1st graders day?

[meetoo]

I was just wondering if you could share what your first graders day is like? How long are they at school/on the bus? How many breaks or recesses they get? How long is lunch? DO they do all seat work or are they moving around in the class room too? I have a DD in kindy and I'm on teh fence about what to do next yr.

[momofPL]

I do not have any children in first grade, but I just happen to be a first grade teacher. Each classroom and school is going to be a bit different. My best advice to you would be go to the school and observe the first grade classrooms. I have parents do that all the time. That is a good way to see for yourself what it will be like and talk with the teacher about the day and schedule. Ask about the transition from kindergarten.

First grade is a big jump in academics. This is probably the largest change for my students. I personally ease the children in at the beginning of the year and try to make it a smooth transition. The school day for my first graders is much like it was in kindergarten, but your local/chosen school could be much different. We have all day kindergarten, but in the beginning of the year the children go home very tired. I personally do not use much seat work at all. I try to keep the kids active in their learning. They are moving around the classroom often. They are in one place for about 10-15 minutes at the beginning of the year. I use literacy centers, math games, small group learning, partner work, and workshop styles for literacy. They have a lunch recess for about 15 minutes and a 20 minute afternoon recess. Lunch is about 20-25 minutes long and my children eat lunch after recess. I am teaching in a city school so we have very few children riding the bus.

I hope this helps your decision. My best advice is to talk with the first grade teachers for next year so you can make the decision that best fits your child and family.

[meemee]

two recesses of 15 mins each in a 6 hour day and a half hour lunch with half hour play after lunch. most of the work is seat work. workbook pages. right before lunch the teacher reads a story to them for 10 to 15 mins which they love. after first recess they have silent reading time. fridays the last 40 mins of school is fun time. all the 3 first grade classes get together and either watch an educational movie or do something.

one thing that our teacher does that our kids really enjoy is the morning carpet time. when they do review. she checks the homework folder while the student of the day along with a helper becomes the teacher and does the review work. my dd inspite of a bad stomach ache went to school because she would not miss being the student of the day.

most of the class took about a month to settle down in first grade. my dd took two months - long days and more academics took some getting used to.

the school has a v. strict bully policy and a lot of monitoring on the play yard. they bring in an author every year in the beginning of the year, who does role play and helps children what to do if they are being bullied.

the thing my dd hates most is the amount of homework she has to do at home. and the lack of the sciences. she hardly gets time to do science curriculum. seh is a bit tired of reading and math all the time though she loves math.

recess is her favourite 'subject' and she has made some good friends there.

[Alyantavid]

My son's on the bus quite awhile because we live out of district. He gets on the bus at 7:40 and school starts at 8:05. They usually have time to play outside before school starts. School lets out at 3:05 and the bus usually drops him off about 3:45.

They get 2 15 minute recesses, plus a lunch recess. They do computers, reading, math, science every day. Music is after lunch every other day and PE is the opposite day. They do go to the library every day as well, the teachers reads to them every day while they can color or write. He's in accelerated math and reading so he does that while other kids are taken out of the class for any extra help they need (esl, speech, whatever).

[velochic]

Dd is in a language immersion school, which follows the International Baccalaureate curriculum, so her day is probably different from many schools. The drive to and from school is 45 - 60 minutes, so she listens to books on CD in the car or reads/does some homework. She has gym 3 days/week. Music and Art. In homeroom, she has instruction in math, reading in the target language. It's quite academic, so they sit at desks and work. They get two 30 minute recesses... one right after snack (9:30ish) and one after lunch, which is 20 minutes. She has one hour per day of English language arts (the rest of the day is taught in the target language). She has homework about 4 nights a week... it takes her about 20 minutes to finish it, if she concentrates. She has a spelling test for each language once a week. It seems to be a good mix of academics and "free" time.

