End of Year Reflection!

Well it has certainly been a busy year with so much learning taking place for both my learners and I. This has been my first year in a junior classroom and I have absolutely loved it. This is just a quick reflection as most of my reflection is either in my blog or on myPortfolio and done during term time.

Next year I am continuing in the same class with some of my kids moving up a class and gaining some New Entrants through out the term/year.

Mathematic - I have enjoyed maths this year. In my class I had Stages 0-5 that I was teaching which was pretty good as I was able to pull kids depending on their needs rather than classifying them at Stage 4 and only focusing on that content. Next year I plan on running my maths programme similar to the Daily 5 where children have more choice. I also had some really good PD in maths from Brenda Walker at Te Toi Tupu through the Waikato University. It was such a great course and I learnt heaps of simple, practical ideas that I use in my classroom everyday. Some which I have referenced in my blog through out the term.

Reading - This has been a steep learning area for me as I haven't had to teach children how to handle a book and start from the basics. My kids made good progress however I believe they have the potential to make even more, and I have a few ideas that I would like to try for my inquiry next year. At the beginning of the year I was running the Early Words programme but found it wasn't working effectively for myself or my learners (this was partly down to time constraints and students not completing activities for homework). I then implemented the use of high frequency words and these can be found in many places in our class. So far it has had a positive outcome on my students learning and I am looking for ways as to how I can adapt it next year.

Writing - In our school writing was a big PD focus so we were working with Louise Dempsey, Lisa from the University of Waikato as well a cluster of local schools. For me personally writing is a weak area so I found the PD that we received very valuable. I still have so much to learn in writing and look forward to developing my writing programme next year.

Topic - For topic at the beginning of the year I was doing a 5-10 week theme however I found that my kids were getting bored as it was going to long. So I changed this to 1-2 weeks long and this has worked much better as their focus is sustained.

Maori - I am not very confident in this area of the classroom however I believe the only way for me to develop as a teacher is to have a go and if it doesn't work then I can reflect on why and change it accordingly. Our last focus was Kai and my class looked at the process of Kai. It was a hands on unit and went well.

Well that is all from me. I have one more term to go until I am fully registered which I am super excited about. Merry Christmas and see you next year.

Christmas fun in Room 6

With Christmas approaching super fast we have been doing lots of Christmas themed activities.

Monday
We watched a short film of The Night Before Christmas. We talked about the main things that happened in the story and then children had to retell the story in their own words. Each student created their own 'The Night Before Christmas' book.

We then started our draft letter to Santa - we have done a bit of letter writing this term so my kids were good at knowing what was needed. The criteria was:

• they had to say something nice to santa
• why they have been good and should deserve a present
• what they would like

(we will publish them tomorrow once I have checked spelling etc).

In the morning I had played Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer to the class and none of them knew it. So I scheduled some time in to learn some Christmas carols. We learnt Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer and Jingle bells. I found a video for each on youtube and then printed matching words.

In the afternoon we made some Christmas Elves. I was really pleased with how they turned out. I could only find a picture for this activity so I can't link in instructions but here is a photo of some of my kids elves.

Tuesday

Today we did some touch up work for a couple of projects we needed to get finished.

For our writing topic we filled out an elf application. My students has to explain why they think they would be a good elf and draw an image of themselves as an elf - see below for one of them. The following is a link for the activity.

In the afternoon we took advantage of the nice weather and went outside for some striking practice.

Check back each day for more insight into our class Christmas activities.

Growing frogs

Day 1
Today my tadpoles arrived. I told my kids that I had a surprise for them but we had to get through all our other work done. We got there!

Before showing my students I had them draw a picture of what they thought they looked like and one sentence about them. We shared our ideas, most either thought it was a fish or a little frog.

I then showed my class our tadpoles - they were amazed. So many questions and want to knows about tadpoles and frogs. Love to see their excitement. We ran out of time for more learning. Can't wait to do this unit with my class!

Will frogs bite?
Do they have teeth?

We are starting off with 12 tadpoles however I have a feeling they may not all last.

Day 2
I had a PRT day so I left some activities for my reliever. My students had to brainstorm where frogs live, what they look like and how they change. Below are the photos that they did. After the brainstorm they used some of the class books to answer some of the questions and displayed them on the pink post-its.

Day 3 
Today we were looking at the life cycle of frog. We began by sharing our ideas of what we though happened. I then showed my students a video

I paused the video at the word metamorphous and we talked about what it meant.

