9. Learning Environment (LO 2.8 & 2.

9) (APS 8 & 9)
TWS Standard
The teacher plans for a structured, positive learning environment where students feel safe and valued
as contributing members of a learning community.

Prompt
1. Classroom Management:
A. Activities:
1) Every morning begins with greeting each child individually and asking them to
follow the morning routines of picking their lunch choice and unpacking their
book bag. Once the child has come in and settled, they will begin on morning
work until every student is present. Morning work will be reviewed and a
morning meeting will follow. Morning meeting is a chance for every student to
tell their classmates good morning, share stories, discuss the goals for that day
and play games that are beneficial to the students creating a community. The day
also ends with a closing meeting. The closing meeting gives students an
opportunity to tell their favorite parts of the day, say any last things, and allows
the teacher to remind students of homework.
2) During reading time, or some group activities, students are allowed to choose
where to sit so that they are comfortable. Students need the opportunity to make
decisions on their own. If they make poor decisions they are allowed to choose to
change their decision once.
3) Students have many opportunities to share their work. When they share in front
of the class, the class is expected to be respectful and listen to the speaker. When
the speaker is finished, the audience is allowed to give three things they like
about the project, and one thing they could work on. When explaining what could
be worked on, the student should be helpful and not judgmental.
B. Behavioral Expectations or Rules:
1) Listen to the speaker: Students are expected to listen to who is speaking at all
times. This could be the teacher, another teacher, the person on the speaker
system, or a fellow classmate. Students are expected to follow this rule because it
shows them how to be respectful to others. When everyone is being respectful the
classroom environment is more positive and relaxed.
This was demonstrated to the students in the beginning of the year by
Mrs. Ott. She had one of the students stand up and pretend to be a
teacher giving a lesson, and she looked around the room, played with her
hair, and started talking to someone beside her. The students were asked
if that is a correct way to listen to the speaker. A student was chosen to
model how you should listen to the speaker while Mrs. Ott pretended to
read a book.
2) Raise Your Hand: Students will be expected to raise their hands during
instructional time. If students were to not raise their hand before talking or going
somewhere, I would not be able to keep track of them. It also keeps students
from crowding around the teacher during independent work or disrupting another
student. A student raising their hand creates classroom safety and community and
also respect.
This was modeled by Mrs. Ott on the first day of school. A student was
chosen to be the teacher. The teacher is asked to ask the students an
obvious question, such as What color is my shirt? Mrs. Ott shouted out
an answer. All the students looked at her. She apologized to the class and
to the teacher saying that it was very rude to do that. She explained to
the students that they should raise their hands to answer or ask questions.
By doing this, they can show the teacher and others respect.
3) Do Your Best: Students will always be expected to do their best. Students need
to understand that they need to do their best to be successful. They also need to
understand that their best may not be anothers best. This concept will boast
student confidence and create classroom community. Students will not be
comparing themselves to others or putting others down for their work.
During a simple writing assignment, Mrs. Ott put a piece of paper on
the document camera. She began to write very sloppy while she slumped
over in her chair. She changed positions and laid her head down and
continued to write. The students began to notice that she was not doing
her best work and began to raise their hands, asking her what she was
doing and why. She asked what they meant. She explained to her what
she was doing and that she should not do that. She took that moment to
teach the students about doing their best work and always showing that
they care. The topic came up another time during reading. In one of the
first lessons of Lucy Calkins, the teacher is supposed to explain how
good readers sit and how they read a story. You do not want to read like
a curmudgeon. They read like they could care less about the story.
4) Keep Your Hands and Feet to Yourself: This rule allows students to feel safe
and have a sense of personal space. This rule also keeps students from
aggravating or annoying other students. When students keep their hands and feet
to themselves, it illuminates possible problems from developing.
Mrs. Ott did not model this rule. She explained to students that she
would have modeled it, but she did not want to even show it. That
touching others is very disrespectful and can get you in a lot of trouble.
C. Hierarchy of Consequences:
The class has four main rules that they will follow. Students will sign a contract
to show that they agree to the rules. If they break the contract, consequences will
be followed. Students will feel more comfortable with knowing they agreed to
the rules. The following steps are taken if a student breaks a rule.
First offense: Students will be verbally reminded of the rules and expected
to make a better decision.
Second offense: Student will receive a note home to their parent or guardian.
The note will explain the childs behavior and need to be returned back the
next day signed. Student will also lose half their recess time and be expected
to walk during that time. The student will also lose their privilege of talking
at lunch.
Third offense: If the day continues and the behavior has not changed, or
their parent note never came back, students will be expected to call home and
talk to their parents about their behavior. The student will also lose their
entire recess time and expected to walk. They will also have a silent lunch at
another table.
Forth offense: Students will be sent to the principal with a write up
explaining the childs behavior. This will only occur if the student has no
intentions of changing their behavior.
o A minor write up: This write up will be sent home to the parent to
be signed. The teacher has the right to decide the classroom
punishment.
Examples for a minor write up:
Inappropriate Language
Minor Physical Contact
Disrespect
Disruption

