Ana's Blog

Morning meetings provides opportunities for students to greet, listen, and respond to each other. It helps to build a strong community within the classroom and creates trust among classmates. I introduced the class to morning meetings this week. I received a positive response from the students the first day I initiated the meeting. I planned my morning meetings for the week on a sheet of paper, in which I included a greeting and an activity.

On Monday morning, I only started with a greeting to see how the students would react. I began with the Brown Bear Meeting with a stuffed animal I brought. I modeled and gave clear instructions first before passing the stuffed animal around. The children loved Brown Bear and all of them participated in it. Two students came late and the most of them told them about the fun activity they missed. On Wednesday, my CT helped me out once again in calling them to the carpet. I chose a simple greeting because I realized that they didn't know their classmates’ names. The greeting I chose was a simple “Good morning, my name is Miss Siu. I like pandas.” This activity let me and other students know what everyone’s favorite animal was while learning their names. Right after the greeting, I introduced an activity with a beach ball I purchased at the Dollar Store. I wrote all of their sight words onto the beach ball the night before. The purpose of this activity was to practice their sight words. I threw the ball to a student lightly and whatever word is under their right thumb is the word they say out loud. The beach ball activity got out of hand since I didn’t set guidelines and rules. On Thursday, I was able to call table to come to the carpet quietly. I tried the Butterfly Greeting, but not all of them did the butterfly gesture. The greeting starts with saying “Good morning” to each other and then hooking their thumbs together and wave their fingers in the sign language sign for butterfly. I repeated the same activity with the beach ball, which they enjoyed. I set cleared rules before letting them use the beach ball this time and they obeyed this time. Friday morning I did the Brown Bear Meeting since it’s the greeting they like the most. The activity for that day was to say their names while passing the beach ball around.

Every morning, I sharpen the student’s pencils and move the clips back to the middle. I usually assist them with anything they don’t understand about the worksheets or homework. Centers began during this week and I was excited that I was able to work with one group. I was in charge of the bingo sight words table. The students express pure happiness when they knew they were working with me.

When the small group of students came to my center, I passed out the bingo charts and a few red chips. I told them that I would be playing along with them and they began to get more enthusiastic. They would tell me that they were going to beat me and say the word correctly. The following thing I did was show them the sight word. I instructed them to raise their hands and to not yell out. They obeyed and raised their hands to tell me the sight word. I carefully picked each of them, without picking on the same student over and over. Whichever student I chose would tell me the word and then I had the others repeat it. Surprisingly, they followed my instruction with enthusiasm. Every student received the opportunity to win and get a sticker from me. I didn’t exclude anyone from winning. After we finished every bingo game, I made each student tell me the words that they had covered with the red chips. Most of them were able to pronounce and recognize the sight words. Some of them would even use the words in sentences. I noticed that when they’re in groups, they tend to participate more. “It creates a sense of intimacy and belonging, which helps children feel comfortable enough to take risks” (Clayton, 2001).

Photo credit to Wikipedia.

For Emergent Literature, I had to test students on whether they are more interested in academic or recreational reading. The Elementary Reading Attitude Survey consisted of twenty questions that described how they felt when they read a book. I chose three students to test, which included one with level A, 6, and 14. What surprised me the most was how high the boy at level A scored over the girl at level 14. Both students scored higher in academic books over recreational books. The boy’s overall percentile is eighty-two while the girl’s overall percentile is sixty-two. Even though the girl has the highest reading level, she scored low.

I chose to read-aloud I Just Forgot by Mercer Mayer. I told my first graders that they needed to put on their thinking caps to create a movie scene and draw it on paper. I asked them if they have ever forgotten to do something. I received immediate hands in the air and their expressions told me they were anxious to share their stories. I picked on a couple to share what they had forgotten. I told them to be on the lookout using their five senses. I asked whether they knew their five senses and most of them told me the correct answers. I commenced with the read-aloud. I divided the book into four sections so that the students get the opportunity to draw four different pictures. At each stopping point I asked what they saw, heard, smelled, taste, or touched. Most of them remembered the most recent page I read to them and drew that. I showed them an example of what kinds of scenes I imagined when reading the book. They followed my instructions and tried to share stories connected to the drawings they drew. After I finished reading the book, I instructed them to turn to their partners to their pictures.

Resources:

Clayton, M., & Forton, M. (2001). The Whole-Group Meeting Area. In Classroom Spaces That Work (p. 63). Turners Falls, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children.

