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Danielle C. Hicks Teaching Science to Children Mrs.

McClary April 16, 2014

Knowing the School and Classroom

Brookdale Elementary School which is a public school is located on 394 Brookdale Drive Orangeburg S.C. 29115. Brookdale is located in Orangeburg district five and the school contains grades K-5 and in total they have 346 students and 22 teachers. There are 333 African American students 4 Hispanic and 9 White students. Within the school 164 of the students are boys and 182 are girls. The schools appearance seems to be maintained fairly. It is located in a residential neighborhood in which the homes seemed to be nicely kept and the surrounding areas seem be maintained fairly. As I stated previously the school is located in the city of Orangeburg. Orangeburg is a small and quaint little town. The areas

of Orangeburg that I have seen do not seem to be maintained that well. A lot of the buildings in the surrounding area do not seem to be kept up and the landscaping could use a lot of help. Brookdale did not do that well in Science or the other subjects (Math, Science, and English) as indicated by the most recent School Report Card. On the PASS test 53.9 did not meet the requirements, 39.5 met the requirements and only 6.6 did exemplary. These results mean that the school needs to make more advanced efforts to make sure that the students are receiving extra help in science so that a higher percentage will have exemplary scores. The specific efforts that are being enforced are that the teachers are receiving some professional development in order to be able to assist the students better and the students are being provided with additional resources that can be taken home to assist them in the areas of science that they are weak. While walking around the neighborhood immediately surrounding the school the neighborhood appears to be a little below average. As of the census of 2010, there were 13,964 people, 4,512 households, and 2,526 families residing in Orangeburg. The racial makeup of the city was 75.04% African American, 28.41% White, 0.18% Native American, 1.74% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander Hispanic or Latino were 1.9% of the population. The median income for a household

in the city was $30,306, and the median income for a family was $37,008. Males had a median income of $30,310 versus $21,935 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,263. About 17.9% of families and 24.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.7% of those under age 18 and 14.8% of those ages 65 or over. Even though the neighborhood does not appear to be that exquisite there are various simple aspects that can be used to enrich the childrens lives and serve as teacher aids. For example, there are a variety of large rocks that are in the neighborhood and underneath these rocks are a variety of insects. This can peek the students curiosity and cause them to want to learn more about various forms of insects. Additionally the teacher could conduct a portion of her lesson outside and have the students look at and hold the insects while she teaches them about them. Mr. Burgesss class is located to the left right as you enter the school. The classroom is in fair condition, the walls look as if they could use a fresh coat of paint and the floors look like they need to be mopped and swept. The students seem as if they would be more energetic to come to class if the class was decorated more brightly and if there was more posters and brightly colored classroom materials within the class.

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