Example of Field Notes

6th Visit; 1st grade inclusive classroom; 5 students with autism, all high functioning. Worked directly with two of them today.

Before entering the classroom, I always arrive during recess.I join Mrs. T, talk with her and observe the students.

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Help Mrs. T plan a lesson; putting words like forest, tree, rivers, sister, brother, mother, kind into categories like "mother nature", "family", "actions" to begin a lesson plan on Native Americans

-Observed Mrs. T read the book "Brother Eagle, Sister Sky" to the students; she had them to a picture tour (looking thorugh at the pictures and sharing their observations)

-Completed an "I Know (K), What I Want to Know (W), & What I Learned (L)" chart.

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Switched to do sensory wok with Mary; assisted her in using the blue ball and trampoline.

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Observed Mrs. T do reading activities with Mary

Mrs. T asks "Is your brain ready?" to see if the sensory work was enough for Mary to continue with her academic work. Mrs. T does reading from a large book. Ask Mary to sound out the letter. Points to each one with the end of a pencil.

Next activity was "sound it out, get ready."

The students sound out the word, letter by letter. they start at the dot and follow the arrow. in thw word sick, the k is smaller than the rest of the letter because Mrs. T does not point to individually, in turn, not confusing her student. The a has a line above it to indicate a specific sound.

After reading, did more trampoline with Mary. once again "Is your brain ready?"

Mrs. T then did the sme reading activties with Rachel while Mary worked with an assistant. With Rachel, Mrs. T have more specifc directions more often. She also had Rachel go up to the board and spell out the words with magents letters. This is better for Rachel because she enjoys being up and doing things with her hands. allows her to feel like she has some control over the activity. Mrs. T role plays as the student with Rachel and she says to Mrs. T. "Sound it, get ready." Mrs. T has her use magnet letters because she is unable to write due to her dysgraphia, a type of motor impairment that she lets me know she has.