Teaching and Homeschooling: Our Current Schedule

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I hope everyone is staying healthy and taking care of themselves during these uncertain times.  My school made the decision to close yesterday.  My own children are also out of school for now.  My husband has to continue to work. 

The expectations for teachers for this week is that we will be in our buildings Thursday and Friday preparing materials for the buses to deliver to students on Monday.  After that, our buildings will be only open to a select group of staff for the following week.  We are providing kids with 2 weeks of review materials, both paper/pencil and some online options.  We are sending devices home with kids in grades 3-6.  Not all of our students have internet.  We have sent/will be sending home some of the things I discusses in last week's post.  I also sent a reminder to parents about our school wide math blog which is a great way to curate online resources for your students. 

I will dive more into how we are supporting our students online and with hard goods later this week.  Today I want to share with you our current work from home/homeschooling schedule.  This is going to be what we try to follow on days that I am working from home.  When I have to go into school, this schedule will have to look a little different.


Morning Block 6:30-8:30ish
-Morning snuggles, breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, feed pets, morning chores and free play.

Community Meeting 8:45-9
-We are using our dining room table as out all together work area.  We listen to the weather, make a schedule for the day and talk about what activities each person really wants to do that day.

Seat Work 9-10ish
-Each kid (I have 3) has a personal work space set up in a different room in the house.  I start with the oldest and go over work for the day and then meet with each kid at the dining room table to help them get started and make sure they know the expectations.  Then I walk around checking in with each kid as needed.  I use the time after I meet with each kid while they are working independently to answer emails and do whatever needs to be done for "work" at that point. At this point they are working on a combination of things their teachers have posted, some math worksheets, writing letters to grandparents, independent reading and working on a few independent math games/activities with dice, cards and number puzzles.

Recess 10-10:45ish
-We have a lot of outdoor space and plenty of opportunities for recess.  I get myself outside with the kids and we all do whatever we want.  We live in the woods and have a pond and a swing set so there is plenty of free play opportunities.  I have been using the time to push kids on swings and rake up the millions of leaves and sticks that are currently covering the lawn.

Device Learning 10:45-11:30
-My kids are using a variety of websites that they already use at school combined with a few websites that we use at my school that my kids are already familiar with.  At this time we have not introduced any new learning sites but there are many offering free services at this time.

Lunch 11:30-12
-Time to eat!

Family Hike 12-1
-We live in the woods on a dirt road and next to a large farm so out outdoor walking opportunities are just about endless.  We are counteracting some of the additional screen time with some intentional family exercise.  We own excellent outdoor clothing for all weather so we plan on a family hike in all weather although it might be shorter when weather is not great. 

Read Aloud 1-1:15
My school is doing One school, one book and all families are reading the same book.  We hit the couch and read one section around this time.

Quiet Time 1:15-2:15
My kids are beyond napping but this is a vital part of our day.  Kids go to separate rooms and play or read independently.  Mom can work, relax or do anything that has to get done.

Flexible Time 2:15-5
We will use this time to be outside again when the weather is perfect, work on larger projects like organizing the basement or do more learning things like virtual field trips or kitchen science experiments.

Family time and Dinner 5-6
My husband is home and can spend time with the kids.  Mom gets a break if she needs it.  Dinner prep and cooking lessons, hanging out time.

Screen Time 6-7:30
Watch a movie as a family, play video games, make whatever screen choices kids and parents would like.

Get ready for Bed 7:30-8


We are only getting  started on this trying to work and homeschool and go nowhere journey.  We shall see how our schedule changes and adapts moving forward. 

Helping Kids Learn From Home

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As I write this, a small percentage of K-12 school across the US have already made the decision to close schools for several weeks.  In the days to come, I am sure a great many more will also reach such a decision.

Many online learning companies are now offering their services for free to schools that are facing these situations which I think is great but not all of our students will have the same level of access to these things.  I also do not know how much elementary schools will expect from kids and teachers in terms of at home learning.  I do know I want to create a culture of learning and provide opportunities for my students to continue learning while they are away from school even if this time isn't going to "count" toward school days for teachers or students.  I also know that if I am in a situation where I have to stay home with my own children for an extended period of time, we are going to need some school like stuff in our days to keep us all sane and happy.

Here are a few little things that you can do now that will help give your students some offline learning opportunities if you are required to go on an extended break.

Send Home Books

• Your school library is full of books!  Relax guidelines on limits of books checked out and let them borrow more!
• Many schools have a free book shelf or area.  Make sure that kids get some time to go through these books today!  You know which kids need these the most, make sure they get the first look! 
• Look for other books in your school that are no longer being utilized like they once were and add them to the free book shelf!  You know there are some books in that science unit box you haven't taught in 5 years and there are always books that can be culled from the multiple copy area in our school!

Card Games

• Over at Math Coach's Corner you can grab a printable book of games for kids in grades 3-5 to play with a deck of cards.  Most kids have cards at home and if they say they don't you might consider sending a deck home from school!  Decks of playing cards are super easy to replace, they sell them at Dollar Tree for 2/$1 and if you know anyone who plays poker they will keep you supplied for life! 
• For younger students, ten and twenty frame games are the way to go!  Click here for a post about 10 ways to use 10 frames (also 20 frames). Feel free to print this post and send it home with a set of 10 or 20 frame playing cards. Need printable 10 frame cards?  Need printable 20 frame cards? Here is a FREE printable booklet for 10 games to play with 10 frame cards written with parent friendly directions! 

