Weekly Clinical Reflections

Entry #1- Monday, January 30, 2017

Standard Covered: 2.G.A.1

For the Integrated Methods Block semester I was placed at Nathaniel Alexander Elementary
School in Mrs. Costners second grade classroom. The class is currently working on a unit that
is focused on polygons.

Warm-Up
For math instruction the students sit on the carpet at the front of the room near the smartboard.
Each student has a math notebook that they bring with them. At the beginning of the math
lesson Mrs. Costner asked the students to name various types of polygons that they
remembered from previous lessons. Then she asked the students about parallel, perpendicular,
and intersecting lines. Then the students were given a warm-up to complete, which was
composed of three questions:
Draw a four sided shape with one set of parallel lines.
Draw a polygon and name it
145+381 (explain your strategy for solving)
The students were given five minutes to complete the warm-up. As they finished they would
each individually go up to Mrs. Costner and have her to check their work. When the timer went
off the class came back together and reviewed the questions. The teacher called on two to three
students to give answers to each question.

The Lesson
The main focus of the lesson for this observation was
polyhedra. Mrs. Costner began by asking the students if
any of them knew what a polyhedra was, or if anyone
wanted to guess. Some of the students raised their hands
with guesses, but no one knew exactly. Mrs. Costner then
explained that a polyhedra was a three dimensional
shape. Next the students watched a video
(https://youtu.be/2cg-Uc556-Q). The video had five
common three dimensional shapes, as well as everyday
examples of all of them. After the video Mrs. Costner used
small three dimensional wooden shapes to show the
students how the objects looked. Each group was given
one of each of the shapes form the video. Then the
students were given a worksheet. The students would
work with their table groups to complete the worksheets,
so they had access to the manipulatives. The worksheet asked the students to count the faces,
vertices and edges on shapes, as well as identify shapes when given a description in words.
The students were given approximately fifteen to twenty minutes to work in their groups. Mrs.
Costner pulled a group of students and worked with them on the worksheet using the
manipulatives frequently. After the students math time is recess. Mrs. Costner had the students
to line up with their work. As the student walked out of the classroom she collected their
worksheet and asked them to name a three dimensional shape. If the student could not name a
shape she asked them to go to the back of the line to try again.

Recap
I think that this lesson was very engaging for the students. Mrs. Costner did not stand at the
front of the classroom and lecture the class for the entire math time. Throughout her room she
had a variety of anchor charts that she encouraged the students to use if they had questions.
The students seemed to grasp the idea of three dimensional shapes very well. I liked the idea of
an exit ticket before the students went to recess, because it allowed the teacher to conduct a
formative assessment to see where her students were. The worksheet also acted as a
summative assessment that the teacher could look back at later to monitor progress. During this
math lesson I simply observed and got a feel for the classroom.

Entry #2- Monday, February 6, 2017

Standard Covered: 3.NF.A.1

Mrs. Costners class recently started a five day unit on fractions. I observed the second
day of the unit. The students were learning about halves, thirds, and fourths.
Opening
Mrs. Costner opened the lesson by asking the students if they remembered what a
fraction was. The students gave their own definitions. The teacher then told the students
that a fraction is a part of a whole. The class then reviewed the terms numerator and
denominator.

Warm-Up
A three part warm-up was projected onto the SmartBoard. The
questions on the warm-up were as follows:
1. Partition the shapes below into thirds.
a. Rectangle
b. Circle
2. What fraction of the shape is shaded?
3. What fraction of the shape is not shaded?
(The students were expected to label each section of the shape with
the fraction that is represented on all of the warm-up exercises.)
When reviewing the warm-up the students were asked how many thirds made a whole
and how many fourths made a whole. For each of the questions Mrs. Costner asked for
volunteers to provide their answer. If the student did not have the correct answer she
would illustrate their idea and explain why the answer was not right.

Lesson
To begin the lesson Mrs. Costner reviews/introduces key
vocabulary that the students will need to be able to work with
fractions. These terms included: halves, thirds,
fourths/quarters, denominator, numerator, and partition. After
discussing terminology Mrs. Costner drew two circles and
two squares on the board. She partitioned one of each shape
in a way that correctly represented the shape being
partitioned into fourths. On the other shape she separated
the shape into non-equal portions. She then discussed with
the class how the portions of the shape must be equal,
because the fractions they represent are equal.
Centers
There were four centers set-up around the room which
included:
Fraction games on the computer
Fraction card games
I have. Who has? game
Fraction Activity Sheet
The students worked with their table groups to complete the activities. After seven
minutes the group would rotate to the next station. Mrs. Costner was at one of the
centers and Ms. Willard, the teacher assistant in the classroom, was at another station.

