Symbol Rich

Descriptive:
      My practicum classroom is symbol-rich. I walked in on the first day and I said “Wow!” The walls were covered with literacy. On one wall there were familiar items, such as cereal boxes, logos of food items, logos of toy companies, and logos of different vacation spots. The title of this section was, “See you can read!” On the front wall next to the white board was the calendar. Here you will find the days of the week, the names of the months, yesterday, today, tomorrow, names of the seasons, names of numbers (zero through ten), names of coins (penny, nickel, dime, quarter), and the word calendar. The alphabet is up with all to see with pictures to go with each letter. The alphabet is posted directly above the white board in front of the classroom.
      In addition, to the calendar wall, the alphabet, and the ‘you can read’ items around the room are also labeled. Items such as the door, the window, the trash can, the recycling can, the crayons, the markers, and the directions (north, east, south, west). The students’ names are posted in multiple areas of the room. There is the job chart, which has the job name written on the chart and each student has a frog that has their name on it to match to the  job they are asked to do when the teacher pulls their name. Another area is on the cupboards above the sink, which is to the left when you first walk into this classroom. On the cupboard the children made self-portraits. Attached to the self-portraits are three sentences the students came up with. Two of the sentences are ‘I like” and the last is ‘I dislike’. These sentences include each student’s name. The students’ names are also posted on ‘warm fuzzies’ that are on the wall to the right when you come. These symbolize how they should treat one another. The final two spots that have the students’ names are the cubbies the students put their backpacks and jackets in for school as well as on their desks. The name tags on the desk also have the alphabet, a number line (0-20), colors (picture and name), shapes (picture and name), as well as numbers (how to write).
      In this classroom, there is a quiet reading area. This area includes bean bags for sitting on while reading as well as pleasure books to read. In this area, the teacher has a bulletin board of her favorite books to read. She talks about this board with her students and said, “Everyone likes different books. I am so excited to find out what your favorite books are this year!” The teacher also has book tubs that are leveled for her readers. This is helpful because the students learn what tub they are allowed to choose from, allowing the students to have access to the tubs at any time to pick a book to read.
      Some may be wondering, “What about a word wall?” This classroom does not have a word wall, but instead the students have word journals they are allowed to use. They may ask how to spell certain words, but they must first attempt the word by sounding it out. This allows them to know what letter to open their word journal to when asking to for a correct spelling.
      The final part of this symbol rich environment is the writing the teacher has on the board. Daily, the class and teacher use the board for agenda writing, journal writing, and writing activities. I now know what I would like to have in my symbol rich classroom setting to assist in my students’ literacy development.