Classroom Setup of grade 2 class visit

Today I had the opportunity to do my first In-Situ for EDCI 402 at Gordon Terrace Elementary School in a grade 2 class. I enjoyed getting to spend time in the classroom and getting to know the students better as I will be teaching them for my 6 week practicum. I noticed the teacher had her classroom books/library in boxes on the back shelf of her room which were organized into book categories/themes such as fantasy, animals, dinosaurs etc. In the teachers classroom I did not see an alphabet on the wall. Last year I was at an in-situ at Lindsay Park in Kimberley and the teacher had an alphabet on her wall the students had made using items from nature such as sticks, pinecones, rocks etc… I really liked this idea and I could see myself using it for my own classroom someday. I also noticed the year 4s made one that hangs in the Education room at COTR which they made with nature as well, it was really pretty and each letter was very different and unique. The only instructional posters I noticed on the wall were the days of the week and months of the year and a few motivational words. More and more evidence based research which I learned in Classroom Management suggests that it’s actually better to have less on the walls and that simple is better as too much can be very overwhelming and distracting for students. I noticed that the teacher has gone for the more simple classroom setup which contributes to making her classroom a very calm and organized environment. Something I also liked was that the teacher had a book box for each individual student, where they could put the books they have signed out or are working on reading in one place. I think this system is especially helpful since her students use tables and not desks, I also noticed that they each had a pencil container kept near the book box in order to keep their supplies in one place. In my future classroom as I’ve already said I would like to have something similar to a nature alphabet the students can create at the beginning of the year. I would also like to have a diverse classroom library with multiple themes, topics and levels of books in order to reach the levels of all learners so they can enjoy reading. I would also like to learn more about the UFLI program as this something I would like to do with my students. I’m sure as I experience more classrooms and meet more experienced teachers there will be many more classroom elements I will learn about that promote literacy development and I look forward to continuing to learn in this course and throughout my practicum about ways I can promote literacy development in my future classroom.