About My Classroom

Currently, I am a fifth grade teacher at Hayfield Elementary School. We are one of 142 elementary schools in the Fairfax County School District! The school is very socially and economically diverse. Living near Washington D.C. means I have a lot of transient students from all over the world. Because of this diversity, I have been able to experience a lot of different cultures!

Description of my Students

I have 27 students with diverse learning needs. I have a range of cultures in my class including students from Sudan, Ethiopia, China, India, as well as students who have lived in other countries. About 50% of my students have parents who are or were in the military. Because of the diverse school experiences in my class, I have a wide range of student abilities. Some students speak multiple languages, some students take care of multiple siblings, and some students are on competitive sports teams. With such a unique mix of students, I have had such a great experience learning and growing with them.

Emphasis of Positivity

In my classroom, we focus on the positive. We focus on giving others "put-ups" instead of "put-downs." I model this by creating a postive classroom community. Every day I ask my students how they are doing. I make sure to have a conversation with each student every week. We talk about their family, sports games, dinosaurs, or any topic they bring up. I also keep up positive relationships by incoporating relevant things like selfies or the Quan. The students love being able to take things from songs or home and apply them in the classroom. My classroom also focuses on the positive by having a positive behavior reward system. Students can earn a SOAR card each day which they can then turn in for a reward like sitting in the teacher chair or having lunch in the classroom.

Hands-On Learning

Students learn much better when they can actually experience what they are learning! That is why I include as much hands on learning in my classroom as possible. While it is very hard to use manipulatives for every lesson, I try to include them whenever possible. During math, students have learned measuring tools by measuring with rulers, graduated cylinders, and scales. In science, they have learned about reflection by bending light 'through' a textbook using mirrors and a flashlight. Students also learn the parts of an experiment by going through the scientific process. When learning about ancient China, my students created their own Terracotta Warrior by drawing themselves onto paper. Students are much more engaged during these lessons and in the end, learn so much more!

Incoporating Technology

Technology has become such a huge part of our daily lives so I try to include technology as much as possible in my classroom. Students complete a Global Awareness Technology Project where they must research another culture and present what they learned through a multimedia presentation. I have students show their work and answer questions on the SMART board. Students use laptops and iPads to present book reports, read, or create presentations on Pixie or Microsoft Powerpoint. Technology allows the students to show their thinking in a variety of ways. At this point, the students know how to do more with technology then I do!

Communicating and Working Together

In my classroom, we do a lot of group work. In fifth grade, we work on learning how to cooperate and compromise when working with others. We also work on how to have respectful disagreements by saying things like "I understand what you are saying but I disagree." Students learn to communicate with one another and demonstrate their thinking by providing specific details. Our communication through group work can be seen in literacy circles (where students lead the discussion), class debates over eating meat, and presenting research about science and social studies. Sometimes students work in groups of 4 or 5 and sometimes they work in pairs. Either way, working with others allows students to see different perspectives as well as helps students learn by working with peers at different levels.

Jessica Thimm