Circle one age group/grade: 3-4 4-5 K 1st 2nd

Introduction: I did my observation at Harley E. Harmon in Ms. Barragan’s 1st grade classroom.

Section 1. Physical Environment

A. Equipment:

1. Indoor:
a) iPad, Computers (Students & Techers), 1 White board, 3 bulletin boards, 4 library
sections, A sink with water fountain, tape recorder, 16 student desks, 1 teacher desk,
backpack cubby, U-shaped table, cabinet space (5), multiple stacks on chairs.

Classroom Side #2

Classroom Side #1 Classroom Side #3

2. Outdoors:
a) The outside of the school is blue with gray and has
large ABC’s around it. Playground for the smaller kids
(Kindergarten) which is surrounded by a chained
linked fence. It has been closed off; I was not given an
explanation as to why. There are 10 portable
classrooms outside. 2 outside playgrounds, which are
included with 3 basketball hoops, and 2 baseball
fields.
Closed off
playground→
B. Room arrangement:

• *File will be attached in Canvas* When playing how to show the room arrangement, I was
having difficulty getting everything done on paper. I decided to do a virtual classroom on Word. I
used the resources provided to me in my Edu 214 to make the classroom.

C. Centers:

• She only had an area with math games, but it wasn’t so much a center. She would only use it if
the students had time to play within their routine times. She has linking tubes, math flashcards,
Block builders, Unfix cubes, Pattern blocks, and Fraction blocks. Other than that, she has no
reading or writing center. She expressed how they had no time to sit down and do hands on
activities in her classroom.

D. EVALUATION

❖ When I went into her classroom, Ms. Barragan seemed to have such a big room! Her room was
in the corner of the hallway. I felt that her classroom had a lot, but not a lot for the children. I
felt that she used a big portion of the room for storage, she really did not have a lot of hands on
actives for the students to play with. In our DAP book in pg. 293 Environment and schedule for
in contrast it says, “The arrangement of the environment severely limits children’s opportunities
to pursue engaging learning experiences…” John Dewey talked about how he felt the students
should be able to experience things hands on. I believe that is completely true and every student
should have the opportunity to work with manipulatives. Although, I find that to be negative the
spaces that she does provide do help the students out. On pg. 294 in our DAP it says, “Teachers
plan the curriculum, schedule, and environment so that children can learn through active
involvement in various learning experiences with each other, with adults, and with variety
materials.” The students inside the classroom have many spaces in which they could interact
with each other and help one another out. The desks have enough room for the students to do
group projects in if they have the time too. I did not like how the students were only allowed
about 10-15 minutes outside for recess. In the DAP book on pg. 306 it talks about “Children play
outside every day and have specialized instruction in physical education on a regular basis” The
students do get to go to P.E once a week but not enough for 1st graders. These students need to
be as active as they could be.

Section 2. Curriculum

A. Philosophy:

1. Teacher's philosophy:
a. “Students are successful when they work cooperatively in a positive environment that is
fair, fun and focused in them individually. I will work to meet the unique needs of each
student and guide them in acquiring knowledge and skills. Effective learning requires
collaboration between the teacher, students and parents and it is based on trust and
respect.” Ms. Barragan
2. Center/School philosophy:
a. After doing more then 2 hours of researching and pressing every link on their website. I
was unable to find any sort of school philosophy.
 i. https://schools.ccsd.net/harmon/

B. Goals

1. Program goals:
1. Increase Grade 3 proficiency rates in reading
2. Reduce the overall achievement gap percentage points between highest performing and
ethic/racial subgroups in both reading and math.
3. Increase staff members knowledge and skills related to cultural competency that are
needed to meet instructional needs of diverse learners.
i. All information was found on
https://schools.ccsd.net/_scrap/harmon/documents/2017_2018_accountability
_report.pdf
2. Classroom goals:
a. “My main goal is to provide a safe learning environment and to instill a love of learning
in all my students. I pride myself on my classroom management, it takes time, but my
students thrive in a structured environment. I strive to continually improve my learning
so that my first-grade students are prepared for second grade.” Ms. Barragan

