Tasks Week #5

District: Brentwood School District

School: Northeast Elementary School

Teacher: Male

Grade level: Second

Field Experience

Day 1: March 9, 2011

Part I:  The School and The Classroom

This semester field experience allowed me with hands on activity which gave me the opportunity to personally get to know the school and the classroom.

Northeast Elementary School is located in a residential area south of the Long Island Expressway and East of Washington Avenue.  The school is two stories high with two main wings, one to the southwest and the other southeast, that join together at the, north part of the school that creates the gym and cafeteria.  Having a continuous centralized central hallway with classroom on either side allows natural sunlight to enter each room.  The school entrance is just south of the cafeteria with main offices directly adjacent.

            My observations took place in this Spring, in the second grade classroom I observed earlier in the fall.  It is located just off the main hallway on the northwest side, opposite the cafeteria.  All the classrooms that branch of this hallway are located on the north and south side.  The south side overlooks the west parking lot and the north side faces a school road that leads to the main east parking lot.

            The classroom clearly displays progress from the fall and is described as an inviting place to learn and teaching strategies can be seen on every wall.  It is well organized with different learning areas well defined and used always.  One enters the classroom through the entry door, decorated with the teachers name and room number, on the north wall.  As you enter and turn around there is a closet to the left and a desk to the right with the lunch count, in and out boxes for homework, students coat racks and book bag storage, and the teachers desk is in this area.  Signage on this wall consists of a school map, chart for completed homework, sharpen pencil before class begins, rules for addition and subtraction posters.  On this wall is also the classroom light switches, thermostat, clock and speaker system.  Up and above from east to west about 3’ off  the north wall and high enough for no one to reach is a clothesline for writing workshop.  Instruction posters created by the teacher on poster paper get hung by cloths pins in view for students as they work on their weekly writing task.  Turning to the right on the east wall there is a students bathroom, wash area with sink, soap, towels, hand sanitizer and a water fountain, an area for a portable smart board, and computer station with five working computers and a printer, and fixed and mobile shelving with reading books.  Signage on this east wall consist of the Pledge of Allegiance, a word wall designed from red brick wall paper to represent a graph organized with words in each brick, map of the United States of America, long vowel sounds and word families, and students great work samples.  Along the south wall are the windows with a view to the west parking lot, with heaters and storage shelving below with First Dictionaries and a large library of reading books, which are still organized, after the few months that past, in different bins including; Fairy Tales, Plants, Geography, Marine Life, Space and Solar System, Science, Birds and Reptiles, Animal Characters, Historical Fiction, realistic Fiction, Informational, Mystery, Fantasy, Traditional Literatures, Sport Stars.  Continuing on along the west wall are the reading level books organized in bins from A-N learning levels.  An above opposite the writing workshop clothes line is a reading workshop clothes line with previously created posters including; , IDR Individual Daily Readers with instructions at carpet with mini lessons, Reading Ask Thick Questions, Reading With A Partner, read alone.  On this west wall is the blackboard with a cork board on each side, that are all used for displaying daily tasks, pull-down video screen, pull-down maps, a calendar, and students writing centers folders  . Signage includes the alphabet, posted daily tasks, and student birthday poster.

            The teacher still does not use his desk as a tool to sit behind.  Like always he is in view in front of the blackboard with the writing and reading workshop clothes line on each side of him as he presents every lesson.  Student’s desks are made for two with storage for each under the table top.  On top is a bin for pencils, magic markers, crayons, glue sticks.

            The students are well controlled by their teacher and know their routines.  The day starts at 9:00am and the students arrive.  They unpack their book bags and hang up their coats.  The teacher takes the attendance with the computer which is online and students record their lunch onto the lunch chart.  At 9:25am the morning announcements start over the typical classroom speaker/intercom system.  It starts with the “Pledge of Allegiance” and important events of the day.

            The teacher rearranges his room a few times a year.  This time students’ desks were set up in two rows on the north side with 12 students in the first row and 13 students in the second row.  Each row has the students facing each other with 6 or more on each side.  This arrangement allows the teacher to view all students with students having to turn their head 90 degrees instead of the fall arrangement where half the class needed to turn 180 degrees.  The round table was now in the back used for guided reading and for creating crafts for changing classroom displays.     The students consist of 12 boys and 13 girls who all speak English.  At least 75 % of the students in this class are Hispanic with English as their second language.  Not all their parents speak English.  The teacher is fluent in English and Spanish.