A 2021-2022 Day in the Life of a Middle (Grades 4 & 5)
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.)
Middles use Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study as a guide for our writing curriculum. 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.