What is a Typical Day for an Elementary School Teacher?

Elementary school is a time in any kid’s life when they will start exploring and developing their identity. This phase is also when children begin learning education fundamentals, such as math, language, and art.

The typical day for an elementary school teacher starts at around 6:00 AM when teachers wake up and get to school. They then plan for the day, teach various subjects while closely monitoring their students, and prepare for the next day of teaching.

So, let me walk you through a day in the life of an elementary school teacher. I’ll share the daily responsibilities of teaching at an elementary school and talk more about what it takes to get through the day as a K-5 educator.

Table of Contents

A Typical Day of an Elementary School Teacher

Elementary school teachers have the most exhausting yet rewarding job! Teaching requires a lot of preparation work and mental energy to get through a day.

This is what a typical day for an elementary teacher is like:

Before School (6 AM – 8:30 AM)

Not many people know that elementary school teachers often begin their day as early as 6 am, long before their students wake up for breakfast. They also have to get ready and get through the morning routine.

Elementary school teachers begin their day of teaching almost an hour earlier.

Preparing The Day’s Lessons

Teachers usually start preparing their classrooms and lessons for the long day ahead in the hour. That means setting up crafts, making copies of reading materials and worksheets for students, rehearsing lesson plans if necessary, and ensuring they have everything they need to get through the day.

Attending Meetings and Tutoring Sessions

Sometimes, they also go to early morning in-person meetings with parents to discuss concerns around their students or to sort out curriculum matters.

Some teachers might also host tutoring or meet with students before school starts.

Greeting Students

As school starts, the teachers usually stand outside and greet all the students, which gives children the opportunity to socialize and get to know their teacher. Teachers have to supervise the halls during the first 30 minutes after students arrive. Some mornings it might be mandatory that all the teachers attend meetings to discuss important matters.

During School (8:30 AM – 3 PM)

The school hours are a hectic time for most elementary school teachers, and multitasking is a must. While teachers must monitor their students all day long, they must also teach several subjects and stick to their lesson plan, which is easier said than done.

Most teachers fight the clock to pack in all of that education while still allowing their young students to have plenty of fun and breaks.

Teaching New Content

Teachers lead children through their lessons and activities throughout the day. All the activities were planned and detailed with instructions the day before (hopefully). Teachers cover a variety of subjects during the day, where studies per subject can last anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour.

Teachers and schools usually receive defined guides on content standards for each elementary subject. As long as the teacher teaches according to those standards, there should be no problem with the curriculum. Teachers provide detailed instructions to students to help them digest new information effortlessly in several subject areas.

These subjects usually include:

Reading or Language Arts
Science

Math
Social Studies
Art, Music, or Foreign languages (usually on a rotating basis)

These lessons are usually broken up between lunch and recess to give students breaks.

Supervising Students During Breaks

From around 10 am to noon, students usually have lunch and recess. This break usually takes an hour to two hours, depending on the school. Teachers are typically required to supervise the students during recess and sometimes during lunch to prevent any accidents or help where needed.

Some teachers might also make room for snack time or another break around 2:00 PM. However, they spend most of their time teaching.

Student Behavior Observation

Elementary teachers must observe the behavior of their students daily. They can easily monitor it by looking at their social skills and emotional state. By doing this, elementary teachers can help keep their students safe and maintain a healthy classroom environment.

Ensuring That Everyone Gets Home Safe

As the day comes to an end, teachers might introduce relaxation activities such as art or sports to the students. Teachers might need to lead the children to the designated activity spots. After school gets out, the work does not stop there!

Teachers need to supervise the parking lot and the bus stop to ensure that all the students get home safe, and only after that can they take a 40-minute break to refuel.

After Hours (3 PM – 5 PM)

After school, the last hours can be used wisely to grade assessments, attend meetings, and plan for the days ahead. However, this time is not one of relaxation. Teachers must complete their tasks and get ready for the next day before they can go home, and even then, they may just have to take some work home with them.

Creating and Tailoring Lesson Plans

Teachers need to develop appropriate lesson plans with step-by-step directions to guide the students through the activities. Although lesson development takes time, they usually link to each other to form a yearly curriculum, which teachers can reuse in the future.

Assessing and Grading Students

There is a wide variety of assessments that elementary teachers can implement into their curriculum. The assessments could include reading comprehension, tests, and projects.

Teachers can easily track each student’s progress by assessing them at the end of each work module. However, assessments do require elementary teachers to work extra hours.

However, few teachers stop there. If there is anything left to do, most teachers work at home during the evening. They may need to run to the store for more supplies for a craft, finish grading quizzes, essays, and tests, or research new teaching methods to implement.

Parent-Teacher Communication

Teachers might also schedule parent-teacher meetings for after-school and development sessions and school staff meetings.

A teacher must maintain good communication with parents and guardians and inform them about any concerns surrounding the student. Communication forms can vary from teacher to teacher, but some popular and effective ways are emails, in-person meetings, or calls. Teachers can discuss the student’s progress or particular concerns related to their development and learning.