During this time I worked with a group of four students. The students were working on
the fraction activity sheet. The students did not have a basic understanding of fractions,
so we reviewed the terms and went over different examples using the worksheet.

Recap
This lesson was very engaging for the students, because they were able to move
around and complete a variety of activities. The majority of the class seemed to
understand the concept of fractions and they were able to complete the activities easily.
The centers gave the teachers in the room a chance to assess the students
understanding, as well as determine what skills need to be reviewed. I really liked this
lesson because it provided the students with a variety examples of what a true fraction
is, as well as non-examples.

Entry #3- Monday, February 13, 2017

Standard Covered: Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes,
nickels, and pennies, using $ and symbols appropriately. Example: If you have 2
dimes and 3 pennies, how many cents do you have?

Opening
Mrs. Costners class was working on a unit about money. This was the first day of the
unit. To begin the lesson all of the students came to the carpet at the front of the room
with their math notebooks. Mrs. Costner opened this lesson by playing asking the
students if they knew how much a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter were worth. The
students knew how much the coins were worth, and were very eager to tell the value of
the coins. Next the teacher played a BrainPop video that reviewed the names of the
coins, their worth, and whose face was on the coin.

Introduction of Vocabulary
The Money Vocabulary list was projected on the SmartBoard. The students were
expected to copy down the vocabulary into their math workbooks. The vocabulary
words were the following:
Cent- the smallest unit of money in the United States
Penny- a coin with a value of 1
Nickel- a coin with a value of 5
Dime- a coin with a value of 10
Quarter- a coin with a value of 25
Dollar- worth 100
After the students had copied down the terms Mrs. Costner
reviewed the terms again, and explained to the class that
they would be making a flip chart throughout the week to
represent all of the coins.

Exploration
After the students had reviewed the vocabulary Mrs. Costner
sent them back to their desks. She then went around to each
of the groups and gave them bags of fake coins and gave the
students five minutes to look at the coins to see how they were
different.

Worksheet
After the students had time to look at the coins Mrs. Costner
asked them to come back to the carpet. She projected a chart onto the board, that was
also in the students Investigations booklets (pictured above).
The chart asked the students to look at the coins and write
down things that described them. The students wrote down
things such as the color or the coin, whose face was on the
face of the coin, the building that was on the tail of the coin,
and the value of the coin. Mrs. Costner completed the penny
section of the chart with the students. The students then had
approximately 15 minutes to create the worksheet individually.
After the students had completed the chart they came back to
the carpet and discussed their answers.
Homework
Mrs. Costner assigned the next page in the Investigations workbook for homework
(pictured). The students were given 10 minutes to work on the worksheet before their
math time was over.

Exit Ticket
Before the students left for recess they were given an exit ticket, which the teacher
treated as a quiz. The exit ticket had a picture of a penny, nickel, dime, and a quarter.
The students had a identify the coin and write its name, as well as determine the value
of the coin.

Recap
I thought this lesson was very effective in introducing money to the students. When the
lesson began the students already had a very basic understanding of money, but the
lesson helped them to build their knowledge. The students were very interested in
determining whose face was on each coin, as well as the buildings that were on the
coins. I also liked that Mrs. Costner gave the students time to work with the coins before
they were expected to use them to complete their worksheet. This ensured that the
students were not playing with the coins when they were supposed to be completing
their work.

Entry #4- Monday, February 27, 2017

Standard Covered: 2.MD.C.7 Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the
nearest five minutes, using a.m. and p.m.

Mrs. Costners Class is currently working on a unit about time. The students are
currently learning about telling time to the nearest hour, half hour, and quarter hour. I
observed the third day of their unit.

Warm-Up
The students began the lesson by completing a warm-up. The questions on the warm-
up were as follows:
1. Which hand tells the hour on an analog clock?
 2. What time is shown on the clock?
3. Represent the number below in four different ways? (picture, words,

expanded, words)

The students were given five minutes to complete the warm-up. During this time
students had the freedom to get up and walk around the
classroom to look at various anchor charts that were posted, or
to go to the board to point to the blocks in the third question.
After five minutes Mrs. Costner went over the answers to the
warm-up with the students.

