Typical Day
7:15- 7:45 Arrival – Parents and their scholars arrive at school, dressed in uniform, homework in hand and ready to learn. Our scholars eat breakfast before making their way to their classroom for their morning meeting.
7:45 – 8:00 Morning meeting – Scholars gather with their teachers to discuss what will be happening throughout the day.
8:00 Guided Reading – Scholars begin the day by gathering in groups according to their independent reading level for Guided Reading – part of our THINK Literacy curriculum. The teacher provides each group with a great book, an introduction to it and a “thinking job” to help them discover the meaning of that book. Once scholars have read their books (with the coaching of their teacher), the teacher guides them in a discussion.
8:30 Reading Workshop – Our scholars continue on their reading journey in a different way. In the Reading Workshop, the teacher provides brief instruction on one aspect of excellent reading. Our scholars then get an opportunity to practice this approach by reading on their own (because we know you only get better at reading by spending time reading quality books). The teacher also works with small groups of scholars during this time.
9:30 Writing Workshop – On to writing! Like Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop begins with a brief lesson about one aspect of excellent writing. Scholars then put pen to paper and write up a storm in the same genre the class is studying. During this time, the teacher works with small groups of scholars to improve the level of the ideas, structures, details and mechanics in their writing.
10:15 Snack – Every kid needs fuel to keep learning. Our scholars take a break during the morning for a delicious and nutritious snack.
10:30 Read Aloud – The scholars gather to hear a world-class book read aloud by their teacher, but this is not your average bed time story! As she reads, the teacher thinks aloud about the book and asks great questions about it – all in an effort to set scholars up to understand the book. This is followed by a discussion during which scholars discuss and debate the important ideas in the book. Even in our Kindergarten classrooms, you will hear phrases like, “I agree with you because…” or, “I have adjusted my thinking based on what you said because…” and of course, “What is your evidence?”
11:00 Number Stories – It’s time for math. Scholars are encouraged to discover ways to solve math problems on their own through Number Stories. Once the teacher has shared a story problem with the class and made sure they understand the question at hand, each scholar figures out how to solve the problem on their own. Then everyone shares the method they discovered.
11:30 Math Facts – More math in a different way: this time the focus is on recall and facility with numbers to further build our scholars’ math skills.
12:00 Science – There’s science every day! Which means every day there’s a new discovery, an experiment to work through and hands-on exploration.
12:50 Recess – It’s time to stretch the physical muscles. Our Assistant Teacher joins our scholars on the playground for exercise and play. On any given day you might find a class playing kickball, a game of soccer or four square.
1:15 Lunch – More fuel to keep the brain going for the afternoon! All of our scholars are provided with lunch every day.
1:45 Specials – Each of our schools offers some kind of "Special" for its students. The scholars might be learning about chess, musical theater, art, karate, dance or another type of specialized subject.
2:30 Shared Text – The afternoon continues with a return to the THINK Literacy curriculum. During this time, the class reads and interprets a short text – a passage, a poem, a quote, a rhyme – to understand its meaning.
3:00 Math Workshop – It’s time for more discovery with numbers. Students will learn a new mathematical concept through an investigation or game.
3:45 Technology – Our scholars get hands-on experience with computers through a fun and interactive touch-typing program. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog!!
4:30 Pack up and dismissal – Off to home or an after-school program in the community.
