need help figuring out big blocks

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4 Blocks Chatboard

need help figuring out big blocks

by fourth grade teacher

Jul 15, 2008

Can someone help? I've used Four Blocks for several years, but am switching grades to fourth and will need to figure out how to use Big Blocks.

Our school has a rotary system for 6-8th grades, and some rotary (to a lesser extent) for 4-5. Our day is split into 50-minute blocks with a bell ringing in between each block. When all is said and done, I have four 50-minute blocks every day with my homeroom to teach math, science, social studies and language arts. It would be easiest (for me and for my students) to plan in 50 minute blocks. I plan on alternating science and social studies units.

Would this make sense?

- writing block 4 times a week - SSR/reading workshop block 4 times a week - science/social studies block 5 times a week (include GR here 3 times a week, save the last 2 blocks for experiments/simulations/hands-on activities) - math block 5 times a week - working with words and class meeting (split the block in half) 2 times a week

Does this ...See More

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Steph/4/TX Wow! You've got a tough schedule! So, do you HAVE to teach in 4 50 min blocks each day? Or can your blocks of instruction be different than the four time periods that your bells dictate? If you have to stick to the bell schedule, it sounds like you are on the right track. Although, I do agreet that you need to make sure you do 30 min of WWW at leas...See MoreWow! You've got a tough schedule! So, do you HAVE to teach in 4 50 min blocks each day? Or can your blocks of instruction be different than the four time periods that your bells dictate? If you have to stick to the bell schedule, it sounds like you are on the right track. Although, I do agreet that you need to make sure you do 30 min of WWW at least twice a week. If you can keep your class meeting short, you should be able to do that without a problem. If you don't have to be constrained by the bells, post your time schedule and maybe we can come up with something different for you!

I also think that your plan for using the notebooks sounds good. But just keep in mind that if you are wanting to do more lengthy assingments or activities in them, you need to plan those for the days that are devoted just to science/SS.

I also moved up to 4th last year after teaching kinder and 1st for 9 years. It took me some time to get all of the Big Blocks books and really figure it out. But, by the end of the year, we were doing great and I loved it! I would love to compare stories as we go throught the year and stay in touch about how things are going! It seems like most of the posters here (although there aren't many) are primary teachers, so it's nice to here from someone else who teaches upper grades!

HTH! Steph :)

On 7/15/08, fourth grade teacher wrote: > Can someone help? I've used Four Blocks for several > years, but am switching grades to fourth and will need to > figure out how to use Big Blocks. > > Our school has a rotary system for 6-8th grades, and some > rotary (to a lesser extent) for 4-5. Our day is split > into 50-minute blocks with a bell ringing in between each > block. When all is said and done, I have four 50-minute > blocks every day with my homeroom to teach math, science, > social studies and language arts. It would be easiest > (for me and for my students) to plan in 50 minute blocks. > I plan on alternating science and social studies units. > > Would this make sense? > > - writing block 4 times a week > - SSR/reading workshop block 4 times a week > - science/social studies block 5 times a week (include GR > here 3 times a week, save the last 2 blocks for > experiments/simulations/hands-on activities) > - math block 5 times a week > - working with words and class meeting (split the block in > half) 2 times a week > > Does this sound like it would make sense? Am I focusing > too much on some things, and not enough on others? > > Also, I have a question about interactive student > notebooks. I'd really like to try them in science/social > studies this year. I'm just not sure how to fit them in, > since they require a lot of processing/responding as > opposed to just reading. Would a 50 minute guided > reading/content block make sense if it were divided like > this: > > 10 minutes whole group - introduce topic, teach > vocabulary, set purpose for reading, etc > 20 minutes reading - textbook, book clubs, 3-ring circus > 15 minutes responding in ISN (to be completed as homework > if necessary) > 5 minutes sharing > > I'm just not sure if I'm trying to do too much by using > Big Blocks AND ISNs. I just don't have enough time in the > day, especially when I compare my schedule to those that I > see in professional books! > > Thanks for any help!

Jul 16, 2008

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SEL (OP) Brad and Steph, thanks so much for the posts!

Steph, I'd be happy to keep in touch over the school year. I'm new to upper elementary, so I konw that I have a lot to learn.

I'll have to think about extending the time spent on word study. I was planning on 30 minutes for words followed by 20 minutes for class meeting. But if my stud...See MoreBrad and Steph, thanks so much for the posts!

