Elementary Observation Hours

My first day of observations was scheduled at Lake Mary Elementary school. I was very excited because when I become a teacher I hope to teach in 5th grade. Lake Mary Elementary school is departmentalized, meaning after 3rd grade the teachers are responsible for half of the core classes split Language Arts/ History and Math/ Science. I spent my day in a fifth grade LA/History Class, then went to third grade Math and Science, and finished in 4th grade math and science.

When I walked into Ms. Valone’s room I immediately felt comfortable. The classroom is very open and bright. There are little hints of Harry Potter in the room. One of the coolest things I noticed was the flexible seating. The desks are bunched in groups of 5 and each group has a different kind of seating. One group has traditional chairs, some had exercise balls, one had stools and one group sat on pillows. Each group has a supply caddy in the middle where there are glue sticks, scissors, pencils, rulers, markers and crayons. All over the wall was inspirational quotes and reading charts. The board had the plan for the day and that night's homework.

As the students entered in Ms. Valone instructed them to take their seats and have out their planners and last nights homework. She instructed them to write down tonights homework. She went around with a stamp to each group read and stamped the notebooks as the kids entered. She made note of which students did not complete the homework and they lost points on their “debit card”. (more on this classroom management strategy in a moment). Then they began on today's lesson. The kids have an interactive notebook for ELA and the teacher has a master copy that she completes using an overhead projector so the students can follow along. This particular day the students reviewed vocabulary words. Ms. Valone had everything so perfectly planned. Each page that was to be glued was organized on her desk already cut out and grouped into fives. She placed each stack at each group and announced you have 1 min to glue these in. She designated one student to complete this step for a student that was absent. No time was wasted on handing out supplies because everything the kids need is right in the supply caddy. After reviewing the vocabulary words the kids had a history quiz. Prior to the quiz Mrs. Valone would put up a review question and then she said to discuss this with your group then we will answer as a class. I loved this because every kid gets a chance to hear the answer so when she asks who has the answer all the kids feel confident to answer and raise their hands.

When taking the quiz the kids are allowed to spread out all over the classroom some kids sat on pillows, others laid on the floor. Ms. Valone sat down for like 2 mins to set up the next activity but then walked the classroom and gave the kids encouragement. After the quiz, the kids listened to a chapter from “Number the Stars”. They each had a book and the teacher used an audiobook so the kids could follow along.

One of the classroom management techniques that was used was the debit card. Each kid has a construction paper debit card. Everyone starts at 50.00. Money can be added for good behavior. For example, the kids who quickly got out their books got .50 cents added. Money can be taken away, for example, the children who did not have their homework got .50 deducted. At the end of every quarter, there is a party and you have to pay with your debit card. As long as you still have 50 dollars on your debit card you can enter.

My takeaways from Ms. Valones Classroom:

• Organization is key!! Everything needs to be prepared in advance to keep the kids on track. Every single second is planned and accounted for.
• Encouragement is super important. She told the students when they were right but she also very gently told them they were wrong. Instead of saying no that's incorrect she used language like that is not what I am looking for? Do you have a different answer?
• I loved the Debit card idea. It was a quick and easy way to encourage good behavior.
• Flexible seating was really amazing. I hope to offer that in my future classroom. I think comfortable kids learn best.

Then I went to Mrs. Maupin’s Science and Math Third Grade Class:

When I met this class they were in the computer lab working on the End of Year assessment for I-Ready. Since third grade is a retain year I-Ready is one of the ways that a student can pass to fourth grade if they do not perform well on the FSA. The mood in the computer lab was tense. The students only had 15 minutes left and some of the kids were just checked out. So Mrs. Maupin walked around and gently encouraged them to keep doing their best. After that, we went to the classroom. Mrs. Maupin classroom is very quiet. Mrs. Maupin is a no-nonsense teacher but it a very kind way. I really love her teaching style because the kids know exactly what is expected of them. While they do laugh and have fun she also expects them to stay on task and focus on their work. One really special thing about Mrs. Maupin’s classroom is that she notices really tiny details about everything. A few weeks ago she taught the kids how to make fancy letters on their projects and she saw them trying that out today.

Mrs. Maupin Classroom management technique is class dojo. She can give and take away points right from her cellphone.  If a student was shouting out answers she got on his level and reminded him of the classroom procedures quietly. Without disrupting the rest of the class.

The last class I visited was Mrs. Agnew’s 4th-grade math and science class. This class was buzzing with activity! The kids were spread all over the room making vocabulary posters and working on e-campus vocabulary activities. Mrs. Agnew reminds me of a little bee buzzing from group to group giving the students encouragement and reminders to stay on task. Near the end of the class, she had them clean up and they played a game of Kahoot.  The kids cheered out loud when she mentioned the Kahoot game. The kids were able to show their knowledge of the vocabulary in the game and it was very easy to see which kids need more help with the vocabulary words.