My Classroom (Introduction/ General Characteristics)

     I have recently started my teaching experience in a first grade classroom.  I will be teaching the 
subject of mathematics to the students in my class.  We will be focusing on the topic of measurement
and data.  The main Common Core State Standard that we will be focusing on is:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.C.4

• Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.

    My classroom is in a Title 1 school, which means over 40% of the students in my building are on free and reduced lunch.  My classroom consists of approximately 60% white, 20% Hispanic, 15% mixed race, and 5% African American.  There are roughly the same number of males and females. The students range from the age of five years old to seven years old.  The economic status of the students in my classroom range widely.  We have some students whose families are in the middle to upper income, a majority of my students are in the lower income, and we even have a few students who are placed in foster homes.
    While many of my students have a great attitude towards school at this age, I also have a few students who have so many other distractions at home that school does not seem to be their first priority, unfortunately.