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Describe the classroom environment.
The teacher presents letters and a list of words under each letter. The learners use this wall through reading and writing activity. I think it is a great scaffolding strategy espacilly for visual students.
The teacher stick different cards to help the learners through math activities.
The teacher hangs phonics cards around the classroom.
The teacher create rich environment print by offering different visuals around the classroom.
The teacher create rich environment print by offering different visuals around the classroom.
The teacher hangs the weekly words on the wall to remind the learners from time to time.
The teacher hangs the weekly words on the wall to remind the learners from time to time. These words used in science activities.
The teacher present the classroom rules in the wall. It used during daily routines.
PRACTICUM 2b
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Task 3 & Reflection 3
2. Describe the reading area in your classroom. What genres of books are there and how are they displayed?
3. Describe a phonics lesson you observed. How does the teacher teach word attack skills to children? Mention how the children are scaffolded to recognize the word and get the meaning?
4. Consider different reading approaches have you observed? (Guided reading, Shared Reading, Sustained Silent Reading).
Through my teaching practice, I found the monitor school teacher only applied one reading approach which was shared reading. The teacher explained that the level of learners didn’t allow her to apply other reading approach because they still at the beginning of grade one and there reading capacity still low.
Example for shared reading from my teaching practice:
“The lion and The Mouse” story.
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The teacher starts the reading time by asking the students to sit on the carpet and listen carefully.
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The teacher holds the story, shows it to the whole class and tells them “Today we’re going to read this story.”
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The teacher introduces the story by pointing to the picture of the lion and the mouse and discuss the pupils about it. Then, she points to the title and asks the learner who can read it? if the learner can’t read it she asks him to sound it out.
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The teacher asks students to predict what will happen in the story. The learners offer answers by thinking and using their imagination.
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The teacher reads the story with a loud voice and using proper expression in order to attract the learners and keep them engage with the story.
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Through the reading, the teacher asks some questions to ensure students are following and comprehending the concept. For instance, she asks them about the meaning of new vocabulary and connect them to their first language Arabic. In my opinion, this is an effective method to increase the vocabulary for the young learners because they get a chance to make link to their initial language.
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The teacher concludes the shared reading session by asking the students quick questions such as what do you learn? do you like the story or not? Why?
The teacher presents the song of sounds on the board and asks learners to sing with the song by doing the actions they already know.
The teacher shows the students small cards for sounds asks students to tell the sounds. The teacher uses kinesthetic learning style at the beginning where she teaches learners that every letter has an action. In the step, the teacher shows a picture, make an action, and the students automatically recognize the sound. Then the teacher turns the same card and show the learners the sound.
Thirdly, the teacher, asks learners to sit on the carpet, gives them small boards and pens, show a picture and asks students to write the right letter/sound.
Lastly, the teacher prepares a game in the interactive board for the students about phonics.
The teacher follows several useful strategies to scaffold the phonics for the students. For instance, she hangs all the sounds on colorful cards with pictures around the classroom. This method covers the visual learners and help them to make connection every day.
5. Describe some types of writing activities or the method the teacher uses for writing.
The teacher focuses on emergent writing where she builds students knowledge about producing simple sentences through several steps.
At the beginning of the week, the teacher teaches new words that include similar syllables. She teaches these words through different activities such as writing in whiteboard and using magnetic letters.
In the second day, the teacher teaches two to three high-frequency words such as I / see / the / a.
In the third day, the teacher present examples for the students about how to write simple sentences. The teacher focuses on using the words from day 1 & 2.
By the end of the week, the learners are able to write several sentences by themselves. The teacher gives different marks for students depending on their writing levels.
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The teacher sends every week a letter to children's parents where the letter includes a list of new words. The teacher already introduces these words in class but the learners should practice the spelling at home.
At the end of the week, the teacher applies a spelling test where she dictates the words and the learners write individually.
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Emergent Writing
Spelling Tests
The reading area is not labeled in the classroom because the teacher still working on creating a space. However, my monitor school teacher prepares shelves and stories, but it not completed yet. According to my MST, the reading area will include a list of books and stories from different types such as fiction and non-fiction. The teacher explains that she allowed to use the ADEC stories to avoid any culture bias.
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