Dice

• Math Coach's Corner again hits it out of the park with a free easy to print booklet offering dice games.  These can be played with an ordinary pair of dice, which many kids probably already have at home but again you may need to send some from school.  If you have time making origami dice can be a fun way to provide dice for home use. 
• Here is a post about using dice K-6 to promote additive reasoning.  Might be less printer friendly but offers suggestions for every grade level.  

Math Practice

• We have structured our math classes to include more hands on learning and less worksheets but there is still plenty of written practice that comes with our math program.  We take a sampling of that written practice and make individualized mini math practice books for kids that we tend to use in class once a week or so or in place of main lesson when a substitute is in charge of the class.  If we get the word that we are going on an unanticipated break, these will go home in backpacks.  Do you have some unused pages from your math curriculum that you could pull out of books or copy to send home? 
• Bridges practice books: These a free and offered at K-5 levels.  Maybe you have time to print 15 pages for each kid.  Try to find things that are at kids independent level

Reading/Writing

• I found this great post which I think is the perfect way to handle something like this if you have time with you class before the break starts.
• This writing bingo looks like fun and is just a one page printable!

I know you probably won't have time to do all the things but these are the quicker and easier ways I have been thinking about this week.

Good luck to all my fellow teachers as we tread into this uncharted territory.


I just  saw this list of 25 ways to practice math at home! 

How We Structure Our Multi-Age Math Classes for Upper Elementary

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One of the big things changes I have made over the last few years but have had very little time to write about here on  my blog is our shift from teaching math to one grade at a time to a multi-age math approach.  We went to a multi-age model due to declining enrollment and after 5 years, we have really figured out how to differentiate and personalize learning for kids in a multi-age classroom.  The big surprise is how it has changed the way we approach our single grade classrooms as well.  The things we have learned from multi-aging have helped us differentiate and personalize learning for all learners.  Differentiation and personalizing math class are the things that I can talk about all day right now.  In the next few months, I will be working to share some of the things we have learned while multi-aging that will help differentiate and personalize in all math classes.

Today's topic is the structure we use for math classes.  We currently have a 3-4 multi-age and a 5-6 multi-age that follow this structure

Warm-Up 

We start math class with a whole group warm up.  This almost always includes all learners and is a great way to fit in cumulative review and lessons on mindset.  It is also the perfect opportunity to engage kids in low floor high ceiling tasks, do a whole group number talk or introduce a game that will be part of our math menu later.  Some of our favorite resources include

Estimation 180

Which One Doesn't Belong

3 Act Math Tasks

Open Middle Problems

Number Talks

Number Talk Images

Mindset Videos

Main Lesson

Our main lesson time is the problems and investigations times.  It is when we do a mini lesson or problem launch followed by kids working on that problem.  This is where we implement what we know about math workshop.  Sometimes this is done as a one whole group and other times we split into 2 groups for this portion.  We use a co-teaching model in math several days a week so there often is 2 adults who can do 2 different main lessons if needed.  If only one adult is available, they can do main lesson with one group and send the other kids out to math menu and then switch.  

How do we know when we can do one whole group lesson and when we need to offer 2 or more different main lesson options?  It all comes down to what we are working on.  Near the beginning of a unit, we often do one main lesson.  As our formative assessment adds to our knowledge about what kids know and are able to do we sometimes get to a point where we need to offer more than one main lesson. 

Ready for an example?  Right now our 5/6 class is jumping into an algebra unit.  We have kept these kids together for main lesson a lot this year partly because we have gotten better at differentiating our main lesson and partly because our fifth graders have had several years with a more differentiated math class which has allowed them to access more challenging problems from an earlier age and has put them in a place where they are happy to take on challenging problems.  For the past week and for the next several weeks, they will have main lesson together.  When our formative assessment shows us that some kids really have it and others start to struggle, then we may break into 2 groups for main lesson.

Another example: Our 3/4 class is in the midst of working on fractions.  We are about halfway into our fraction unit and have decided to break into 2 groups for main lesson for the rest of the unit.  We do not put the third graders in one group and the fourth graders in another group, rather we put kids in whatever group they happen to be ready to be in based on formative assessment.  We currently have a smaller group of mostly third graders working on part whole and equivalence and magnitude.  They are working on placing fractions on number lines and comparing them and noticing things about equivalence and magnitude using models.  They are working on the traditional third grade standards.  Our second group has these fraction skills down and is working on the next level of fraction stuff.  They are noticing things about adding and subtracting fractions.  They are using models to find sums and differences.  They are connecting fractions and decimals.  These kids are working toward traditional fourth grade standards.  This group has a lot of fourth graders in it but it also has some third graders. 

Math Menu

What started out as math stations or math games 10 years ago morphed into a guided math type set-up about 6 years ago and has now landed on a math menu style intentional practice period.  We end almost every math class with about 20-30 minutes of math menu.  Kids transition to math menu when they finish their main lesson.  For us, math menu is a selection of games, problems and activities that are offered at multiple levels that kids can play with a partner or independently.  We offer students choice and voice during this time.  They do not have to do every activity or problem we present but get to choose from a selection and within each selection, there are often multiple levels.  I have a lot more to share about math menu in the coming weeks and months so stay tuned.

What questions do you have about how we structure our multi-age math classes?  Please respond in the comments below or head over to our Facebook group and join our community as we explore ways to differentiate math class!