[Heavenly]

My daughter is in 1st grade and my son is in 2nd grade but they are in a split 1/2 class so it's the same (they go to a private Christian school). Here is their basic schedule:

I drive them to school and it's a 20 minute drive so we leave the house at 8:35am

9:00am-9:15am - opening time
9:15am-9:30am - show & share & similar activities
9:30am-10:35am - school work
10:35am-10:50am - 15 minute recess
10:50am-12:10pm - school work
12:10pm-1:00pm - 50 minute lunch/recess
1:00pm-2:20pm - school work
2:20pm-2:35pm - 15 minute recess
2:35pm-3:15pm - school work
3:15pm-3:30pm - closing time

They have gym 3 times a week, french 4 times a week, christian ed 2 times a week (which has lots of crafts and activities), music 1 time a week and art 1 time a week. They have library time where they are learning keyboarding/computers. They seem to do a lot of hands on activities which is nice. They definitely aren't just sitting in their desks all the time. I am really happy with their school day.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

Right now I have 1 in 3rd and 1 in K at a small private school. If I remember correctly, DSs first grade looked sort of like this.

No bus, but 30-45 minute commute
8:30 school start
20 min. mid-morning recess
45 min. lunch/recess
10 min. afternoon recess
3:15 dismissal Mon. - Thurs, 12:40 dismiss on Friday (no lunch)

In the course of the day the general schedule looked sort of like this (Fri. schedule variable)

Morning academics: Math, reading, phonics, handwriting, spelling
Morning non-academic: art, music, values
Afternoon academics: Science, social studies, free reading
Afternoon other: sports (60 min., which is why afternoon recess is short)

I think most of these were scheduled in about 30 min. blocks. Mixed in were things like teacher reading aloud, calendars and that sort of thing. This was also the year they started doing display boards and oral reports, spelling tests and math tests.

Much of the academic stuff was seat work, though some of it was done with the kids sitting on the carpet in the center of the room. Science, art and music were more interactive and "hands-on" than, say, math. They also used computers for math and phonics games. Music and values are large group/multi-grade assembly-style classes 2-3 times a week.

But as the first poster said, this was our experience with 1st and each school could be really different, so you should look at the school where your child is.

[Laurel]

My son is in first grade. He walks to school, which takes about 5 minutes, so there is no time on the bus. He gets three recesses, in the morning, after lunch, and in the afternoon. Lunch is about 20-25 minutes.

I've only been in his classroom in the morning, so I can't say for sure what goes on all day long. They come in, hand in homework, take attendance, do a group language lesson while sitting at their seats (teacher uses an overhead projector to walk them through the assignment), and then have circle time on the rug where they talk about the theme of the day. This is usually centered around whatever the nearest holiday or special occasion is. When I've been there, they've discussed Groundhog Day and Dr. Suess's birthday. The teacher will usually read the class a story during this time. Then comes recess.

Then they do what they call "centers". The teacher has stations set up around the room where the kids do activities related to reading. This includes games, a book corner, computer activities, passing off books for volunteers, worksheets, listening to books on tape, going around the room copying words that they see in various places, and things like that. They are definitely not seated at their desks during this time. The children have a little checklist of activities and they are responsible for choosing what they will do, as long as they finish the checklist in a given amount of time, say a week. The teacher uses this time to pull out small groups for reading instruction.

After this, they go to lunch.

I don't know what the afternoon schedule is, because I haven't been in the classroom them. But I would imagine it's much the same--a combination of seatwork, group and individual activities, plus afternoon is when they do library, PE, etc. Ds's teacher just moved up from kindergarten, and she seems to have a good handle on what are appropriate activities for this age group.

They seem to do quite a bit of "art" (though I don't consider it "real" art, because it mostly consists of cutting, coloring, and gluing). But they actually do more projects like this than ds ever did in kindergarten.

[williamsmommy2002]

My son in in a special day class for grades 1-3. The day is from 7:54am to 2pm. We live 2 blocks away so there is no bus ride. He gets morning recess, lunch and lunch recess, and afternoon recess.

At his school the first 2 hours are supposed to dedicated to core education. This makes it so that if you need to make an appointment during the school day, you can try to do it after that time. So all of the math, reading, and spelling are done in the morning for the most part. After lunch they do science, social studies and extracurriculars. They have library one a week, computer lab once a week, they also have art, music and PE. On friday afternoons they get to pick a fun activity to do if they have completed their homework for the week.

His class doesn't work in centers or anything but because of the different grade levels, they work in two different groups on their core subjects. He get speech therapy once a week but most of the class does so they do it during a non academic time. He's also pulled out for occupational therapy but has to make up the work for that because it's during math(only one therapist for the district so it's harder to work out a better time). The class also rests and puts their heads down afer lunch recess. He usually has about 10-20 minutes of homework a day. It would take most children less time but he has poor fine motor skills.

