Logbook Entry March 11th, 2015

Education 2500

Dakota Bradley

Ms. Henkes class has strong sense of community, this community was built through the friendly
environment, influential classroom management, and the routine developed at the beginning of
the year. At this point in the school year, students know the expectations in the classroom, this
includes how to treat others in the classroom community. Classroom expectations and routine are
shown most strongly in the calendar/morning routine. Every day has one leader student who
leads the class through calendar and assumes a general leadership role throughout the day. The
leader of the day routine shows the sense of community in the classroom where students know to
be respectful to their leader, and hope to see that respect reciprocated on their day. The
community knows what they are supposed to be doing and not doing through discipline, routine,
and respect for each other. The classroom routine and rule to respect one another builds a safe,
friendly, and well-managed classroom; classroom community and the classroom environment go
hand in hand for this. Safety is always addressed first for such a young group of students, and
although play is encouraged, students at the kindergarten level cannot rough house simply due to
their coordination and the chance to hurt another student is probable. In practicum, there is one
student in particular who cannot seem to control himself in carpet time, and feels the need to
constantly move. Although this student may feel uncomfortable having to sit quietly, he knows
that it is important in the classroom environment, and that kicking/ roughhousing in class is not
aloud. If students happen to go off track from the standard of behaviour, Ms. Henke does not
need to shout or raise her voice, as teacher presence is excellent for classroom management at
this level. During our morning routine one day, our number march line had gotten out of hand,
the students had gone off track and shown disrespect to their leader of the day, I paused the song
and reminded them of their responsibilities to finish properly, and after-words Ms. Henke let
them apologize to their leader and I. This is a great example of classroom management being
used to strengthen classroom community (reminding them to respect their leader), and to reenforce a safe, friendly, and well-managed environment.
Including students in the building of rules, norms, routines, and consequences in the
classroom is not entirely practical at the kindergarten level. For the most part, norms and routines
build from classroom expectations and appear naturally after the routine is established. For
example, students know that they must line up behind the leader of the day, and hold the handle
on their right when using the stairs. This is not because they created these norms, so much as
they are safe, and a good practise to get into for the school setting that is so new to them. At the
kindergarten level, some students may not have a complete understanding of rules and
consequence yet. Ms. Henke creates a lot of opportunity for communication channels with her
students. Students are encouraged to ask constructive questions during work and are given more
one on one communication during centres and assessment. Students opportunity to work in
groups comes in strongest during two activities. The first activity is centres, where students are
placed in new centres and with new groups every day to enjoy the activities, this opens up
communication with classmates and helps build the classroom community. The second activity is

toy time, which is open time for the students to enjoy the toys and activities in the classroom
together. Toy time is a more informal time to develop classroom communication, but an excellent
time to develop social skills which prepare them for higher grades. Toy time is also used as an
open time for one on one assessment to take place, or for students to catch up on work they may
not have finished earlier. Ms. Henke remains calm, fair, and consistent in all classroom
management situations. Most of these situations come from the same few students who have
more troubles adjusting to the classroom setting, but she has never lost calm.
All students receive the same treatment and follow the same expectations in the
classroom, which points back to the atmosphere of kindness and respect shown throughout all of
Galbraith. Especially at the younger levels, consistency in classroom management is key. All
students know that not finishing their work will mean having to finish it during toy time, or that
acting up at recess will mean decreased time during their next break, which was the case last
Thursday when one student would not join the class to come back inside for another 5 minutes
after being called, that student then had to sit inside with an assistant for five minutes when they
went out next. Knowing the students you teach is important to classroom management because it
helps you understand any outside influence that may affect ones learning, it helps to know if a
student has any learning difficulties, and it is important to know which students are responsible
in the classroom. In Ms. Henkes class, there are three students who do not have the privilege to
sit on the carpet with the rest of the class due to either their own learning needs (in the case of
one high- needs boy), or their disruptive behavior which inhibits the learning of others. Knowing
your students ensures that you can make appropriate adjustments like these.
Positive classroom rituals like the sharing of news at carpet time, and the responsibilities
of the classroom leader help to re- enforce the standards and routines Ms. Henke built at the
beginning of the year. Being able to find common ground and understand your students is done
very well in Ms. Henkes room where there is at least one conversation regarding Star Wars per
day. Star Wars and Minecraft are ridiculously popular topics in the classroom. Ms. Henkes
working knowledge of Star Wars, and the decision to include a Minecraft building set to toy time
is incredibly popular, allowing for more common ground with students to form and
communication to continue. The inclusion of parents goes beyond the usual homework schedule
and parent-teacher interviews in Ms. Henkes room. On a students special day, a parent is
invited to attend that students show and share event to see how they interact in class, this is a
great exercise for building a classroom community and keeping parents involved in their
education.