8:00: Morning Work

Kids check the morning message, work on their morning work packet which includes handwriting, spelling, math, and drawing, and chat at their table spots.

8:30: Morning Meeting

Students take turns leading Morning Meeting. We begin with a stretch. Then we have Greeting. Some of our favorite greetings are: High Five Greeting, Color Greeting, and Mythical Animal Greeting. Then the leader gets to do a sharing. Next we play a game. Museum is a current favorite. After that, we go over our schedule. Finally, we have a Centering Activity.

9:00: Math

Students work in small math groups, which are divided by grade. Early math themes in 2nd grade are making partners to 10 and learning how to do word problems. Early in the school year, third graders review strategies for adding and subtracting numbers greater than 10. This involves using an open number line, 100s chart, and base-ten blocks.

9:45: Snack

10:00 Literature

In the first month of school, the Mups read the same book as a whole group. During this time, we read the book together in class, sometimes taking turns reading aloud, and sometimes listening to the teachers read. Between chapters kids respond to written questions, as well as hands-on activities connected to the book. This year, we will also do an intensive review of handwriting/printing.

10:45: Outside Time

After all of the hard work, students travel outdoors to move their bodies and play a game. Favorite games include Ultimate Tag, Lemonade, and Hospital Tag.

11:15: Writer’s Workshop

In Writer’s Workshop, students are divided into small groups where they create mini eco-communities in the woods with small plastic animals. Kids play with their animals and teacher-driven prompts help guide the play. After playing, students write stories based upon this play and their animal character. Throughout a six week period, the group alternates between playing and writing. Emerging writers excitedly read their stories out loud to the class.

12:00: Lunch

We begin lunch with a moment of thanksgiving. On some days students eat lunch with a partner invited based on a given prompt. Other days they are divided into mystery groups by a teacher and need to discover what they have in common.

12:30: Quiet Time

This is a silent, personal down time. Most students opt to read, though some draw, or just rest.

1:00: Theme - Friendship and Community

We are just beginning to get to know each other, this land, and our new building. As a group, we find ourselves asking “Who are we?” and “Where are we?”. Throughout the first few months of school, we play games and work on activities that help answer those questions. Our Mups Passport is a document that reminds us of how much we have grown and accomplished since our first day of school.

1:45: Woods Play

It is time to head to the woods, where imaginative play is an emerging theme. Some students are working on building shelters, moving wood from one are of our play space to the other. Students play in this world, engaging each other in games, solving problems that arise, and having fun.

2:15: Choice Time

Choice Time is a fun time to relax and have fun with friends. Kids choose from four different activities to participate in each day. Some popular choice activities include collage, i-projects, and Battleship. It can be a little disappointing to not get your first choice, but second and third choice is fun, too!

2:50: Stewardship Jobs and Read Aloud

Keeping our classroom clean and organized is an important job. Students rotate jobs on a weekly basis. Some of the “Stewardship Jobs” include recycler, chair stacker, and teacher helper. When their job is done, students settle into listening to a story read aloud by a teacher while they wait to be picked up to go home. We are currently reading The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall.

3:15: Dismissal

8:00: Morning Work

Students check the morning message, find their spot and chat with their table mates while working on an activity.

8:30: Morning Meeting

We begin with a movement--sometimes we like to take laps around the field and act like different animals for each straightaway, other times we might stay in our circle and do some stretches. Following our group movement exercise, we settle into our circle. Each morning a different student leads choosing and organizing all parts of the meeting. We begin with a greeting such as; pinky, ball toss or adjective animal. Then we move on to an activity. Some of our favorite activities are Poison Dart Frog and Huckle-Buckle Beanstalk. We settle again in our circle for sharing where students choose to share something that tells us more about who they are outside of school. We all listen carefully and contribute questions and comments afterwards. Then the leader goes over our schedule for the day and facilitates any announcements the group may have.

9:00: Math

We break into smaller groups for math. Sometimes we both meet inside our classroom spaces and other times we head outside to our picnic tables. We begin with a warm up activity that is connected often to a piece of math we have already mastered. Then, following a whole group mini-lesson, we transition into independent/partner work. At the end of math, we regather as a group to play a game that reinforces fluency.

9:45: Snack

It’s snack time! After cleaning up from math and washing hands, students choose a spot outside (if it’s not down pouring) to eat snacks and chat. Sometimes you’ll fall into a heated debate over the best type of potato chip while other groups might share about their plans for the weekend.

10:00: Literature

Students break again into small groups for lit. When creating these groups we consider both groups interest of the students and the level of their reading. Each week a student completes a Literature Assignment. Within the assignment is reading, both independent and shared with the small group. There are vocabulary words to learn, and “Think and Writes” to complete. Think and Writes are a combination of comprehension and critical thinking questions related to the reading students have done. Toward the end of most weeks, there is a Think and Create--a project connected to the reading. Each piece of the assignment is scaffolded by the lit teacher, but also provides many opportunities for students to practice their own time management and executive function skills.

10:45: Outside!

For outside time, students participate in group games. These games are meant to build community, help students learn how to work together, support one another and be okay not always winning. The games vary from capture the flag to relay races, from ultimate tag to spud and many more!

11:30: Word Work

This is a time when students work on spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. Students often split into smaller groups to practice identifying morphographs, learning about word origin and reinforcing our visual spelling of many words.

12:00: Lunch

In Middles, students get to invite another person to be their lunch partner. There is often a category given such as; invite someone who lives in a different town than you, or who was in a different class than you last year. Then the pair head off to yellow dots set in the shade of our maple trees to eat lunch together.

12:30: Quiet Time

Quiet time is just that, quiet. It is a time in the day when students might finish up work from the morning, or get a jump start on homework, or just chill in their chairs in the sun. Many students love to take this time to write more in the writing notebooks or draw in their sketch pad.

1:00: Writing (Mon. and Tues.)

Each day begins with a mini-lesson and then time for students to write, or conference with a teacher or peer. We love to end with a little sharing, getting to hear the voices of different authors.

1:00: Theme (Thurs. And Fri.)

Our Theme time is spent in the study of a science or a social study. It is used primarily to expose students to lots of different perspectives and help them practice using skills such as observation and reflection to guide them to discoveries.

1:45: Woods

We love to head to the woods (Mushroom Valley) where we play and build structures, run elections, start up carnivals, whittle, train chipmunks and turn lost junk of the woods into treasure.

2:30: End of Day

This is the time of day when students pack up their bags, make sure they’ve written down the homework and ask “how can I help?”.

2:45: Read Aloud

The whole class listens to a story read by a teacher.

3:15: Dismissal