C. Lesson Plans:

• *File will be attached in Canvas*

D. Individualization:

• “At the beginning of the year I test the students to know what their reading, math and writing
abilities are and then I group them based on their skills and needs. I check every month that the
students are still grouped correctly if students master a skill then I place them in a different skill-
based group so that the student will continue to grow. This year the entire school has grouped
students based on reading ability. In first grade the students go to another first grade class for
45 minutes a day, we call them Smart Groups. In each Smart Group class students get to work
with another teacher in order to increase their reading abilities. This year we also started a
Watch Me Grow binder for each student. In each binder the students have their current levels,
the end of year levels and what steps they can do to meet their goals. I make sure that I look
online and ask my colleagues for ideas on what will help my students either on their reading,
math or writing.” Ms. Barragan

E. EVALUATION

❖ When putting this section together the number one thing that kept coming to me was the
teaching pyramid. When I was reading the textbook this model always seemed to stick out to
me because I feel this is how you build a strong classroom foundation and make sure you are
understanding your students. She talks about having an environment in which she will meet
everyone’s abilities and disabilities. She has such a great heart that I’m not surprised her
students love her so much. I personally feel that with the love a teacher has for her students the
classroom will be thriving. DAP on pg. 290 in Fostering positive relationships “Teachers are
warm, caring, and responsive… Communication with families is a priority.” From talking to her
she gets the parents involved in everything she does with the students. She knows the
 importance of strong relationships with the families. She Is also great when planning her
curriculum for the week. She has worksheets, form educational sites in which will help the
students. The only thing that I did notice and did not like was how everyone is doing the same
thing. Every person did the same worksheet, the same books, the same one-on-one activities
with her. I never noticed something being personalized to the child’s needs. I could be
completely mistaken, and the students might all be on the same level. DAP pg. 290 explains in
the in-contrast section “The curriculum, environment and teaching essentially the same for all
children in the classroom,…” They do the same thing at the same time every day. I wish one
group could do one worksheet and the other group read a higher-level book. I do however like
how they are starting to do a Watch Me Grow Binder. I believe it is extremely important in
assessing the students and writing down how the started and how they are ending the year. I
feel this fall under Formative and Summative assessments liked explained in our ECE text pg.
308. Formative assessments they help her plan effective and induvial work. As for Summative
helps her test at the end of different topics to make sure the student is gathering all
information. DAP pg. 321 talks about “Assessment is done for four specific, beneficial purposes:
planning and adapting curriculum to meet each child’s developmental and learning needs…” She
does great and keeping up with her children and wanting the best for them.

Section 3. Guidance

A. Routines:

1. They have a daily routine posted on their white board filled with their daily schedule:
a. 8:00-9:10am – Math
b. 9:10-10:20am – Reading
c. 10:25-11:00 – Groups
d. 11:10-11:50- Lunch/Recess
e. 11:50-12:20- Writing
f. 12:22-1:12- Library
g. 1:12-2:00- Science, Social Studies and Health

2. The hour between “10:25-11:00” for groups the students spend about 10 minutes in their
designated areas. This is where the students separate and go into their own groups posted on
the wall.

3. Every Monday morning, they must go into their classroom library and pick out 6 new books.
They are provided with big zip-lock bags so they can store them in their desks.

4. Smart Groups- Every day for 45 minutes the students leave their primary room and enter a
computer class. When this is going on, the teacher gets another class and she does the same
rotations with the students.

B. Classroom:
 1. Rewarding their classroom rules, they only had a small poster in the front of their room. There
was no other form in which the students could have seen the rules.