[JessasMilkMama]

Originally Posted by meetoo

I was just wondering if you could share what your first graders day is like? How long are they at school/on the bus? How many breaks or recesses they get? How long is lunch? DO they do all seat work or are they moving around in the class room too? I have a DD in kindy and I'm on teh fence about what to do next yr.

My daughter is in 1st grade
She starts school at 8AM and gets out at 2:10 PM except for every Wednesday they get out at 1:10 PM so the teachers can have extra time for themselves to work in the class. They also sell "sweets and treats" on Weds for the school.

They do calendar, flag salute, some general discussion of whats new in the morning. They move around the class, sit on the carpet during the morning, for storytime, and at the end of the day.

They have 2 morning recesses and 1 afternoon recess, each I think are 10 mins, and their lunch is a total of 40 minutes. They can eat inside or out. When they are done eating they can play. There is a slide, bars, balls, jumpropes, etc.

They can always have water in class and can eat any snacks they bring during any recess. I love that.

They do PE 4x a week for 50 mins each time. They run, hula hoop, kickball, etc.

They get sent home a homework packet consisting of spelling words, handwriting practice, a story with questions, and math problems (including time and money) and its due back at the end of the week so you can do it on your own time. The total it takes for that is about 1/2 hour

There are 20 kids in her class, the teacher often has parent volunteers

They have a spelling and math test every Friday

They have a behavior chart for during the day and kids earn "money" for various things and get rewarded with lil toys.

They go to the computer lab and work on their classroom computers a couple times a week. They go to the schools library weekly.

They do math and reading (silent and outloud) daily.

They have one field trip (the zoo, its coming up)

Fun stuff they have done/Stuff I really liked:
They learned a ton of stuff for MLK JR Day and Presidents Day
They have fun holiday parties. They do fun crafts on those days.
They do a lot of coloring
They have made cool art projects like chinese lanterns for Chinese New Year
They had a Parade for Chinese NY.
They have "lunchtime library" every Weds and read during lunch if they so choose.
The teacher reads to them
The kids are assigned jobs to help
Theyve had a few cooking days so far, they made pudding on Thanksgiving, and some other things.
They are grouped into desks of 4 so there are teams, they play games, earn points, etc.
They have free supervised play before and after school and free tutoring.
There are a LOT of fun PTA things like a magic show, jogathon, movie night, etc. We do those, but dont sell anything
Parents are encouraged to come eat lunch with their kids any time they like, and their handbook specifically says "children will be treated with compassion and respect"

So far, we have loved this school year. I HSed last year and thought PS would be a terrible institution. She has a great teacher. I know all of the kids and they LOVE school. I know our experience is not everyones. I know it helps that my daughter is not struggling so I am not stressed about academics, because they DO have standards of where you are supposed to be and WHEN.

[JessasMilkMama]

oh i wanted to add theyve done several small science experiments and social studies displays. Its very well rounded.

[JessasMilkMama]

isnt that interesting that some school days are 6 hours, and some are 8

[williamsmommy2002]

Originally Posted by JessasMilkMama

isnt that interesting that some school days are 6 hours, and some are 8

I think it is quite interesting. Our school is only 30 minutes longer for grades 4-6. That is only6.5 hours. We also go to school from the 3rd week of august until the end of may. We have no snow days but do have fog delays. They don't really pertain to our school because very few students are bussed and that is what the delay is really for. We also don't really have inservice days. We do have minimum days but not more than once a month.

[QueeTheBean]

My 1st grader's schedule:

Gets on the bus at 8:10
8:20-9:00 Morning routine
9:00-9:10 Calendar
9:10-10:15 Math
10:15-11:00 Special (gym 2 x week, art, music, library)
11:00-11:30 Small reading groups
11:30-12:00 Lunch
12:00-2:00 Reading/Language Arts
2:00-2:15 Recess
2:15-3:00 Science/Social Studies
3:00-3:10 Pack up and dismissal
Bus arrives home at 3:40 pm

I wish they had two recesses--it is too long a day for 6 & 7 year olds IMO.
They move around the classroom--it isn't all desk work.