I Need Your Help

Yes, I know it's been forever since I posted on here.

I've been busy growing a little baby boy and writing this blog for our son.  You can see I'm not so great at updating that either!

So, a few weeks ago, we found out that we would have a mandatory DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) time at the end of the day.  Well that's all fine and good, but I knew I would have to change my schedule.  These are our daily teaching minute requirements:

ELA:  200 minutes
Math:  90 minutes
Science:  40 minutes
S.S.: 40 minutes

Kiddos start rolling into my room at 7:10.  School officially starts at 7:30.  We have a news program that is supposed to start around that time, but usually doesn't.

Here is what my original schedule looked like:
Monday, Thursday, & Friday
7:10-7:30:  Eat breakfast & Complete Morning Work
7:30-7:45:  Morning News
7:45-8:00:  Morning Meeting & Read Aloud
8:00-9:15:  ELA:  Phonics, Vocabulary, Grammar, & Writing
9:15-10:00:  Guided Reading & Centers
10:05-10:45:  Special Area
10:50-11:25:  Social Studies
11:25-12:00:  Science
12:05-12:50:  Lunch & Recess
12:55-2:10:  Math
2:10-2:20:  Pack Up, Clean Up, & Dismissal


Tuesday
7:10-7:30:  Eat breakfast & Complete Morning Work
7:30-7:45:  Morning News
7:45-8:00:  Morning Meeting & Read Aloud
8:00-9:15:  ELA:  Phonics, Vocabulary, Grammar, & Writing
9:15-10:00:  Guided Reading & Centers
10:05-10:45:  Special Area
10:50-12:00:  Social Studies
12:05-12:50:  Lunch & Recess
12:55-2:10:  Math
2:10-2:20:  Pack Up, Clean Up, & Dismissal


Wednesday
7:10-7:30:  Eat breakfast & Complete Morning Work
7:30-7:45:  Morning News
7:45-8:00:  Morning Meeting & Read Aloud
8:00-9:15:  ELA:  Phonics, Vocabulary, Grammar, & Writing
9:15-10:00:  Guided Reading & Centers
10:05-10:45:  Special Area
10:50-12:00:  Garden Classroom {Science}
12:05-12:50:  Lunch & Recess
12:55-2:10:  Math
2:10-2:20:  Pack Up, Clean Up, & Dismissal

A couple of issues with this schedule:

• Not enough time for Math.  It has me ending at 2:10, but that's not happening.  Y'all we are dismissing AT 2:10.  So I have to stop no later than 2:00 and that's STILL pushing it for us being ready to leave at 2:00
• Not enough time for Science & S.S.
• I rarely started at 8:00
• I had no time for Find It, Fix It!

So, when I found out we had to have DEAR, I knew I would have to move math.  My plan is to have students packed up and ready to go BEFORE DEAR starts.  That means I am going to have to stop teaching no later than 1:40.  

So, since DEAR is ELA related, I am going to need to cut out 20 minutes of my ELA block.  I hate to do it especially since I'm barely fitting it all in as it is, but I don't see any other option.  

So, what would you do?  This is what I'm thinking:

Monday, Thursday, & Friday
7:10-7:30:  Eat breakfast & Complete Math Morning Work
7:30-7:45:  Morning News
7:45-8:00:  Morning Meeting & Bathroom Break (NO read aloud)
8:00-8:50:  ELA:  Phonics, Vocabulary, Grammar, & Writing
8:50-9:40:  Guided Reading & Centers
9:40-10:00:  Math Message & Mental Math
10:05-10:45:  Special Area
10:50-12:00:  Math (Possibly with centers)
12:05-12:50:  Lunch & Recess
12:55-1:40:  Science & S.S.
1:40-1:45:  Pack Up
1:45-2:05:  DEAR
2:05-2:10:  Find It, Fix It, Raffle, Dismissal


Tuesday
7:10-7:30:  Eat breakfast & Complete Math Morning Work
7:30-7:45:  Morning News
7:45-8:00:  Morning Meeting & Bathroom Break (NO read aloud)
8:00-8:50:  ELA:  Phonics, Vocabulary, Grammar, & Writing
8:50-9:40:  Guided Reading & Centers
9:40-10:00:  Math Message & Mental Math
10:05-10:45:  Special Area
10:50-12:00:  Math (Possibly with centers)
12:05-12:50:  Lunch & Recess
12:55-1:40:  S.S.
1:40-1:45:  Pack Up
1:45-2:05:  DEAR
2:05-2:10:  Find It, Fix It, Raffle, Dismissal


Monday, Thursday, & Friday
7:10-7:30:  Eat breakfast & Complete Math Morning Work
7:30-7:45:  Morning News
7:45-8:00:  Morning Meeting & Bathroom Break (NO read aloud)
8:00-8:50:  ELA:  Phonics, Vocabulary, Grammar, & Writing
8:50-9:40:  Guided Reading & Centers
9:40-10:00:  Math Message & Mental Math
10:05-10:45:  Special Area
10:50-12:00:  Garden Classroom {Science}
12:05-12:50:  Lunch & Recess
12:55-1:40:  Math
1:40-1:45:  Pack Up
1:45-2:05:  DEAR
2:05-2:10:  Find It, Fix It, Raffle, Dismissal



The only problem with this schedule is not enough time for Science & S.S.  Plus, there's not enough time for Math on Wednesdays due to Garden Classroom.

So what do you think?  What would you do?

I really appreciate the help and insight, especially since I've been SO absent lately.  Hope your year is going well.  I have quite the class this year so that has kept me busy as well.