First Grade English Only - Week at a Glance

1. Instructional minutes do not equal quiet direct instruction.

• Learning is active, and, as much as possible, playful and joyful. Teacher talk is minimal and student engagement is prioritized.
• Learning involves input and practice, but also inquiry, exploration, and collaboration -demonstrating thinking and learning in a variety of ways including meaningful opportunities to apply and transfer learning to new contexts and situations.

2. All learners have limits to deep focus and how much input they can take in at a time.

• Instructional blocks will need to be broken up into small, meaningful chunks to support students learning.
• Skill-focused songs, games, and dances should be used throughout the day to provide brain breaks and support a joyful learning environment.

3. Discrete content areas, are shown but cross-curricular learning is critical.

• Identify opportunities to meaningfully apply and transfer knowledge and skills across content areas.

4. Transitions are part of any block of instructional time.

• At the start of the year, transitions will take more time and require intentional scaffolding. They will get shorter as the year goes on. 
• Over the year transitions will become tighter and held by students.

1. Keep the first-grade schedule as consistent as possible from day to day.

• Routine helps students know what to expect and build a sense of ownership in their classroom.

2.  When possible Literacy Block should be the first block of the day. 

• Beginning with foundational skills and followed by small-group and reading/writing blocks. 

3.  Any small group instruction should have consistent rotation across the day/week.

• Keep small group sizes 2-5 students
• Students who require the most reading support should be seen every day.

4.  The “Program Instructional Block” may be used for any instructional programs not otherwise represented in the schedule.

• This is site dependent and might include Computer Science, Garden, additional Library time, etc.

5.  Math Block components may be separated and taught at different times of the day

6.  The Science curriculum is designed as three 15-minute activities that may be split up if needed

7.   Schools with a large number of ELLs students should consider their ELD structures.

• All grades ELD at the same time to include other out-of-the-classroom teachers
• Or Grade level ELD so students are instructed in their proficient level