St Raphaels Catholic School

1/23- First Grade. 8:15-11:30

Today I was able to observe first grade. The class starts every morning sitting down at
their desks to copying down assignments from the board and then doing the morning work. At
the end of the bell, the class goes over their morning sheets together. The morning worksheet for
today involved adding ed endings to words to show their tenses. The teacher let multiple
students whare what ed words they used. The worksheet also included an incorrect sentence at
the bottom of the page. The students were randomly called to come up to the board to correct the
sentence (adding punctuation or capitalizing proper nouns). The corrected sentence was, Little
Red Riding Hood had a basket.
The students then had religion. They did a Noahs Ark Coloring page where they did
matching coloring. They colored all the matching animals the same color. So if there were two
lions, they had to be colored identically to each other, but different than the other animals. After
some time spent coloring and gluing their picture on colored paper they had a split math class.
The upper level math class went upstairs with a different math teacher than the rest of the
class (who stayed in the classroom). I stayed in the classroom where the students worked on
writing number symbols and numbers in words. They also did a hundred's chart where they had
to fill in the missing spaces in the chart. I was able to walk around and help any students who
had trouble filling in the blanks. They also did an exercise where they practiced noticing number
patterns. For example, {50, 60, 70, ?}. They would fill in 80 thus recognizing the increase in ten
They then went to Adoration. This religious service allowed the children to pray and
learn about a story about the Virgin Mary speaking to the children.
After adoration, the children listened to the Superkids book. This curriculum textbook has
a variety of stories and comes with a workbook that the children complete after listening to each
story. I noticed that the teacher asked a question after each page. For example, Why did she do
that? How did he feel about that? What does__ mean? The workbook exercise for today
involved the students cutting and gluing the events (that had a picture and words on it) that
happened in the story and putting them in the right order. The children had another page they
completed where they matched the adjective with the picture. This cut and glue activity allowed
them to cut the word blue bead and glue it onto the picture with blue beads. Other adjectives
were used to describe eight different kinds of beads.
I was very happy that the teachers allowed me to help pass out papers, help students stay
on track with work and the page we were reading, answer questions, and assist them with
workbook exercises. The first day was very helpful as I was able to become familiar with they
type of class and the teaching styles of Mrs. Lacy. I found she was very strict on keeping
everyone on track with their work. She was very kind to the students and had a very organized
class structure. The children seemed to know exactly what she wanted from them.
1/27- FIRST GRADE. 8:15-11:30
Today I returned to Ms. Lacys first grade class. I watched as they repeated their morning
routine but this time with a different morning worksheet. This activity had a couple of questions
asking the children to write down a realistic and unrealistic sentence. I was able to help explain
to some students what these words meant. They seemed to have fun making up funny sentences
that couldnt really happen. The teacher allowed the students to share their sentences with the
class as they laughed together. It was nice to see how this fun and educational exercise helped
them realize that reading and writing is fun.
The children began to get ready for reading. The children listened to a short fable about
the sun and wind having competition. I helped the children follow along with the story and stay
on the right page. As they read, the teacher again asked questions after each page to make sure
the class was comprehending the story. After reading the fable, the class determined that the
moral was to be gracious when you lose because you cant always win. During English, the
children did a worksheet where they filled in the vowels for words in a sentence. Some vowel
fillers included ai, ee, oe. They had to pick which fillers were the correct spelling for the word.
They also filled in endings on another worksheet. This worksheet allowed the children to
practice tenses: ed, ing endings.
Next, the children went to learning centers. I walked around the classroom to help the
children at each center while the head teacher and assistant teacher lead two other groups. The
first center had to do with fables. They read three very short (about three sentences) fables and
matched the moral with the fable. In the second center, the children did a worksheet in which
they filled in letters to a word according to the picture above it. After they finished filling in the
middle of each word, they had to write one sentence per word they completed. The third center
allowed the children to reference a story they had read earlier in the week. They had to pick the
right word from the word bank to fill into the sentence (corresponding to the correct events in the
story). They also wrote on the backside of the paper their favorite part of the story.
