The Students
The school provides integrated academic, enrichment, and therapeutic services to children in grades K‐12, with the goal of enabling each student to become a confident and successful learner. Offering an academically rigorous curriculum aligned with the New York State Learning Standards, Aaron employs an individualized approach to ensure student success while preparing them for successful post-secondary educational experiences and professional careers. The classroom that I was in had seven first grade students who were either six or seven years old. Six of the seven students were white, one was Chinese. All of the students recieved speech and occupational therapy two times a week. The students had language or social and emotional delays. Each classroom has between six and fifteen students. Each classroom has a head teacher and an assistant teacher. Any classroom that has twelve or more students has two assistant teachers. The ratio at this school is roughly 6 students to 1 teacher. The students are 82.8% male and 17.2% female. 86% of the school is white. Black, Asian and Hispanic students make up 3% of the school population individually. The remainder of the student population is listed as two or more races. All students speak English. Most students live in apartment buildings, the rest live in homes. Most students that attend Aaron live in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx. The school offers busing for every student. About 50% of the students ride the bus and about 50% of the students get dropped off or picked up by a family member or babysitter. The transportation of each student can change daily or weekly. Some students take the bus on some days but get picked up on others. The students pay around 57,000 a year for elementary school. Some students pay less if they go through insurance. The school also offers one after school program a day which the students can pay extra for. Some programs are gym, cooking, dance, technology, and different clubs. Each student is required to bring their own lunch to school. There is no cafeteria or place for the students to buy any food. The school does however have snacks that the students can have. Some snacks include pretzels, goldfish, nutrigrain bars, cherrios, cookies, and graham crackers. Most students attend Aaron School for multiple years. There is an admission process that the students have to go through in order to be accepted.
The Teachers and Administration
The staff at Aaron is mainly women. There are approximately 5 men who work at the school. Most of the staff is white although, there are some women of color throughout the school. There is a head of school, principal, business manager, admissions director, speech therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, teachers, and assistant teachers, Most of the staff lives in Manhattan, Long Island, or New Jeresy.
About The Classroom
The classroom is located right across from the gym on the first level of the Aaron School. As for staff there is a head teacher and an assistant. In this classroom the students sit and tables rather then desks. The students are each given a different number to line up on that corresponds with their job during morning meeting.These are the spots the students line up on when transitioning to different specials or activities. The students follow the same morning routine everyday. Students unpack and sign in then read a story until morning meeting. During morning meeting students get a preview at what will be taking place during the day on the daily schedule. Students also discuss the weather, days of the week, month, and count how many days they have been in school. The students go to two, three, or four specials a day. Specials include music, gym, library, art, social skills, and technology. Everyday students do reading, math, writing, language arts, and handwriting. Science and social studies are switched off daily. Students are separated for math and reading based on ability level. Some students leave the room and go to other classrooms during these time periods. Reading lasts for forty -five minutes each day and math lasts for thirty minutes each day. There is a SMART Board in the classroom; which is used very frequently for learning and movement breaks. Technology plays a huge role in this classroom. Students in the room also receive special “turns” where they see speech therapists and occupational therapists twice a week. Students practice math concepts all day long without even realizing it. Students begin the day counting how many days they have been in school, graphing weather, and identifying different activities during different times of the day. During the day students learn and review math concepts very frequently without even being in math class.
Academics at Aaron
Aaron School uses the EnVisions Math Curriculum. Aaron School uses the Fundations Reading Program. The students are reading and writing all day long. Students identify new words and add it to their word wall, take spelling tests, learn new letters, identify upper and lower case, and read books. Aaron School uses a program called “Handwriting Without Tears”. This program allows students to get a hand on approach to learning both uppercase and lowercase letters. After mastering upper and lower case students are taught how to write numbers. Handwriting Without Tears gives students a hand on approach to learning letters. There are big lines, little lines, big curves and little curves, which are wooden pieces that students use to build letters. There is also chalk boards and foam boards where students can write or make letters based on specific lines. Students follow certain guidelines and use specific wording when forming letters. For example, “start at the starting corner”, “big line down”, and “bump”. The teachers read at least one book a day to the students. During this time students answer “wh” questions to ensure there understanding. During “free time” or “down time” students have the choice to read a book or complete their morning binder. In the morning binder students write down information from morning meeting.
Aside from academics students have either choice time or park time everyday. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays students go to the park therefore they do not have choice time. Monday, Thursday and Friday the students have thirty minutes for choice time where they are given the opportunity to choose one of three activities to do. The overall classroom is set up really nicely. The classroom is really organized and everything is labeld. Students have access to everything they may need and know where to find things. There are alot of colors, pictures, and student work around the room so it is a very warm and welcoming place to be.