Blackhurst Elementary Classroom Observation

I observed Laua Kapeller’s fourth grade class at Blackhurst elementary on November 18, 2016. The concept of the day was to refresh the students on perimeter and area of objects for the subject of math. The methods Ms. Kapeller used to teach the students was by power point and wooden block that were one-inch-wide and one inch in height. She explained the directions to the class first before handing out the blocks. She separated the class into partners and later on in the activity the partners had to form a group by joining other partners because of the amount of blocks the activity called for. The students also provided feedback when Ms. Kapeller would ask the class what the answers were to the problem they were working out with the blocks as well as thumb ups and downs to check for understanding. After the blocks, she used classroom objects as example of area and perimeter and she had the students find small rectangular

Kapeller used both verbal and written instructions to instruct the students what to do with the cubes so if a student preferred one of the two instructional styles they could rely on one or both. She also paired up the students so that if they felt like they were not understanding they had a partner to help in understanding. She also told the students that if they still were not understanding they could ask for her individual help. She used multiple activities to address each learning style. She used the block activity and the activity where students find their own objects and measure them to find their area. First, Ms. Kapeller modeled the activity and put the equation to find the area on the board. After a few round, she took the equation off of the board and did the activity again and the students had memorized the formula when she asked the class as a whole. She repeated her instruction several times so if some verbal student leaners needed to hear it again they could and she also had a power point available for the visual