Amy Peabody March 1, 2013 ELD 375 Field Report 2: Miss Refsin Observation of Teaching and Learning My cooperating

teacher, Miss Refsin, was introducing the mathematical concept of rounding to her second grade class. This was the first time that the students will be exposed to the concept of rounding. The reason for teaching rounding is to make numbers friendly. The students know what friendly numbers are and the concept of rounding will make the students able to add friendly numbers. The daily math routine of the calendar, clock, money and day of school will all take place and then the class will transition into the lesson on rounding. Miss Refsin had a SmartBoard presentation prepared to teach this lesson. Miss Refsin allowed me to view the SmartBoard presentation; Miss Refsin is teaching this lesson to the whole class. Miss Refsin had planned to introduce the concept of rounding, and then show the presentation on the SmartBoard and allowing the students to participate by sharing their answers with a partner and also by solving problems during the presentation. After the presentation, the students will be given a worksheet to practice rounding. I chose to observe the yellow table during this lesson; there is an ESL student at this table. To introduce the lesson, Miss Refsin recited the rhyme Jack and Jill went up a hill. The reason for this rhyme is because the SmartBoard presentation is about Jack and Jill and their soccer ball. Miss Refsin showed the class the SmartBoard presentation. The first portion of the presentation was a picture of a hill with the numbers 10-20 labeled on the hill; Jack and Jill were standing on the hill with their soccer ball. Miss Refsin asked a question, What was the closest friendly number to 12? (out of the choices listed on the board); she gave the students a chance to think and talk to a partner. The students that I observed agreed that the number 12 is closer to

the number 10 than it is to 20, which is correct. Miss Refsin then introduced a continuation of the rhyme Jack and Jill; Five and above, give it a shove. Four and below, let it go. This rhyme refers to the placement of the soccer ball on the hill. Students learned the rule that if a number ends in 1, 2, 3, or 4 that it rounds down; if the number ends in 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 then it rounds up. Miss Refsin moves the soccer ball on the hill to different numbers and asks the students to talk to their partners about what they would round the numbers to. One of the ESL students had difficulty with this concept because she did not understand what the term rounding meant; this particular ESL student receives extra support in mathematics by going to basic skills math during snack time. This process was repeated several times and with different sets of numbers; the numbers got larger and ranged from 40-60, there were two hills for this portion and the students had to decide to round to the friendly numbers 40, 50, or 60. The students worked together with their partners and then shared their answers with the class. Before the partners shared their answers with the class, Miss Refsin asked, Did anyone disagree with their partner? There were only two instances where students did not agree, but that is because the students were not paying attention. After the presentation was over, the students were given a worksheet to do individually. The students were given specific instructions on what to do; not all of the students listened therefore they had to redo their work. The idea for the worksheet was to have the students round the costs of each item on the page; some students were not listening and they went ahead and answered the problems on the page. The group of five students that I observed had one student who did not follow directions; the ESL student in this group was circling the numbers to round them instead of using the mathematical concept of rounding to friendly numbers. Miss Refsin went over the lesson again with this student individually to reinforce the concept she was

teaching. The student was told to go back to her seat and try the worksheet again, there were a few errors and it took longer than expected, but after three tries all of the numbers were rounded correctly. Miss Refsin thought the lesson succeeded because the lesson was both visual and auditory because of the SmartBoard presentation. The presentation worked well for the class because it was interactive. The lesson missed because some of the students did not follow directions when completing the worksheet. Majority of the class met the objective of the lesson right away; Miss Refsin knew which students would struggle. Miss Refsin thought that this lesson went very smoothly for an introductory lesson and she plans for the lesson to continue the next day in class as well. The next day, the students will review what rounding is and then they will continue their worksheet. The students already knew what friendly numbers were and they now know that if they round to friendly numbers then adding is made simpler.