Becoming Acquainted With the Classroom Space

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Kelly Collova

Dr. Bulgar

ELD 375

February 15, 2013

Field Report 1Becoming Acquainted with the Classroom Space

My first day in Mrs. Reils third grade classroom was on Tuesday, February 12. Mrs.

Reils classroom is very colorful and contains a lot of materials and bulletin boards for each

subject she teaches: math, science, social studies, reading, and writing. I noticed that Mrs. Reils

physical arrangement of the classroom provides the students with security and shelter, social

interactions, pleasure, and growth.

The students desks are arranged in the middle of the classroom into four groups of four

and one group of six. Mrs. Reils desk is in the front right hand side of the classroom next to the

closet. The students hang up their coats and book bags in the closet. On the front center of wall

are a large white board and Smart Board. In the front center of the room, there is a square rug

and easel. In the front left hand side of the room there are three of the four class pets, Geikko,

Slitter, and Rosey. Geikko is a gecko, Slitter is a small snake, and Rosey is a tarantula. Next to

the class pets are bookshelves with reading books. The book collection in the classroom is

separated into the different genres. I like how the books are next to the square rug so that the

students can read on the rug. In the back left hand corner there is a television on a stand that is

mounted to the wall and an iMac computer on a table. In front of the computer table is a kidney

table. In the middle of the back wall is the fourth class pet, Leigh. Leigh is a large snake. Next

to the door in the back right hand corner of the room is a sink. Mrs. Reil has her students wash

their hands at the sink every morning when they walk into the classroom.


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Mrs. Reils physical arrangement of the classroom allows for students to move freely

from one area of the classroom to another. There was enough space in between the groups of

desk for students to walk safely in the aisles without having to move chairs out of their way. I

like how Mrs. Reils set up of the classroom allows for students to interact together and for the

students to interact with Mrs. Reil. The arrangement of the students desks allows for the

students to collaborate together on assignments and to work individually on assignments. The

kidney table allows for the students to interact with Mrs. Reil. When Mrs. Reil wants to work

with a student individually or with a group of students, she calls them to the kidney table and

works with them. Mrs. Reil sits in the middle indent of the kidney table, while a student or

group of students sits across from her. The square rug provides comfort to students and adds

softness to the classroom.

Mrs. Reils classroom consists of four math bulletin boards that focus on the math

curriculum of third grade. The math bulletin board behind the kidney table covers problem

solving and helpful steps to solving word problems. The title of this bulletin board is called The

Fantastic Five-Step Process. The bulletin board has a drawing of a hand and written on each

finger is the five steps to solving a word problem. The first step is written on the pinky finger

and says, What are the FACTS? The second step written on the ring finger is, What is the

QUESTION? The third step written on the index finger is, What can we ELIMINATE? The

fourth step written on the pointer finger is, Choose a STRATEGY and SOLVE. The last step

written on the thumb is, Does the answer MAKE SENSE? On the palm of the hand there is a

list of strategies to problem solving. The list reads: guess and check, draw a picture, make an

organized list, look for a pattern, make a table or chart, use logical reasoning, and work

backwards. I feel like this bulletin board is very important and helpful to students so I am


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wondering why this bulletin board is high up on the wall because it is difficult to read since the

writing is so small.

Next to the class pet Leigh, there is a bulletin board on multiplication, division, and the

properties of multiplication. Above this bulletin board there are posters of eight shapes: square,

trapezoid, diamond, oval, circle, rectangle, triangle, and hexagon. Next to door is a poster on

synonyms for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The title of this poster is Look

for the keys in Word Problems. This poster is helpful because it reminds students of the

synonyms for each operation. Above the door, there is a poster on telling time titled, I Can Tell

Time. Next to each number reads another way of saying the time. For example, next to the

number three it says, quarter after and under the number six it says, half past. I feel like this

poster is very helpful and I wonder why this poster is not on student eye level because the text is

so small and hard for the students to read from their desks.


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Becoming Acquainted With the Classroom Space