Katy Schnormeier Journal Entries

Classroom Climate - 1st Grade

Having a welcoming, loving classroom is something Mrs. Weber made sure to have while

I was observing her. During my time in her classroom, I saw a strong relationship she has with

each of her students. Her room is decorated with many colorful posters and bulletin boards. On a

back wall of her classroom, she has pictures of the students doing things that are acceptable to do

to their friends because of COVID, for example, an air hug, which they did to me on my last day

observing which made me feel special. Mrs. Weber also has a birthday calendar which tells when

each student's birthday is as well as hers. On the student’s birthdays, they get to have a sign on

their chair that says “Happy Birthday” as well as getting sung to by their classmates. While

observing, I experienced two birthdays and both the students felt so special and had a huge smile

on their face. Seeing how excited the students were on their birthday to just be sang to makes me

feel better about them not being able to bring in treats for their whole class since that’s what they

would normally do if COVID had not changed normal classroom practice.

Having an organized classroom was a priority for Mrs. Weber, which is something I think

will be important to me in my classroom. One way she kept students organized was color groups

for the different rows. In the mornings, the students entered the classroom, put homework into

their cubbies, and then waited at their desk for Mrs. Weber to call their color group. Mrs. Weber

was planful with her set up of the desks because Mrs. Weber has pairs of students for her seating

chart which provided students another person to talk to and if they need help, they could ask their

neighbor. She also used these color groups when doing rotations around the room. Students had

different stations such as time on their tablet, independent word work, reading on their own, and

completing activities in their packets. The stations Mrs. Weber used were very helpful because

during that time I helped the students struggling with either spelling words or saying longer
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words. After observing Mrs. Weber this semester, I can tell she likes to have her classroom

organized as much as possible with her creative ideas to keep her students feel happy and

welcomed each time they come to school.

Classroom Management - 1st Grade

Being an elementary teacher takes a lot of patience when trying to manage students and

Mrs. Weber has techniques I think are very beneficial. Getting her students’ attention is one thing

Mrs. Weber had to do consistently. whether it was for transitioning to the next activity or if the

class got out of hand talking to each other. One of the ways Mrs. Weber got the attention of her

class was a call and then response. She would say “Class, class” and the students would respond

“yes, yes.” This worked well and the students knew if she said that, they needed to listen to her

for further instruction. When I was in elementary school, I had something very similar that

teachers would do during lunch to get our attention to go to certain classes or who gets to take

care of their tray first and it worked well because us as students knew we had to listen. Mrs

Weber also used the turning on and off the lights as a way to get her students attention if they

didn’t respond to her call. I have seen many examples of the call and response tactic in school

and I will use them in my classroom in the future because I think they are very effective

especially when the students know that if I say my call they need to quiet down and listen to

instructions.

Making sure students learn the content being taught is very important when being a

teacher and it is important to make sure they are decent human beings as well. One day while I

was putting graded homework back into the student’s cubbies, I noticed one of the girls had a

note in her cubby from one of the boys in the class. It read, “Dear Maddie, I am sorry for hitting

you. Zach.” This really showed me Mrs. Weber makes sure her students are nice to each other
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and if they aren’t, they need to apologize to the person whether it be in person, with a note, or

both. I will definitely be using this idea when I become a teacher because it teaches the students

how to treat others nicely and enforces appropriate consequences when they inevitably make

mistakes.

Differentiated Learning/Exceptional Learners - 1st Grade

Ensuring every student is learning the required content takes different levels of

instructing. Every student learns differently and a teacher must keep this in mind. Some students

might learn at a slower pace than others and some students might already know half the content

being taught. Gilbert School District is lucky enough to have teachers who are specifically hired

to help students who are struggling in their classes. I was a part of these groups in elementary

and intermediate school because I had a hard time comprehending what I was reading to answer

the questions given afterwards. I also had trouble reading the words I should have already known

by my age. The reading groups I was a part of really helped me better remember what I was

reading and comprehend what was happening in the story. While I was observing Mrs. Weber,

we had a few students get called out of class to participate in these groups and I was happy to see

the same teacher who helped me was helping the students right now. Helping the students who

are struggling in some areas at a young age will help them in so many ways in the future.

Teachers are the ones that know the best for the learning of their students, Mrs. Weber

helped me show them welcoming arms no matter where they were specifically reading. Every

morning when I observed Mrs. Weber, I grabbed the quarantined books and put them away in

their correct reading level. She had levels from A to J for the different levels of reading for the

students in her class. Each book in every category was similar in reading ability. She also had

groups of nonfiction, fiction, seasonal, weather, christmas, summer, etc. The students were given
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a reading level and when they were excelling in that level, they moved up. The students read

their chosen books from the sections of their reading level and read them after they finished an

activity, during one of their rotations in the morning, and in the morning before Mrs. Weber

started teaching.