Before I left for the day, the teacher read a story to them before Specials (music, art,
computers, library, or gym). The story was about comparing sizes. They really seemed to enjoy
guessing which object would be compared to the current object next. They knew that each page
had an object that was bigger than the previous page. I was glad I was able to get more involved
today. I really enjoyed helping answer the childrens questions in learning centers as well as
seeing how different the students seemed. Some finished the work quickly and efficiently and
some had no interest in completing the work.
1/30 - FIRST GRADE 8:15-11:30
The first grade class started their day as they do every day. At drop off, the children hang
up their coats, bring their books in the class (from their lockers), copy down any assignments
from the board, and take a morning worksheet to complete. This worksheet was an exercise in
which the students practice applying their knowledge to the definition of a sentence. They had to
determine whether the sequence of words made a sentence or not. There was also a short
sentence at the bottom of the page that the students made grammatical corrections to. This week
was particularly special. It was Catholic Schools week and the whole school had a short
assembly in the gym. The children had a fun time listening to the band play a few songs, singing
songs, and praying as a school. I thought it was very creative to make a decade of the rosary out
of balloons. The school said this prayer together and the balloons (beads of the rosary) helped
the children learn how to pray.
After the assembly ended, all the children went back into their own classroom. I followed
first grade back into their homeroom where they began math. During math, the children practiced
adding two digit numbers. I was able to walk around and help any children who had a hard time
lining up their digits, learning their place values, and adding the numbers in each place. The
children learned about the ones and tens digits. They began to understand the various steps to
adding numbers with two digits. Some children were able to do the math very quickly while
others had a very hard time understanding (mainly) the place value concept. I noticed that the
teachers never gave away the answer. They always gave them a hint or small push in the right
direction, but always let them figure it out for themselves. Its important that our students these
days can learn how to (eventually) solve problems on their own.
During English, the children learned the est and er endings. Some examples include
words like: fast, faster fastest or short, shorter, and shortest. The children learned from their
teacher that the er ending meant more so than someone/thing else and the est ending meant
someone/thing had that characteristic better than everyone else in that situation. To help explain,
the teacher had three students of different height come to the front of the room. She gestured to
the first girl saying she was tall. She then gestured to the second girl saying she was taller.
Lastly, she gestured to the last girl saying she was tallest. Soon after, she had the class do a
workbook exercise in which they added endings to the words that corresponded with the
pictures. One example included a series of three pictures. One room was messy, the second was
messier, and the third image was messiest.
After their English lesson, the children had learning centers. As the two teachers helped
students in groups of four, I walked around the room and helped the children stay on task and
answer any questions they had about their center work. These three centers had to do with word
structure and vowel sounds. In the first center, the children filled in the vowel combination (ai,
ee, oa) that fit with the word and picture They then had to determine whether the vowel sound
was long or short. In the second station, the children made sentences with a list of words they
wrote down to each corresponding picture. For each word they filled in, the vowel sounds were
underlined. In the last center, the children used color to help them visually see the vowels. For
this worksheet, the children made rainbow words by writing all the words with the long a
sound in one column and all the short a sounds in another column.
2/3 -FIRST GRADE 10-1
After going through their routine, the first grade class did an exercise together (instead of
individual morning work). The class played a game on the smartboard in which the students had
to match the word with the contraction. For example, if the word was would the student came
up to the board and would try to find the word wouldnt on the board. To make it more fun, the
cards were all flipped over (like a memory game) so the children were able to practice both their
contractions and memory. A lot of the children had fun with this game and were all eager to have
a turn at the board. To keep the children engaged, the teacher asked a few questions to keep them
on their toes. One question shed ask is to use the word in a sentence, or if the word has another
contraction.
Next, the children did a contractions worksheet. They had to find the word that makes
sense in the sentence. The word provided for them didnt always make sense (grammatically) in
the sentence. Each student determined whether the word should or shouldnt have a contraction
ending to it. For example, John brought an umbrella so he would get wet. In this sentence, the
student would add the nt ending so the sentence made sense.
After English, the students had Reading/literature. The class listened to a story in their
textbook that was about asking nicely and communicating with you friends if something hurts
your feelings. The story was about a group of friends throwing a talent show and the leader of
the group giving each friend a part in the show. This leader, Doc made a list of everyones acts in
the show and had everyone in the group help set up for the big day. One girl, Etta Betta didnt
see her name on the list. She got angry and instead of talking to Doc she began gossiping about
her friends. In the end, she learned Doc just forgot her name on the list and hadnt intentionally
tried to hurt her feelings. The teacher allowed the class to have a short discussion about the story.
