Picture This: Schedule Buckets

Happy Weekend!

I hope you had a wonderful week! 

We just wrapped up Wild Week 5!

This week was particularly wild because of the huge changes in 

our schedule. We started (& finished - whew!) NWEA testing 

with our first graders. 

As a special educator, I administer the math and reading tests individually to my students. My students take an average of 1-2 hour per test (NOT in one sitting!). One particular student completes 5 questions, break, 5 questions, break...etc. 

As a result, our schedule was ROCKED this week and it really impacted behavior. Not in a super way ;)

I actually have two weeks to complete the testing, but after experiencing Monday and Tuesday's traumatizing tantrums, I decided to motor through ALL the testing in one week so we can return to our regularly scheduled program ASAP. Luckily, my students were (somewhat) game and we did it!!!

Next week we will be able to build on our routines and it's a perfect time to reflect on how things are going. In my last post, I highlighted what was going well. Now I'm working on creating "buckets" of what we must accomplish every day/week 

and how we are going to do it. 

Below is a snapshot of what I'd really like to accomplish every day. With my group, it will be important to stick to this routine as closely as possible.

This is a working document, so I left the last column open to jot down notes. Next, I'm breaking down each "bucket" and deciding exactly what we need to, what I'd like to do, and how we're going to do it. I printed out a page of each "bucket" and wrote down any ideas that went through my head. Here's a closer look at literacy small groups:

The last stage is narrowing down the list of activities per bucket. That's the toughest part because I want to do EVERYTHING! I can't help but think..."what if I cut out an activity that could have been 'the one' that leads to a "a-ha!" moment?" It's seriously taking some self-discipline to cut down the list. I have to keep reminding myself that less is more with this group :)

Social Stories continue to be a big hit and now I'm making stories about each teaching "bucket" we participate in at school. This is still a work in progress, but here's what the 1st-grader-friendly version will look like:

I spent most of Saturday fine-tuning literacy (language-based IEP goals and objectives, intervention, comprehension, phonics, HFW, close reading) and today will be all about math and writing! If you have any teaching tips, I would love to hear from you! Thanks :)

Have a super Sunday!