Torin Sawyer

Practicum Short Answer

December 6th, 2015
Short Answer Response Assignment

How is attendance taken?
Students are in charge of their own attendance; they pick up their handprint with their name and
picture on it and put it in a pocket board on the wall. The teacher can then easily see which students are
absent.
How is lunch count taken?
Since this was a kindergarten classroom, they did not eat lunch at the school.
Is there a daily schedule on the board or somewhere else?
Yes, every day the schedule would be put up on the whiteboard and could be arranged depending on
what the schedule was that day. The teacher had each activity on a piece of laminated paper with a
magnet on the back, so the schedule could always be changed, just in case.
What specialists (PE, music, art, etc) do the students go to? How often?
I was there on Fridays, which was the students day to go to music class. They only had the chance to go
to music class one day a week, but they also had a once a week art class, and once a week library time.
These kids are only in school for three hours, so they do not do any sort of PE.
What technology is used in the classroom? Do the students use a computer lab?
Every day, the document camera is used to demonstrate a skill or task up in front of the class. Students
even get turns going up and writing under the document camera (and can get silly when they realize
they can look up their own noses under the camera). The classroom also has several laptop computers
set up for the kids to do educational games on during free-choice activity. One neat thing I have noticed
is that the teacher wears a small microphone while teaching, this is mainly due to a student who has
hearing loss, but is great at getting all of the students to pay attention when she is talking.
What reading curricula are used? Does it seem to be working well?
I know that one of the curricula used right now is the Handwriting Without Tears collection, and the
students seem to enjoy it a lot. I would probably use something like this in my class because I dont
know a better way to teach handwriting. The reading curricula they use is StoryTown and is a good
choice because it starts with pre-decodable books for very beginning readers, and goes up through
many grade levels and even advanced books are included.
Do students use a bathroom/hall pass? How do they obtain it?
No, they just have to ask to go to the bathroom, and so far there hasnt been any issues with that. The
kindergarten wing of the school has its own bathroom with mini fixtures for little bodies. If a student

Torin Sawyer
Practicum Short Answer
December 6th, 2015
needs to go to the nurse or the office for something, I, a parent, or another classroom helper would
accompany them to the office.
Are they parent or other volunteers in the classroom? What tasks do they do?
Yes! Especially on Fridays, there would be a parent volunteer in the classroom, usually working on busy
work that the teacher did not have time for. Some of the tasks they (and I) had to do include: copying
papers, using the die-cut machine, sharpening pencils, tallying the StarCards (reward system for the
school), assessing students, pulling students aside to work with them individually, and really anything
else that the teacher didnt have the time for.
How are the students desks arranged? Does that ever change?
They are all at a series of tables, with 3-5 students per table. I can tell they some of the table groups are
arranged on purpose because there are definitely some students who SHOULD NOT sit next to each
other. I have not seen the desk arrangements change, but their names are written in wet erase marker,
so I assume that the teacher can shuffle the seating arrangement if she sees fit.
Where does the teacher do most of the teaching from?
Most of the instructional teaching is done when the students are sitting on the rug at the back of the
room where the projector is set up. The teacher will sit on a chair in front of them and engage them in
discussion about the topic being covered. The students never sit on the carpet for more than ten
minutes, and even around that time, you can tell when they are getting antsy. For the remainder, the
students are working either individually or in groups and the teacher will wander the classroom, giving
help to anybody in need.
What attention signals are used?
The most often-used attention signal is Oh, I see (name of student) making a good choice, go get a
StarCard (name of student). As soon as the rest of the class realized they are missing out on receiving a
StarCard, they immediately quiet down and listen to the teacher. On a rare occasion, when the class is
especially unruly, the teacher will have to clap in a pattern, or start singing a repeat-after-me song,
which will almost always work.
What types of classroom management is used?
I like that in this classroom the classroom management was focused on positive reinforcement rather
than negative. Instead of having recess taken away, or something else on that caliber, the student will
simply not get a StarCard, and that is devastating to the competitive nature of five and six year olds.

Torin Sawyer
Practicum Short Answer
December 6th, 2015
What types of assessment is used?
At this age, most work is assessed in a portfolio style assessment, where the teacher will look through a
portfolio of student work and determine what they have improved in, and what they could improve in.
These students also get DIBELS tested, and other short standardized testing that involve counting to
100, identifying letters and their sounds, and being able to sound out a word while they are either
writing or reading.
What is hanging on the walls or bulletin boards? Is that used with the students or just for decoration?
All around the room are fun educational posters and student artwork. There are colorful number charts,
and multiple versions of the alphabet all over the room. Depending on the season, the students
decorations will change, but there is always a colorful and creative bulletin board and wall. One of the
charts I really enjoy was the Queen/King bee of the day, and each day a different student would be the
queen or king for the day. The students were so excited to see the poster each day and always looked
forward to being the queen or king of the class.
List other observations about the classroom that will help you in planning for your own classroom.
There are so many things I observed in this classroom that I would try and implement in my future
classroom. I would definitely have a fun rug on the floor that the students could sit on; I would have a
whole cabinet filled with art supplies so my students could be as creative as they wanted to be. I noticed
that my teacher used a lot of pocket charts for the walls, and I think that is a great idea for a versatile
lesson plans. I really liked the way this class took attendance, and I might have to use some form of this
method in my own classroom.