Rough draft (not completey finshed

Katelyn Ambrose

Monday & Wednesday 8 am

Have you ever noticed the little things in an elementary classroom? Well I have his week. I had gone to a first grade classroom for a whole day. I got to visualize all the details in the classroom the teacher has did, also how the children responded in a classroom setting. The teacher is also a very big part in a classroom setting.  

When entering upon a first grade class room, it was very bright and organized. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was all the students chairs and tables had been made smaller so it was more comfortable and easier for them .There were about five table with at least between four to five chairs at the tables. At the tables there was a little cubby at the end of them, which held reading books and folders, and supplies marker, crayons, pencils, scissors and etc.  I also had noticed that there was a little room to walk in and out of. That little room is called “the cubby area”. The cubby area is where they put their belongings. It had a row of hooks and shelf’s. The purposes for the shelves were for if the kids had extra things they carried to school, for example a umbrella and some rain boots if it was raining outside, or even their packed lunches.
Walking out of the cubby area I looked across the room at three big bulletin boards. The three bulletin boards all consist of three different things.  The first bulletin had red paper and a pencil borders around it and it said three books of the week and it listed three little readings that they had in there reading books that they keep in the cubby near their desk. The second bulletin had yellow paper and has apples as its border.  The bulletin board had said words of the week.  The bulletin board had five words and they were pan, ran, land, hand, and had. They use the words on the bulletin board to help them with use correct pronunciation, and how to spell correctly.  The Last Bulletin board was again red paper with the pencil border.  A huge clock was in the middle you couldn’t miss it! It also had different times around the bulletin board that were held on by Velcro so she could change them. The teacher would use this right before the kids would go to lunch every day. As I stood in in front of a huge white board in front of the room there were so many things that were hanging up. There was a huge schedule hung up and it consist of 8:00 to 9:00 am was circle time. Circle time is where they sing a good morning song and great each other good morning and share either a funny joke or a weekend story. From 8:30 to 9:30 English literature arts takes place. Then from 9:30 to 9:45 is snack time. 9:45 to 10:30 is folder work, 10:30 to 11:00 is clock time and some math, 11:00 to 12:30 is lunch and recess. After the kids come back from recess they do some more math exercise. Then from there they work on whatever the teacher has assigned for them to do until it’s time to go home. So all the kids know what needs to be done every day. They also have a chart where the kids get rotated every week for a job. The jobs consist of the weather person, a pointer person, a messenger.  If you walk towards the back of the classroom the teacher has a half-mooned shaped table, where part of the day she takes about five kids and does reading strategies and gives them extra help if they need it.  They also have a sink in the back room with a bubbler in the back right corner of the class room. There is a long counter that follows across the back of the class room and there is a tad pole tank. The reason they the teacher has a tad pole tank in the back of the class room is to educate the kid of the stages of life with a tad pole and how the process works. There are also extra supplies held on the counter for example, paper, pencils, and etc. The teacher desk sat in the middle of the back of the room with tons of organizes and folders. She also had a single desk beside hers for kids who couldn’t behave right.

                The Teacher’s play the most important role in a classroom setting because they are there to help the children learn and accomplish things they can or cannot do.  They have to make a class room feel safe and welcoming. As a first grade teacher you must have a lot of patience. The reason why I say this is because little kids always want to do something that they are not supposed to do. You also have to know how to handle different situations. I had asked the teacher what was her motto on handling situations. She said to me that you have to handle things in a nice way but you still have to be very direct on the situation that is going on. For example there were two kids that wanted to read the same book but there was only one. So the kids had begun to go back n forth on who was going to read it. The teacher had overheard them, so the teacher had said why you both don’t read the book together. The kids were happy that they both could read the book at the same time with each other. The teacher had handled it in a nice, kind way and wasn’t mean or disrespectful.  Being a teacher can be stressful with all the great big tasks that they have to take care of.

While I was in an elementary school classroom for a day, I also interacted with the kids. They were all so good and very nice. When the teacher directed them to do their work they did but of course there were a couple that got distracted very easily. The teacher was always on their case about getting their work done. I could tell that all they wanted to do is talk and play instead of doing their own school work.  I could tell when the kids were getting antsy because they have been doing their work for hours and they just want get up and do something other than their work. They participated in everything the teacher had them do. If they had any question to ask they would, they weren’t shy. All the kids were outgoing and always smiling. When it came time for recess that is when they all broke wild because they don’t have to use inside classroom voices, also because they are not doing their school work there playing with their friends.  So when the kids come inside from being outside they are wild, so after recess reads a book every day after recess to get the kids to calm down a little bit. As the teacher tells me that most of the time it always works.