Observation 3

03/22/23 9:00-11:30

1. School Information : Name of school and directress observed

Spark Montessori School/ Ms. Nellie- P1 Classroom

2. Teaching Strategies Witnessed

The directress let children know what they needed with a clear speaking delivery. On
e by one she taught what they did not know. Almost all children knew what they were
doing and for children goofing around or children who did not know what to do, she s
uggested a work for them. There are two girls who were doing the Geometric solid. P
assing by them, the teacher said to them that they needed a big rug and they took th
e big rug to her. The teacher rolled the small rug that they opened. And then she star
ted presenting how to set up first. There was a boy who wanted to do the addition stri
p board. After he set it up, he came to ask her how to do it. She did not leave her pla
ce due to a child who she was teaching and she sat down and verbally explained to
him. He returned back to his work and he tried to do it again but he still did not know
how to do it because he put the red strips at the left side. The teacher explained agai
n that he needs to put the blue strips at the left. Finally, having seen that he cannot s
olve it, the teacher went to him and she showed him where the red and blue stripes
were put.

3. Organization of the Prepared Environment

Although the classroom was not very large, all areas were well-arranged and there w
ere few cases where children did not know where the material they wanted to work w
as located. I think it's probably already March, so the kids seem to be getting used to
where and what materials are.

4. Types of Materials Being Worked With by the Children

Objects and sound f, m, w and more, four kinds of knobless cylinder, Geometric solid
with matching cards, Brown prism, wooden cubes with bowl, Addition strip board, Ch
alk board, Spooning, Pouring one to one, Rectangular box 2, Pink Cube, four knob c
ylinders, Snapping, Multiplication board, Montessori clock, Peep the sheep-book, Sa
ndpaper numbers, Memory game, Cleaning the glass, Bank game multiplication, Flo
at or Sink, Polishing wood, etc.

5. Ground Rule Implementation

When the teacher saw a child who needs to keep the ground rule, she almost respon
ded to the child right away except for a few conditions she could not see. For exampl
e, when a boy touched a plant, the teacher told him not to touch the plant. And she t
old him about the plant he can touch when he wants to touch a plant. Also, she adde
d something about the plant that he touched because the plant was broken so it lean
ed against the long stick put in the dirt. Another example was that there was a boy w
ho was goofing around. When she saw his goofing around kept going, she suggeste
d he do Montessori Clock. He agreed with her saying and when he put it out holding
the bottom, he felt hard to carry it from the shelf. When she saw that situation, she tol
d him to take the clock first and he followed what she told him. So, he could carry it w
ithout the risk of dropping the material. The last example I observed was when childr
en were having line time, the teacher saw a boy was licking his hand and right away
said to him to go wash hands. But the boy said to her that he had already washed ha
nds but the teacher told him that even though he had already washed hands, if he lic
ked his hands, he needed to wash hands again.

6. Social Interaction of Children within the Environment

I could see children who were working with their friends with knobless cylinders of all
colors. They could build with their idea and talk to each other about a way they want
ed to build. Also, some children did Geometric Solid and used a small rug to lay the
m out for the first time. When the teacher saw that their rug was not long enough to l
ay them out, she went to them and suggested they use a big rug and then they brou
ght a big rug. The teacher explained the solids’ shapes laying them out in the middle
of the rug. There were picture cards that people generally can see the solids’ shape
easily in their daily life. After that, I could see them asking each other about pictures,
where to go and names.

7. Development of Independence and Responsibility

Almost all children could choose their work on their own and they went to the table or
grabbed a rug for their work. When they finished their work, they could clean up by th
emselves. Two or three children were goofing around and did not know what materia
ls they needed to choose. However, whenever teachers saw such students, they told
them to find out what they wanted and suggested what materials to do to students w
ho couldn't do that.

8. Strengths of the Environment

The environment from the classroom I liked was that materials in all shelves were no
t complicated compared to my practicum site. I think that this environment made it ea
sy for students to approach and find where the materials are, and there were not too
many goofing children, and it made them go to the place they wanted and spend eno
ugh time doing the work they chose.

9. Observations Regarding Your Own Insights

Overall, The classroom had a tidy feel, and as mentioned above, the uncomplicated
arrangement of materials allowed the children to effectively spend their time on the w
ork they had chosen. The teachers also always responded well to the needs of the c
hildren, and the children followed their instructions well. As for the attractive part of th
is school, the eye-catching pictures were hung on the walls, and the snowflake and s
hamrock patterns made by the children were beautifully decorated on the walls, whic
h attracted my attention when I first saw it. In addition to this, the binomial cube and t
rinomial cube pictures made of a glass-like material were hung on the large windows
of the classrooms where people outside could see the inside of the classroom, so thi
s was also a very good part, and each classroom had large glass windows, so it was
a school with the advantage of being able to see children’s appearance easily.