My week 7
next steps for my class were:
- · Develop smooth transitions in the Daily 5.
- · Read a book and retell it (one of the strategies used in read to self, see post: Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser Chapter 4).
- · Have children explaining the strategy’s they are using in maths.
- · Progress from using material to imagery – maths.
- · I also want to do more modelling in the class so that children can use it as a guideline and build on it.
The class has been quite testing this week after I thought
they had come right, but that’s ok I am keeping on top of it and trying to be
consistent with my behaviour management systems. I have one student who is
consistently off task and distracting other students so I have moved him to the
front of the class and he has circles drawn in chalk on the carpet that he is
not allowed out of and others students aren't allowed in. I’m not sure that
this is minimizing his distractions but I will trial for another week.
Daily 5 has
gone ok this week, very similar to last. One of the class goals was to achieve
smooth transitions when the timer goes off and I don’t think the class has
achieved the smooth transition technique just yet as they still mill about and
muck around going onto their next task. This will continue to be our focus over
the next 2-3 weeks until it is satisfactory. My timer system is working well as
I don’t have to change it as it is all set up which saves me a lot of time. I
have a 7 minute fruit break which I have also made a brain break and in this
time the students watch and copy a short exercise film just to wake them up ~
they have responded well to this and I can see them enjoying this new activity. You can view these on my class Wiki under Brain Breaks.
I was trying
to think of a way to get children doing every activity of the Daily5 over the
week and during our staff meeting my tutor teacher said that her class has to
do each activity every second day so I implemented this into my programme. Most
of the class are following this however I have caught out a few doing the same
activity twice in a row.
I believe
that my maths rotations are progressing well with children knowing the
expectations and clearly demonstrating them. I have been trying really hard
this week to ask the children questions about how they got an answer and I
think they are slowly getting the hang of this however I need to be feeding
more vocab into them so they can provide me with a rich explanation.
I said I
would be starting a Wall Calendar which I have and the children are responding
well to it. My Wall Calendar consists of:
- · Estimating the amount of marshmallows.
- · Reading and then predicting the temperature.
- · A number equation and a word problem.
Each day
before school two different children have to solve the number and word problem
which we then work through as a whole class. I am using two similar problems to
help children make the connections between them. I have found it has stemmed
some discussions children wouldn't otherwise have, such as the difference in
temperature between inside and out. This was started after a student said the
heat pump will be making it warmer. This then gave some the idea that we could
have two temperature gauges – one inside and one outside which we would then be
able to compare. I am going to stay with just the one inside for next week
until they can efficiently read it and then in week 9 set up another outside.
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| Wall Calendar WALT |
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| Maths Wall Calendar |
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| Birthday graph. |
Next week I am moving into fractions and after planning the
content I am hoping the students will be able to make connections from what we
have been learning about in Multiplication and Division.
I have just
started a new writing unit that focuses on the structure of fairy tales.
Students have been working to identify the beginning, middle, end, problem,
solution and characters. We are working towards creating our own fairy tales
with the correct structure and punctuation. I have started using ready to read
fairy tale books to help children with this.
Our writing fluency is going great with all students making
an improvement from the first time we did it.
I am out of the class on Tuesday for a Phonics and Early
Words course and on Wednesday for a PRT course on 21st Century
Learners so next week is going to fly by.
My week 8
next step goals are:
- · Develop smooth transitions in the Daily 5.
- · Have children explaining the strategy’s they are using in maths.
- · Consistently use the class Wall Calendar.
- · Feed rich vocab into the students.
Just remember two steps forward, one step back with regards to the students behaviour. It can be hard when you out of the classroom with your PRT days and when you go on courses. I think at this stage they are just trying to test and see if you are going to be consistent. Once they have established this I think you will be right, and you are getting there with the majority of the class so celebrate that. That one student who is off task is going to continue to stay off task no matter what you do - just stick with what you are doing until we get results back regarding his testing and don't stress too much because you do have other students in your class as well - it's not fair for him to take up all your time.
ReplyDeleteOn the Daily 5 transitions - have you talked to your class about having a sense of urgency (it's one of the Daily 5 processes) but do they know why they have to have a sense of urgency?? I explained to my class that we have to have a sense of urgency otherwise it will take us longer to become better readers (I use it in all curriculum areas too) and because they know what level they are and what their goals are and the fact that they are competitive and want to be in a higher group than their friends, they respond and speed up when I say do you have a sense of urgency? There will always be stragglers but if you can get the majority doing the right thing they tend to put pressure on the few not doing it - peer pressure can be a powerful thing (not mean bullying peer pressure ;D).
Try this site - it has stuff for kids that aren't paying attention but some could work for that child.
ReplyDeletehttp://anethicalisland.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/pay-attention-please/
Love that timer Katie. I am going to try it this week at reading - at least then I know it will go off every 10 minutes. Will let you know how it goes.
ReplyDelete