2. They have a program called “Daily 5” these are the groups every student break into in their
groups.
a. Listen to Reading- The students are provided with a cassette tape playing and a book
they must follow. One student (named the teacher of the group) must hold the book
and turn the pages. The other students just sit and listen.
b. Meet with Teacher- When they meet with the teacher they practice their words of the
week. They do this by having flashcards that the words. They do pronunciation and they
ask questions about it.
c. Read to Self- They must read their AR books and then take an AR test with the book.
They must read the book 3 times before they take their test.
d. Read to someone- The student must get a book and read to 2 other students.
e. Word work- For this activity the must get a provided worksheet and must copy their
words of the week. They are provided with different types of worksheets so their mind
can learn it in different ways.
f. Work on writing- Here they have the freedom to write about anything they want. At the
start of every month, they are provided with a new writing journal.

3. When they are transitioning from one subject area to another they get reminded of what is
supposed to be done and how she wants it done. She goes to every group and gives them a little
refresher as to what is meant to get done or if she must change something.

4. Their group members are on the wall also, she has everyone divided between 4 or 5 students in
5 groups. She reminds the students in which group they belong to.

C. Teacher Interactions:

1. When they are in their math rotation Ms. Barragan likes to sit in front and teach the students
from the projector on a math book guiding them step by step on the problems. She lets the
students do some questions alone. After they work on 5 or 6 alone, she likes to regroup and do
2 more together. Once she is finished teaching the students are provided with 5 more questions
to answer alone. She takes the time to walk around and help the students who are struggling to
answer or simply observe them to see if they are doing okay.
 2. During reading time, they go up to the front of the classroom to read in a group. Ms. Barragan
first reads and then talks to the students about the book. She likes to ask them what they
enjoyed and what they thought about the main characters. They also get to give examples about
their life regarding the books.

3. When the students are with her in groups, she is very free about what the students can say. By
this I mean that she will give them an example of a word and she will let the students say
another word they might think is similar. If the student is not close to what the word is, she
softly corrects them and tells them to try another word. For example, if the word is cow, she
likes to ask if they have ever been to a farm and seen one.

D. Guidance Techniques:

1. Regarding cues in the classroom, when the students should be done and ready to go to their
next rotation Ms. Barragan has a ringer hanging for her white board that rings 2 minutes before
they must move on. After when it is time to move a bell rings and everyone gets up and moves.

2. When I went into the classroom to observe there was a student who did not want to get his
math work book done. Ms. Barragan went over to the student trying to explain what was meant
to done, He insisted, and she offered him to choose if he would rather have her help him out or
have another student help him out so he could be comfortable enough to do the questions.

3. When it was time for the students to choose their 6 new books for the week, there was student
who was talking, and goofing around in the library. Ms. B told the student to focus on finding a
new book and let his other classmates focus. After repeating 3 times, she old the student to step
out of the library and go sit down. When the student went to sit down she went over and talked
to him about what was happening and why she sent him to sit down. After almost every student
had a book, she sent him back to choose his 6 books.

E. EVALUATION

❖ Regarding how Ms. Barragan does the routines in her classroom it is great. She has everything
laid out for the students. She knows how a structed education is priority because the students
learn better like that. DAP pg. 294 explains “Teachers plan the curriculum, schedule, and
environment so that children can learn through active involvement in various learning
experiences…” One thing after taking this class that I learned is how behavior charts are not
good at all. Ms. Barragan had one in the back of her classroom giving the students stars for
everyday the students did well. The ECE text on page 327 in my opinions considers it as a
running record. A running record is a chronological record, of an individual child’s behavior that
helps teachers better understand that behavior. (pg. 327) I once thought that these were good
but now I learned that they don’t really help in anything. We are affecting their self-esteem.
When the students were in groups for their daily 5 I feel that the classroom was far to silent.
There was the occasional group in read to someone or listen to reading where the students
were loud and interacting other then that everyone did their own thing. DAP pg. 301 section of
Guidance under in contrast it says “Children have few opportunities to practice social skills…they
are always seated and doing silent, induvial work or are involved in teacher-directed group
work…” Their daily schedule is so planned that I feel the students only have time to interact
while they are in lunch or when rotating activities. She does however give great encouragement
when the students need it. Even when the students are doing good she like to acknowledge and
let the student know.