First Grade

I observed in a first grade classroom last week to see what it was like. It was awesome to compare the way I taught first grade to how they do things here, and to see how the kids speak English. In the morning they have 15 minutes for a "warm-up" which consists of them doing their classroom jobs, then stretching while practicing their counting, months, alphabet, etc.

The kids get picked up by the teacher in the gym/field area and walk together to the classroom. When they get into the classroom, they have to put their backpack away on their hook, put their apron on, put their snack and agenda on their desk, and sit down. When they are seated and ready to go waiting patiently, the teacher writes their name on the board in the order she sees them get ready. Then when everyone is ready, the kids get to choose their job for the day in the order their name was written on the board. Once everyone has chosen their job, they go do it and then do their stretching routine.

After they finish the warm-up, they have their first class in which a different teacher comes in to teach them. Elementary school here is very similar to the high school routine in that they have different teachers for different subjects, so the schedule is very strict. The Spanish language teacher comes in to teach for an hour and a half and during that time the head classroom teacher leaves to either teach another class or prep. Some teachers teach 3 different classes at different times during the week.

Each kid has a laminated placemat that they made at home with their families for snack time. I love the idea of them being able to look at pictures of their family or things they love when eating their snack. Here are a couple placemats from this first grade class.