KIPP NYC

Breakfast

The day starts at 7:15 with a hearty breakfast. We greet our students with hugs, handshakes, and/or high fives and use this time correct homework from the previous night.

Community Circle

On Mondays the whole school gathers to discuss elements of our school culture. On other days our class gathers in the meeting area to learn more about our classroom culture.

Calendar Math/Morning Message

Our homeroom, The Jazz Cats shift from a circle in the meeting area to our rug spots to go through our daily Calendar Math Routines. Among our favorite songs are 'The Days of the Week', 'The Months of the Year', and 'What’s the Weather?'

Reading Workshop

We start the real core of our academic day with reading. My co-teacher and I alternate between teaching phonics and reading comprehension, while the students move stations between us.

Literacy Centers

Possibly one of the most important points of our day is Literacy Centers. Students practice rhyming words, sight words, sounds and letters in various Literacy Centers. In small groups, we work on Guided Reading to meet students at their level and to improve their reading through word tackling strategies.

Snack

Students take a break from our busy day to enjoy a snack provided by one of our families. My co-teacher and I take a moment to recharge and partake in a snack with students.

Math Routines

During this time, we practice some of the quick, but ever important math skills including counting (by 1s, 2s, 5s, 10), shapes and ordinal numbers.

Prep

Students transition to one of our arts teachers (currently Dance, Music, or Physical Education) for a much needed movement break. We use this time to finish up correcting homework from the previous night and to prepare materials for the next day’s lessons. This is also a time we might catch up with a parent.

Lunch

My co-teacher and I switch off lunch duty so if I'm not using this as a prep, I'm eating lunch with our students.

Recess

Whoever takes lunch duty usually takes recess duty as well. In the beginning of the year, recess starts as a structured center time where our students learn to play together, and then as the year goes on, it becomes less structured where our students play to their own liking, but always remember to be nice.

Nap

After recess, our students return to our classroom to rest. For some students, this means taking a brief nap, while others simply take a serene moment from the day to gather their thoughts or to quietly enjoy a book.

Math

Math comes after a dance party wake-up from nap. During this time, we get into the new math instruction for the day. In early elementary, we work on developing number sense so our students can understand basic arithmetic and number stories.

Writing Workshop

During writing, we teach our students to develop their own voice with the written word. In the beginning of the year, this starts with the distinction between text and pictures as well as basic letter formation and letter-sound correspondence.

Science or Social Studies

Science and Social Studies are each taught twice a week. We start the year off learning about being healthy and our school community and move outward to the world around us.

Free Play

With the close of the day comes FREE PLAY. We manage the games and activities in the classroom and even partake in the dramatic play. Students rotate between centers, including Dress Up, the Kitchen, Dinosaurs, Dolls and Reading.

Pack Up and Dismissal

Our students pack up their backpacks and make sure they have their homework, their sight words, and the rest of their belongings as we prepare to continue our hard work at home.

Professional Development or Work Time

Two to three times after work, we stay after work to learn some fantastic new methods for management, centers, asking meaningful questions, and more.

School-Wide Morning Announcements

We begin each day promptly at 7:25 AM for all students. We use this time to greet our students, make announcements, collect homework and build community.

Prep Period

I use my prep time to plan lessons, provide feedback on assessments, and research new ways to incorporate technology into my class.  I also sit in on other 8th grade classes to learn from my colleagues and ensure consistency across subjects.

Teach History Class

I want our 8th graders to be as independent as possible to prepare them for high school and college. I use a combination of lectures and student-led discussions in my class. Students take notes using the Cornell note-taking strategy which is taught to them in 5th grade.

Supervise Snack

Students are provided with a snack each morning. This is also a time for our students socialize, stretch their legs, use the restroom, and chat with their teachers.

Prep Period

I often use my free time during the day to touch base with our 7th grade history teacher to ensure vertical alignment and email with the other KIPP NYC history teachers to share resources. Once a week, I meet one-on-one with our Dean of Teaching and Learning to review unit plans, analyze assessment data, and discuss instructional goals.

Teach History Class

I enjoy making videos (and collecting superhero figurines), so I incorporate media as much as possible in my classes. Students watch portions of documentaries that correlate with the time period we study and then we use it as a springboard for small group discussions and debate.

Lunch

Each teacher rotates in to either take kids down to our cafeteria or pick them up. It’s always a fun time to reconnect with the students midday to lunch duty with the kids. We share our cafeteria with KIPP Infinity Elementary School and KIPP College Prep so the teachers make sure the students are respectfully entering and leaving our shared space.

Video Elective

In addition to teaching history, I also teach a video editing course to a select group of students. Using the computers in my room, the students develop short commercials, music videos, and slideshows.  Students direct, edit, and star in the productions and learn about all aspects of video production.

Teach History Class

One homeroom on every grade level is an inclusion class, so I differentiate the lesson and classwork. The special education teacher pushes-in to provide additional support.

Coach Sport’s Team

Twice a week, I coach a sport’s team after school. In the fall, I coach co-ed flag football, and in the winter I coach boys’ basketball. We play games against other local charter schools, including other KIPP schools.

Period 1: Lab Prep

We’ve created a schedule such that the science department can use first period to adequately prepare for the day’s lab.  Because of our generous budget for lab supplies, I am able to create and execute a wide-range of labs.

Hybrid Biology/Chemistry

I teach the sophomores who need to repeat 9th grade biology or who scored below a 75 on the Living Environment Regents exam.  We spend the first half of the year reviewing key concepts in biology and then spend the second half studying chemistry. Because of our intentionally small class size (about 20 students) for our hybrid classes, I am able to provide focused, individualized instruction.

Co-Planning Time

Each department has one shared prep period so I use this time to collaborate and co-plan with our science department.

Prep

I use this time to eat lunch, lesson plan, tutor students or meet with colleagues. Every teacher has either 4th period or 5th period free (half of the student body is at lunch during each of these periods).

Living Environment

I teach biology to our 9th grade students, who have the option of taking Living Environment or Honors Biology.

Prep

This is another prep period in the day where I can meet with my instructional coach to review and tweak my lessons for the week.

Living Environment

Our students will take the Living Environment Regents at the end of the year. We require students to earn at least a 75 on the science-related Regents exam so that they are prepared for science courses in college.

Hybrid Biology/Chemistry

I teach four classes everyday like most all of my colleagues.  Teachers who take on an additional fifth class will still have about the same number of students to make the amount of grading equitable and fair.

KIPP Block/Advisory

All of our students engage in some type of extra-curricular activity during this time.  In the fall, I coached track and in the winter/spring, I helped coach the boys basketball team.  On Wednesdays, we have advisory (instead of KIPP Block), and I get to meet with a group of about ten students who I will advise during their entire high school career.