Mrs. Plant’s classroom is rather small than a normal size classroom. In my opinion, the way her classroom is set up makes the room a bit crowded. As you walk in, her desk is set up on the left side of the door. On the right side, there is a medium-sized cubby that she is not utilizing at the moment. The students have small individual desks that are grouped in five. Their names are taped onto the desk and their books are stored into the book box. The white board is located on the east side of the wall, right next to the medium-sized cubby. In front of the white board there are two small tables, one is rectangular and the other one is a half-moon. The half-moon table is the listening center and the rectangular table is the writing center. Next to the writing center there is a wide bookshelf with various workbooks. The back door is located close to the wide bookshelf and across from the front door. Around this area, there is a sink with cabinets, where the students wash their hands. In between one group of student’s desk and the sink, there is a medium-sized table. I utilize this table to grade papers and check if they have their homework completed. The guided reading table is located at the corner right, next to the sink. Across from this table is the little library, which contains all types of genres for the students. Ahead from the little library is the colored square carpet, where the students sit down and listen to the teacher read aloud.

            The way I would arrange and decorate my classroom would be differently. I would put tennis balls on the ends of the desks and chairs for safety purposes. It will prevent the students from getting hurt and scratching the floor. As you enter through the front door, my desk would be located on the left. Next to my desk would be the computer lab and the library in the left corner with three beanie bags. The audio reading center and guided reading centers would be east side of the room. The colored square rug would be located at the left upper corner, between the east and south wall. The sink and cabinets are against the south wall near the colored rugs and the back door. The student’s desks are located near my desk, there is a set of four grouped desks. Next to the desks are the math, science, and writing centers. I would cover all my walls with colorful and educational posters.

            

Photo credit to Ana Siu.

            I would set up the classroom like this because the centers would be all in one area. It would be easy to just view the students working in centers in one direction. There will be spacing between the board and the desks so that the children have enough space to line up at the exit door. I would change the students around every two months, so that they get to work with everyone in the classroom. According to Classroom Spaces that Work, “change groups often provide deliberate mixing of genders and friendships” (Clayton, 2001). I have noticed that most of the children still have trouble copying from the white board. In order for them to all copy down the information, I will provide a separate sheet of paper. I want to decorate the classroom with a fair amount of colorful, educational posters because it will catch the student’s attention. These posters will consist of vocabulary, letters, numbers, colors, and motivational quotes. I will also be hanging up the work of groups of children to reflect the “value of diversity in the work displayed” (Clayton, 2001).

Resources:

Clayton, M., & Forton, M. (2001). Classroom Spaces That Work. Turners Falls, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children.

Photo credit to Wikimedia Commons.

During my first three days in my field experience, I observed how my CT handles the classroom. Although my CT only allows one girl and boy to use the restroom at a time, the students tend to use the restroom often. She does make it clear that they cannot use the restroom when she is instructing the class. In my opinion, I feel like the students aren't learning properly by constantly using the restroom.

The article mentions that in order to engage children in learning and sharing their thoughts and feelings, “they we must work to create classroom communities where students know that they are needed, valued members of the group” (Weinstein, 2011). Students want to be heard and acknowledged. I have observed other classrooms before and most of them begin with a morning meeting. What is different about this classroom is that my CT doesn’t start with a morning meeting at all. She does greet them in the morning, but doesn’t start them off with a short, fun activity. The routine that I have observed is that they enter the classroom, eat their breakfast, use the restroom, and dive straight into assignments. I have noticed that the students are not engaged in what they are learning. They either play with their pencils, use the restroom, or talk to their neighbors. There are two students that don’t get along well and tell on each other. It demonstrates to me that my CT hasn’t tried to create a classroom community and is more focused on the material.

“You can also welcome students by standing at the classroom door and greeting them at the beginning of the day” (Weinstein, 2011). I was able to observe this in a classroom and it was a very effective way of getting students’ attention. The teacher stood at the door, greeted them, and asked about their days. The students were delighted when the teacher acknowledged them. They were energized, motivated, and ready to start the day. This teacher was able to establish a classroom community and based on my observations, the students respected each other and the teacher.

On my first day in the first grade classroom, the students were curious as to who I was and why I was there. I was able to communicate with almost all of them. Some of them didn’t open up to me. The rest of them were already sharing with me what they did, dreams, and what they were going to do when they got home. When I was ready to leave, almost all of them came to hug me. I have not established expectations as a classroom leader, but from my observations, I think the students view me as a friend and an assistant to the teacher. According to the article, “as a new teacher, it’s probably wise to find a happy medium between these two extremes and share limited information” (Weinstein, 2011). I am a very open person so students tend to see me more as a friend than an instructor. Overall, not only does a teacher have to display that they care about the student, but enforce clear expectations without appearing as a dictator.

Resources:

Weinstein. (2011). Building Respectful, Caring Relationships. Retrieved September 7, 2014, from file:///C:/Users/Annie/Downloads/Weinstein Ch. 3.pdf