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Daisy Lugo

Professor Kalas

ECE 250

29 November 2018

Project

Age group/ grade: 1st

Section 1. Physical Environment

1. Equipment

2. Indoors

- Mathematics textbooks

- Reading textbooks

- Anchor charts

- I Pads

- Elmo

- In class library area

3. Outdoors:

- Playgrounds/ fields

- Soccer balls, Footballs, Basketballs, Kickballs

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- Jump ropes, hula hoops

- The school has a designated area with flower beds in which they grow a variety of

plants, fruits and vegetables.

4. Room arrangement:

5. Centers:

- Independent reading center: In this center the students independently read grade

appropriate books and then take AR tests on the I Pads based on the books.

Materials include: AR books and I Pads

- Reading on Epic: In this center the students use the Epic app on the I Pads in which they

have access to thousands of audio children’s books, educational videos and quizzes.

Materials include: I Pads

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- IXL Learning: In this center the students use this I Pad app to practice their skills in

math and language arts. Helping them learn and practice things like adding, subtracting, telling

time, nouns and verbs.

Materials include: I Pads

- Handwriting practice: In this center the students practice their handwriting skills as well

as their sight words and sight word phrases. The students sit in front of the whiteboard where

their sight words are written and they have to practice writing them onto their small boards.

Materials include: Small whiteboards, dry erase markers, board erasers

D. Evaluation

“Teachers foster a learning environment that encourages exploration, initiative, positive peer

interaction, and cognitive growth.” Page 293 DAP text

“Teachers deign all classroom activities to allow for the full participation of all children,

including those who are not fluent in English.” Page 291 DAP text

“Teachers arrange tables or flexible groupings of desks to enable children to work alone or in

small groups.” Page 293 DAP text

Section 2. Curriculum (interview)

1. Philosophy

- Walter Long students will maintain high academic and behavioral standards in pursuits of

continued growth and success in middle school programs.

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2. Teacher’s Philosophy

- “My philosophy is that all students are capable of learning no matter their backgrounds or lives.

I enjoy my job very much and look forward to coming to work everyday to continue supporting

my community and these children in their educational careers.”

2. Center/ school philosophy

- The staff and administration at Walter Long STEAM Academy are committed to preparing our

students for the future by improving academic achievement through investigative experiences.

3. Goals

- The students in first grade are expected to be able to read 70 word per minute by the end of the

school year, being able to read more than three books per day, master their first grade sight word

series, students should be able to achieve 140 points in AR reading, add and subtract within 20,

being able to count to 120 and vice versa, complete Rocket Math within 20 in both addition and

subtraction by the end of the year.

4. Program goals

- Walter Long Elementary School is a STEAM Academy the program focuses on different

subjects like science, technology, engineering, arts and math with the students to get them

engaged and interested in attending school and learning.

5. Classroom Goals
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- The teacher stated that the classroom goals are pretty much the same as what he had previously

mentioned in question #3, other than that, he wants the students to have fun and enjoy learning in

a safe and welcoming environment.

6. Lesson Plans
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7. Individualization

- In terms of individualization, the teacher mentioned that he goes off the student’s data in order

to meet their individual needs. He observes the student’s performance levels in the different

subjects and pulls those who are lower to help bring them up to the classrooms pace. He does

one on one meet ups with all his students to make sure they are preforming well and are meeting

all their goals.

E. Evaluation

“Teachers ensure that children with disabilities or special learning need are included in the

classroom socially and intellectually as well as physically.” Page 290 DAP text

“The classroom is seen as a setting where children learn to work collaboratively often working in

groups to explore common goals.” Page 291 DAP text

“Available materials are limited primarily to textbooks, workbooks and pencils. Few

manipulative objects or hands on material are available to assist children in building their

understanding of math and science concepts, such as multiplication, floating and sinking, gears

and levers, or the relationship between form and function.” Page 294 DAP text

Section 3. Guidance

1. Routines

1. Upon entering the room all the students knew the morning routine, hang their

backpacks, grab their breakfast, AR books and I Pads. They began to read and eat, shortly after
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the teacher called a group of students who needed extra help to the kidney table to practice their

spelling and sight words. After some time, they cleaned everything up and met in front of the

board to practice their sight words out loud by sounding them out and repeating them after the

teacher. He mentioned to me that it is important to keep them moving constantly other wise they

get impatient, distracted and cannot manage to sit for long periods of time. After the sight words

they moved across the room to the carpet area and continued reading a book they had previously

started. He read out loud and asked questions to the students and also let them talk to their

shoulder partners. After this they went back to their seats the teacher handed out a writing

assignment based on the book, he did an example and then let the students do it on their own, he

checked up on them by walking around the classroom and helping those who asked questions.

