Diversity in a Kindergarten Classroom: A Clinical Placement Experience

For my Core I clinical placement, I am in a Kindergarten classroom at Highland Park Elementary School in Manchester, Connecticut. Highland Park is one of nine elementary schools in the Manchester Public Schools district. The Kindergarten classroom I am in has a total of nineteen students, ranging from ages four to six, eleven of whom are males and eight of whom are females. This is a very diverse classroom with seven Caucasian students, five African American students, two Asian-American students, four White-Hispanic students, and one Black-Hispanic student. There are many adults that circle in and out of the classroom throughout the day, but the general education teacher and a paraprofessional are the two adults that are in the classroom the

The general education teacher classified five of her students as on average readers, ten of her students as above average readers, and four of her students as below average readers.

Highland Park Elementary School places high emphasis on English Language Arts (ELA). The Kindergarten classes at this school use ELA standards such as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.2, and CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.1 to drive instruction. The district requires them to use materials such as Fountas and Pinnell leveled books and assessments. They have also created their own list of sight words that students should know in each grade level based on Dolch and Fry sight word lists. The district also places high emphasis

One element of the ELA classroom I would keep is the literacy centers. Every week the teacher, creates new literacy centers that emphasize important concepts. Some centers I have seen is the IPad center, the classroom library center, and an environment print center. While literacy centers are taking place, the general education teacher works separately with different reading groups, to strengthen their literacy skills. Throughout the week, students cycle through the different centers, practicing a wide variety of literacy skills. One element of the ELA classroom I would tweak or change is the set-up the teacher uses for turn-and-talk. I really enjoy the concept of sitting shoulder to shoulder to turn-and-talk, but in this setting, the students talk to the same partner every time. In my classroom, I would keep turn-and-talk and use it frequently but I would change up the pairings every time that way students have the opportunity to talk to different students and hear what their other peers have to