Melinda Douglas

Classroom Routines.
A schedule has been provided of what the weekly routines are for subjects.
In the morning the students come in, change their shoes and choose a
morning focus job that has been set out for them to do while others come in
and change. While students are doing their morning focus jobs the teacher
quickly does attendance then asks a students to pick a partner and take it to
the office. The teachers will then do a two minute twinkle to tell the student
that they have 2 more minute to play. After the 2 minutes the teacher hits a
chime three times for students to clean up materials and come sit at the
carpet. Once at the carpet the students go through their morning songs,
calendar, days of the week and daily weather.
For lunch time the students put their coats on, change their shoes and put on
a yellow piny, after they come in and eat their lunch. During this time an
older student is present in the classroom to be a monitor.
At recess the students get all of their outside gear on and line up at the door
that leads outside. They do not need a yellow piny during recess because the
teacher is supervising them.

At the end of a day the students stack their chairs off to the side, change
inside shoes and go to put on their outside gear, backpacks, and carry
anything they need to go home then sit at the carpet for sharing. After
sharing the teacher will hand out anything to go home then dismiss the
students one at a time to line up at the outside door to wait for the bell.
When the bell does ring the teacher has to dismiss them one at a time when
the teacher see the students parents, siblings or anyone who is supposed to
pick the child up.
Students do some clean up after lesson, but the teacher does an end of the
day sweep while all other clean-up is done by the janitor.

The distribution of materials in the classroom is done by the teacher and

helpers this includes a lot of the materials and worksheets. A lot of the
worksheets are given to students by the teacher when she dismisses them
one at a time from the carpet by giving them the worksheet. That way there
is not a bunch of students at once trying to get back to their seats. If the
students need extra materials to move along in the lesson the teacher will
set them off to the side for when the students is ready to move on to the
next step that way they dont have a bunch of items at their table and
possibly get distracted. When students are done work they hand in their
work to the side table unless the work is done in a workbook for a subject
then it goes back into the subject bin it came from.

As for going from one classroom to another I would have my students line
up at the door. There is a quiet song we sing with the finger of the lip and our
hand on our hip. We dont move from the class until everyone in line can
show me that they are ready to move. If students get out of hand or dont
follow the rules of transition from one place to another we will go back and
try the transition again until the students can get it right. Most of the
students in the class are rather well behaved and I havent had to be this
strict with them. We have come up with themes for different ways to walk
down the hall such as floating like a snowflake, because a snowflake doesnt
make noise.
We have a washroom inside of our class the one just outside of class is for
emergencies only. To go to the bathroom a student may stand up and give a
hand signal that they needs to go. This is more of a notification to the
teacher so they know where the students is going. We do have rules for the
washroom such as only one student at a time, we flush the toilet, and we
dont waste time in the washroom because other need it too.

Classroom set up.

The set up for my sponsor teacher is really organized and makes it really
easier to maneuver around the class. The seating plan changes daily,
because the teacher likes to move some students around to have them
working with others. The layout of the classroom is very open as well, which
makes it easy for the students to access materials they need. I felt like
describing it would be difficult so I drew a picture below of it.
 Management strategies
For getting the students attention I normally only have to start the finger
dance and the students end up with the fingers tucked together before I start
talking. I dont raise my voice over a normal voice as I dont want to be
shouting in the class. If the students are too loud to hear me or too
distracted I fall back on turning off the lights then starting the finger dance.
Normally the students are to be sitting in their seats unless they have been
asked to grab something. If someone has a question or needs help they stay
in their seats and put up their hand. This has been a hard routine for the
students but for the most part the students have the idea of it that all I have
to say Is that what youre supposed to be doing? or Is that where youre
supposed to be?.

Managing discussion is with hands up unless the teacher says otherwise.

The students have been very responsive to this. They will put up their hand
unless I or my sponsor teacher says it is ok to say the answer out lowed. For
students that call out at times that are not appropriate I comment saying I
hear some ideas, but no hands? or I like how some of my friends are
putting up their hands This is a trigger for the students and 100% of the
time they will put up their hands and apologies.
Classroom rules in my classroom the teacher got an idea from The Zones
of regulation. The students are very traversed in it. If something happen
between students we can talk about what zone they feel like they are in and
how they feel and what we can do to make it better.
Solving problems in the classroom. If two students are fighting over the
same toy or place to sit or whether they are tagged out or in, the students
generally come and tell the teacher or myself about it. This is when we give
both students choices to make a good choice to help each other.
There is a students who has aggressive behaviours to the point that the class
needs to be evacuated. The teacher has gone over and practiced with the
students that if the teacher says OK students over to Mrs. Vs class. The
students then all move to her class except the one who is being violent.
For positive reinforcement my sponsor uses vocal positive reinforcement.
At times she may bring in something for the students to work towards at the
end of the day.
Classroom tasks
Attendance is taken in the morning and after lunch. Once finished a
student is randomly chosen to run it to the office. Classroom (Special)
helpers there is scheduled for the month posted on the side bulletin so
everyone gets a turn to be special helper for the day. Parents come in to
check when their child is special helper, because they also get to bring
something in for sharing.
The students practice sight words and phonemic awareness throughout the
week, even during the few extra minutes it takes for them to finish their
lunches.
There are newsletters that go home every week and month. There is also a
volunteer schedule up so if parents want to come in for a lesson and help out
they can.

Displays
The classroom is very neat and organized. There are some places for
students to put up their work inside of the classroom as well as out in the
hall. The teacher is very regular in changing the display so students can
show off their work.
The student are asked to clean up and put away materials at their seats
before moving forward to the next task.
Some of the displays in the classroom are education oriented and are of
things the students are working on together such as; Self-goals, number
lines, numbers and months of the years. Most of the display is for students
work.
Consequences
Normally if something occurs in the class and you make a comment on how
that makes a person feel the students understand and can apologies or make
a good choice. Some students can escalate to violent tendencies. The
students is then sent to the sensory room or on some self-regulation task to
help them work through it. If a students does something intentionally then
the students will be held in for a short period during lunch or sent to the
principles office.
As I talked about before if transitions are done poorly I have the students
redo them until they can do it right.
A lot of our expectations are oriented around the zones of regulation because
it gives student the opportunity to tell the difference between what is a good
choice and a bad choice and how our choices affect others.