Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of a first grade French teacher looks like?
Earlier this month, I shared more about the literacy portion of my teaching day (from approximately 8:40-11:30am).
As promised, today I am back to share more about the rest of our day (from 11:30am-2:50pm).
As I said in my last post, please keep in mind that this is just a snapshot of my routine right now. My routine looks different as the year progresses!
In the beginning of the year, our stamina is low and we change activities more frequently. We also don’t know as much then as we do now. So, keep that in mind as you are reading.
I actually find it so hard to answer the many questions I get about our daily routine since it does change so often throughout the year, depending on my students’ needs!
Block 5: Math Part 1(30 mins)
I am expected to teach 60-75 mins/day of math (one document says one thing, and another says another, so I just try to always stay somewhere in between the two haha). In order to get that many minutes, I need to divide my math block into two parts.
Generally, we work on something that is not number sense (measurement, patterning, etc.) in the first block, and then go hard with number sense (counting, addition, subtraction, etc.) in the second block.
This allows me to cover all my outcomes, but never have a point in the year where we aren’t working hard on number sense.
I do have math units created for many of my outcomes (but not all – yet!). I created these when I taught maternelle, but a lot of my grade one non-number sense outcomes are similar, so the lessons work well with just a few tweaks.
Here are links to the math units I’ve created so far (plus my math journal bundles):
- Math sorting unit
- Math 2D shapes unit
- Math 3D shapes unit
- Math journal bundle (1e année)
- Math journal bundle (mat.)
Block 6: Math Part 2(30-45 mins, depending on the cycle day)
Some days, I get 30 mins here, and other days I get 45. I do a second math lesson, and then the days that have 15 extra minutes, I usually let my students free play with math “toys” (blocks, geoboards, etc.) while I either pull a small group, work with a student one-on-one, or do assessments.
Like math centres, but completely student choice.
Sometimes, we do math journals when I have that extra time. We don’t do these daily this year (but I often do — it’s just the way our day is laid out this year that makes it not possible to do each day).
I love math journals, because they allow us to do spiral review of concepts we have seen earlier in the year (like patterning, comparing numbers, etc.) as well as answer word problems related to number sense.
Math journals are such a quick and easy thing to implement any time we have a spare 5-10 minutes, but with huge payoff.
There is virtually no prep (just print and go — I actually cut them out as I am walking around, NOT ahead of time), but allow my students endless opportunities to practice important math skills and concepts.
If you’d like to try out a FREE sample of my math journal resource, click HERE!
Block 7: Gym or music (30 mins)
My students have 30 mins of gym or music each day, which is my prep time. Once a week, they have both and I get an hour of prep time.
Those days are the best!
Block 8: Modules intégrés (30-60 mins)
Depending on the cycle day, I get 30-60 minutes here. In NS (or at least, in my board), our social studies, DPS (health), science and art are integrated together and we teach units that cover a variety of outcomes for each subject.
This is not my forté and I am sure I could do a better job teaching these subjects, but I can’t lie – most of my energy goes to making sure my literacy and math lessons are top notch!
Conclusion
In my opinion, a solid routine is not only essential for teaching effectiveness but also adds to the enjoyment of each day in the classroom.
Even though I am a very “type B” person, by implementing a routine in my daily life as a French grade one teacher, I’m able to make the most out of each day.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read about my routine as a French Grade One Teacher! It’s always wonderful to know that someone is interested in my story and I look forward to sharing more with you all.
Until then, à bientôt!