Steph, I'd be happy to keep in touch over the school year. I'm new to upper elementary, so I konw that I have a lot to learn.

I'll have to think about extending the time spent on word study. I was planning on 30 minutes for words followed by 20 minutes for class meeting. But if my students need more than 2 WWW blocks every week, I'll have to cut something else out.

I guess I don't HAVE to teach in 50 minute blocks...it would just be easier for me to organise myself and it would be easier for my students because the bell would signal moving on to something new. I just think that hearing a bell that has absolutely nothing to do with us would distract me and them.

My day is different every day. But every day I have 200 minutes of time with my own kids, including a 100 minute uninterrupted (except for the bell) literacy block at the start of the day. Most days, my students have English for 50 minutes (we're a French school, and English is introduced in fourth grade), as well as a special area (music, phys ed, computers) for 50 minutes. We have a balanced day, so 3 100-minute blocks with breaks in between. "My times" are in capital letters.

Monday/Tuesday:

100 MINUTES LITERACY BLOCK (with signal bell at 50 min point) nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) 50 minute music class/phys ed 50 MINUTE BLOCK nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) 50 minute art/English 50 MINUTE BLOCK

Wednesday/Friday:

100 MINUTES LITERACY BLOCK (with signal bell at 50 min point) nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) 50 minute music class/phys ed 50 minute English nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) 50 MINUTE BLOCK 50 MINUTE BLOCK

Thursday:

100 MINUTES LITERACY BLOCK (with signal bell at 50 min point) nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) 50 MINUTE BLOCK 50 MINUTE BLOCK nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) 50 minute computer class 50 minute English

So as you can see, I have 16 50-minute blocks (or 800 minutes total) to play with. Schedules are SUCH a headache! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Jul 16, 2008

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Step/4/TX I think you'll be able to get everything in a lot better if you don't necessarily follow the bell schedule. Do you have The Teacher's Guide for Big Blocks? It has helped me tremendously!!! It says that in big blocks, you should be more concerned with how many minutes PER WEEK you spend in each block, as opposed to 4 blocks which does evey block eve...See MoreI think you'll be able to get everything in a lot better if you don't necessarily follow the bell schedule. Do you have The Teacher's Guide for Big Blocks? It has helped me tremendously!!! It says that in big blocks, you should be more concerned with how many minutes PER WEEK you spend in each block, as opposed to 4 blocks which does evey block every day. In it, here is what they say about your blocks of time: SSR: 120-200 min per week Writing: 150-200 min per week GR: 150-200 min per week WWW: 20 min 2-3 days per week So....If you have 200 min a day, minus 50 min for math, that leaves 150 min a day. I'm just going off of the sample schedule in the book, but what about something like this:

MONDAY 40 min GR/40 min writing/20 min WWW 50 min math 20 min class meeting/30 min science/SS

TUESDAY 50 min GR/50 min writing 50 min math 50 min SSR

WEDNESDAY 40 min GR/40 min SSR/ 20 min WWW 50 min math 20 min class meeting/30 min science/ss

THURSDAY 50 min GR/50 min writing 50 min math 50 min SSR

FRIDAY 40 min writing/40 min SSR/20 min WWW 50 min math 50 min science/ss

That gives you 180 min of GR, writing, and SSR each week, 60 min of WWW, 50 min of math per day, 2 class meetings, 2 short science/ss periods, and one longer science/ss periods for more time consuming activities. (I would definitely use the T/TH GR blocks to read content area text so they are getting science/ss everyday!!)

I don't know...You may like what you already have better, which won't hurt my feelings at all!! But, that's what I came up with!

