G. Johnsen

Posted on 7/24/09

Mary - I have a few ideas...hopefully you can use something
from this...

First off, I'm a HUGE supporter of chunking time. I believe
it helps you take advantage of student focus during the
day. :) I split my time into three parts: an hour
for "Protected Reading Time" (required by our district), 45
minutes for Language Arts, 15-20 minutes for a mini-lesson.
I'm certain you could fit this into your time frame if
needed. I do this structure EVERYDAY.

During protected reading time (9-10am), I rotate and meet
with small groups (3 or 4 groups, up to 6-7 kids per group).
While they are not meeting with me, they work on literature
projects, language arts games/websites on the computer,
partner read, or independent reading activities at their
level (basically, I create rotating centers - start easy.
This time is leveled and differentiated for them.

During the language arts block (mid-morning), they correct 2
sentences on the board (2 mistakes per sentence), then move
on to their 1 vocab word for the day. As they're doing
activities for their vocab word, I am walking around spotting
their sentences and making correction marks. After we go over
sentences and vocab together as a class (and they correct
theirs), we do Measuring Up!. In Measuring Up!, you're
focusing on one ELA standard per week (or thereabouts).

In the last 15-20 minutes (usually after lunch or afternoon
recess), I teach them a quick mini-lesson. e.g. spelling
patterns, idioms, synonyms, etc.

I find this to be very easy management-wise. Also, they know
exactly what to do every day...without my immediate
assistance! It's great. I also believe in keeping things
simple - not too many different types of concepts or problems
all at once. I like them to focus and get really
good/comfortable with certain skills.

Hope you find this helpful!

On 7/22/09, mary wrote:
> I have never taught language arts/literature before. I'm
> apprehensive about how to structure my 85 min block of time
> five days a week. I'm very 'left' brained and need routine
> to get through this. I'll listen to any advice.

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