I.

Observation 3:
Management and Routines

II. Grade:
Toddlers

III. Students:
​6 girls, 6 boys

IV. Setting:

Frog’s Room at Stellar Academy

Multi-age (1 ½ -2) classroom, 12 students, 1 head teacher, 2 teacher’s aides.

V. Pre-Observation​:
The purpose of this observation was to understand how the teacher manages the
classroom and if her schedule is flexible or hard to change. The article I used to
help me observe in the classroom was “ Staying In Control of Your Classroom”
written by Polly Greenberg.

VI. Data:
In the Frog’s classroom, the daily routine is similar to the routine of the entire
school during the morning time. At stellar academy, we have four main zones
each day. Two zones are in the morning and two are in the afternoon after lunch
and nap. Each child has their own sheet in the classroom hung on the wall to tell
how their day went. That sheet includes, diaper changes, the zones they went to,
what they ate throughout the day and what time they slept and woke up. By 9 am, each
teacher is to take their assigned group to a zone for circle time. After circle time ends at
9:30, the kids are then to have snack and play until 10. At 10, the children are changed
and then taken to a second zone until 10:30. After 10:30, they are taken to the playground
or the great room, which is like the gym. The children are used to this schedule, but if
anything were to be changed,such as a fire truck show or a concert day, they would adapt
well. The teacher is allowed to create her own schedule in the classroom. There are
guidelines to follow, but she is able to choose how the day is going to go with the
children.

VII. Analysis:
The teacher responds really well to each child’s different behavior and
misbehavior. I can tell that she has authority since the second she says to do something
they run and do it. Of course there are children who tend to divert or ignore the direction
given. She then talks to them to make them understand that they can’t ignore the
direction. If a child is hitting a friend or taking toys from one another, they are told to go
relax their body in the quiet corner. They are told to only do that after the third warning.
Some children that have been in the room for quite some time are aware that if they take
a toy from a friend and we say their name, they are to go relax their body. One little girl
 always runs and sits there after doing something wrong. There are conflicts in the
classroom, but they tend to be resolved fairly quickly by the teacher or staff. The children
are able to help resolve the issue at hand if it is to their level to understand what is going
on. For example, if a child is not eating lunch, they know they will need to rest on their
bed quietly until everyone else is finished. Sarcasm is involved amongst the teachers in
the classroom and not given to the children. The parents are notified of misbehavior
usually at pick up time unless the misbehavior involved hurting another friend badly. If a
child is bitten or hurt above the neck, a parent must be notified immediately. The teacher
has to write a BIR, which is a behavior incident report for the child who bit or hurt the
other child. This is only written if the accident was intentional and consistently occurring.
Another report the teacher has to write is the accident report, which tells the parents and
the office what happened for the child to get hurt. Teachers are assessed by the teachers
they work with. Each teacher is to fill out three observations for three different teachers.
These observations are looked at by the director and are acted upon if a certain issue
keeps coming up.

VIII. Recommendations:
In the article, “Staying In Control Of Your Own Classroom” Greenberg talks about
how to interact with children on the rug at circle time. Instead of doing calendar right
away or something that isn’t intriguing, start with a song that catches their attention
(Greenberg). Some students follow their friends who are not listening, but if many of the
children run to the rug, then the others will follow. I also suggest for teacher
observations, that not just the co workers should observe, but the director herself should
as well. Each teacher does not work with everyone everyday. If a teacher sees another
teacher doing something wrong, it would not be fair to judge based on one day out of the
many.

IX. Post Observation:

Stellar Academy runs their school in a very proficient way. Each classroom is
aware of the schedule for each day. The teachers adapt well to change and are
able to run their class smoothly with that change. Each schedule is written out for
everyone to see so that the teachers or parents are not lost. Staying in control of your own
classroom tends to be hard sometimes with difficult children, however the teacher in the
Frog’s room handles the class very well. The children listen well to directions and that
helps let the day run smoothly.

X. Citations:

Greenberg, P. (n.d.). Staying In Control Of Your Classroom | Scholastic.com. Retrieved

March 27, 2016, from
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/staying-control-your-classroom