Hi,
My name is Debbie Howard. I have been teaching in Colchester for many years and I love working with students and parents in this district. I have taught straight second grade and multi-age first and second. There are many things I enjoy about teaching but some of my favorite parts of the day are "Morning Meeting", Literacy Block (reading and writing), and teaching math problem solving. My classroom is part of a team with Miss Stevens' class. There are times throughout the day where our students move back and forth between the classrooms. I teach all of the second graders SWR. This is our spelling program that connects with reading and writing. I teach math to all of the first graders. The program we use is Everyday Math. Miss Stevens and I plan our science and social studies units together.
Something new and exciting at UMS is our professional book clubs. We are reading a great book on reading comprehension. We read sections, implement new ideas for increasing students' comprehension, and then discuss it as a group. It is leading to some terrific new instructional practices!!
A typical day in our classroom would go like this:
8:40-Morning Meeting
9:05 SWR
9:30 Writing
10:00 Literacy Block begins
11:20 Lunch and recess
12:05 Recess over, relaxing time, and Read Aloud
12:30 Specials Mon.-P.E. Tues.- Music Wed.- P.E. Thurs.- Library
Fri.- Art
1:15 Math
2:15 Pack up, Snack
2:30 Theme Time (Our science and social studies curriculum)
3:00 Dismissal
I have parent volunteers that help out with reading, math, and ELF. I really appreciate their help and the extra support is key to the success of many students in my classroom.
I hope the information you find here will be helpful!