A Week in the Life of an Elementary School Teacher, Day 2

5:00 a.m. Here we go again!
I'm up early again. Last night I went to bed right after the family movie because my headache returned. It's hard to work with these headaches. I only get about two a month, but the best thing for them is medicine and sleep.

I work on my Phonics Day 2 SMARTBoard lesson.

5:30 a.m.
My computer has locked up again. It's difficult to get anything done on my laptop, but I don't want to spend more time at the school just to use my work computer.

I finish as quickly as I can and begin my morning ritual, which today includes washing my hair!

7:40 a.m.
I grab some Cheerios on my way out the door. I'll get some milk from the school cafeteria if I have time. I drop my son off at his school with just minutes to spare before his bell rings.

8:00 a.m.
I prepare for the day by opening all of my computer files and updating them for today's assignments, read through my lessons one last time, fill out a form for the office, get ice water from the teacher's lounge (I wish I had time to sit in that massage chair that someone donated!), laminate, give something to the assistant principal, and return the form to the office. I take a few moments to "talk" to my friend's 9-month-old daughter and fill up on baby endorphins. But I run out of time to visit the cafeteria for some milk.

8:40 a.m.
I'm off to the playground with my team member to pick up the 2nd grade classes. As my students pass through my classroom door, I greet each and every one of them with a high five, a handshake, or a hug. I also have to get another team member's class settled because she is still in a meeting in the office. I oversee about 45 students for a few minutes until she returns. This morning's lessons consist of Morning Work, announcements, Morning Meeting, Reading, Literacy Centers, and small groups. My students are reading a play about Yeh-Shen, a Cinderella story from China. Phonics will have to wait until after lunch because we have music this morning.

10:30 a.m.
My students go to music, which would normally be my 30-minute planning period. But today takes an unexpected turn, and I have to use most of my time to deal with a student issue. By the time I return to my room, I have 10 minutes left for planning. I finally get to eat some Cheerios. Of course, it's almost lunchtime now.

11:00 a.m.
In the music room, my kiddos are playing Orff instruments. It's times like this that I miss my few years as a music teacher.

We use our final 20 minutes before recess for Literacy Centers.

11:30 a.m.
My team takes about 25 minutes for lunch and spends our remaining 15 minutes planning for next week's lessons.

12:30 p.m.
We only have an hour and a half for Phonics and Math.

2:00 p.m.
A classroom parent visits our room to teach an art lesson. It's part of a school-wide program called Meet the Masters. Once each month, a parent teaches our class about a painter and then leads a lesson, designed in the style of that artist. Today is Frederic Remington, who specialized in depicting the Old West. My students learn about foreground/background and perspective. It's something the kids look forward to.

2:45 p.m.
We eat a quick snack and have our Science lesson from our Solids & Liquids unit.We're learning about properties of matter. My students have been exploring objects made of wood, plastic, fabric, metal, rubber, and ceramic to see if they are round, pointy, soft, hard, rigid, flexible, or transparent. One of my favorite moments of the day is when the kids discover that solids, liquids, and gases are the "end" result of the digestive system. That gets quite a few giggles.

3:30 p.m.
We're out the door, and I'm on my way to after-school car duty again.

4:00 p.m.
I have a 30-minute tutoring session.

4:40 p.m.
A dear friend brings me some Frosted Flakes to keep at school so that I don't ever go without breakfast. She's awesome!

I clean my room, send messages to some parents, do some paperwork, and leave my desk clean for tomorrow.

5:30 p.m.
I finally leave the school building.

6:00 p.m.
I sit on the sofa with my husband. He watches T.V., and I "grade" papers. My students document their Literacy Centers in an app called Seesaw. it's an online classroom journal. The kids take pictures of their work and post it to the class feed. I go through their posts and approve or decline them (if they did it wrong or didn't complete it). This gives me a good record of learned skills for report cards. i can "like" and comment on their posts. Parents have access to their own child's posts. It's fabulous!

It's buffet night at our house. We make the most of the leftovers in the fridge before they go bad.

7:00 p.m.
Hi, my name is Jennifer, and I'm addicted to Candy Crush. And Candy Crush Soda. And Candy Crush Jelly. I play mindless games on my iPad while I watch NCIS. This is my downtime. My bare Christmas tree glares over my shoulder at me. I know. I know. It's January 24th. But tonight is not the night to take it down. It can wait. I put the clean dishes away and started a load of laundry, but I don't want to tackle the tree tonight.

9:00 p.m.
I create Phonics Day 3 SMARTBoard lesson while watching Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm kind of a geek that way.

10:00 p.m.
I take a few minutes to blog. My husband's clothes aren't dry, so I can't even put my wet clothes in the dryer. It will be a while before I get to sleep.

11:30 p.m.
My clothes still aren't dry. I'm not a night person, so I'd really like to have been in bed before now. It will be midnight before I get any rest. Six hours of sleep, and we'll start this all over again tomorrow!