-HTH! Steph :)

On 7/16/08, SEL (OP) wrote: > Brad and Steph, thanks so much for the posts! > > Steph, I'd be happy to keep in touch over the school year. I'm > new to upper elementary, so I konw that I have a lot to learn. > > I'll have to think about extending the time spent on word > study. I was planning on 30 minutes for words followed by 20 > minutes for class meeting. But if my students need more than 2 > WWW blocks every week, I'll have to cut something else out. > > I guess I don't HAVE to teach in 50 minute blocks...it would > just be easier for me to organise myself and it would be easier > for my students because the bell would signal moving on to > something new. I just think that hearing a bell that has > absolutely nothing to do with us would distract me and them. > > My day is different every day. But every day I have 200 > minutes of time with my own kids, including a 100 minute > uninterrupted (except for the bell) literacy block at the start > of the day. Most days, my students have English for 50 minutes > (we're a French school, and English is introduced in fourth > grade), as well as a special area (music, phys ed, computers) > for 50 minutes. We have a balanced day, so 3 100-minute blocks > with breaks in between. "My times" are in capital letters. > > Monday/Tuesday: > > 100 MINUTES LITERACY BLOCK (with signal bell at 50 min point) > nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) > 50 minute music class/phys ed > 50 MINUTE BLOCK > nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) > 50 minute art/English > 50 MINUTE BLOCK > > Wednesday/Friday: > > 100 MINUTES LITERACY BLOCK (with signal bell at 50 min point) > nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) > 50 minute music class/phys ed > 50 minute English > nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) > 50 MINUTE BLOCK > 50 MINUTE BLOCK > > Thursday: > > 100 MINUTES LITERACY BLOCK (with signal bell at 50 min point) > nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) > 50 MINUTE BLOCK > 50 MINUTE BLOCK > nutrition break and outdoor recess (school-wide) > 50 minute computer class > 50 minute English > > So as you can see, I have 16 50-minute blocks (or 800 minutes > total) to play with. Schedules are SUCH a headache! Any help > would be greatly appreciated!

Jul 16, 2008

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SEL (the OP) with a few more questions Oh, thank you for that! That's really helpful! I hadn't really thought about breaking the 100-minute literacy block into 2 40-minute reading/writing blocks and 20-minute word block. My only concern is that I guess i'll probably be losing 10 minutes in the morning to entry (coming in, changing shoes, unpacking backpack, etc). I don't usually give mo...See More

Jul 16, 2008

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Steph/4/TX I think it's very realistic at this level to do most of your GR using science/ss texts. That's exactly what I do. I do about 2/3 nonfiction and about 1/3 fiction. I try to use a fiction piece every 3rd day or so, but I still try to use fiction that relates to the science/ss topic when I can. I can't always find what I need, so sometimes our fiction...See MoreI think it's very realistic at this level to do most of your GR using science/ss texts. That's exactly what I do. I do about 2/3 nonfiction and about 1/3 fiction. I try to use a fiction piece every 3rd day or so, but I still try to use fiction that relates to the science/ss topic when I can. I can't always find what I need, so sometimes our fiction is just for GR purposes. Plus, you know they are going to get plenty of experience w/fiction during SSR! Especially with your limited instructional time, I think that will be the only way to go!

As far as literature circles, they are used in big blocks, but during GR, not SSR. There are also reading teams and book club groups which are slight variations of lit circles, also done during GR. So, yes it would be completely appropriate to do lit circles, but I would do them during GR.

On 7/16/08, SEL (the OP) with a few more questions wrote: > Oh, thank you for that! That's really helpful! I hadn't really > thought about breaking the 100-minute literacy block into 2 40-minute > reading/writing blocks and 20-minute word block. My only concern is > that I guess i'll probably be losing 10 minutes in the morning to > entry (coming in, changing shoes, unpacking backpack, etc). I don't > usually give morning work, because I want to start instruction within > 10 minutes, but with such a tight 40-40-20 schedule, I'm not sure I > could swing it. But 180 minutes each for writing, guided reading and > SSR is definitely doable. I would have 2 50-min blocks and 2 40-min > blocks of each. I'm thinking that the shorter 30-min sci/ss blocks > in the afternoon could be revisiting what we learned during GR and > responding in interactive student notebooks. > > Is it realistic to plan on teaching most guided reading using science > and social studies text? (By text, I mean tradebooks, articles, > textbooks...a variety of different sources of text) If I focus on > fiction for the read-aloud component of my SSR block, and model/teach > reading strategies for fiction at that time, will that be enough? > > I'm also wondering if it's appropriate to have children participate > in literature circles during the SSR block. I'm not talking about > lit circles with different roles and worksheets, but just groups of > kids choosing among a variety of different books and then meeting to > discuss them. They could either read their lit circle books during > SSR or at home. Would this dilute the SSR block? Or would it be a > valuable addition to it? I can see arguments either way.

Jul 16, 2008

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