o A major write up: This write up will be sent home to the parent to
be signed. The principal decides the punishment for the child. The
punishment could be days of in school suspension, out of school
suspension, or expelled from the school.
Examples for a major write up:
Abusive/Inappropriate Language
Fighting
Bullying/Harassment/Discrimination
Physical Aggression
Insubordination
Disruption
Property Damage/Vandalism
 D. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reinforcements:
1) Intrinsic Reinforcement: Students will be taught how to give themselves
intrinsic reinforcement. Students will be asked to give themselves a pat on the
back or verbally praised for answering a difficult question, helping another
student, or for simply following the directions.
2) Extrinsic Reinforcement: Students will be given a small portion of candy, a
book mark, or a small eraser for doing well all day. This means the student had to
be on their best behavior and followed all the rules that day. If the entire class
was doing well that day they, each student will be given a larger portion of candy
at the end of the day. For example: instead of three skittles, they will each receive
five. If the class did exceptionally well all week they will be allowed to have
extra Chromebook, extra time to read, or use GoNoodle.

2. Non-Instructional Routines and Procedures:

A. Begin Class: Students will come in and eat breakfast in the cafeteria. When they are
finished they will sit in the monitored hallway until 7:30 A.M. As they enter the room
they will unpack their book bags and put them and their jackets on the provided hooks.
They will choose their lunch choice and sit at their desks. Attendance will be taken from
the lunch count. Morning work will be waiting on their desks for them to complete. At
8:00 A.M. we will circle on the rug for morning meeting. Students will greet their
classmates, tell stories, and go over the daily learning goals. We then quickly go over
morning work. The morning work being at the end of the morning routine helps students
transition into the math lesson. This morning routine also helps students learn more about
one another and allows them to get ready for the day.
B. End Class: Students will be asked to meet at the carpet for the closing meeting. During
this meeting students will recap what they learned and reflect on their overall classroom
behavior. Students will then be asked to pull out their agendas and write down their
homework. Students will be reminded to get their agendas signed if they have a note in it.
All paperwork and worksheets will be placed or stapled in the students agendas.
Students will be completely packed before recess. As soon as they are back from recess,
the buses, van, and car riders are called.
C. Distribute/Collect: Group helpers are established every Monday morning. These four
students will take responsibility to pass out and collect any supplies needed off the group
bookshelf. The paper patrol helper will take the responsibility of passing out papers for
day to day activities, as well as papers that need to go home. The paper collector helper
will collect any papers that the students turn in, as long as it is not a test or previously
been graded. For activities that require a lot of materials or could be difficult, the teacher
will set up the activity during related arts, lunch, or recess so that instruction time is not
suffering.
D. Classroom Helpers: There will be a student chosen every two weeks to be the bathroom
monitor. They will create the sign in sheet on the bathroom door and they will
periodically check for messes. There will be one student chosen every two weeks to carry
the emergency bag to related arts, lunch, and recess. Another student will be chosen to
help keep the room tidy. They would make sure desks are straight and the lunch choice
cards are back in their rightful place before we leave each day. They are also responsible
for changing the date on the board. A student will also be chosen to be the classroom
librarian. The librarian will straighten all books in the classroom. This may be the books
in the baskets in the cubbies, or the baskets on the bookshelves. These helpers will be
assigned according to a job application that they filled out in the beginning of the school
year. The students chose the top three jobs they would like to have and explained why
 they would be good at that job.
E. Routines:
1) Pencil Sharpening: Students will have a container full of sharpened pencils
at the beginning of each week. If one breaks, they use another in the
container and bring me the unsharpened pencil. Students will not use the
pencil sharpener to reduce noise in the classroom and prevent the sharpener
from breaking.
2) Bathroom Breaks: Students will be free to use the classroom bathroom
throughout the day. If they need to go during instructional time, they will be
asked to be quiet and be quick to not miss too much. If a student goes to the
bathroom and notices a mess before they go, they will notify me or the
person on the sign in sheet before them. The responsibility to clean the mess
is the person before the one who tells about the mess. If they refuse to clean
their mess, the janitor will be called and they will not be allowed to use the
classroom bathroom.
3) Transitioning: Students will be called to line up in line order. The line order
would be according to their assigned number. We will not exit the classroom
until everyone is in line and ready to be respectful. The student carrying the
emergency bag will be the line leader. When entering the hallway, they
should be quiet and follow the black tiles on the hall. The line leader will
stop at the designated stops throughout the hall.
F. Emergency Situations: Students will be taught several times throughout the year of what
to do in case of an emergency. They will know what to do or where to go during a fire,
tornado, earthquake, or intruder. For a fire, the teacher will calmly tell students to stop
what they are doing and quietly line up at the door. The teacher will grab the attendance
clipboard and emergency bag and instruct students to walk quickly to the class meeting
spot. Once we arrive in the meeting spot students will be accounted for. For a tornado,
earthquake, or an intruder, students know to lock the door, cut the lights out, and find a
safe place in the room away from windows. There will be mock emergencies to prepare
students throughout the year. We will treat the situations as though they are real. Parents
will be notified prior to the mock emergencies to prepare them.