She allowed the students to share a time where they felt hurt or forgotten and how they got
through it. She also asked the class other ways Etta Betta could have let her friends know how
she felt (besides gossiping).
The class had one special that day. They went downstairs to the art room where they
traced hearts for Valentines Day. The art teacher explained to the children what Valentines Day
was and what symbol is used to represent it. She also had the children go around and share one
person/thing they love and why. The homeroom teacher also came down to the art room that day.
She helped get the children settled and seated. I only stayed for the beginning of art that day, but
I was happy I was able to see part of their special.
2/6 KINDERGARTEN 8:15-11:30
Today, I spent time in kindergarten. I thought it would be beneficial to get to see the
setting of kindergarten as well since Ive been thinking of teaching in the k-4 grades. The room
was a lot different than the first grade classroom. Instead of individual desks, each student sat at
one circular table with three or four other students. They kept their books and folders in a pouch
behind their chairs and everyone shared pencils, coloring materials, and scissors.
As the kindergarteners walked in, they moved their name on the smartboard to show
they were here. Since Valentines Day is coming up, the teacher made it more fun to check in
by having each childs name printed on a valentine envelope. The children moved their name
from the open space to inside a heart mailbox as they entered the classroom. As the children
walked in they checked in, got a pencil from the red cup, and took morning work off of the front
table.
The morning work for today allowed the children to practice their math skills. The
children were allowed to talk to their friends while doing their morning work as long as they
stayed productive. In the first worksheet the children used coloring crayons to graph how many
animals were in a picture. The children colored one square per animal. This bar graph helped the
children practice fine motor skills as well as help them understand the concept of a graph. In the
second worksheet, the children had to match a column of items to the second column. The two
objects had to have some kind of relation to one another. For example, if there was a birthday
cake one one side the child drew a line from the birthday cake to the birthday present.
After the class completed the morning work, the teacher started the day with her class.
She was always smiling to her students to show that she was happy to have them here. For circle
time, the teacher had the class sit down on their assigned letter at the circle carpet. The calendar
helper (with the teachers help) told the class todays day of the week, month, day of the month,
and year. The class then repeated a few times that, Today is Monday February 6th, 2017. Next,
the teacher had the class read the teacher message projected on the smartboard in unison. Next,
the teacher had the children try to guess the popcorn (site word) word for the day. There were
two lines next to each other that let the students know the word was only two letters. After letting
a few children guess, someone finally got the word: at. The teacher then let each student have a
turn making a sentence with the word at that they shared with the clas.
After circle time, the children started a math activity. The teacher taught the students
about addition sentences (3+4=7). She explained that there is a plus sign and an equal sign in the
sentence. On the board, the teacher drew a picture of her addition sentence. As she drew she
made up a scenario that fit the (3+4=7) sentence. Three tennis balls plus seven basketballs
equals seven balls altogether. ooo+OOOO= 7 balls.
For religion, she read a short story from the bible about Jesus disciples not letting the
children come closer to Jesus as he taught. The verse the children learned was, Let the children
come to me. The worksheet they did after discussing the reading was a coloring and connect the
dots exercise. The students connected the dots to make Jesus body and outstretched arms. The
students also drew a picture of them next to Jesus.
The children then came back to the carpet to practice their rhyming words. The class did
this exercise together. The teacher had a note cared that had a word on it: cat. Then she asked
the class what if the letter c was replaced with a sp? The class then say would say spat.
The teacher did this with about ten different words replacing both beginnings and ends of words.
Next, the children went back to their seats to do a spelling quiz/exercise. The teachers
and I were able to correct the words they spelled wrong. All of the words that she said all had the
same at ending.
The children then came to the carpet to watch the SuperKids video. The video had the
same characters as the first graders book. Instead of reading out of a textbook, the children got
used to reading out of a packet or watching videos on the story. The video the children were
watching was a song that introduced all the characters of the SupeKids units. A lot of larger
words were mentioned at the end of the song that the children had fun trying to repeat.
