Beginning of the Year Blues!

It's been a while since I have posted a blog! Being a first year (well, first year beginning the year) teacher, I am having quite the time nailed down a schedule. If you have been on my blog before, you know that I am a looping teacher, 2nd to 3rd and then back again. This is my first time teaching the 3rd grade part of the loop. Major differences between 2nd and 3rd grade: SOL's and teaching all subkjects, every day. So instead of teaching a whole unit of science (3-4 weeks) giving the end of unit test and then moving on to a Social Studies unit. So, of course, the day didn't get any longer going from 2nd to 3rd grade, just more to teach!

Our Schedule:

8:45-9am- Students arrive, start working on Morning Work (Evan Moor Daily Oral Language and Morning Math that our Math Resource teacher makes, she is amazing!)
9-9:10am- School-wide announcements and Fitness 5 (a five minute exercise video that is played for the students to follow featuring teachers or students leading the exercise)
9:10-9:30am- Students line up to make their lunch choice using the Promethean Board, all other morning business like attendance, notes to office, checking of agendas
9:30-10:15am- Social Studies
10:15-11am- Specials
11-11:15am- Walking back from specials (always a traffic jam in hallways) and eating snack
11:15am-12:20pm- Language Arts, including minilesson and however many Daily 5 rounds we get to
12:20-12:40pm- Recess
12:40-1:10pm- Lunch
1:10-1:20pm- Walk About (a 5-10 minute walk around outside for extra exercise)
1:20-1:50pm- Science
1:50-3:00pm- Math
3:00-3:20pm- Core Extension which is used for intervention, pull out time for math and reading specialists
3:20pm- Afternoon announcements
3:35pm- Usually all kids are out the door

Looks like it is a schedule that flows...but it doesn't. Because of the extra exercise things put in the day, snack, and the hallway traffic, bathroom breaks, etc... I just don't get through it.

I have all these great plans, great ideas, FUN ideas and projects...but in all honesty, I am barely getting through the content that I need to cover. How do you do it? What is your schedule like?

Also, what do you have your students do when they first come in in the morning? Our morning work is expected to be gone over everyday as a class. It winds up taking around 20 minutes to go over the both of them (math and language).