CLASSROOM OBSERVATION 2nd Grade 11/12/14

Answer each of the following questions using complete sentences.

1. What was the topic of the lesson? The topic of the main activity and lesson of the day was finding
the missing part of a number, for example if the total is 25, and you have 14, how much is missing?
This goes along with understanding fact families and missing addition and/or subtraction type
problems.
2. What CCSSM goals were addressed in the lesson? Paraphrase language from the goal(s) that is
relevant to the lesson. The CCSS that goes along with this lesson is 2.oa.2 Fluently
add
and
subtract
within 20
using mental strategies. By end
of
Grade 2,
know from memory
all
sums of
two
one-digit
numbers. Of
course the lesson goes with this standard because allowing students to work with fact families will
help students to begin to memorize some basic facts, which is what the standard calls for. It is just a
little piece of the puzzle. There are a lot more activities to do to cover this standard. Although the only
standard that goes with the lesson is 2.oa.2.
3. Would you characterize the teachers focus as attending to procedural or to conceptual knowledge?
Explain your characterization. I have included a description of the actual activity in question 4, but
overall the teacher focuses more attention on conceptual knowledge. The activity involved finding the
missing number or piece, but she didnt explicitly tell students what to do; she told them that there
are many ways to find the answer. She focused more on the concept of fact families, addition, and
subtraction. She allowed students to actually use invented strategies to make meaning for themselves
and think critically of the concept of missing numbers.
4. Describe how the teacher engaged the students in the mathematics lesson. The activity was very
engaging. It was a partner game that was called cover up. Partners were given 18 cubes, as well as a
chart with the sections to fill in, number, number not covered, number covered, and equation. One
partner closed their eyes, while the other one hid some cubes behind them. Then the other partner
opened their eyes and saw how many remained. They then had to figure out how many were hidden
using any strategy of their choice (counts up, count down, subtract, knowledge of fact families, etc).
Then after guessing and figuring out the answer they filled in their chart. Students were engaged
because it was a learning activity that was hands on.
5. Describe how the teacher modeled good communication in terms of using clear and complete
sentences and correct mathematical terminology. Give specific examples. The teacher modeled the
activity for students by playing a demonstration round with a student in front of the class. She
showed students what hidden objects were, as well as what seen objects are. She showed a couple of
strategies, using terms like counting up from a number (what is seen to the total); she used terms like
subtracting what is left from the total. These terms were used correctly and showed students just a
couple of ways they could solve it, but she made it clear that the choice was up to the students on
how they wanted to solve the problem. She also went over again what an equation is. Ex: What is
hidden+ what is seen=total.
6. Describe how the teacher used mathematical questions during the lesson. Give specific examples.

Some of the questions that were indirectly asked in the lesson included (answered by doing the
activity) what numbers go together in a fact family, what is the missing part, and what equation
would represent a certain problem. These are all questions that were answered just by doing the
activity. Each part of the chart asked one of these particular questions.
7. Describe how the teacher assessed the students mathematical knowledge during the lesson.
By walking around and observing students, the teacher could identify whether or not students have
mastered the goal or not. The teacher also collected and looked at the charts that students filled in to
see if the student had accurate numbers and equations.
Reflection

1. Describe some things the teacher did in the lesson that you found to be effective. The most effective
thing about the teachers lesson was that it was very organized and structured, and it was very
engaging for students. Every student was highly engaged and involved, and I could tell learning was
certainly taking place.
2. Give a specific example of something the students learned. Students learned how to write an
equation using numbers in a fact family. EX: 13+5=18, 15+3=18, 18-13=5.
3. Describe something you might add to this lesson. Something I would add to this lesson would be to
make the numbers bigger for more advanced students. I saw that in this lesson there was no
differentiation for advanced students. I think adding bigger numbers in would be great for more
challenged students.

