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A Day in the Life of a Student at Southwest Baltimore Charter School
Jawan comes to Southwest Baltimore Charter School (SBCS) at 8:15 every morning, ready to learn. He is wearing the SBCS uniform, a purple shirt with the school's logo and khaki pants. He lines up in the cafeteria with his classmates. After he arrives in his classroom, he places his take-home folder in the proper box and says good morning to Ms. Thomas, his first-grade teacher. Jawan's folder contains his reading log, which his parents have completed, and a signed permission slip enabling him to go to the B&O Railroad Museum next week. Ms. Thomas uses the folders to communicate with parents and to make sure homework comes back to her.
Jawan likes coming into his classroom because it is well organized and filled with opportunities for him to read independently. On the walls he sees his name on the name chart and on the helpers chart. He is happy that he is the snack helper today. He likes seeing the story map his class made together yesterday. The class retold the story of Anansi and he is proud to see his index cards with his own writing - "spider", "crawl" and "jungle." He is excited that he can read most of the story himself. On a shelf near the door he sees his portfolio, which he knows is filling up with the journal entries, stories, and running records that he will share with his parents during conferences. Most visible are the baskets filled with books at all different levels of difficulty. Jawan picks a book from one of the baskets and sits down at his table with three classmates. They read their books silently and together for the first ten minutes of class.
After everyone has arrived, Ms. Thomas begins her morning routine. Every morning the class completes the morning message and the calendar. Jawan likes the way Ms. Thomas writes every sentence in a different colored marker. He can't wait until he is the class helper, because that day he gets to take the morning message home to hang on his wall. Ms. Thomas reads aloud to the class a book they have heard before, A Best Friend for Frances. Some of the children begin to chime in during the more familiar parts. After listening to the story, the class makes a list together of the things they would choose to have in their favorite lunch. They use interactive writing to produce the list, first thinking about what they would want, and then writing the words one at a time. The children say the words slowly, and the teacher helps them think about the sounds. Jawan spells out "olives." They re-read the list every time they add a word.
After the morning routine, children look at the Work Board, which will guide them through the next hour. The Work Board has names and pictures that show groups of children and what they are expected to do each morning. Today everyone in Jawan's group gets to read a book to a partner, re-sort the long and short "e" words they worked with yesterday, and meet with Ms. Walker in a Guided Reading Group. Ms. Walker is a reading specialist who travels from grade to grade to help with guided reading groups. Other children in the class are reading with Ms. Thomas, forming words with magnet letters in the ABC center, listening to books on tape with earphones, writing and illustrating a book in the writing center, and reading information books about the water cycle, their science topic for this trimester. Students are able to move from one activity to another because Ms. Thomas has shown them how each activity works in advance. The students move in groups between centers and guided reading groups. The Work Board allows Ms. Thomas to organize the class and engage each student in valuable activities without having to say a word.
Jawan has to read a book with his partner Jasmine. It is a book they have read before - Where is the Green Sheep? - and they both think it is funny. Jawan has read it enough times to know which words to emphasize and how to read the questions. He likes to make Jasmine laugh when he reads, and he laughs along when she reads, too.
Continue to Part 2
