LM_NET 08/04/09: [LM_NET] HIT: Handling 55 minute classes in Elementary

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Subject: [LM_NET] HIT: Handling 55 minute classes in Elementary
From: Dianne Kersteter <dkersteter@VISI.COM>
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2009 08:06:09 -0500
Reply-To: Dianne Kersteter <dkersteter@VISI.COM>
Sender: School Library Media & Network Communications <LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>

Thank you to everyone who has responded (if you haven't yet and you
want to, please do so). I've been asked by several people for a hit,
so here it is. Apparently it is not unusual to have these long
classes, even in K-3.

I had two schools as well, k-6, 55 minute periods, for a few years.
we are now in one school only, but still with 55 minute periods. i
usually plan a lesson for 30 minutes, some small/large group, a few
minutes for individual or buddy activity. 20 minutes for circulation.

if you are not doing circulation, maybe you could plan to have a
lesson of instruction and leave half the period for individual or
small group research/activity/assignment. you could plan lessons out
that take a few weeks, with them using the additional time for their
research. not really ideal, but if you are like me, the
administration is only looking for prep coverage and thinks about what
is convenient rather than what is necessarily best for the kids.

i never take kindergarten for that length of time. this year i may
have kindergarten for 55 minutes, so i will plan to do a longer story
period with them because 55 minutes is way too long for them to be in
one place.

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when I was in the elementary school my classes were 45 minutes long --
I usually planned
for a 25 - 30 minute lesson which for K - 3 worked by the time I got
them settled, answered
a few questions etc and then did the actual lesson and then allowed 15
minutes for them to
look for books, check them out and get an opportunity to look at them
in the library and
share them with each other.

I always allowed my students, including the kindergarten ones, to go
to the shelves to look
for their books.

if the lesson went a bit faster than I had envisioned (or the natives
started to get restless) I
would read another short book to them or show a very short video --

For second and third graders I break my 60 minutes down to 20-25
minutes for a story and/or activity, 20-25 minutes for checkout, and
20 minutes for silent reading. The really love the silent reading and
it gives the ones who are slow to check out a little more time if they
need it. K and 1 I see for 60 minutes--but the teachers divide the
class into two groups and I do two 30 minute sessions...about 15 to 20
for story and 10-15 for checkout. Gives the teachers a chance to work
with small group in classroom, too.

I have never had 55 min classes and I agree that they would work well
for the grades 4-5. In the lower grades perhaps you could try out some
reader's theatre. Students would go into small groups to practice and
then present. You could have more than one person do a voice or part.
I have also thought it would be fun to do quick book "dates". Have
books on the tables one for eachs tudent. give them time to read the
cover, inside flap and the first few pages. Then ask them to share
what they read with their face partner and then everyone moves down
two places and do it again. You could have kids share out the favorite
quick reads.
You could read from new books for part of the lesson.
You could also do model research lessons and then give them each a
topic to research. That could take some time. If you concentrated on
Super 3 you could have them do a part of it each week which would
provide lots of practice.
You could also allow about 10 minutes for book selection.
If kids to art related to a lesson, you could have them take turns
showing the work via the document camera and the projector.
I hope you get a lot of answers. The ones above might be used along
with a skill lesson etc.

15 to 20 minute lesson. 15 to 20 minutes browsing. 10 minutes check
out. Regroup and response about selections and the lesson. Quiet
reading or free choice writing or read aloud from a chapter book.

My classes are 50 minutes long and you are right - K and 1 can be
long, so usually I teach the lesson or read a book, then the kids
choose books and then I usually link some kind of activity - sing a
song, make a book related craft, etc. - to the lesson. You can do
similar things with 2nd grade, third can do some things like the upper
grades with working on their own

I have 45 min. classes which is not quite the same. I divide the time
into 3 sections....15- 20 mins. lessons- 15 mins for book selection-
then 15 or so mins for silent reading, or quiet activity such as word
search, color page computer time, listening centers..... Maybe you
could stretch it out to 17 mins each or so.

Wow that is long for k-3. coloring pages for characters comes to mind,
you
just google Arthur coloring page and there you have it. Then I add
Clifford
is: and they fill in the blanks from a poster I made. I also have kids
do a
database lookup to introduce each one of the databases we have.

My classes are only 40 minutes long. I spend the first half with my
lesson - using the catalog, research methods, etc. The second half I
have something to follow up the lesson that they can work on at the
tables, while 4 or 5 at a time look for books to check out.

I'm in a K-2 school and over the years I've had classes from 40 to 60
minutes in length......and I'm always fighting for the longer
classes. I usually start with a short chat with the children when
they come in......book talks, discussions on finding just right books,
sharing what the lesson will be about (which often guides their
borrowing), etc. The students then borrow (takes a max of 15
minutes....less for K's taking only 1 book). While my assistant
checks out the books, I do a lesson and/or story, then the added class
time usually allows the children to do some response work......group
murals, individual work, reenactments, games, discussions. I'm
excited b/c I just ordered flip cameras for next year which will give
them another means of responding to the lesson or topic covered.

I have library classes (1-5) for 50 minutes long. According to my
contract I only have to teach for 30 minutes and the rest of the time,
20 minutes is for students to look for books. For 1st and 2nd grade I
provide the students an activity to do while I dismiss tables one at a
time to look for books. Activities are related to the story such as:
draw a scene from the story, make a simple craft, draw or write a
story map, etec. For these grades we are encouraged to do an
interactive read aloud that takes up about 15 minutes or longer. I
have no problem filling up this time from when the teacher drops off
the kids, you get them to their seats, they move to the reading area,
they go back to their seats and then work on their project until they
are dismissed to pick out their books. Then I allow them to sit at
their seats and read their books quietly. Find out exactly how long
you must actually teach according to your contract.

I teach 40 min. classes to 1st - 3rd graders and this year it will
expand to 50 min.
I am interested in what you learn from others.
I usually divide mine 20/15 with the 15 being for check-out. I would
like to give more time for that (but some classes don't need it) and
then time for actual reading.
It does help to have a structured schedule in mind when planning.

Dianne Kersteter
Library Media Specialist
Minneapolis Public Schools

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