During math, the teacher talked more about addition sentences. The children then had to
take an Addition Sentences Diocese Exam. I was one of three other teachers/assistants who
helped the children with the exam. Our job wasnt to help or correct them, but to write down why
they put down the answer they did word for word. Next, the teacher introduced the Mr. Ten
Frame. This rectangular array of squares divided into ten even sections (five on top and five on
the bottom) was a way to help the children improve their subitizing and counting. If the whole
top row was filled in, the children would know right way that there was at least five sections
filled. A worksheet they did included various Mr. Ten Frames in which the children counted
using this strategy and wrote down the total number of objects in the frame.
As I was leaving, the teacher began reading them a Magic School Bus book. It was nice
to see how excited the children seemed for story.

2/13 KINDERGARTEN 8:15-11:30
The children in the kindergarten class walked in as they did everyday. They moved their
name on the smartboard and started on their morning work. Todays worksheets had a
Valentines Day theme. The first worksheet was a color by number. The children colored used
the key at the bottom of the page to help them determine which numbers should be what color.
The second worksheet was a connect the dots exercise. They connected the dots starting at 1 all
the way up to 20 to make a Valentines Day picture.
During circle time, the children did as they usually did by first going over the day of the
week, month, and year. They repeated the date a few times then moved on to their morning
message and popcorn word. The word for today was it. The children practiced verbally
spelling the word i-t. They said and spelled the word in unison together a few times so it stuck
in their memory. Then,each child had a turn to make a sentence using the word it.
During Religion, the teacher read a story about always being able to come to Jesus. The
verse for that day was, Knock and the door will open After discussing the story and what it
means to come to Him, the children did a worksheet. They had to draw each child to Jesus
tracing each individual and unique path. The children then drew a picture of themselves and their
own path (squiggly line) to Jesus.
During writing, the children practiced their handwriting and spelling. The teacher would
say a word and the students wrote down how they believed it should be spelled. Next, the teacher
wrote a short sentence on the board that the students read aloud and copied onto their own lined
paper.
The children then did a worksheet where they chose a word from the word bank to match
the picture (Superkids packet). They had to choose the word that fit in the sentence too. For
example, if there was a picture of a girl pulling a rope then in the sentence, Sal___. the correct
word choice would be tugs. The other options were sits, and is hot. In this worksheet, they
were able to cut and glue the sequence of events together to make a comic strip.
After snack, the class went over to the nextdoor classroom to listen to Deacon Mark talk
about the three things to look at as you walk into church. The altar, tabernacle, and crucifix. He
had an educational and light/fun discussion with the children as they asked him questions about
the church and becoming a priest.
During reading, the children listened to a Superkids story called Plain Us. This story was
about friends at beach that were too busy to eat the food Doc made. Then a storm came that
made the friends hungry so they ate Docs food. The teacher asked questions after every few
sentences to make sure the class was comprehending the story. She asked questions that made
the children think about how each character felt in the story, and how or why events happened
the way the did.
After the reading activity, the children did a group activity on the smartboard where they
each student came up and matched the picture with the word (dragging the picture to the
corresponding word). The children had to pay attention to the middle vowel sound. A, e, i, o, or
u. The teacher asked them questions about the middle vowels name, and sound (long/short).
cat
gum
web
mop

For math, the children did Mr. Ten Frames again. This time, they worked on their teens.
There wasnt just one Mr. Ten Frame, there was two. They had to determine how many objects
were in each section and write that number on the empty line. They also worked on addition with
the frames. For example, one frame had three balls in one ten frame followed by a plus sign and
five balls in the second frame. After this second frame there was an equal sign followed by an
empty ten frame. The children then drew the total number of objects in the third empty frame. In
another worksheet, the children filled in the number of objects in two ten frames that
corresponded with the number written on the page. If there was a 18 on the line, the children
would draw objects in every square except two (given two ten frames)
2/27- KINDERGARTEN 8:15-11:15
Today was my last day at St. Raphaels School. The class started their morning routine
by moving their name on the smartboard to show they were here. Their morning work consisted
of coloring sheets. One sheet had images of a variety of different coins scattered on the page.
They were to color the heads blue and the tails yellow. The other worksheet was more math
related. They had to write the number next to each group of hearts to show how many were in
each section. Then, they drew a line matching each section to the verbal written number (three,
four vs. writing 3 or 4).
