How many of you teach in a Hebrew/English dual curriculum and feel frustrated by dividing up the time into half the time for English and half the time for Hebrew?
There has to be a better way of doing this, but who knows the solution?
I have thought of different possibilities.
One way, of course, is to combine the curriculum a little better with each other, so it's not two isolated curriculums. But then how do you cover math, reading and writing? I guess you do it through the Hebrew curriculum.
Today I spent my day setting up my classroom for my kiddies coming on Monday. Actually was dreading this day over my summer vacation. But as I working in the classroom, I actually got pretty excited.
When I came home today, I was even more excited because I had 3 letters waiting for me from my students. Two weeks before school starts (I don't like to do it any earlier because who wants to think about school during our summer vacation!!), I send a letter to my second graders telling them all about me and some of my favorite things to do. Then I ask them to write me a letter back. Well, I just LOVE getting those letters back. I asked the parents not to help their child AT ALL with the writing, and it becomes a great informal assessment tool as well! But the best part is you really get to know the student on a personal level. If it's early enough before school starts, I write back. Who doesn't love getting a letter in the mail?
Tomorrow will be more setting-up time and more thinking about how to make more time for each of the important skills the Hebrew and English department teach the students.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Trying to Jazz up my Blog
So I'm trying to jazz up this blog and make it as beautiful as some of the other teachers I see out there.
Any suggestions from you successful bloggers?
Any suggestions from you successful bloggers?
Saturday, January 24, 2015
THE SCHEDULE
I haven't written in here for a long time.
You have only approximately 2 1/2 hours a day to include all the subjects that you have to teach!
I repeat. You have only 2 1/2 hours a day to include all the subjects that you have to teach!
That is very little time! I know many public school teachers who complain that they have very little time, and they have the entire day to teach the subjects we have to teach in a half-day.
So how do I do it?
Well, most of the subjects get only a 40 - 45 minute time slot. I can't do reading everyday. I switch it off with writing. I do math every day. I also do social studies or science once a week, but I switch between social studies and science every few weeks. We have word study everyday and I try to have a read aloud everyday as well.
Here is my schedule:
8:00 -8:45
The kids daven with their Hebrew teacher.
8:45 - 9:00 Morning Meeting
(attendance, calendar, schedule and check how everyone's doing, feeling etc...)
Miscellaneous activities for 5-10 minutes.
For example:
Have a paragraph up with errors and have students check for errors (They love this!)
9:00-9:20 Word Study
The students learn word patterns for spelling, or they learn any number of things related to words, such as: synonyms, antonyms, homonyms etc.
9:20-10:00 Reading or Writing Workshop
Two days a week, we have reading and two days we have writing. This I'm sure seems crazy to you, but it seems to work out. Of course, I wish I can have both reading and writing every single day, but time does not allow it.
10:00-10:40 P.E.
Students go out of the room to the gym for P.E.
10:40-10:50 snack/recess
The students come back after P.E. and they get to eat their snack, go to the bathroom, get a drink and play a few games for ten minutes. This is probably their best part of the day. Also wish I can make this part of the day longer because they gain so much from their 10 minute recess. They have an opportunity to work in the Lightbulb Lab (adopted from Kevin Henkes' book "Lily and the Purple Plastic Purse")where they do so many creative things.
10:50 - 11:30 Math Workshop
This is very little time for the students to learn a new concept and then practice it and also have enough time to do play math games, which I really love for them to do because I find it helps them discover math much better.
11:30 -12:15 Lunch and Bentching
12:15 - 12:45 HW Review and Story
Sometimes from 12:15 to 12:30, we will use this time to do more math, reading or writing depending on what subject needed a few more minutes for the kids to finish up.
12:15 - 12:45 Read Aloud
The students get to hear a story.
Then we SWITCH!
The students that were in the Hebrew class all morning learning all the important Judaic subjects now come into my class and learn all the Secular subjects. My morning class now goes into the Hebrew class and they will learn all the Hebrew subjects now.
