About Us :: A Day in the Life ... (Continued)

A Day in the Life of a Student at Southwest Baltimore Charter School - Part 2

Ms. Thomas and Ms. Walker teach two guided reading groups each morning. Jawan's group is Ms. Walker's second group. She sits on a chair with rollers at a kidney-shaped table so she can see all the readers. She has picked out a new book for Jawan's group today. After previewing the pictures together and discussing some of the words that will be in the book, Jawan and the other three children read with whisper voices. This way they all get to read independently, and Ms. Walker can listen in to assess their progress. When Jawan comes to an unfamiliar word, he uses the picture in the book and the first and last letter to help him identify it. The word is "puppet." Ms. Walker listens in, noting Jawan's problem-solving attempts, and jotting down his need for practice with double medial consonants. The children read and discuss one segment of the book at a time, sharing their thoughts and making predictions about the next segment. After the children have finished reading and discussing the story, Ms. Walker points out a comma and explains how it is used in the sentence. All the children read the sentence together, and then read the whole page together, pausing at the commas. Ms. Walker has chosen to take a running record of Jawan today. It is his turn in the rotation. She tells the other three children to reread the story independently while she works with Jawan. For about five minutes Jawan reads a book he has never seen before, and Ms. Walker notes the words he reads correctly, those he misreads then corrects, and those he can not decode. After the session, she puts the running record in his portfolio. Ms. Walker then reviews yesterday's long and short "e" words with Jawan's group and gives them papers on which to sort and glue the words themselves. Jawan is excited to go back to his table to sort the words. He whispers the words to himself to hear the vowel sounds, just as the group had practiced with Ms. Thomas.

Everyone has worked hard this morning, so they are ready for snack at 10:15. Jawan wishes he had brought olives. At 10:30 the class is ready for more lessons.

Today after snack, Ms. Thomas reads a story they have heard before, The Little Engine That Could, and a new book, Steam, Smoke and Steel: Back in Time with Trains. The first graders are getting ready for their trip to the B&O train museum next week. The whole school is studying the Civil War as their thematic unit this trimester, and the primary team has chosen to center their studies around steam trains. Steam trains were vital to the success of the Union Army during the war, and they allow Ms. Thomas to incorporate both history and science into her classroom. Next week she will show the students how water turns to ice and then to steam. They will see how heat makes steam, which can power a giant engine. Today the read-aloud gives the class a history of trains and provides a lead-in for their next classroom activity - writers' workshop. The class makes a chart of the ways the books are the same and how they are different. One difference she makes sure that they note is that Steam, Smoke and Steel is an information book. Each child thinks of something he or she could write an information book about - a pet, their school, baseball?. Ms. Thomas distributes their writing folders, which contain blank paper, alphabet charts, high-frequency word charts and personal dictionaries. She writes some words the students might find useful on the chalk board. Jawan begins his information book. He has decided to write about horses. At the end of the hour, several children share the beginnings of their information books from the author's chair.

The first graders have put in three solid hours of instruction this morning. Every child has heard three stories read aloud and joined for shared reading of several more. A teacher has listened to Jawan read as part of a group and individually. Jawan has written lists, sorted words by spelling pattern, and started his information book. He has also learned about the history of an important industry in his hometown and prepared for a field trip. He puts his writing folder away and helps straighten up the activity centers.

Continue to Part 3