After completing their morning work they turned it in and did silent reading for a while.
They seemed to really enjoy reading time since they were allowed to share books with friends
and enjoy looking at the pictures. As the day started, the teacher had them all sit in their spot at
the circle carpet. They went around in a circle (one by one) counting by fives and tens. Next,
they learned a couple new popcorn words. The words for today were of and but. Since it is a
Catholic school, the children learned about Ash Wednesday during Religion. They did a
coloring worksheet in which they colored themselves on a face template with ashes on their
forehead.
During Reading, the teacher said a series of words the students wrote down on lined
paper. All of these words had the at ending (cat, hat, sat, mat). They also copied the sentence
written on the board in their neatest handwriting. The children then got out their reading/writing
packets. They learned about the letter R. As a whole, the class did a worksheet in their packet
where the teacher said a word that was illustrated on their sheet (umbrella, raft). If the word
started with the letter R, they circled the image. If it didnt, they crossed it out. There was a short
sentence to describe the picture as a whole. They had to underline all the rs in the sentence.
They continued practicing writing the letter R while the two teachers in the room and I
lead small reading groups. The children wrote Rr over about ten times on their lined paper. In
the reading group I lead, we read a short book called, Sled. First, I went over the vocabulary
words with them, and then I had them look through the pictures of the book to predict what the
story would be about. I let each child make a prediction based only on the pictures. As we started
reading, I had each student read one page (four students in a group). After each page, we talked
about what happened. The students seemed to really enjoy sharing their opinions about the text. I
asked questions like why did they feel that way or what does dull mean or have you ever
been sledding? Some children seemed more enthusiastic than others, but they were all eager to
share with the group. At the end of the story, I asked comprehension questions listed at the back
of the book. Since I was given the higher reading group, I found they all had a very thorough
understanding of the text.
What Ive Learned about the Similarities and Differences Between Kindergarten and First
Grade

Similarities. Both classrooms:

Had a morning routine they stuck to each day
Had morning worksheets to complete
Used the same Superkids program (different levels)
Had very organized and strict teachers
Had a stimulating classroom
Lots of coloring activities
Many posters and artwork hung around the room
The children continuously moved from their desks to the carpet so they werent
sitting for too long.
Had teachers who frequently asked questions about the material read or covered
Wore uniforms and practiced Catholicism in the class (prayer)
Gave each child a job for the week. Some examples were, calendar helper, prayer leader,
and librarian. These jobs helped the kids learn responsibility and teamwork. It also helped
them see that they do have take part in their own education.

Differences
The length of time spend on each subject was much longer in first grade. The children
always had back up work to do if they finished their classwork early. The kindergarten
class continuously switched activities and moved from their desks to the carpet. The
kindergarten teacher mentioned the reason for this was because they were younger. The
constant change and movement helped keep them interested and engaged.
The first grade class did more sequential worksheets (what happened first in the story),
while the kindergarten class did more fill in the blanks to show they knew what happened
in the story.
The first grade class spent much more time writing sentences on their own. They had to
write about their favorite part of a story, sentences using vocabulary words, and sentences
describing an event in a story. In kindergarten, the focus is put on their ability to write,
Are they writing their letters correct? Is the spacing enough (not blending words)? Are
they able to efficiently read and copy a sentence while knowing what that sentence
means?
The kindergarten class had a much longer circle time. They spent about ten or fifteen
minutes reviewing the day of the week, daily message (about the day and upcoming
events), popcorn word(s), and how to count by fives and tens. All these activities were in
the kindergartens daily circle time, while the first grader just reviewed the date and the
teacher verbally announced any events coming up for the week.
Questions
Since its a Catholic/private school, how do the children that need special education get
the resources they need?
How much does class size really affect a classrooms mood and mindset?
How much time does it take for a teacher to plan for each lesson?
What requirements have to be in each plan and how to you know what you cant
have in a lesson plan?
How are parent teacher conferences held? What preparation is needed?
If a child or multiple children are absent, how does makeup work get accomplished? How
to they learn the missed lesson (younger children cant teach themselves material as well
as older children)
If you're unable to answer a question a student has (its difficult to put into words or
inappropriate), how would you handle that situation?
If you have a large class, how do you make sure all your students are learning the
material and not falling behind before the test or exam?