Are you looking for a sample second-grade schedule? After posting about my guided reading groups, I had a few readers reach out to me and ask me the same question: “What is your daily schedule like?” They wanted to know if I used Words Their Way, taught shared reading, and if I had morning meetings.
For this blog post, I am sharing with you my daily schedule. The school that I teach at is an ELA GAN Building. That means our Greatest Area of Need is English Language Arts, and we have 135 minutes of ELA every day. This 135 minutes includes ALL areas of English Language Arts, including shared reading, read aloud/think aloud, reading workshop, word work, and writing. In this post, I will break down all these parts of my ELA block into my detail. 
Sample 2nd Grade Schedule of Instructional Minutes
Instructional Day: 9:05-3:15
(The students enter our classroom at 8:55, the first bell is at 9:05. The expectation is that homework check-in, breakfast, attendance, the pledge is all done before 9:05)
9:05-9:25 – Morning Meeting (20 mins)
Explicit Social-Emotional Learning
- Morning meeting must include all 4 components: greeting, sharing, activity, and morning message
If you want to learn more about my morning meeting, click here: Morning Meeting Motivation
9:25-10:25- Math (60 mins)
We use Eureka math
- 15 mins- concept development, application problem
- 40 mins- differentiated math instruction
- 5 minutes for exit ticket (formative assessment)
10:25-10:50- What I Need (W.I.N)
Content and subject is subject to what my students need the most help with
10:50-11:20- Science (30 minutes)
- 15 mins- Teacher modeling and student inquiry
- 15 mins- Student investigation
11:20-11:55- Lunch/Recess (Lunch 20 mins, recess 15)
11:55-12:00- Quiet Time
12:00-12:10 ELA (part of the 135 daily literacy minutes)
- Read Aloud / Think Aloud
12:10-12:40 Specials
(We have gym twice a week, the library once a week, and art OR music twice a week. The first semester is art, the second semester is music.)
12:40-2:30 ELA (135 minutes)
- 10-15 minutes- Shared Reading (Grade level text, choral reading, etc. This I also incorporate into my morning meeting)
- 10 minutes- Mini-lesson for reading workshop
If you want to learn more about my mini-lessons, click here: Reading Workshop Mini-Lesson Musts
- 35 minutes- Differentiated reading work time (guided reading groups, independent reading, partner reading, reading conferences)
If you want to learn more about reading work time, click here:
- 20 minutes- Word Work (Words Their Way)
- 10 minutes- Mini-lesson for writing workshop
- 30 minutes- Independent writing, partner writing, guided practice, small groups, and conferences
2:45-3:00 Teacher Taught Physical Education (T.T.P.E) This is only on days when we don’t have PE. Our students have gym class twice a week.
3:00-3:15 Closing Circle (Component to Responsive Classroom)
- 10 minutes debrief/ celebrations
- 5 minutes dismissal
So that’s it! My daily schedule! Now, I will be the first one to admit that this looks great on paper. However, after teaching for 16 years, I know that this is subject to change due to a plethora of holidays, assemblies, RTI/IEP meetings, safety drills, book fair, professional development/conferences, the list go on. It may be that my book clubs had superb discussions and I wanted to let them continue for an extra ten minutes. I always celebrate when I have one full week without any interruption to the daily schedule because there is always so much going on! So, I take this schedule that my team and I follow with a grain of salt.
Creating a daily schedule can be stressful at times, especially when we have to stray from it. However, as you know, teachers always have to be flexible. What similarities do you see with your schedule? Do we have anything in common? If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me or drop me a comment below.