STEM - 1st Grade

Incorporating STEM into the classroom each day will help the students learn more about

the world around them while also having fun with the activities. One way Mrs. Weber

incorporated science into the classroom was by going over the weather at the beginning of the

day during morning announcements. She discussed what the high and low temperature was going

to be that day as well as specifically what the temperature was going to be when they go out to

recess to plan what they would have to wear to go outside. While I was there, it was mostly just a

jacket or nothing since it was still early in the year. Another way Mrs. Weber was able to

incorporate STEM was through the use of tablets. During rotations in Mrs. Weber's class, the

students were on their tablets for one rotation. The students are allowed to play educational

games prompted on the screen. The students can also have stories read to them with their

headphones. This choice was used multiple times while I was observing. We also have to take

NWEA testing at the elementary level where they utilized their tablets to take the test. I was

observing while they were taking their test and multiple adults were there making sure the first

graders are doing what they are supposed to be doing and that they are on the correct screen.

Getting them into the test took the longest because each teacher had to help almost every student.

The use of technology is used in each school but in elementary school it is harder for the students

to understand how to use it.

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Engineering is the most difficult concept of STEM to incorporate into the classroom of

first graders, but Mrs. Weber was able to incorporate it. One way she included engineering in her

classroom was putting together a pumpkin during halloween. The students got a pumpkin cut out

with multiple pieces to glue onto it. She gave the students a bag of different types of eyes, noses,

mouths, and other decorations. Also, she had them put together a person that looks like them at

the beginning of the year. On each body part they had to put something about themselves that

they would want Mrs. Weber to know and then they shared them to the whole class. The last

aspect of STEM, math, was used every morning in Mrs. Weber’s class. During the morning

announcements, the class went over the date of the day as well as how many weeks they have

been in school. When discussing the date, each day they went over how to get to the date of the

day through addition or subtraction. It was fun to see how creative the students were with their

ways to get to the date. They would also have number sheets which they would do after an

activity or before Mrs. Weber started teaching. These sheets had addition as well as subtraction

and there would always be these two students, Colton and Holton, who would race to see who

got done the fastest. Including STEM in classroom curriculum can benefit the students a lot more

when there are activities that directly incorporate them.

Choice: Brain Breaks - 1st Grade

Keeping the students moving in the classroom keeps their brain awake so they learn more

easily. While I was observing, Mrs. Weber did a brain break at least once every two hours. I

asked her how she decides when to do the brain breaks and she said, “I never have a set schedule

for them. I just pay attention to how my kids look while I am teaching. If after a lesson they look

tired and bored, then I start up a brain break. I always have the tab open so it’s perfect.” Looking

back at my elementary years, I don’t remember doing any brain breaks during my classes. Mrs.
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Weber’s students were always excited to do the brain breaks because it got them moving and

standing up instead of sitting down all day long learning. When I got older we never did any sort

of brain break so we were always sitting learning except for in science class in fifth grade I

remember working on projects that made us move because our supplies were all around the

room. Now that I am in high school and we have block periods every day, my teachers usually

give us a break to go to the bathroom or get a drink since each period is 80 minutes long. Having

that break in the long period helps my brain actually take a break from what I was learning and it

helps me relax during the long day. I can tell Mrs. Weber likes doing the brain breaks because

she was always dancing along to the beat of the video. She always chose dancing ones so the

kids could dance to the beat and move around.

Research shows brain breaks help keep the student awake and they are more receptive to

learning. After thinking about brain breaks on my own I decided to ask my siblings about what

they thought. My brother, who is in kindergarten, said, “I love moving around. I really like doing

the dance moves to the person I am watching.” I definitely saw proof of this in Mrs. Weber’s

class because almost all the kids had a smile on their faces while doing the activity. I also asked

my sister, who is an eighth grader, and she said, “After we have brain breaks I feel energized and

eager to do my school work. Also, when I know a brain break is coming I do more work so after

the activity I feel better about already getting a lot of work done.” As a high schooler, I definitely

agree with this because if I knew I was going to get a break from my work, I would try to get as

much of it done as I could so I wouldn’t be stressed after the break. As a future teacher, I plan on

having brain breaks every day to ensure my students keep their brain active as well as being

energized to learn the information I am teaching.