Class Overview based on observations and data

Use readings from the past to describe your class of students:

Taylor & Whittaker; Bridging Multiple Worlds; Delpit; Nieto; Understanding Culture Brief; Hoeksema; Petersen & Hittie; Pearson
202 book; Woolfolk Chap 2, 3, 5; Levine
Culture in Mrs. Peots class is very diverse. Children come from all different backgrounds. There are
three ELL students in the class (their first languages being Spanish, Hebrew, and Japanese), a few
single parent families, and 25 different sets of traditions and backgrounds. While there are similarities
Culture
across the board, each child comes to Mrs. Peots class with a unique cultural and family background.

Race & Ethnicity

Social SystemsPeers & Family

Moral, Spiritual, and

Faith Development

Attention & Memory

Language

The vast majority of students in Mrs. Peots third grade class are white. There is one student who
appears to be of Native American descent, one who is light skinned, but from Peru, and one who is
Japanese. The other 22 are light skinned.

Getting to know the students this semester has given me insight into their social systems. The students
have their own set friend groups, and though there is some blending across these lines, they usually
have out with the same set of friends.

The students have a good sense of understanding when it comes to morals. All over the classroom
there are words hanging from the ceiling:
Loyal
Considerate
Unselfish
Thoughtful
Responsible
Respectful
Ambitious
Polite
Respectful
The students also came up with their own set of rules to Rule the School:
1. One speaker at a time
2. Be responsible for helping keep our room clean
3. Be patient and flexible
4. Follow class expectations
5. Stay quiet in line
6. Be supportive and encourage
7. Respect others space
8. Be kind, caring, and respectful
9. Always pay attention with your ears and eyes
10. Try to use the bathroom when Mrs. Peot is not teaching
11. Get to work right away
12. Always push in your chair
13. Try your best
The students are able to uphold these commitments well.
There are about 7 students in the classroom who struggle with attention and memory. They have a
difficult time when there is a large amount of reading to be done (such as a weekly reader or a test).
They have trouble staying focused on the task that they are asked to do and often require one on one
help from Mrs. Peot or me.

Two of the students in this class have a difficult time academically because of a language barrier. Two
ELL students (one who has Hebrew as her first language and another who has Japanese as her first
language) have a difficult time achieving high scores on tests and papers because they dont

Motor &
Spatial/Sequential
Ordering

Higher Order Thinking

understand the vocabulary as well as the other students.

There is one student in the class who has a difficult time being flexible. Mrs. Peot has a card that she
puts on his desk when he is upset that says, be flexible with a picture of a rubber band on it. This is a
reminder to him that he needs to be able to work well with other people. He seems to have a difficult
time with spatial/sequential ordering because every day he is supposed to work with a reading
specialist at 8:25, yet he needs a reminder every day to go down to her room.
There are several students in the class who excel in their thinking. One time the students were
presenting book reports and the class was critiquing them. The students were able to be effective
critics and think deeply and give good advice about what their classmates had done well and what they
could improve on.

There is one student in the classroom who is only diagnosed with ADD, but seems to have more
disabilities than that. Mrs. Peot met with his parents, and they are looking into doing a full evaluation
in order to determine what steps to take.
Ability & Disability

Create
Evaluate
Analyze
Apply
Understand
Remember