The hard part for me is that I have to start all over again teaching all the subjects that I just spent 2 1/2 hours teaching earlier in the day. I keep everything pretty much matched up in both classes.
We do everything the same as the morning, so I'm just going to write the subject.
12:45 - 1:00 Afternoon Meeting
1:00 -1:20 Word Study
1:20 -2:00 Special (Art, Music, Media)
2:00 - 2:40 Math Workshop
2:40 - 2:50 Snack/Recess
2:50 - 3:25 Reading or Writing Workshop
3:25 - 3:40 HW Review and Read Aloud
We have 15 minutes less time in the afternoon, which I've tried with the Hebrew teacher to make up the difference, but it's hard to do.
So there you have the schedule of my dual curriculum. Some days can be very frustrating!
I will be writing more about what we do during those times and how we try to incorporate as much as we can in the little time that we have!
I am still teaching 2nd grade with a dual curriculum.
Now the biggest problem in a dual curriculum is the schedule!!!
Now the biggest problem in a dual curriculum is the schedule!!!
You have only approximately 2 1/2 hours a day to include all the subjects that you have to teach!
I repeat. You have only 2 1/2 hours a day to include all the subjects that you have to teach!
That is very little time! I know many public school teachers who complain that they have very little time, and they have the entire day to teach the subjects we have to teach in a half-day.
So how do I do it?
Well, most of the subjects get only a 40 - 45 minute time slot. I can't do reading everyday. I switch it off with writing. I do math every day. I also do social studies or science once a week, but I switch between social studies and science every few weeks. We have word study everyday and I try to have a read aloud everyday as well.
Here is my schedule:
8:00 -8:45
The kids daven with their Hebrew teacher.
8:45 - 9:00 Morning Meeting
(attendance, calendar, schedule and check how everyone's doing, feeling etc...)
Miscellaneous activities for 5-10 minutes.
For example:
Have a paragraph up with errors and have students check for errors (They love this!)
9:00-9:20 Word Study
The students learn word patterns for spelling, or they learn any number of things related to words, such as: synonyms, antonyms, homonyms etc.
9:20-10:00 Reading or Writing Workshop
Two days a week, we have reading and two days we have writing. This I'm sure seems crazy to you, but it seems to work out. Of course, I wish I can have both reading and writing every single day, but time does not allow it.
10:00-10:40 P.E.
Students go out of the room to the gym for P.E.
10:40-10:50 snack/recess
The students come back after P.E. and they get to eat their snack, go to the bathroom, get a drink and play a few games for ten minutes. This is probably their best part of the day. Also wish I can make this part of the day longer because they gain so much from their 10 minute recess. They have an opportunity to work in the Lightbulb Lab (adopted from Kevin Henkes' book "Lily and the Purple Plastic Purse")where they do so many creative things.
10:50 - 11:30 Math Workshop
This is very little time for the students to learn a new concept and then practice it and also have enough time to do play math games, which I really love for them to do because I find it helps them discover math much better.
11:30 -12:15 Lunch and Bentching
12:15 - 12:45 HW Review and Story
Sometimes from 12:15 to 12:30, we will use this time to do more math, reading or writing depending on what subject needed a few more minutes for the kids to finish up.
12:15 - 12:45 Read Aloud
The students get to hear a story.
Then we SWITCH!
The students that were in the Hebrew class all morning learning all the important Judaic subjects now come into my class and learn all the Secular subjects. My morning class now goes into the Hebrew class and they will learn all the Hebrew subjects now.
The hard part for me is that I have to start all over again teaching all the subjects that I just spent 2 1/2 hours teaching earlier in the day. I keep everything pretty much matched up in both classes.
We do everything the same as the morning, so I'm just going to write the subject.
