The classroom was very well organized with labeled cabinets and materials organized by subject. The classroom library was also very organized with books sorted by reading level and month. Each student had their own labeled cubby and supplies. The teacher had organized storage for student supplies and her personal items. Student desks, the computer station, thinking maps, vocabulary and strategies bulletin boards, and math tools were all neatly organized. The teacher used color-coded mats and behavior charts to help students. Lessons were well structured and incorporated student participation through calling on students and using interactive technology.

1. Observation: Ms. Faulkner
Eastern Elementary School
First Grade
Classroom Organization
1. Very well organized
2. Cabinets are labeled based on what they contain
a. School materials, art materials, social studies materials, science
materials, math materials, ELA materials, and inhalers & epi pens.
3. Classroom library VERY organized
a. Some books are organized by months so that students can read
books based on their month and season.
b. Reading level books organized in small crates by levels.
4. Each student has their own cubby for their book bag and jackets.
5. Each table:
a. Has a crate of books to read.
i. This crate is labeled with the table color that Ms. Faulkner
may used to dismiss to the mat.
b. Each student has a pencil pouch with his or her student supplies.
6. The teacher has a cabinet behind her desk that she stores the collection
of student supplies for when a student may need a new glue stick or
something.
a. This also has a side for her personal belongings.
7. Student desks were not very organized.
8. Computer Station (I-Station)
a. Very organized
b. Three computers and a printer
c. The teachers seem to share the printer
d. No cords were hanging around
e. Exception of the mouse and keyboard
9. Thinking maps:
a. There were diagrams posted around the room with the different
brainstorming maps.
b. Circle map, bubble map, tree map, flow map, brace map, multi-flow
map, and double bubble map.
10.Vocabulary Bulletin Board:
a. Where the teacher posts vocabulary words for different lessons.

2. b. Math vocabulary:
i. Before, after, between, number line, least, greatest.
11.Strategies Bulletin Board:
a. Fluency, look, get, go back, skip, stretch, comprehension, ask.
b. Each has a description of how it works.
12.Common core standards:
a. Posted on the whiteboard in a chart format.
13.Jars for pencils:
a. Ready to use
b. Need sharpening
14.The teacher has different color foam puzzle mats for the students to sit on.
a. She may dismiss them from the floor by the color row, not their
table color.
b. The students are assigned a place to sit on the mat.
15.Has a student of the week chart
a. One side is for the girl and the other side is for the boy
16.The teacher has inspirational quotes around the room to help motivate her
students.
17.Text features chart
a. Heading, table of contents, title page, caption, index, glossary,
chart, label
18.Word Wall:
a. Vocabulary words under each letter of the alphabet
b. Behavior sheets crate
19.Writing folders crate
20.Elements of fiction chart:
a. Characters
b. Settings
c. Events
21.Reading chart:
a. Real vs. fake chart
b. Fiction vs. non-fiction
22.Student diagnostics folders
a. In holders separated by boys and girls
23.Data notebooks crate
24.Math assessment box
25.Math tools
a. In plastic drawer set
b. Organized by types of materials

3. 26.Behavior chart:
a. Outstanding —> ready to learn —> think about it —> time out —>
bounce —> parent contact —> write up
b. All students begin on the “ready to learn” section
c. Each student has a clothes pin with their name on it
27.Brownie points cookie sheet
a. When the class does something great, she gives them brownie
points.
28.Instructional assistant desk:
a. Located in the back of the room
b. Has important papers
c. Students turn in their homework and Thursday folders here.
29.Notes bin:
a. This is for students to turn in parent notes or for them to write the
teacher a note.
30.Has a calendar for students to see the days of the month
31.Has groups assigned for reading groups and they have assigned colors
and a color coordinating binder to match.
32.Have a bin to turn in their classwork.
33.The teacher uses classdojo.com to keep track of how many points they
lose or gain due to behavior
34.Classroom rules are posted on the wall
Class Relationship:
1. Relationship between students and teacher:
2. The teacher hugged every student as they came into the classroom
3. If one walked past her, she would call the student back to make sure they
received a hug.
4. Throughout the day, there was one student that would randomly give the
teacher a hug.
Class Introduction/Warm-up:
1. The teacher used the smart board to help the students become engaged.
2. She would pull up the calendar
a. The students would add the days as they passed.
b. Lists all the months and days of the week
c. The teacher would draw a student’s name from the bucket with the
students’ names written on Popsicle sticks.

4. d. The student drawn would write the full date: November 14, 2014
e. The student would draw another popsicle stick
f. The student drawn would write the shorthand date: 11/14/14
g. The student would draw another popsicle stick
h. The student drawn would change how many days of school have
passed
i. The student would draw another popsicle stick
j. The student drawn would change the days of the week to the
appropriate location:
i. What was yesterday?
ii. What is today?
iii. What will tomorrow be?
k. The student would draw another popsicle stick
l. The drawn student will change the hundreds, tenths, and ones
chart based on how many days they have been in school.
m. The student would draw another Popsicle stick.
n. The drawn student would change the dot on the calendar saying
what day of the month it is.
o. The student would draw another Popsicle stick.
p. The drawn student would change the daily weather chart.
Math:
1. Math chart in smart board presentation:
a. The first student would click the top of the house twice to receive
two numbers
b. Then they would write in the first block
c. The student would draw a popsicle stick
d. The next student would fill out the second square
e. The student would draw a popsicle stick
f. The student would fill out the third square
g. The student would draw a popsicle stick
h. The student would fill out the fourth square
2. Greater than, equal to, or less than
a. 48 > 32
3. Number of the day: 45

