Michael Sauers
May 23, 2026
So, as you may suspect, the majority of individualized literacy instruction took place in the morning. After the lunch break, focused lessons were presented around grammar, spelling and the writing process. Following this a thirty minute block was devoted entirely to creative writing.
Writing topics ranging from, If I Had an Eye On the Tip of My Finger to If Cows Could Fly to My Submarine Trip were introduced, brainstormed and modeled. Walla! Children, even struggling writers, would give these topics a spin. A simple writing process format was followed: Choose a topic, Write a first copy, Change or revise it, Proofread and, finally, Publish. Publishing was a huge event. Students took center stage, displayed attached art and read their stories to their classmates. Hooray!
Ok. Now it is time for recess. No sitting is allowed. Students run like the wind. This is followed by enrichment: Art, Music, PE, Computer, Health and Library. We ran on a six day cycle.
The rest of the day was devoted to math, science and social studies. All of these were structured on brief lessons followed by concept practice. Small groups of students would review and practice math skills via math centers that included flash cards for math facts, geometric concepts using building blocks, solving word problems through computer games, money concepts by shopping/owning a school store, measuring concepts with scales, rulers, tape measures and liquid/solid measuring containers and fractions using puzzles and games.
Science and Social Studies followed similar approaches to the above. Science topics were; weather, animals, matter and space. Social Studies topics were; indigenous peoples, communities, holidays and states.
With skillful planning and time management, activities like alphabet art/auction, read alouds, play writing/presentation, bird feeder set up/cleaning/observing and learning about the invisible world were incorporated.
No doubt this was a busy day that required planning by a knowledgeable and discerning teacher. All teachers should be that.