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION 2nd Grade 12/1/14

Answer each of the following questions using complete sentences.
1. What was the topic of the lesson? The topic of the days lesson was skip counting by 2s,5s, and
10s. Also students worked on arranging a group of objects into these types of groups to count them
(groups of 2s, 5s and 10s).
2. What CCSSM goals were addressed in the lesson? Paraphrase language from the goal(s) The CCSS
that is relevant to the lesson would be 2.NBT.2 Count within 1000; skip-count
by
5s,
10s,
and
100s.. Although in this lesson, counting by 100s wasnt included. This lesson just
reviewed the basics of what students have learned about skip counting. Once students master counting
by 2s, 5s, and 10s, then they can work up to bigger numbers and eventually count by 100s with
numbers up to 1000.
3. Would you characterize the teachers focus as attending to procedural or to conceptual knowledge?
Explain your characterization. This lesson was taught in that more attention was given to the
procedural knowledge. During the lesson the teacher modeled for students how to take a group of
objects using a small number and group and count objects using the methods of counting by 2s, 5s, and
10s. A description of the activity is included in number 4, but I would say that the teacher was more
focused on the procedure. It was very direct how she taught students to count by 2s, how to count by
5s, and how to count by 10s.
4. Describe how the teacher engaged the students in the mathematics lesson. During the lesson,
students were engaged through a hands on game. For this particular activity, students worked with a
partner. Each partner got some counters or cubes, along with 2 dice. Partners took turns rolling; they
added the 2 numbers together on the dice, and then they counted out that many cubes/counters. Then
they figured out what would be the best way to count those objects, either by putting them in groups of
2, 5, or 10, and then the students counted the objects, so if they were in groups of 5, and there were 11,
they would count out the objects 5,10,11. If students were ready for bigger numbers, they were given 3
dice to roll and add.
5. Describe how the teacher modeled good communication in terms of using clear and complete
sentences and correct mathematical terminology. Give specific examples. The teacher used correct
math terminology when she explained to students about skip counting. She explained to students what
it meant to count by 5s, what it meant to count by 2s, and what it meant to count by 10s. She also
explained the reasoning of putting things into groups. She explained to students that sometimes its
easier to count objects by grouping them and then counting by either 2s, 5s, or 10s. This introduced
students to another alternative to counting a group of objects, other than counting by 1s. She did an
effective job in modeling, when she did a demonstration round with students on how the activity was
played.
6. Describe how the teacher used mathematical questions during the lesson. Give specific examples.
The main essential mathematical question that was asked during the lesson, is what is the best way to
count x amount of objects. Should you count by 2s, 5s, or 10s? Students of course answered this
question indirectly during the activity when they tried that activity out for themselves. She used the

essential question to check students understanding of skip counting. The teacher walked around and
asked students this question and observed whether they understood skip counting.
7. Describe how the teacher assessed the students mathematical knowledge during the lesson.
During this lesson there was no formal assessment. However, the teacher throughout the lesson did
informally assess students knowledge of skip counting. She did this by walking around the room during
the activity and observing the students at work. She asked them questions and watched them do the
activity to see if they were getting it or not. She always listened to see if they were skip counting
correctly and to see if they could tell her different ways to count an x amount of objects.
Reflection

1. Describe some things the teacher did in the lesson that you found to be effective. One of the things
I thought this teacher did well on was making it clear to students exactly what they were supposed to do
during the activity. She modeled for students the activity and did a demonstration of the actual activity,
that way students didnt have any misunderstanding or confusion of the activity.
2. Give a specific example of something the students learned. One of the things that I observed
students learning was different ways to count objects. Traditionally students are used to counting
objects by 1s, but in this lesson they were introduced to the new idea of counting objects another way,
either by 2s, 5s or 10s. I saw this in action as I watched students begin to demonstrate these different
ways of grouping objects into pairs, groups of 5, or groups of 10. Overall, the majority of students
demonstrated that they understood this concept of skip counting.
3. Describe something you might add to this lesson. I was actually very surprised that the teacher
challenged students with up to 3 six sided dice. One of the things that I would change is that once
students did the activity with 2 six sided dice, and they were good, I would have challenged students
with much bigger numbers. Instead of adding another dice, I would have given students dice with digits
on it, 1,2,3,4,5,6 and another dice with digits 1,2,3,4,5,6, so that they could roll the 2 dice to make
numbers like 41, 56,34, 21, etcI thought the numbers in the activity were just too easy after a while. I
would certainly have challenged students more and used these much larger numbers.