After writing they went into their centers, they spent about 10-15 minutes at each and rotated

about three times enough for everyone to participate in each center once. They cleaned

everything up and took out two bubble maps they had been working on. The students were given

three slips of green paper and had to transfer the information on their bubble maps to the green

slips using beginning, middle and end as a storyline. After a while they moved on to science,

they took out a fire safety packet they had been working on and the teacher guided two pages of

work with them, one about what to do incase of a fire and the other about fire escape routes. He

then allowed them to color the two pages they had worked on using colored pencils, markers and

crayons.

2. They cleaned everything up and prepared to go to lunch, the teacher escorted them to

the lunch room and helped them open their food or milk cartons. After lunch they headed out to

recess. After picking them up they came back to the classroom and grabbed their math folders,

they sat in partners in the carpet area and practiced their addition and subtraction facts for a
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timed test. They headed back to their seats and began the timed test for one minute. After that the

teacher collected their test and they moved on to the textbooks. The teacher explained what was

to be done for that particular page and they released them to do it on their own checking up on

them periodically. After finishing the page, they left everything on their desks and lined up to go

to specials on this particular day it was PE. Upon coming back, they finished up their math

lesson for the day. They put everything away in their desks and the teacher handed out the

homework for the night, and at about 3:21 they were dismissed for the day.

1. Classroom Rules

1. While observing the classroom I noticed that there weren’t any posted rules throughout

the class such as on a poster. However, the teacher did mention that he went over the rules in the

beginning of the school year and that the students know what is expected of them in terms of

behavior. The rules include, “Keep hands and feet to yourself, respect others, and raise your

hands to speak.” He does use a behavior chart in his classroom, if he noticed a student breaking a

rule or any other type of behavior issue, he will ask them to clip down. Vice versa if a student is

behaving good, they will be asked to clip up. Students who clip up or ones that he notices are

doing what was asked he will reward them with an “I Spy” a coupon which they can later use to

earn prizes from the treasure chest.

2. As far as observing how the children were reminded of the rules, I saw that his rules

were mostly verbal and he reminded the students of them whenever he noticed someone who

was having behavior issues or was breaking a classroom rule.

1.Teacher Interactions
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1. One thing I noticed was that he interacted with his students all day and sat with them

while they worked on various assignments. He went around the classroom and worked with each

student and spent some extra time with those who seemed to be confused or who he knew

needed help. He worked in particular with a student who he said had ADHD and was behind in

all subjects, had difficulties listening and concentrating on the assignments his peers were doing.

2. In the beginning of the day while other students are working independently, he pulls

aside a group of about 5-6 students to the kidney table who needed more help with their sight

words, spelling, and writing. During activities such as centers the teacher sat with the students

and helped them sound out words and answered any questions that they had. During his writing

lesson he went in front of the class and explained what the student were supposed to do. He let

them work independently while he sat at his table in the front of the class, the students came up

to him when they needed help or clarification.

3. Guidance techniques

1. As far as guidance the teacher always made sure that all his students were paying

attention to the lesson or activity and correcting behaviors that became a distraction for either

one table group or the whole group in general. I also noticed his problem-solving techniques with

the students when there seemed to be issues with one another or simple guidance when there was

confusion among them.

2. One specific thing I observed was that when the children had to share something with a

shoulder partner, he guided them to pair up a boy and a girl so that they can talk to someone

different every time. To reward the students for paying attention or showing good behaviors the

teacher has a section on the board titled team points. When he notices a team doing good or he
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sees that they have corrected their behaviors after a verbal warning he awards them team points

and the team with the most points at the end of the week gets a prize from the treasure test.

E. Evaluation

“Teachers provide many daily opportunities for children to develop social skills (e.g.,

helping, cooperating, negotiating, solving peer conflicts by talking).” Page 301 DAP text

“Teachers organize the daily schedule to allow for alternating periods of physical activity

and quiet time.” Page 294 DAP text

“Teachers promote children’s development of respect for others, conscience, and self-

control through positive guidance techniques: involving children in establishing clear and

reasonable rules for social living and conflict resolution, enforcing consistent consequences for

unacceptable behavior, and meeting with an individual child having problems or with the child’s

parents together to discuss solutions.” Page 301 DAP text