12:45 - 1:00 Afternoon Meeting
1:00 -1:20 Word Study
1:20 -2:00 Special (Art, Music, Media)
2:00 - 2:40 Math Workshop
2:40 - 2:50 Snack/Recess
2:50 - 3:25 Reading or Writing Workshop
3:25 - 3:40 HW Review and Read Aloud
We have 15 minutes less time in the afternoon, which I've tried with the Hebrew teacher to make up the difference, but it's hard to do.
So there you have the schedule of my dual curriculum. Some days can be very frustrating!
I will be writing more about what we do during those times and how we try to incorporate as much as we can in the little time that we have!
Until next time, happy dueling!!!!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Presenting Christopher Columbus
This week I did a fun activity with my class.
In honor of Columbus Day and because we are studying the map of the world, I thought it would be a great idea to really delve into the story of Christopher Columbus with my students. First, I told them the whole story and used the map in my classroom to show them all the different parts of the story like how back then in 1492, the Europeans didn't know that the continents North and South America even existed! They thought the world was much smaller!!
Anyway, after I proceeded to tell them the whole story and read to them two different books on the topic and figured that they knew the story pretty well. O divided the class into groups of 4. The way I divided the groups was by giving them each an index card that had a different color sticker and a number from 1-4. All the same colors had to get together and all the numbers had separate jobs. 1 was the writer, 2 was the director, 3 and 4 were actors. The groups activity was to put on a small skit about Christopher Columbus.
Well, you should have seen how motivated and engaged all these kids were with this activity. They simply loved it.
I combined writing, reading and social studies and had them work on it everyday and told them that on Thursday they would perform it and the highest grade they can get is a grade of 4. In order to get that grade they had to be cooperating well with their group. Had to have the story of Christopher Columbus told in the skit, be organized and performed the story well.
I am looking forward to seeing the plays tomorrow. I will let you know how it went!!!
In honor of Columbus Day and because we are studying the map of the world, I thought it would be a great idea to really delve into the story of Christopher Columbus with my students. First, I told them the whole story and used the map in my classroom to show them all the different parts of the story like how back then in 1492, the Europeans didn't know that the continents North and South America even existed! They thought the world was much smaller!!
Anyway, after I proceeded to tell them the whole story and read to them two different books on the topic and figured that they knew the story pretty well. O divided the class into groups of 4. The way I divided the groups was by giving them each an index card that had a different color sticker and a number from 1-4. All the same colors had to get together and all the numbers had separate jobs. 1 was the writer, 2 was the director, 3 and 4 were actors. The groups activity was to put on a small skit about Christopher Columbus.
Well, you should have seen how motivated and engaged all these kids were with this activity. They simply loved it.
I combined writing, reading and social studies and had them work on it everyday and told them that on Thursday they would perform it and the highest grade they can get is a grade of 4. In order to get that grade they had to be cooperating well with their group. Had to have the story of Christopher Columbus told in the skit, be organized and performed the story well.
I am looking forward to seeing the plays tomorrow. I will let you know how it went!!!
Saturday, August 24, 2013
The First Two Day of School
I met all my new students on Thursday, Aug. 22nd. K-5 classes gathered in the auditorium for the Pledge of Allegiance, Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah. There were many parents there who joined and brought all their child's supplies. Then the parents came upstairs with their children. I'm not sure how great that was because many of them got involved in seeing who was on the list for each class and, of course, then wanted to switch their kid into the other class, once they saw the list.
The way it works in a dual curriculum program is that the students are divided into two groups. One has Hebrew in the morning and the other group has English in the afternoon and then they switch around 12:30. This year, there are 34 second graders, so there are 17 students in each class.
First thing that the students do after the morning assembly, which is at 7:55 is pray altogether in the Hebrew classroom. At this point, it's usually about 8:05 that they begin praying. The Hebrew teacher, my counter part of the day, I will call her Mrs. B, wants to have the two classes for a long time to pray. But I feel that they are only second graders and don't need to pray for so long. In any event, at the beginning of the year, I won't have half of the class, my morning class, until 9:00 am because she is teaching prayer. It is actually a great prep time for me, but it cuts into my teaching time a lot. I would at least want them to end @ 8:45.
