Week of 2/19

This week, we were able to spend some more time with our teacher working out plans for our unit. This was very helpful. We got a little bit more background about what the students have been doing lately. During this planning time, we also learned more about the teaching of Spanish and sign language to the students. All teachers in the school are responsible for teaching Spanish to their students, which I thought was very interesting. I still wonder whether the teachers are taught the Spanish or if they have to learn a lot on their own. Our field teacher decided to teach sign language to the students on her own, which has been going very well. I am trying to focus and remember some of the signs she has taught the children while we've been there!
We saw the students react to a desk change this week. We gathered that the teacher took students' suggestions about how to arrange the seats in some ways. I thought that was a great idea to have the students involved in the decision.
Last week, I saw a lot of math strategies in practice. This week, I saw a lot more of our reading development/language block strategies in use. We were able to watch some speed sorts of various groups of students, and I noted the stages they worked on. The speed sorts seemed to motivate the students, who were anxious to know if they had beaten their previous scores. I also noted that there is a student in the class working in the syllables and affixes stage of word study. This was very surprising to me. There are actually three first graders in the school on this level, so two other students come to our room for word study to group the three together. The teachers noted that they have trouble determining what to study with these few students.
Since I have been observing some ESL pullouts for these students, I have been noticing the amount of time they spend out of the classroom much more. I am still amazed at how often they are pulled out and wonder if they are losing too much time in these transitions. When the students go to ESL, they walk outside to another building. The pullout session is only 30 minutes, but the students spend about 5 minutes in transit and getting settled. It seems like a lot of time is lost just in that one pullout, and I am curious how much time is lost throughout the course of the day in this movement. I am hoping to see a little bit more of this as the semester progresses.