One question I am constantly being asked is what my 5th grade schedule looks like as a self-contained teacher, so I wanted to share it with you. I personally love seeing other 5th grade schedules and how that plays into their instruction.
I think see other teacher’s schedules in the same grade level can help when developing your own class schedule. It can also really help put strategies and ideas that you learn from a teacher in a context when you see their schedule.
Here is my schedule for the 2015-2016 school year (Click on the image to see a larger version that is easier to read):
Now, let’s talk about a few things I want to point out and address form my schedule:
As you can see on a normal day (with the exception of Tuesdays), I have the following times for each subject:
- Math: 1 hour and 40 minutes
- Science and Social Studies: 30 minutes
- Literacy: 3 hours and 10 minutes (district requirement)
As you notice there is no RTI or intervention time on the schedule. This is embedded into my daily schedule for each particular subject.
At the beginning of the year, we are given our schedules with literacy, specials, and lunch blocked off. Individually (or as a grade level), we work to schedule in our other subjects and subject our schedules for approval. The best part of this is that we can change our schedule at anytime as we see fit (with the exception of the blocked off areas and taking into account any intervention or support received).
As you can tell from my schedule, I have very limited time for science and social studies. I have to heavily integrate these subjects in literacy. I do this primarily through read alouds, guided reading, and writing about science and social studies topics. I also keep a large collection of informational texts on the subjects I teach in the classroom library. I do not teach both science and social studies at the same time. I teach a unit of science and then a unit of social studies and we review old units regularly for homework.
To read more detailed information about my other areas instruction, click on the links below:
How I Teach Reading in 5th Grade
How I Teach Writing in 5th Grade
Teaching Math: Small Groups and Math Centers
Word Study in Upper Elementary
If you are new to teaching 5th grade, I have these other helpful articles:
What to Expect Teaching 5th Graders
New to Teaching 5th Grade? A Complete Collection of Resources
I would love to know how your 5th grade schedule (or any other upper elementary schedule) compares to mine. Is it similar or totally different?
WOW! Interesting schedule! Our schedule was quite regular Mon-Fri back in FL, but I just moved to Australia and it's even more different! 🙂
Fishing for Education Blog
By the way, LOVE your blog! Following on Bloglovin and adding your button to my blogroll on my blog! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by! Your blog is so adorable!
Wow! I have to say I love your schedule. 3 hours for literacy and 1hr40 for math!! Mine is very different, but that is because we have 1 hour of Science and 40 minutes of Social Studies everyday. Leaves only 1 hour of literacy but we cope by integrating reading and writing into science and ss. Only way to do it!
Beth
easypeasyeducation
Beth, I wish we could have that much Science and Social Studies time everyday!. 🙁 We alternate among units so the kids get either Social Studies or Science for four weeks than vice versa. Time is so limited that I feel like we can never take it as deep as I would like. We do the opposite of you and integrate Science and Social Studies into Literacy.
What is interactive edit? It sounds good.
Interactive Edit is my language/grammar time. We work together to edit and correct sentences/paragraphs. I also sometimes directly teach language standards during this time. 😀
Guidance – done by the school counselor? Media – who teaches it and what do they cover?
Wow! You have so much instructional time. At my new school, we pretty much have 5 hours of instruction time two days a week, 4 hours of instruction time two days a week, and 3 hours and 40 minutes of instruction time one day a week. (We are a language school, so the kids have language for an hour every day.) I have found that we get A LOT of planning time, but I do have to use it very well in order to develop very well thought out plans that will get us to our goals as directly as possible. It has taken some adapting to (I have only been at the school for 11 weeks).
NO RECESS TIME? Sad……
We have 50 minutes of Math instruction time. I have NO IDEA how to teach 5th grade math effectively and best practices in that amount of time. We must do a number talk and 20 minutes of intervention time 3 days per week with specifically the low students. Ideas would be welcome.
Lesson, not “leson”.
I read in one of your other blogs about saving lesson plans. Would you be willing to share the lesson plans you have created for ELA ( language skills, reading mini-lessons – I know guided reading is different do to what books the groups are using) or anchor charts you have used. I appreciate any help you can offer. I am loving your stuff and have already bought your reading bundle and interactive notebook one! Thank you for ALL you do!
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