A Day in the Life of a 2nd Grader at Inly

8:15
I enter my classroom and put away my coat and backpack in my cubby. I talk to my friend who just came in too, about what I did yesterday after school. He tells me he got to go out for ice cream last night. I pick up my morning work, put my lunch box in my cubby, put my slippers on, check my committee for any jobs that needed done (I have to put the chairs down around the room) and say good morning in Spanish to my teachers.

8:30
I meet with one of my teachers to go over what work I did yesterday and what choices I should think about making today. I haven’t done my fraction work yet this week so I think I will do that first.

8:40
I set up two rugs (the fraction work takes up a lot of space), and walk to the geometry shelf to get the fraction insets. It takes me two trips since it is so heavy and large. I am working on making fractions using the fraction pieces, have it checked and write the fractions in my math booklet. My friend comes over and asks if she can do the work with me since she needs to do it too. I move over and we work together.

9:15
After Jane and I put the fraction work away I decide I want to work on my word study. I have a lot of materials to get through so I begin with one word family and make the words on a rug. I write them down on my paper and make a sentence using one of the words. I have my teacher check it. I have 5 of these to do this week so I just keep going.

10:00
I am hungry! I think I will have snack. Oh good my friend is at the snack table already. I can’t wait to join him. Mmmm apples and grapes for snack today!

10:20
After cleaning up after myself I decide to take out a geography work. I haven’t done geography in a while and it is on my work journal as something I should choose this week. Oh, good I found one on Land Forms. Oh my teacher just called me over to be part of a clock lesson. I think we are going to be learning about ½ hours this time. This should be fun!

10:40
My teacher has started to play the guitar… that means it is time for meeting. I need to finish up what I am working on and put it away. I will also fill in my work journal what I did this morning. I wonder who is the moderator today. The moderator will lead the meeting. She states the date, attendance, shows us how many days we have been school (143 today) and reads the white board to us (we get to correct any errors she makes when she asks for “peer edits”. Then she calls committees to report. I am on the science committee so I get to, with my group, report the weather and what we suggest everyone should wear outside at recess. At the end of meeting we get our lunch boxes and get ready for lunch.

11:15
I love lunchtime. We get to sit with 3 or 4 of our classmates, talk and eat. When we are done we choose what jobs we will do to clean up (wash the table, dry the table, pick up the floors). It is fun and best of all after we are done we get to go outside for recess.

12:30
We have music after recess today. We are going to practice the songs we will sing in our play.

1:15
Back to class. One of my teachers calls me over for a book club meeting. We read a new book last week and today we are sharing our answers to some questions. Our teacher is checking to see if we are using complete sentences when we answer the questions. I like this time. It is a good book and I love reading.

1:40
We are working in small groups on cultural projects. We have been giving a challenge to build a village after being stranded on an uncharted island. Our environment is dense, forested area near a beach. We are trying to build a model village using natural materials that will meet our basic needs and not harm the environment. My group is working on designing and building a small tree house out of sticks and vines.

2:30
It is committee time. I have to check on the science area. We have hermit crabs and fish so I need to make sure they are fed and that their home is ok. I also need to empty the compost from this afternoon’s lunch into the outside composter.

2:45
It is closing circle time. My teacher is playing a song and we all bring our coats and backpack to the meeting area. We each go around the circle and end our day with a nice saying. We all say goodbye and go outside for dismissals. I can’t wait until tomorrow!