Tessa Swiger

Practicum PreK-4

Mrs. Spudys LS Classroom

Monday September 11, 2017

12:30-2:30 PM

Monday was my first meeting at West Hempfield Elementary School in Mrs.

Spudy's classroom. We are changing my time from 12:30-2:30 to 1:30 -3:30 because at

12:30 both the students and staff are eating lunch. But, during our lunch I got to talk with

Mrs. Spudy about her classroom and the students. Not only is Mrs. Spudy a teacher in the

room, but there is also Mrs. Newingham. It seems, that both teachers co teach and

separate students into groups based on ability level.

Mrs. Spudy and Mrs. Newingham teach 1-3rd grade learning support. It is push in

math and pull out reading. On Mondays when I am there, I am able to observe and work

with third grade ELA learning support. Mrs. Spudy was also discussing how she is

getting possibly a new student, but she is a first grade student. So, I am unsure if she

would join this group or a separate group. The classroom is widely spread and organized,

more so than Ive seen in other classrooms. there are two entrances to the room, and the

room mirrors itself. (If walking in) to the left are bulletin boards with emergency

information, days of the week, calendar's, list of events, and a bulletin board all about the

students. on the right side (of both rooms) is a marker board, the teachers desks, and two

half circle tables (for the students), and shelves/cupboards lining the sides of the room

full of decorations, manipulatives, IEPs and adaptive tools. there are eight students in this
group, five boys and three girls. On Mrs. Newingham's side, it seems that they are the

"higher" functioning side. During my observation this group went through spelling

practice. They went through sentences in their work book, identified the errors, and

discussed how to fix the errors. The students then did a listen, repeat, write activity in

which was sentence writing practice. They went through and self corrected with red pens.

Students then prepared for a spelling test. Students put up dividers in between themselves

for test time. The last part of the test was a listen repeat, write section. The sentence was

Yesterday, there was an array of gray cats in the yard. She would repeat it twice, then

repeat sections slowly. Students went through and would follow along to make sure they

had all of the words in the sentence. One student was visibly becoming frustrated during

this section of the exam. He was huffing and puffing, saying he couldnt do this,

slamming his pencil down. The teacher leaned over and told him it is not a big deal if you

cannot get it, what important is that you try your best. He still seemed upset even after

hearing that. Throughout this learning time, the teacher was prompting students to sit up,

look at her, stop putting their hands in their mouths, etc. After the test, the group then

moved onto fluency. Each student went and read through a list of words independently,

and then used a timer to see how accurately they could identify the words in one minute.

Mrs. Newingham explained how it is not a race, and that getting them right is more

important than speed. After students read the list, she encouraged them to read them the

opposite way they had just chosen (instead of left to right, read the lists down).

On Mrs. Spudy's side, this then appeared to be the "lower" functioning

group. They did similar activities while Mrs. Newingham's side was going on. Auditory

wise, it was hard for me to split my attention, but students didn't seem to be off track or
distracted by it. Mrs. Spudy reviewed spelling and vocabulary words with the students,

since they would be having a test the next day. After, they then went through and

identified word sounds (such a th, oo, ch). Through the practice she would prompt the

students to refer to the posters on the wall for help. They then went on to read one part of

a word underlined in red, and then the whole word. While Mrs. Newingham went straight

through the content, Mrs. Spudy took time to relate content back to the kids personal

lives and interests. Although the students were working hard, it seemed low stress. Also,

she gave the students fancy fingers to follow along while they were reading (small

Halloween witch fingers). I loved this idea and thought it was fun for the kids to use

while reading. For the next part, students would take turns reading parts of a sentence.

She did have to redirect one student who was displaying non compliant behavior. She

reminded him to make good choices so she wouldnt have to mark his point card. The

group then went through and practiced syllables, letter sounds, sight words, and worked

on editing skills. Mrs. Spudy then prompted students to get out their reading books. They

had been reading a story about animals who were in a singing contest. They went through

and review the story up to that point, and continued reading. Students took turns reading

parts, as did the teacher. Mrs. Spudy encouraged the students to practice how they were

reading, to notice the punctuation marks to guide what emphasis was needed. She then

modeled the skill with one sentence, and had the students then practice. Mrs. Spudy went

over some unfamiliar words, such as mammal and herbivore, which I was very

impressed that one student knew what a herbivore was. The students then moved onto

some sort of quiet independent work (I am unsure what it was, I could not see from where
I was sitting and was also trying to observe the other side of the classroom). The group

then finally returned to a new story.

Towards the end of my observation, I asked Mrs. Spudy what sort of things I can

help her with within the classroom setting. If and when that new student comes, she said I

can help progress monitor. Overall, there was low level prompting being given, some

visual aides, and gentle reminders throughout the work session. Moving ahead, I am

looking forward to thinking deliberately, dialectically, situational and in a formulaic

style. I thought it was interesting how the room was split in half. Some questions Ill ask

next week will be do the groups ever come together? Is this how math is set up as well?

How are the groups specifically placed? Do the groups change? What is the name of the

literacy program they use? What are the various learning disabilities in the room (aside

from autism)? What are some of the IEP goals? And of course, what can I do to assist?