K.

Curran
Unit Plan
Class Profile

I teach at Waterloo Elementary School located in Columbia, Maryland.
Waterloo was opened in 1964 and had undergone many renovations over the years;
its most recent in 2009, which changed the layout from an open classroom floor
plan to now a more traditional closed classroom approach. Waterloos enrollment
peaked this school year at 800 students made up of roughly 32% African American
students, 23% Asian students, 34% White students, 8% Hispanic students and 6% of
the students being two or more races. Based of the 2011 school year, less than 5%
of Waterloos student population was considered to have limited English
proficiency, 23% received free and reduced meals and about 13% of the population
received special education services. This school also houses two Howard County
Regional Programs including an Early Childhood Center and the Program for
Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities (ED).
Due to numbers, third grade had four average size classes holding roughly 25
students, then a fifth classroom that held roughly 18 students. I taught in the small
classroom. The scheduled followed by third grade was also unique, we
departmentalized. Each teacher taught two blocks per school day. Language arts
teachers were responsible for teaching: reading, writing, social studies and health.
Social studies and health were not taught everyday. Math teachers were
responsible for teaching: math, science and health. Due to the odd number of
teachers, the team leader taught one block of language arts and one block of
math. I was considered a language arts teacher.

K.Curran
Unit Plan
Our daily schedule was as follows:
9:15-9:30- Students enter their homeroom classrooms (unpack and get ready for
the day)
9:30-10:30- Block 1 (typically writing)
10:30-11:30- Related Arts (students return to their homeroom classes and attend
specials)
11:30-11:35- Snack (students return to their Block 1 classes for a small, healthy
snack brought from home)
11:35-12:30- Block 1 (typically reading groups and writing carry over)
12:30-1:20- Block 2 (students switch to their block 2 classroom)
1:20-1:50- Lunch
1:50-2:20- Recess
2:20-3:35- Block 2
3:35-3:45- Dismissal (students return to their homeroom classes and pack up for
the day)
This unit will be instruction that will be provided to my block 1 class. I have
decided to focus on this group of students because 5 special education students
were included in this group of 17 students. Block 1 includes 9 boys and 8 girls. Of
those 17 students, 5 had IEPs, 2 students had 504s, 6 students are above grade level
readers, 5 students are on grade level readers and 6 students are below grade level
readers. Additionally within the group of 17, 7 students were African American, 2
students were Asian and 8 students were white. Behaviorally, 1 student received
services from the Alternative Educator, and 2 additional students had individual
K.Curran
Unit Plan
behavior charts. The majority of the school finds success while following our school
wide PBIS program, which is a way for students and teachers to monitor behavior
both positive and negative.
In third grade language arts, we have fully implemented Common Core
therefore, traditional reading groups no longer exist. Reading groups in my
classroom are mixed ability groups that require all students to read on grade level
text, with extension for those above grade level students. For timing reasons and
additional pull out, 3 of the 5 IEP students in my block 1 were always called in the
same reading rotation group. Students have reading binders that follow Jan
Richardsons style of teaching. At the point in the year this writing lesson will be
taught, students are familiar with how to set up, store and use their journals.
Additionally by this time in the school year, students would be familiar with the
LINCs vocabulary cards as well. Howard County has designed a writing framework,
which outlines the expectations and standards to be covered during the unit. I use
this framework as a guide when teaching the writing units. Waterloo also has an in-
house reading support teacher who works with teachers to ensure their instruction
means the needs of the students and expectations of the county.