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!!!!
