Day in my life as a Kindergarten teacher!!

Summary

Megan, a second-year kindergarten teacher in Texas, shares a snapshot of a typical school day. Because she cannot film her students directly, she shows parts of the classroom routine and describes activities from before school through the end of the day.

Daily Routine and Activities

• Before students arrive: Megan gets to school around 7:10 a.m. She turns on the classroom lights, sets out morning work, and prepares the morning-meeting slides. That day’s morning work is a color-by-number activity about George Washington and Presidents’ Day.
• Morning duty: She helps with car-rider arrival before returning to classroom instruction.
• Reading comprehension: The class practices retelling a story by identifying its main and minor characters, settings, problem, and solution. Students discuss how a story can have multiple settings and explain how a dog alerted people to help Abraham Lincoln after he became stuck between boulders.
• Phonics and spelling: Students work on L-blends using an anchor chart that is completed over several days. They also practice spelling simple words such as am, at, and go, with a focus on lowercase letters.
• Partner reading: Megan reviews expectations for independent and partner reading:
  • Stay in one spot and read quietly.
  • Keep your eyes on the book.
  • Sit close to your partner: “elbow to elbow, knee to knee.”
  • Take turns reading: “I read to you and you read to me.”
  • Choose a partner by making eye contact, walking over, and politely asking, “Will you please be my partner?”
• Specials and planning: Students attend specials from 11:00 to 11:55. Megan uses her conference period to email parents.
• Dental-health activity: The class completes a dental-health activity, reads a humorous book, and watches a tooth-fairy video. Students receive small goodie bags containing toothbrushes and other items.
• Lunch and preparation: Megan eats lunch at school and uses some of the time to plan for the following week’s Texas unit. One planned activity involves taking photos of students wearing bandanas and cowboy hats to create playful “wanted” posters for the hallway.
• End of the day: Megan leaves around 4:20 p.m. She notes that filming while teaching 23 five-year-olds can be difficult, but hopes the clips give viewers a useful glimpse of her day.

Main Ideas

• Kindergarten teaching combines classroom routines, academic instruction, student activities, supervision, and planning.
• Lessons include story-retelling skills, phonics and spelling, and structured partner-reading habits.
• Teachers often use planning time and lunch breaks to communicate with families and prepare upcoming units.
• Megan also shares a personal highlight: taking a class photo with her second group of students, after missing the opportunity with her first class during COVID restrictions.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Megan Flowers: Narrates the video and describes her classroom routine, lessons, and planning.
• Kindergarten students: Participate in reading and spelling activities and are heard responding during instruction; they are not individually identified.
• Classroom materials: Morning-meeting slides, an L-blends anchor chart, a story used for retelling practice, and dental-health materials.