The Lesson
Each of the students were given a miniature analog clocks. The
students were given one minute to play with the clocks before
the lesson began. Mrs. Costner began by asking the students
the difference between a.m. and p.m. The students responded
to the question and then Mrs. Costner explained when a.m.
starts and ends and when p.m. starts and ends. The class was
very interested to know what a.m. and p.m. stood for. The class was challenged to
research this at home and come back and tell the class. The students were then shown
six different clocks on the board and they had to identify what time the clock was
showing. They were given five minutes to work on these six questions. Then one
student was selected to come to the SmartBoard and write the time that it represented.
If the student got the time incorrect they could phone a friend to help them. Mrs.
Costner showed the class how to number the clock by fives to make it easier to
visualize the time that the minute hand was representing. The teacher had the students
to sit on the edge of the carpet and toss a tennis ball to one another and count by fives
before going back to their desks.
 Independent Practice
The students were given a worksheet that had multiple clocks
pictured. This activity was completed by the students
individually at their desks. During this time I worked with one
student on the worksheet. He had a very good understanding
reading time on analog clocks, but had some confusion when
the hour hand was very close to the next number (for example 6:45). He would often go
up to the next hour. By the end of the worksheet he had a better understanding of
reading clocks, and he felt more confident about his abilities.

Recap
I thought that the lesson had some very great components. I liked that the teacher had
the student to toss the tennis ball to review counting by fives. This kept the students
more engaged than simply counting by fives. I also liked that the students were allowed
to come to the smartboard and explain their answer during one of the activities. This
encouraged the student to work hard to complete the activity, because they all wanted
to be chosen to go to the board.

Entry #5- Monday, March 13, 2017

Standard Covered: 2.MD.D.10 Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit
scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together,
take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph.

The class currently on a unit that is focused on graphing. The students had previously
covered bar graphs and were covering pictographs during this lesson.

Notes
The class began the lesson by taking notes on Pictographs, which included:
Pictograph (Picture Graph)
A graph that displays data with pictures.
Always read the key first.
A key tells how much each picture is worth.
 Pay attention to the categories.
Each student was responsible for recording these notes in their math notebook. The
teacher typed these notes as she went over them on the SmartBoard. All of the students
were seated on the carpet, in close proximity to the teacher and the SmartBoard.

Class Survey
The teacher conducts a survey of the class to determine the students favorite book. The
students were given the following options: Fairytale Stories, Dr. Suess Books, Junie B.
Jones, and Frog and Toad. The results from the story are as follows:
Fairytale Stories- 3 students
Dr. Seuss- 5 students
Junie B. Jones- 12 students
Frog and Toad- 3 students

Graphing
The students began by creating a bar graph with the
data that they had collected from their class poll.
Mrs. Costner drew the graph on the SmartBoard
while the students drew the graph in their math
notebooks. She asked the students questions while
she was drawing to ensure that they knew what each
part of the graph meant. Then Mrs. Costner moved
to pictographs. She explained to the students that
the pictograph uses pictures to represent the items
that they are counting. She further explained
that each picture could represent more than
one object. Mrs. Costner drew the
pictograph on the SmartBoard with the
students, and then had them to copy into
their notebooks. The students seemed to
understand how a pictograph worked, as
well as how it should be set up. Mrs. Costner
also drew another example for the students
that had a key that represented 2 books
instead of one so the students could see
how the graph would be different. (I have
included examples of the bar graph and the pictograph that the class created and drew
in their notebooks.)

Independent Practice
After the student finished their graphing they were given a worksheet that had two
different pictographs on it. The students had to work independently during this time to
answer the questions that accompanied the pictograph. During this time I worked one-
on-one with a student. He knew how to read the pictograph but struggled with
determining how many objects were being represented. He would not look at the key
and would count the objects as one instead of five, which was what the key called for.
When he focused on the graph, and not others around him, he was able to properly
read the graph as well as answer the questions.

Reflection
I liked the way that Mrs. Costner introduced the pictographs to the class by starting with
a bar graph, which was a graph that the students had already learned. Mrs. Costner
made sure that the students had a full understanding before they left the carpet to work
on their independent practice, which made the amount of questions that came up during
this time minimal.