Dana Davis

ELD 375
Dr. Bulgar
Spring 2015
Field Report 1 Becoming Acquainted With the Classroom Space
Mrs. G 2nd Grade I. F. Elementary School
Mrs. Gs classroom is very welcoming. She has special covers over the fluorescent
lights, which make the lighting in the classroom very comfortable and soothing. She also
has many homey type things, such as rugs, ball chairs and, water features that make it feel
like youre in your own living room. I immediately felt very comfortable when I entered
the room.
This classroom is very large and therefore leaves plenty of room for the students to
move freely about the classroom. The students desks are arranged sporadically
throughout the room leaving plenty of space between to walk around. Creative use of the
shelves throughout the room create many private areas for desks, as well as for students to
find a quiet place where they can sit on the floor and read or work on an assignment or
project. The rectangular rug area is large enough for all of the students to fit and the
square rug area is large enough for a small group of children to sit and read and is
appropriately located near the classroom bookshelves, like a mini library within the
classroom.
The teacher does not have a teachers desk, which promotes a high amount of
interaction with the students. The teacher could use the kidney shaped table to instruct
small groups of students, or possibly for one-on-one instruction with a student. Since the
large rectangular carpet is situated in front of the whiteboard, it is likely that most of the
formal instruction takes place in this space. The computer desk at the back of the room
has four chairs and four Chromebooks and this area could also be used for small group
instruction. The way that the desks are arranged throughout the classroom, allows the
teacher to easily visit each student and speak to them quietly without disturbing the other
students, as there is a good amount of space between the desks/pairs of desks.
The walls in the classroom are just about completely covered with instructional aids.
The Math Word Wall is located directly above the shelves that contain math materials,
such as calculators, flashcards, and games. The word wall has math related vocabulary
words, numbers arranged in even and odd and has a water feature and a soft
nightstand type of lamp. I believe this conveys to the students that they should stay relaxed
while practicing mathematics and also that knowing the vocabulary associated with math is
of utmost importance to the understanding of working mathematical equations.
The layout of this classroom leads me to believe that this teacher is very interactive
with the students. She does not have a formal teacher desk, which would indicate that she
does most of her formal instruction while sitting on the large rug among the students or at
the whiteboard with the students on the rug. I believe this teacher has a very informal,
interactive approach to teaching. She is likely always in the same immediate area in which
the students are. I would assume that this teacher is very caring towards her students,
since she has gone to such lengths to create this comfortable, living room feeling classroom
environment. I would also tend to believe that she is quite organized, as every shelf has
labels for what belongs in each space and all materials are contained in bins, which are also

labeled. Above the sink area, there are rules written by both the students and the teacher,
which relay the message that this teacher expects mutual respect among her and her
students as well as between student to student. There are also lists of proper manners that
should be used when addressing each other, which shows that she has very high
expectations for her students as far as treating each other with respect and good use of
manners.
The role of mathematics in this classroom is displayed as very interactive and
hands on. The designated math corner in this classroom shows that the teacher would
like the students to feel comfortable while learning math as well as to have fun with
mathematics, as shown by the many math related games on the math shelves. I would
assume that most of the math instruction takes place at the whiteboard with the students
on the large rug. There are many quiet areas and nooks where students could work in
pairs or in a group and I would tend to believe that students are mostly interactive and do
very little math while sitting at their individual desks.
This classroom is such a welcoming environment from the moment you step through
the door and its clear that Mrs. G has gone to great lengths to create the exact
environment she wants for her students. The living room feel of this classroom is like
nothing I have seen in a classroom before and is certainly the type of environment that I
would like to create for my own students someday.