5. 4. Math song:
a. How to solve a word problem?
5. Math problems:
a. Has the students read problem out loud
b. Step 1: the students underline the numbers in the word problem
c. Step 2: the students circle the key math term
i. For example: “in all”
d. Step 3: the students then write the equation
i. 9 + 8 =
e. Step 4: the students solve the equation
f. Step 5: a student would check the answer by scanning the barcode
with the teacher’s phone.
g. She did the same thing for the other two examples
6. She used motions to help the students visualize the equations
a. Subtraction:
b. Start with the biggest number
c. Arms stretched out
d. The two arms represent the two smaller numbers
7. The teacher passed out the pop quiz for the students to take
a. She used the document camera to show the students the quiz
b. Asks the students to show a thumbs up
c. Dismisses the students to by their mat colors to their testing seats.
d. Asks: “what do we write on our paper?”
e. Student’s reply: “name, date, number!”
f. “Once you are done, place your hands on your head.”
g. She told the students to put their fingers on the words of the
problems as they read through them together.
h. “Go through your word problem steps to solve the problem.”
i. “Put your hands on your head when you finish the problem.”
j. She then told them to go ahead and work on the other two
problems.
k. When the students finished the test, they were to place their hands
on their heads and wait for her to collect their quiz.
8. She called the students to the mat and they reviewed each of the
questions.
a. She asked them to give her thumbs up if they got the question
correct.

6. LetterLand
1. She told the students that they were going to play a game.
2. Each student will have a word on their forehead
3. They would each have a worksheet with two columns
a. One: a word was listed from their word wall.
b. Two: each of the students’ names was listed here.
4. She demonstrated the concept of drawing a line from the word to a
student’s name.
5. Purpose of this activity:
a. To eliminate all words to find out what word they have on their
forehead
6. After receiving a worksheet, she asked the students to go get a clipboard
and a pencil and the return to the mat.
a. While this was happening the teacher was watching to make sure
the students were following directions and cutting out the words to
put on their forehead.
7. She had her students mirror the directions.
a. She used this technique to make sure that the students were
listening and to make sure that they understood what was expected
of them.
8. She told the students that once they had eliminated every word except
one, to circle that word because it should be the word taped onto their
forehead.
a. Once they circled the word, they were to sit down at their desk and
wait for the teacher to come around and check the words.
9. To receive their words, she called them up by their class numbers.
10.The students had a lot of fun with this activity, but they were trying very
hard not to laugh!
11.“Class, class?” “Yes, yes!”
a. They started to get a little rowdy and chatty, so she reminded the
students that if they had found out what their word was that they
needed to be sitting down at their desk.
b. She told them to read one of their books.
i. They were able to choose from the books that were in the
crate on their desks.
12.She had a student that was constantly being problematic. She moved him
down to “think about it” on the behavioral chart.

7. Snack Time:
1. The teacher dismissed the students by table groups to get their snacks out
of their book bags.
2. “Class, class, class!” “Yes, yes, yes?”
3. She told the students that they could leave their words on their foreheads
or take them off.
4. The students watched “A Bad Case of Stripes” on www.storyonline.net
a. This is a website for read aloud with celebrities
b. Shows the pages of the book while hearing the person read the
book
5. “Hands and eyes!”
a. Bought the students back together
b. She told the students to throw away their trash.
c. She had the students line up as she called their numbers
Specials: Art
Bathroom Break:
1. “If you are a boy, step out!”
2. Allowed the students to go into the bathroom four at a time.
3. Once the students went to the bathroom, they were to line up outside of
the classroom.
4. She had one student look to see who was the quietest and most well
behaved.
5. This student got an extra point on classdojo.com
Non-Fiction vs. Fiction
Ms. West
1. She read a story that was fiction
2. Some students were a bit chatty, so she told them that they might lose
points.
3. She clipped the fiction book on the fiction side of her chart.
4. Then she puts out the non-fiction book and reads it to the class.
5. She talked about the table of contents and decides that the wants to read
about the things that mice eat.
6. She turned to the correct page and talked about headings
7. She read the pages

8. 8. She asked the students what they learned and allowed for a few to answer
9. She went back to the table of contents and decides that she wants to read
about mice and their babies.
10.She turns to the pages and reads about that topic and asks the students
what they learned.
11.She hands out the facts to the students to place on whether they belong to
fiction or non-fiction
12.Worked on the chart together
13.She had to ask students to be respectful quite an it.
14.She tried to call out good behavior to encourage students to follow in suit
15.She had to take away the “word papers” from three students because they
were playing with them and ripping them up.
16.The problematic student from before was moved down to “time out” on the
behavior chart.
17.Group work:
a. Each table received a stack of books
b. She talked about the expectations for them
c. Quiet voices
d. Decide if each book is fiction or non-fiction
e. Don’t just look at the cover
f. Use the chart they created to help
g. Create two piles:
i. Non-fiction
ii. Fiction
h. Dismissed the students by the mat colors

9. i. Explained the routine for the groups to follow
i. One person takes a book to show the table and they decide
together whether they think the book is fiction or non-fiction
ii. Then the person will pass the remaining stack of books to
the next person and the process repeats.
18.Discussion:
a. She called the students back together using the “class!” technique
b. She starts going through the books and asking whether they are
fiction or non-fiction and why
c. Talked about the book that was tricky
d. The book had photographs, but was a fiction book based on
characters