Morning Routines (Morning Message, Calendar) (20 minutes)

For the morning message the teacher writes down information about the day. The message may include the day

of the week, the weather, information about the day's activities, and/or a quote from a student. Children can do interactive activities such as counting the number of words in a sentence, the number of letters in a word, writing their own name, and highlighting identical words or selected letters. At this time the teacher should also go over the calendar routines for the day.

Journals/Independent Writing (15 minutes)

During Independent Writing children discover that writing is a purposeful, meaningful activity. On their own, they begin to put ideas and observations on paper and to see themselves as writers. In sharing their writing with others, they may elaborate and "read" much more than they have written. As they write, children develop critical thinking skills and begin to hear and segment sounds in words in a natural, meaningful context.

Shared Reading (20 minutes)

The teacher provides opportunities for students to simulate the "lap experience" by using an enlarged text that all students can see. Students are able to observe the behaviors and strategies of a competent reader and share responsibility for reading in order to learn concepts about print (concept of a letter and word, word-by-word matching, left-to-right progression, return sweep, left-to-right and top-to-bottom progression, understanding that print contains a message).

The text can be in the form of big books, poems, songs, products of interactive writing, and retellings of books. Initially, the teacher does most of the reading, and, as they reread the text, the children join in the reading of parts or entire lines of text. Individual students can also share the responsibility in pointing to the text.

Phonics/Phonemic Awareness (20 minutes)

The teacher provides opportunities for students to establish a clear letter-sound association of decoding new words while reading, developing a sight word vocabulary and to applying knowledge of phonics while writing developing skills in encoding and spelling.

Shared/Interactive Writing (20 minutes)

Shared/Interactive Writing provides an opportunity for the teacher and children to compose their thoughts and write them down. Shared/Interactive Writing draws attention to the conventions of writing and how letters and sounds come together to form words. It demonstrates the connection between spoken and written language in a meaningful context. Interactive Writing involves the teacher and the children "sharing the pen" to create meaningful text.

Read Aloud (10 minutes; twice daily)

This is an enjoyable, relaxed time when the teacher reads aloud to a small or large group using a varied collection of fiction and non-fiction texts. Reading aloud exposes children to concepts of print, connects oral to written language and builds vocabulary. It promotes language development and broadens knowledge about the world, encourages a love of reading, builds listening comprehension and develops a sense of story.

Literacy Centers (90 minutes)

Literacy Centers are open-ended places and/or activities that allow children to engage in meaningful literacy experiences at individual developmental levels. The centers should encourage active learning and provide opportunities for children to respond critically and creatively. Related reading and writing materials should be available in every center to enhance literacy development. During this time, the teacher should engage in small group work/guided reading. There should be a minimum of 7 centers including: Writing, Library, Listening, Art, Math, ABC, and Science/Discovery. Centers should include activities and/or materials that extend or support learning of the TEKS being focused upon. The teacher develops and regularly changes literacy center activities, sets up routines for center assignments and teaches procedures for center use.

Guided Reading (20 minutes)

The teacher provides small group instruction (4-6 students) for students grouped by strengths and needs. Students reread a familiar text during warm-up time to develop fluency. The teacher selects and introduces appropriate new leveled texts for students to read with minimal support. The teacher provides strategies for reading and comprehending texts through focus lessons, and opportunities for students to be actively engaged in reading text for the majority of the lesson. The teacher makes teaching points in response to student needs.

In Kindergarten, the teacher may need to employ some shared reading strategies initially, such as echo reading or choral reading, until students gain more independence in attempting to read the text without teacher modeling. The texts used with each group should be at the level of that group. This means that the texts used may be other than those of the adopted reading system.

In order to meet for a sufficient amount of time with small groups in Kindergarten, the teacher may choose to meet with the highest group a minimum of three (3) times a week, and with the other groups daily; however, every group should spend the majority of the group time reading a text , and a minimal amount of time on skills (5 minutes). Guided Reading takes place during Literacy Center time.

Writer's Workshop (30 minutes)

Writer's Workshop gives children opportunities to become writers by composing meaningful messages. With guidance, students progress through the developmental stages of writing. Guided Writing allows children to develop phonemic awareness in a natural, meaningful context.

Math (45 minutes)

Math in kindergarten should be hands on - working from concrete experiences, to pictorial, to the abstract as students gain a greater understanding.  Concepts are addressed in a large group setting through calendar activities, direct lessons, everyday routines, graphing, sorting, counting rhymes, etc. Concepts are best taught in relation to a theme or literature being studied and connected to independent and small group work at centers and tubs.

Social Studies/Science Read Aloud (10 minutes)

Reading aloud exposes children to concepts of print, connects oral to written language and builds vocabulary. Social Studies/Science read alouds build the connection between relevant personal experiences and Social Studies and Science concepts.

Social Studies (30 integrated minutes)

Children are driven by a desire to know and achieve mastery over self and their environment. They are eager to gain understanding of the many aspects of their cultural and environmental world. Through Social Studies, children begin to develop the self-understanding that will serve as a foundation for learning about others and the world around them. The 30 minutes devoted to Social Studies should be integrated into the language arts components (Shared Reading, Interactive Writing, Read Aloud, Literacy Centers , etc.). While this time frame will not be blocked off in a Kindergarten schedule the teacher will still be held responsible for covering the Social Studies TEKS outlined in the Scope and Sequence.

Science (30 integrated minutes)

Teachers should consider that young children are naturally curious and inquisitive, always delighted to explore the world around them. The teacher's role is to support and encourage this curiosity. The 30 minutes devoted to Science should be integrated into the language arts components (Shared Reading, Interactive Writing, Read Aloud, Literacy Centers , etc.). While this time frame will not be blocked off in a Kindergarten schedule the teacher will still be held responsible for covering the Science TEKS outlined in the Scope and Sequence.

Intervention Time (30 minutes)

From August to December this time should be used for extensions, re-teaching, etc. From January to May this time should be used for Tier 2 interventions (ex. Success Maker and TPRI/Tejas Lee Interventions).