Scheduling--Making Time for Inquiry

When talking with other teachers about implementing inquiry based learning in my kindergarten classroom, one of the first questions I am asked is, "How will you fit it all in?" In order to answer that, I think it is best to start by sharing a copy of my weekly schedule:

I will give a brief explanation of each part so that you can see how it will all fit together.  This schedule is very similar to the schedule I have used the past two years, so even though I am implementing inquiry based learning, I am confident that this format will work for me.  And if not? Well, I will make changes as I go!  Above all, my guiding thought when planning my days is:

There is never enough time, it seems, so it is imperative to make the most of every minute, focusing on the standards students are expected to master. Not only that, but five and six year olds have limited attention spans, so it is important to keep that in mind when planning as well. That said, here is a breakdown of my day.

Morning Jobs

When the students arrive, they are responsible for hanging up their things in their cubbies, placing their take-home folders in the basket, signing in, exchanging their books in our book checkout, using the bathroom and joining me on the rug for morning meeting.

Morning Meeting

Many of our students ride the bus to school, but others are dropped off by parents. Our official start to the school day is 8:20, however, most of our children arrive by 7:50.  Since we begin to go down for breakfast between 8:10 and 8:15, I like to use this time to hold a brief morning meeting with all the children who have arrived.  We share a message, read a book, sing songs or simply share what is going on in our lives.  It is a time to connect and build community.  After researching calendar time and learning that children at this age are not developmentally ready to completely understand the concept of calendar, I have abandoned that this year.  I will still include the day of the week in my message, and we will talk about the days from time to time, but we will not do a formal calendar time.

Breakfast

Our school district offers free breakfast for all students. In kindergarten, our students go down as a whole class.  This gives the kindergarten teachers the prep time they lose by allowing the children to immediately come into the classroom when exiting the bus (other grade levels keep the students in their discovery areas until 8:20). I use this time to enter attendance and lunch count, review any notes from home and pack take-home folders.

Phonemic Awareness

This year, we are adding something new to our word study curriculum. In addition to the phonics lessons we teach using Fountas and Pinnel's Phonics Lessons for Grade K and the word work included in our Jan Richardson guided reading lessons, we are focusing on phonemic awareness, since it is one of the primary indicators of future reading success.  We have chosen Michael Heggerty's Phonemic Awareness: The Skills They Need to Help Them Succeed. This decision was made after reviewing the results of our spring FAST assessment and realizing that, as a grade level, we needed to strengthen phonemic awareness skills. The nice thing about these lessons is that they take between 10-12 minutes a day and cover a wide variety of skills.

Small Group Literacy/Discovery Time

Since the students will have been sitting on the rug for 10-15 minutes, I will transition right into our small group literacy and discovery time.  During this hour, I will meet with small guided reading groups while the remaining children have discovery time.  During discovery time, the students will choose between provocations and other play-based learning areas. Currently, I have about 13 different areas they can choose from. The key here is choice. At the beginning of the year, I will have the students rotate through these areas to become familiar with them, but after that, they will be able to choose where they would like to spend their time. The students can clean up and move to another area at any time. I have two rules during this time: Use a quiet talking voice and do not interrupt me at the guided reading table unless you are bleeding, sick or had a bathroom accident. Once we have chosen a topic for inquiry, the students will also use this time to work on inquiry based explorations.

Sharing

At the end of small group literacy/discovery time, we will come together to share what we have explored, created and discovered.  The students can share verbally or via the Seesaw app if they have taken pictures or made a recording (video or audio). It is a time to validate their thinking and grow as we learn from one another.

Whole Group Literacy

During this time we will have an interactive read aloud or shared reading lesson, focus on reading strategies or foundational skills or connect to an inquiry project in progress. This might take the form of a nonfiction text about the topic, a visit by an expert on the topic, or an experiment or activity connected to the topic of inquiry.

Specialist Time

Our students participate in the following 30 minute specials (2 per day): Phy-ed, music, art and media literacy.  On Monday, when I only have one specialist time, I will use the remaining 30 minutes to delve into our current topic of inquiry with the whole group.

WIN Time

This is new for us this year and stands for What I Need Time.  It will be a time for special education teachers and Title I interventionists to pull students to work in small groups while the other kindergarten teachers and I work with the remaining students on remediation or extension activities.

Lunch/Recess

At our school, we have a duty free lunch and recess.  Once I finish my lunch I will use the remaining time to prepare for the afternoon's activities.

Quiet Story Time

The children can sit or lie down while I read aloud to them.  In order to maximize time, this will often be the story that goes with our writing workshop lesson.

Writing Workshop

Our kindergarten uses the Being a Writer curriculum, which includes a mini lesson and time for independent writing.  I will sometimes pull guided writing groups during this time, if needed.

Whole Group Math

During this time I use Deanna Jump's Guiding Kinders math curriculum. It begins with the modeling of a concept and shifts into practicing the concept with a partner via a game or shared activity. It ends with independent practice of the concept.

Small Group Math or Inquiry/Discovery Time

Depending on the needs of my students and where we are in the inquiry process, I will use this time in one of three ways: One, I will meet with a small group to solidify math concepts. Two, I will work with a small group on an aspect of our current inquiry project. Three, I will rotate around during discovery time, engaging with students as they work at their chosen areas. This will also be a time to gather pedagogical documentation using the Seesaw app and a digital audio recorder, which I can transcribe at a later time.

Sharing

This is a repeat of our morning sharing time.

A Note About Snack

You may have noticed that there is not a snack time in my schedule.  The students will be allowed to choose a self-selected snack time during morning or afternoon discovery time. This will allow us to have additional learning time and will also allow students to regulate their own bodies by eating when they are truly hungry.

Hopefully, this gives you a sense of how inquiry will fit into our day/week. Again, my objective is to be intentional with all I do. I will embed standards into inquiry projects where they fit and follow the lead of my students whenever possible because I believe this is best practice.

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