Melanie Bird

Sister Merrill
July 11, 2013
Early Field Written Final
One the first day of school it is important to be adequately prepared and ready for the
student to walk through the classroom door. As we have been discussing in this course in great
detail, the first day of school is critical to the students behavior for the rest of the school year.
Many weeks before school starts, I will be preparing for this all important day. I will begin by
readying my classroom; I will make my room colorful, organized, and interactive so that the
students feel safe and comfortable in the learning environment. I then want to start making my
students feel welcomed and wanted in the classroom. I will do this by sending all of them
individual letters and invitations to school. I will also enclose a letter for the parents of my
students so that I can open the door of communication with them right from the start.
On the first day of school I will practice with my students the most important procedures, the
ones that are significant to the flow and behavior of the class. I will teach and practice with them
walking into the classroom, putting away backpacks, going to recess, and transition periods. I
would like to develop a sign or symbol for my class so they know when to settle down or
transition to a new subject. I could possibly implement a hand gesture or a countdown system; it
depends on what my class responds to best. I also want to play a couple get to know you games
so that the students feel more comfortable in the classroom. I will teach them a little about
myself and get to know them through these games. If the students are new to the school or in a
younger grade I would like to give them a tour of the school and possibly meet the
administration so that they feel more comfortable in the school environment.
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Finally on the first day of school I will teach a lesson; something light but still
educationalprobably about coming back to school from summer such as a book or a writing
journal.
I would like to keep my rules and expectations simple and known throughout the
classroom. I will do this by putting them up on the classroom wall. My 1st rule will encompass
responsibility. I want to teach my students that they are responsible for their work and learning in
the classroom. 2nd rule: Be ready to learn I want my students to come to class ready to learn and
grow. I understand that sometimes it is difficult to always be ready for the day, students will have
off days, but it is my job to help them stay focused and ready to learn. 3rd rule: Respect for the
teacher and the other students. My students will feel comfortable and able to learn in my
classroom and that can be accomplished only when everyone respects one another. I would like
to keep just these three rules and have the students help create some underlying rules and
disciplinary procedures on the first day of school, so they feel that they are contributing to the
classroom.
For disciplinary actions I want to keep a chart that stays by my desk so that it is not on
display for all the students to see. ON this chart I will have a clothespin with each students name
on it. the chart will consist of 4 categories: Green=good to go, Yellow=warning, Orange=talk
with teacher, Red=talk with parents or principle. At the beginning of the day, all the students will
start in the green zone and as the day progresses if the students disobey a rule they will move
their own paperclip down the chart. I want the students to move their own name down so they
can physically see where they are headed and the nest step I will take if they continue to
misbehave. I would also like to reward those students who are able to stay in the green zone the

entire week by letting them go to recess early, or letting them read their favorite book, some sort
of reward that does not embarrass the other students but is fun and somewhat meaningless.
I like the idea of a symbol or a cue for transition period. I think I would also like
implement a countdown system; I like this because it lets the students know that they need to
hustle to get their things in order and how much time is left until I expect them to ready. I will
give the students instruction, tell them be back with me in 30 seconds, then begin a rough
countdown. By calling out 30 . . . 20 . . . 10 . . . 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; by then of the countdown they are
quietly ready to be taught.
I want to set big over-arching goals in my class, and as they exceed those goals reward
them collectively. Goals such as reading 4,000 books or learning all the math facts; these goals
will be worked on over the course of the year and can be measured in a cute and fun way on a
wall in the classroom. The reward will be something like an end of the year field-trip, or a pizza
party. For smaller more individual rewards I would like to implement a homework system, like
the one we discussed in class of monopoly. Have packets of homework and as the students turn
in the homework they get to move their piece around the monopoly board. If they do not
complete their homework for that week then their piece cannot move. If they pass go the students
get a treasure from the go box, there are also chance cards along the way of being at the front of
the line, turning in the role, helping to do things around the classroom. This, I hope, teaches the
students responsibility for their own homework in class.
My classroom will be set up and organized focalized around the students. I like the idea
of having a kiva in my classroom, simply because it provides an extra space for the students to

learn other than their desks. I will have my students desks put into groups of 4-6 six students per
group and I will distinguish the groups by varying colors.
To track behavior in my classroom I will have a form that I can fill in quickly and keep
on record. If a student reaches the red light level on my discipline chart. I will keep the written
form in a binder and have the student sign it or write it out with me so they understand and agree
with the terms we made on the form. Then when parent-teacher conferences occur I am prepared
to correctly inform the parents of their students behavior in the classroom.
When I have an extremely disruptive student in my class, who does not seem to care
whether he/she is punished by the current disciplinary plan I will schedule a meeting with their
parent to discuss a more in-depth plan to help their student stay on track. Now if the parents do
not show signs of care or concern for their childs behavior, then I will replace the parent with
the principle. We will try this plan in hopes of it working. My hope is that through parent-student
conferences the student will learn to accept my rules and come to understand and abide by them.
If not then the punishments will increase in time and through amount of privileges taken away.
The student will spend a great deal of time helping me in the classroom and I will show my care
for them, through that they will learn.
I will have little wooden paddles that the students can take to the bathroom one at a time;
one paddle for the boys and one paddle for the girls. If I am instructing the students will be
taught that they are not ever going to be permitted to leave the classroom for bathroom reasons
unless it is utterly urgent, however when I am not instructing they may quietly raise 5 finders in
the air and I will dismiss them to the restroom.

I will keep two buckets of pencils, one bucket of freshly sharpened pencils and the other
of dull or broken pencils. If the students brake or dull out their pencil they may quietly exchange
their pencil for a sharper one. During recess or after school I will have a student who is staying in
due to disciplinary action sharpen the pencils in the dull bin as part of their consequence.
I do not ever want to have disruptive early finishers in my classroom because those
students, though very bright, tend to distract the other students. So I plan on having a bulletin
board for my early finishers. The board will have a manila folder for each subject with a variety
of activities, games or worksheets related to the subject we are currently studying. There will
also be questions of the week or a journal topic entry to choose from. The question of the week
can be answered once per week per student and the answers go into a bin. At the end of the week
I will choose an answer and the student who submitted it will get to choose a treasure from the
treasure box.
I will have a board with clothespins to take attendance. Each day as the students enter the
room their clothespins will be hanging on the wall with a sheet of papertheir bell work. They
will move their clothespin from one side of the room to the other, onto the discipline board. Then
while the students are working on the bell work I will see which clothespins were not moved,
and log which students are absent.
I want to have open communications with the parents of my students; I will implement
parent involvement by having activities throughout the year that will need parent help such as
picnics, or field trips. I will also have weekly signups for parents who would like to help out in
the classroom. Parents will be able to sign up through my website, email account.