On the first day of school, I started my class by introducing my students to the economy system that I use as a classroom management tool. It is really fantastic, and I got the system from a star teacher named Beth Newingham. If you google her name, you can learn all about the system. Basically, you are giving students credits and debits for following or breaking rules. At the end of the week, you add up all the credits and subtract the debits and they have a total for the week. After a few weeks, you have what is called Pay Day and you give each student a check for the amount that they earned. You then set up a bank and pick students to be bankers. They cash the check for the students. With their money in hand the students can then buy fun things from the store that is set up in the room. KIDS LOVE THIS SYSTEM! It works like a charm.
We then do community building activities in the classroom. One of the activities we did was called "Keep up the Balloon."
I blew up a balloon and everyone in the class had to work together to keep the balloon up. I then add one more balloon, and then another one.
The kids loved it. We talked about how important it is to all work together in order to keep the balloon staying up!
I also read the book Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes to build community. It is a great story about how Chester has a best friend, and they do everything together, and when a new girl, Lilly, moves into the neighborhood they don't want anything to do with her until she saves them from some bullies. The boys then become great friends with Lilly and they do everything together until... Great book for a discussion about including other people.
We also did an "All About Me" activity. The kids wrote down all the different things about themselves like favorite animal, book, food etc. Later we can see who matches those things in the class, and how you can connect to different people in different ways. We will then make a collage of all the these things. We take a large paper and divide it into 6 boxes. They will make a self-portrait of themselves in the middle, write their name underneath and then write, draw and glue objects of favorite things they love to do on the side panels of paper. We will hang the finished products on the bulletin boards outside the classroom.
Stay tuned for our schedule for the first full week of school coming up next week!
Tammy
The way it works in a dual curriculum program is that the students are divided into two groups. One has Hebrew in the morning and the other group has English in the afternoon and then they switch around 12:30. This year, there are 34 second graders, so there are 17 students in each class.
First thing that the students do after the morning assembly, which is at 7:55 is pray altogether in the Hebrew classroom. At this point, it's usually about 8:05 that they begin praying. The Hebrew teacher, my counter part of the day, I will call her Mrs. B, wants to have the two classes for a long time to pray. But I feel that they are only second graders and don't need to pray for so long. In any event, at the beginning of the year, I won't have half of the class, my morning class, until 9:00 am because she is teaching prayer. It is actually a great prep time for me, but it cuts into my teaching time a lot. I would at least want them to end @ 8:45.
On the first day of school, I started my class by introducing my students to the economy system that I use as a classroom management tool. It is really fantastic, and I got the system from a star teacher named Beth Newingham. If you google her name, you can learn all about the system. Basically, you are giving students credits and debits for following or breaking rules. At the end of the week, you add up all the credits and subtract the debits and they have a total for the week. After a few weeks, you have what is called Pay Day and you give each student a check for the amount that they earned. You then set up a bank and pick students to be bankers. They cash the check for the students. With their money in hand the students can then buy fun things from the store that is set up in the room. KIDS LOVE THIS SYSTEM! It works like a charm.
We then do community building activities in the classroom. One of the activities we did was called "Keep up the Balloon."
I blew up a balloon and everyone in the class had to work together to keep the balloon up. I then add one more balloon, and then another one.
The kids loved it. We talked about how important it is to all work together in order to keep the balloon staying up!
I also read the book Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes to build community. It is a great story about how Chester has a best friend, and they do everything together, and when a new girl, Lilly, moves into the neighborhood they don't want anything to do with her until she saves them from some bullies. The boys then become great friends with Lilly and they do everything together until... Great book for a discussion about including other people.
We also did an "All About Me" activity. The kids wrote down all the different things about themselves like favorite animal, book, food etc. Later we can see who matches those things in the class, and how you can connect to different people in different ways. We will then make a collage of all the these things. We take a large paper and divide it into 6 boxes. They will make a self-portrait of themselves in the middle, write their name underneath and then write, draw and glue objects of favorite things they love to do on the side panels of paper. We will hang the finished products on the bulletin boards outside the classroom.
