroom is in order and the whiteboard is configured, so when the kids come in, everything is ready. I quickly check my e-mail to make sure I didn’t miss anything new.

7:00 a.m.

I go downstairs to the cafeteria to begin my morning duty — checking homework. Students who did not follow directions or complete all of their assignments will need to be on “silent lunch” until they correct their mistakes.

7:30 a.m.

Kids come upstairs to my room where they finish breakfast and work on morning work while I continue to check homework.

8:00 a.m.

My homeroom students are dismissed to their classes, and my first class arrives. They do their “first five” entry routine while I take attendance. After five minutes, I greet the whole class and make an announcement about the school store. We then check homework and clear up confusion. The remaining 65 minutes consist of a lesson, practice, an exit slip and then our final five procedure.

9:20 a.m.

My first class is dismissed, and I have a planning period. I am in charge of “paychecks” (a behavior management system) and “tickets” (whole school notes that go home to be signed and returned), so I use this time to hunt them down. After making copies of the paychecks and passing them to teachers, I check my exit slips from the first class.

10:00 a.m.

Second class begins.  I repeat the lesson I taught my first class.

11:20 a.m.

I walk my class to lunch. All the teachers are on lunch duty either checking off assignments with kids that are on silent lunch, or they are monitoring other students. I eat my own lunch in between reviewing assignments and doing check-ins with students. 

12:00 p.m.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays I have a second planning period, and I use this time to check exit slips, diagnostics, or unit tests. On Mondays after lunch, another teacher and I lead 5th grade PE. On Tuesdays, the 5th grade teachers have our grade level meetings, and on Fridays, we have no second planning period to accommodate the early release of students.

12:40 p.m.

It’s time for tutorials. I work with a group of 10 to 12 students for almost forty minutes on basic math skills.  Today we review multiplication and division.

1:20 p.m.

Last planning period of the day. I prepare my copies for the next day and then ensure that my PowerPoint presentation and any other materials are ready. After this, I update my tutorials tracker, answer e-mails, and finish up any other grading or tracking that needs to be done.

I have one-on-one meetings with other teachers 3 times a week during this time, and sometimes I’ll schedule parent conferences during this time as well. With any leftover time, I begin planning for the following week.

2:40 p.m.

Last class. I repeat my math lesson from this morning for this group.

4:00 p.m.

The kids are grouped by ability for study hall. I work with another group of 10 to 12 students for more tutorials. I also work with the 5th grade bankers to make sure they are correctly making student deposits.

4:55 p.m.

Kids are dismissed. I take the bus riders down to busses to make sure they are not running or pushing.

5:15 p.m.

I place some student work on the walls and organize my desk a bit. Usually I will use this time to plan a bit more. I would rather plan at school during the week, so I don’t have as much to do on the weekend. In January, I will start after school tutorials for 1 or 2 days a week.

6:15 p.m.

I pack up my stuff and drive home.

6:45pm

I work out.

8:00 p.m.

I eat dinner. I have a large crock pot, so I’ll fill it up, cook, and then eat that for three days straight to save me time.

8:30 p.m.

I answer missed calls and check e-mail again.

8:40 p.m.

Shower

9:00 p.m.

The day is over. Our kids just finished MAP testing, so I could look at the data and set up tutorial groups using that info, but today I’d rather just relax. Tomorrow during my planning periods, I’ll try to put the data together and send it out to the team.

10:00 p.m.

Bed time.

5:45 a.m.                  

I wake up, walk Paco (my dog), and get ready for the day. I pick up a couple of things for lunch and snacks since it will be a long day with no time to leave campus for lunch. Plus, today is a Triple P night (Parent Night), so I will be at school until about 8 p.m.

6:30 a.m.

Leave for school to beat the traffic in the morning.

7:00 a.m.

I arrive at school. I sign in and check my email to see if there is anything I need to know for the day. I make sure that my board configuration is updated and place the handouts for the day on the table by the door, so students can grab them when they walk in.

7:15 a.m.

I go to the cafeteria, where all the students are eating breakfast. I have one-on-one check-ins with students at this time. I also walk around the cafeteria making sure students are ready for the learning that is going to take place today.

7:45 a.m.

First period begins. I teach about the components of a social movement using the civil rights movement as a case study. The class consists of a “do now,” Cornell notes on the components of a social movement, a video with reflection questions, a reading with guiding questions and annotations, and a graphic organizer. Before kids leave for their next class, they must also complete an exit slip, so I can check their mastery of the day’s objective. I use the information from the exit slips to determine my goals for the next day’s lesson.

8:55 a.m.

The bell ending 1st period rings. I collect the exit slips. Second period is my planning period, so I then leave my classroom and walk the halls to ensure that students are not late to class.

9 a.m.

For the rest of my planning period, I grade students’ “Documents Based Question” Essays (DBQs), so I can give them feedback on their writing, evidence, and analysis skills.

10:10 a.m.

The bell rings, and third period begins. I teach the day’s lesson all over again, making a few timing adjustments based on first period. I walk around and speak to each student to make sure the objective is being met. At the end of the class, I issue the exit ticket and collect it when the bell rings.

11:25 a.m.

Fourth period begins. I begin the lesson for the day. The adjustments from first period really made the lesson flow more smoothly.

12:45 p.m.

Lunch begins. I warm up my lunch in the teacher work room, and I make my way to the cafeteria to start lunch duty. My colleagues and I catch up and monitor the lunchroom. During lunch, a student stops me to ask for help about last night’s lifework (homework) assignment. I sit down with the student for the remainder of lunch and assist him.

1:15 p.m.

The bell rings for fifth period. After lunch, students tend to be a little bit more chatty than usual, so I jump right into the lesson to get them focused and back on task.

2:35 p.m.

Sixth period begins. This is my second planning period for the day. I again monitor the hallway. Once the bell rings, I go back into my classroom and review the exit slips from 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th period. Based off of data gathered from their exit slips, I realize that many students did not understand what “mobilization of resources” meant. I then look at my lesson for the next day and change my “do now”, so I can reteach the concept at the beginning of class. I print off the handouts for the next day and make tomorrow’s copies. Getting my copies printed the day before makes life so much easier the next morning.

3:45 p.m.

Seventh period begins. I begin the lesson, but I spend a little bit more time explaining “mobilization of resources” based off of the information from my previous classes’ exit slips.

4:45 p.m.

I pass out the afternoon snack, and the students eat snack while they work on the exit slip.

4:55 p.m.

Students begin to clean up their workspace and throw away any snack items.

5 p.m.

I collect the exit slips; then I walk out to the front of the school for car rider duty. I make sure that students are getting to their cars safely and keeping the sidewalks clear.

5:15 p.m.

I come back to my classroom and check the exit slips from my 7th period class. I see that they mastered the question about “mobilization of resources” thanks to the adjustments I made for their class.

5:30 p.m.

I set up my board configuration for the next day, so I will not have to do it in the morning.

6 p.m.

Triple P night begins! Parents, teachers, and staff eat a pot luck dinner and then teachers go to their classrooms to get ready for parent conferences.

6:30 p.m.

I stay in my classroom speaking to various parents about the progress of their students. I have grade reports printed out, so I can give detailed information about each student to the parents. I have about 20-25 parents come conference with me.

8:15 p.m.

I leave campus and go home.

8:45 p.m.

Thank goodness I ate dinner at school! I come home, walk my dog, take a shower, and relax. I’m glad I graded the DBQs and made my copies already because today was a long day, and now I have time to unwind.

10:30 p.m.

I check my email one more time to see if there are any updates. I then head to bed.