Attend School Training Sessions and Meetings

Along with monitoring children, schools might also expect teachers to coach newer teachers and children who have disabilities or struggle with learning. The older teachers need to assess and guide new teachers during their first vicious few months.

Professional development sessions are also a part of the additional tasks that elementary teachers might have to take part in. In these development sessions, teachers can learn and gain new skills. The school might also include classroom management courses and student support in these sessions.

Tutoring or Club Supervision

Teachers often take on additional duties as well, like supervising school activities. Schools might expect teachers to watch over the students during sports activities, events, or clubs after school. The extra activities can vary based on the school’s needs.

Depending on the school, teachers might need to attend and help out at school sports events or tutor students who struggle to keep up with the work.

Finally, after a long day, the teacher can switch off all lights and lock up the classrooms.

Is Being an Elementary Teacher Stressful?

Being an elementary school teacher consists of long days of teaching busybodies. But with all the fun activities, elementary teachers get to help beautiful children develop. To some, this might be too good to be true, but many can’t help but wonder if being an elementary teacher is a high-stress job.

Being an elementary teacher is stressful. Elementary teachers have a high-stress job, but it depends on the classroom discipline, working conditions, and environment. The class’s size and experience level make a big difference in whether the teacher experiences stress.

Older teachers might have less stress than newer teachers since they have built skills and have prior experience with students. On the contrary, new teachers might find it challenging to handle big classes first and still need to learn how to work with many students.

New teachers might also find it difficult to socialize with their colleagues and struggle with communication with students and their parents.

Elementary Teaching Pros

Every job on this planet has pros and cons to weigh. With teaching, there is good, and then there is the bad, like working late hours and controlling your tone of voice, but it is worth every second! Listed below are the top reasons why being an elementary teacher is the best job on earth!

You Teach New Knowledge

You teach children new things (also known as aha moments). Teaching students and exposing them to new information, new people, and new experiences is the most rewarding part of being a teacher. When they learn the basics, you know that you will make a significant impact on the rest of their lives.

Students Prefer Silly Teachers

There is a job where you can express your inner silly, called teaching! I often joke with friends that writing a lesson plan is like writing an educated comedy routine, and for the most part, it is. Your students love it when you are silly! It puts everyone in a good mood, but it also gets them interested in your class.

Every Day Has Millions of Possibilities

As an elementary teacher, you will never have the same day on repeat! Each day varies from the others, with new material to cover, fun activities, or even a funny student. Teachers always find new ways of keeping a class interesting enough to keep the students’ attention. Every day has the potential to be exciting and different from others – like they say, never a dull moment!

Positivity Is All Around You

Working with elementary kids is far different from teaching a college course. Getting kids excited about learning puts everyone in a positive mood, and it’s easy to get invested in your students when they are so excited about crafts, new learning opportunities, stories, and the entire curriculum.

With so many kids to support you and get excited about what you plan and teach, it’s easy to love your job and get the emotional fuel it takes to work so hard.

What Is the Average Salary of Elementary School Teachers?

The average salary of an elementary teacher will depend on several factors, such as the educator’s qualifications and the school. The county and state can also play a significant role in salary differences because certain states pay more than others, and some counties have more funding.

The average salary of elementary school teachers is $63,930. However, the annual wage usually differs significantly based on your qualifications and the state and county you teach in. In addition, private schools typically pay a bit more than public schools.

Here are the top 5 places to work as an elementary school teacher:

New York average salary: $82,830
California average salary: $82,560

Massachusetts average salary: $82,450
Connecticut average salary: $78,070
Alaska average salary: $75,860

How Many Years Does It Take To Become an Elementary School Teacher?

Becoming a teacher is no short road! Studying this field takes a lot of self-discipline and willpower to complete, and believe me, there are no shortcuts to being a fantastic teacher.

It takes between four and six years to become an elementary school teacher. It is a universal requirement that teachers have a bachelor’s degree all over the United States. A Bachelor’s in Elementary Education (BS) Degree is the most direct route to becoming an elementary teacher.

Suppose you graduated college with a BA in a particular subject, such as math, a foreign language, political science, history, or any other topic. In that case, you’ll still need a teacher certification to become a teacher. Usually, this education entails an entire year or two years (usually three semesters) of college in a school of education.

Some elementary schools may hire people without certification and help fund that extra year of school for graduates who want to get a license, but this will vary significantly depending on the school and whether it is public or private.

Final Thoughts

Being an elementary teacher is not an easy job! Elementary teachers start their mornings quite early and only go home later in the day. They face difficult parents and additional responsibilities and have to pay extra attention to every student in the class. On top of that, grading and activity plans take time.

Without proper planning, teachers might struggle to keep up with the curriculum. So, it takes a special kind of person to keep organized and get the most out of this career choice. However, it is the most rewarding job you’ll ever find if it’s right for you.

Sources

Education World: Joe Martin