Once the video finished I had a poster with the pictures missing and my students had to work together to decide on the stages. They then completed their own lifecycle pinwheel.

The book below is also a great teaching tool as it helps explain what happens at each stage.

We are down to 4 tadpoles today!

Day 5
Today my relief teach was in class and I left a labelling activity for her to do. My students were required to talk about the parts of frog and then label them.

Day  6
Today we were learning about camouflage and why frogs have this special ability. We then went and coloured in a frog and had a competition to see who could camouflage their frog in the class.

Listen to Reading

The following website has some great books that are read to children. I have used this for some of my students who haven't/don't get books read to them.

White Ribbon Riders

Yesterday we were very lucky and had the White Ribbon Riders visit our school. We held a powhiri to welcome them. You can view it on our school facebook page. The White Ribbon is a day that brings awareness to violence against women.
After our powhiri we were lucky enough to go and see their motor bikes.

Before the riders came we also had some Zumba fitness.

Week 6, Term 4 2014

This week has been good after having a hectic week of getting my mathematics and writing data done. I have been gathering my reading data however it hasn't been to bad as most is up to date anyway.

I had Brenda a maths advisor from the Waikato University. She was into observe and guide me in how I can best support my learners when teaching multiplication and division. It was really good to get her ideas and perspective on teaching multiplication and division. She gave me some really great ideas on how I can link my maths through other areas of the class.

I did say that I was going to update you on how my oral language trial has gone - but to be honest it hasn't gone yet as we have had several things pop up at school that took over the time I had set aside. Fingers crossed for next week.

Teddy Bears Picnic theme

This week I decided we needed a really motivating topic in my class. My students are getting extremely tired and its starting to show. I explained to them that on Friday we will have a teddy bears picnic but have to plan what we need for it. I linked this mainly through literacy.

This involved having my students write a shipping list for what we would need, they had to send invites to their teddies and they had to describe what their teddy looks like. The following link has a link to a great unit or two.

We also had the song Teddy Bears picnic which we learnt and looked at the lyrics:

On Thursday we shared our lists of what we though would be important to a teddy bears picnic - as you can imagine, chips, fizz, lollies etc. We have been drying fruit in the class for our Kai study so they were ready at the perfect time. We also decided that bears also like honey so some honey sandwiches were in order. I also thought that we would make fruit skewers as another heathy option.

So Friday came. The night before I made sure I had all the prep done so that our picnic ran smoothly. We started off by sharing our bears and introducing their name (about my of my class ha nameless teddies) and what we loved about them. My students then completed a teddy description sheet where they had to write 4 things that described their teddy.
We then had to get our fruit skewers ready and I decided to link this through maths. My students had to make a pattern on their skewer using their fruit and marshmallow.

Ok so it was time for us to have our picnic. Thankfully the weather was on my side and we set it up outside. It was just so cute seeing my kids excited to be sharing their picnic with their teddies.

One of my kids decided to throw his teddy around and another child came up with a lovely comment:
"If you were little and your teddy was big you wouldn't want him to do that to you."

To top off our week we watch a short story about a teddy bears picnic:

Ready to Read Webinar

After school yesterday I attended an online Webinar. I found it really great as I was able to develop more knowledge on the Ready to Read series and the new revised books. It was perfect as these changes are aimed at the books that I use with my class and also gave me information on different ways and tools I can use with the current books.

The new Ready to Read website is great and easy to use/follow.

The image below shoes the format of our new Ready to Read books:

The speakers talked about the new changes to Magenta: one level, more repetition and help move children to red quicker. One note they made was not to start guided reading until students have an understanding of texts - I usually start my students straight away on magenta and spend 1:1 teaching understandings. She explained that there is magenta and Ready to Read Magenta - its is better to start off with older books either PM or old Ready to Read magenta.

They also placed the emphasis on introducing the texts and helping children make connection - shouldn't be the whole book just enough for them to understand the key ideas. Using less chunking of the book and just letting students read. Then going back and revisiting texts.

The speaker showed the image below:

She explained the importance of integrating all sources of information. Which I completely agree with - it is so important that they are taught all these sources so they can use the information effortlessly and unconsciously.

Shared reading
The speaker explained the changes to some of the shared books and that some were made shared as they were to hard for guided reading groups.

Below is a great wee article that they shared about shared reading. Well worth a read!
http://www.edgazette.govt.nz/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleId=8492&Title=Primary

Week 5, Term 4 2014

Just a super short post this week. I have been busy getting all my data finished and making sure I have everything done.