Stay tuned for our schedule for the first full week of school coming up next week!
Tammy
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Before the Start
School starts Thursday, August 22nd!
Before it starts, I like to send all the kids in my second grade a letter describing myself and family. I also include all the things I like to do and read.
I then ask them to write me back a letter describing all the things that they like to do! If they can't mail it to me, I tell them to bring it the first day of school.
I like to get this letter because it gives me a little background of each kid. I also ask the parents to write me a little something about each kid.
Working on activities for first week of school!
Before it starts, I like to send all the kids in my second grade a letter describing myself and family. I also include all the things I like to do and read.
I then ask them to write me back a letter describing all the things that they like to do! If they can't mail it to me, I tell them to bring it the first day of school.
I like to get this letter because it gives me a little background of each kid. I also ask the parents to write me a little something about each kid.
Working on activities for first week of school!
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Introduction to Dualing Curriculum and how it got it's name!
Hi,
So here I am experimenting with doing a blog. It is an interesting experiment that I would love to see what happens.
In any event, I called this blog The Dualing Curriculum because I teach in a Hebrew Day School with two curriculums, hence the name dualing! It is a dual curriculum and a play on words that they really are in fact "deuling."
We have some classes that have the morning dedicated to Hebrew studies and then the kids switch after lunch to a class dedicated to what is distinguished as secular studies. That would me! I teach the secular part of the day for these students. This includes every subject from math, to reading, to writing, science, social studies, word study, handwriting. All of these subjects, I have to squeeze into a half-day schedule.
Can you see why this could be extremely difficult and challenging?
Many teachers who teach students these subjects all day complain that they don't have enough time to teach everything that they have to teach. Imagine trying to do that in a day where you might have all of 2 1/2 hours to teach everything.
In this blog, I plan to share with you how I manage to incorporate everything that I have to teach to my students in half the time.
I also have double the amount of students since I teach a whole day, I teach one group of kids in the morning and then I do it all over again with a whole new group of kids.
I have been teaching second grade for two years. This will be my third year and believe it or not we got a lot done. But I want to try to really make the most use of my time this year and get even more done.
I have been listening to some wonderful webinars this summer that I will share with you about improving my teaching. My brain is swimming with all these new cutting edge ideas and I can't wait to try them out.
I have to go pick up my sister from the airport right now so to be continued!
So here I am experimenting with doing a blog. It is an interesting experiment that I would love to see what happens.
In any event, I called this blog The Dualing Curriculum because I teach in a Hebrew Day School with two curriculums, hence the name dualing! It is a dual curriculum and a play on words that they really are in fact "deuling."
We have some classes that have the morning dedicated to Hebrew studies and then the kids switch after lunch to a class dedicated to what is distinguished as secular studies. That would me! I teach the secular part of the day for these students. This includes every subject from math, to reading, to writing, science, social studies, word study, handwriting. All of these subjects, I have to squeeze into a half-day schedule.
Can you see why this could be extremely difficult and challenging?
Many teachers who teach students these subjects all day complain that they don't have enough time to teach everything that they have to teach. Imagine trying to do that in a day where you might have all of 2 1/2 hours to teach everything.
In this blog, I plan to share with you how I manage to incorporate everything that I have to teach to my students in half the time.
I also have double the amount of students since I teach a whole day, I teach one group of kids in the morning and then I do it all over again with a whole new group of kids.
I have been teaching second grade for two years. This will be my third year and believe it or not we got a lot done. But I want to try to really make the most use of my time this year and get even more done.
I have been listening to some wonderful webinars this summer that I will share with you about improving my teaching. My brain is swimming with all these new cutting edge ideas and I can't wait to try them out.
I have to go pick up my sister from the airport right now so to be continued!
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