I
arrived in the classroom I would be working with 7:50am. The students were working on their words,
sitting in front of the smart board, when I stepped into the classroom. When they were finished, I introduced myself
and said they could call me Ms. Brittany.
They seemed very excited to have me in their classroom, as was I. After I introduced myself, I took a seat in
the back of the classroom so I could observe all the students. After the teacher took attendance, they
regrouped on the floor to work on their ‘word review’ and they sat in ‘star
position’ which I learned as ‘criss cross applesauce’. At 8:00am, they went back to their assigned
seats; their names were on their desks, and tore out a piece of paper. One boy tripped when he was walking back to
his seat, after putting a star sticker on a piece of paper that said “you did
it!” While they were reading, they had
to find the missing words and fill in the blanks. The last sentence was, “They picked up (word)
(word) shelves.” The students were
having troubles figuring out both words, some answered as colorful white
shelves, but they realized that it didn’t make sense because the shelves couldn’t
be colorful and white. They eventually
figured it out, “They picked up colorful bumpy shelves.” When students had troubles answering the
questions, other students would give them their paper and give them the
answers. One of the students’ god bored,
and was making his paper stick to his head by rubbing it in his hair causing
static. At 8:15 we switched to
math. The first problem was 10+6. They were told to draw blocks to show the
answer, so they would draw a long stick equally 10 blocks, then 6 single boxes
to show 16. Sometimes the only thing
that was shown was the answer. They
would have to come up with the equation and then draw the blocks. When the students would start talking, the teacher
would say “Stop,” the students would say “look and listen.” At 8:25 a boy ran to the carpet, ran in a
circle, and went back to his desk. All
the students were growing restless, most likely because breakfast was going to
be served in 5 minutes. They got in line
for breakfast, when each student got to the wall, the ‘helping student’ would
squirt hand sanitizer in each students’ hand.
Then when we walked down the stairs, each student held onto the
railing. I was showed where the teachers’
ate their lunch, it was right through a door in the lunch room where the
students’ ate. The teachers’ lounge held
2 refrigerators and 2 microwaves. It
also held a sink and a vending machine.
The teacher I am working with and I sat at the farthest table from the
door with another teacher who taught 4k.
At lunch, another teacher walked in and asked who I was and if I was
student teaching. At breakfast everyone
kept asking each other who I was because I was overly dressed, in a gray suit with
a red shirt. They thought I was
observing them, the teachers, and taking notes on them. I noticed one of the teachers was wearing a
colorful scarf and she had “pretty” taped onto it. When the students were done eating, they
would throw their garbage away, and put their extra milk into a gray
crate. We got back to class at 9:03,
where I almost sat on a staple. When we
got back they were to write about ‘the fire crew’ in the book No Dragon for tea. They went over appearance,
actions, dialogues, and feelings from the pages they read the day before. When they would read out their answers, if
they spoke quietly the teacher would say “Loud and Proud,” and then they would
speak louder. They then got into 4 separate
groups, several students at the computers, some with the assistant teacher
reading a small book, more doing cause and effect (work off the smart board),
then the last group was with the teacher reading another book. While observing, I saw several students work
on their alphabets on the computer. I
also overheard the assistant teacher asking if any of the students knew anyone
famous. I head students say Taylor Swift
and Katy Parry. I sat down with the
students’ doing the cause and effect worksheet.
They would write in an answer and then draw a picture relating to the
answer. I saw many colorful dragons and
different kinds of fires, the students’ were very artistic. They would switch groups roughly every 10
minutes. When they would go to read with
the teacher, they would shout, “It’s time for reading, reading gets me to
college!” As I walked around, many
students’ asked if I would help them say a word, I suggested they sound it out
at first. One girl asked what “sacred”
was. On the smart board, the sentence
was, “Why was the dragon sacred?” It was
supposed to be, “Why was the dragon scared?”
I pointed it out to the teacher, she fixed her mistake and told the
students about it. At 10:19, groups were
over and it was time for Hmong Language.
I didn’t understand a thing that was being said, so I left the classroom
to use the restroom and observed the hallway.
When I returned I asked the Hmong language teacher if I could have a
copy of the papers that the students’ were working on. I was handed 2 pieces of paper, a cross-word
puzzle and a piece of paper with shapes and words. The words were colors; blue is spelt as Xiav
or Xav, they then had to color the square blue.
At 11:25, the students’ sitting at the ‘blue’ table sat down on the
carpet, then the purple table, then green, then lastly red. The tables are determined by the color of the
scissor and pencil holder. When they sat
on the carpet, they read pages 15-20 of Alexander
who’s not? The students’ read each
sentence together as loud as they could.
When they have troubles saying a word or sentence, they would start over
and work it out. They were having troubles
with the name Swoozie, they kept saying it like Suzie. While they were reading, my professor entered
the classroom, and all eyes turned on her.
Several of the boys kept putting their fingers in their mouths. It was almost time for lunch. I noticed one of the girls wearing a pink
dolphin necklace, which is my favorite animal.
When they were done reading, they were partnered up for group work. They were to share with their partner on what
they do after school. The girl with the
dolphin necklace was writing her partners routine on her hand in pencil. After lunch, they were to write their
partners answer on a piece of paper.
Lunch was the same routine as breakfast, hand sanitizer and
railing. During lunch, one of the 4k
teachers said one of her students cut a hole in his shirt with a pair of
scissors. At 12:36 the students’ arrived
back in the classroom, and put their heads down. They lost 5 minutes of recess time because
they were extremely talkative during class time. After 5 minutes were up, the students took
out games and puzzles. Several students
were playing chutes and ladders and several were doing puzzles on the floor. A couple of girls were playing in the rocking
chair at the back of the classroom. At 12:53,
recess was over and they got back into their groups. They worked on their worksheet with their
partners until 1:20. We then switched to
math again. They got a worksheet with
subtractions, which I also got a copy of.
Each student would say an answer when called on. They then learned ‘greater than’ ‘less than’
and ‘equal too.’ At first it was easy,
4=4 and 6<8. They had a hard time
with the last one 999>350. They kept
saying 99 instead of 9 hundred and 99.
At 2:20 it was time for science.
They had a worksheet that they had to glue pictures on. The pictures had to match the words. Some students lost some of their squared
sheets that they were supposed to glue, so they drew the picture instead. At 2:30 it was time to clean up. They put their papers in the chair pockets,
which is a pocket that hangs around their chair. They keep all their papers and crayons in
their pocket. When they put everything
away, they went to their locker and got their coats and backpacks. One girl wore a purple hat with green stripes
and matching gloves. The gloves also had
a green sparkly bow. One student dropped
all his papers on the floor and got frustrated, several girls helped picked his
stuff up. When everyone was ready, we
lined up at the door. I walked at the
back of the line while the teacher walked at the front. When students were getting on their bus, they
said goodbye to the teacher and myself.
I was sad to see the day go by so fast, but I am also very excited to go
back. I enjoyed working with this class
and can’t wait for weeks to follow.