I had a release day on Wednesday and was able to get some running records completed - however 2/5 students I had planned to test were absent so I moved on to looking at another area that I think I need development in and that is oral language. I do this every day with my students but its not what I want it to be. So I did some research online to see what other teachers are doing and finding effective. Oral language is such an important part of learning as it links into so many areas - therefore I want to create a great programme that works for both my students and I. I am going to trial this next week so will post my plan and how it goes once I have had a go.

Forces and motion - topic

Day 1
Today we began our new topic of forces and motion. I introduced this by playing student the song Animal Action.

My students had to act out and move in the different ways. My student then paired up and had to discuss whether they knew what a motion or movement was. We shared our ideas and listed them in 'is', 'will', and 'can' categories. I had to help guide their answers through question like:

• Can you show me motion?
• What can move?
• Can everything move?
• Can _____ move on their own?
• Do they need help to move?

Once we had brainstormed lots of ideas my students had to choose 3 for each and make their own poster.

I then had an activity from this unit where students had to decide if things move on their own or don't and sort them into the right category. After we had done this my students started going around the room and say whether yes they move on their own or not.

Day 2
Today we were exploring pushing and pulling. I introduced this by moving a chair around the class and asking my students what motion I was using. I had to probe a little to get the exact PUSH and PULL vocab I wanted. I then asked my students to explore the classroom to find somethings that can be pushed and pulled.

We then listed these in the form of a venn diagram. My older students did this independently while my younger students did this with assistance.

I then had another activity from this unit where students had to decide if things are pushed or pulled and sort them into the right category.

Day 3
Today we were looked at the speed in which things move. I introduced this by moving a chair fast and slowly and asking if they noticed the difference. I fed in heaps of vocab during this time for fast and slow. I hired a parachute from Sports Waikato (Katherine our Project Energize instructor helped organise this) I had my students stand in a circle each holding an area of the parachute - using the words that they had just learnt they had to work together to move it.

Day 4
Today I had a release teacher in my class as I had a PRT day. She is great and any activities I give her she does with my kids. We had a discussion last week and she brought along an activity to do with pushing and pulling. The kids had to decide if the motion is a push, pull or both and then classified them using a venn-diagram.

Day 5
Today we talked about how different things move. I started by explaining that things will not move unless something makes them move by applying force. We quickly brainstormed some things that apply force.
I used an example of a tennis ball. It can move but it won't move by itself. You can make it move or a bat can make it move. You can move it fast or slow.

I then went on to make a simple pinwheel with my class.
1. I printed a template which they had to colour.
2. We cut out our pinwheel - make sure this is super modelled as littlies may cut wrong.
3. I used a thumb tack to push a hole in each corner - I did this with 3 students at a time. I then used a proper pin tack and threaded it through a ruler so they could make their own wheels move.

Day 6
We continued to look at forces today. My students had to complete a sheet where they were required to classify objects into either a force or not.

We then went over some of what we had already learnt. I found a few interactive games that focused on pushing and pulling and paired my students into groups and gave them time to work through these.

Week 4, Term 4 2014

In my Daily 5 at the moment I am running a trial to see what time rotations best suit my class. Will post my results at the end of the term.

Maths we are continuing with number strategies and working on our number knowledge as a whole class - which seems to be paying off.

This week I had a release day on Wednesday. I spent this time report writing, completing some ob surveys, getting assessment tools ready and doing some professional reading on teaching student spelling patterns.
As the moment spell is one of my personal weaknesses so I find it quite daunting to teach. However I am determined to be the best teacher I can be so I am going to equip myself so that I effectively teach my class to be better spellers. I plan on teach spelling like a phonics lesson and then linking it through reading and writing - however I have still got some research to do before I decide on my course of action. This little article is along the lines of what I am thinking.

Over the last week I have been gearing up to get all my assessment data finalised which shouldn't be to hard as I have a pretty clear idea of where my students are at. Next week will be super busy finishing everything off to make sure all data is accurate.

We had our school athletics on Tuesday and we were lucky that the rain held off while we got through all the events.

For our poetry this week we have been looking at the Zebra poem in Purposeful Poetry. I absolutely love this book - it has such a great plan for teachers. I also love the craft activity which my class always does on Friday.

Have a look below at what we did through the week.

The Monday-Friday plan

Our poem for the week - all students get a copy.

My kids completing the craft activity.

The final product from a student.