Term 1 has been so busy but it has been great. My class is really lovely and they are all eager to learn.
For myself there is still so much that I am learning and each day I find myself reflecting and making small changes to my teaching.
My writing programme is going well. I have made slight adjustments but I still run this in a fluid manner so that I can pull students out based on their individual needs. Next term I want to do some more work around students being able to voice their goals, next steps etc. Now that learning journals are all set up I think that they will work well.
In reading I continue with the Daily 5 - which I love. The kids always seem to be engaged and the 3-4 weeks I spent setting it up have been massive in terms of my students being able to run it independently. Next term I plan to add more follow up activities after a group or student has seen me.
For maths we have been doing some great work. I spent 5 weeks on number, 2 on geometry and 2 on statistics. It was good having most students coming back to school and remembering their learning from last year. My focus for next term is to take time to complete my inquiry (practicing basic facts before a guided lesson).
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
The Water Cycle
We have made it to the end of our unit. We had lots of fun experimenting and finding different ways to make the water cycle.
I started off by teaching about water. We learnt what water is important for and where we can find water. This then led into finding out where the water in the clouds comes from.
We first started by making a water cycle in a plastic bag. This was a good starting point as we were able to look at what happened at each stage. From this we wrote and drew about what happens at each stage. I also showed my students a water cycle video so they could see in another way the water cycle.
The second experiment we did was making a rainstorm. We discussed the water is sucked up by the sun and meets up in the clouds. When there is to much rain in a cloud then it rains, hails or snow. To do our experiment we filled a jar with water and then slowly added blue dye - the blue dye was to act as rain and showed that when only a little bit was added it didn't rain but the more water added the fuller the clouds became and the more it rained.
During the term we were doing paper mache. I linked this to the water cycle and we made a large paper mache water cycle. It looked great once it was finished.
I started off by teaching about water. We learnt what water is important for and where we can find water. This then led into finding out where the water in the clouds comes from.
We first started by making a water cycle in a plastic bag. This was a good starting point as we were able to look at what happened at each stage. From this we wrote and drew about what happens at each stage. I also showed my students a water cycle video so they could see in another way the water cycle.
The second experiment we did was making a rainstorm. We discussed the water is sucked up by the sun and meets up in the clouds. When there is to much rain in a cloud then it rains, hails or snow. To do our experiment we filled a jar with water and then slowly added blue dye - the blue dye was to act as rain and showed that when only a little bit was added it didn't rain but the more water added the fuller the clouds became and the more it rained.
During the term we were doing paper mache. I linked this to the water cycle and we made a large paper mache water cycle. It looked great once it was finished.
Our water cycle video of our learning!
Week 8, Term 1 2015
Week 8 was good. We were back into our normal routine with minimal interruptions.
My goal in literacy was to use more hand on activities that children could talk about and then transfer into their reading or writing. I achieved this goal by doing 2 water cycle experiments with my class. Children got the do the water cycle and then they had to talk about what was happening and then they wrote about it. I could feed in heaps of vocab and lots of WOW words so I got some really good writing. I plan to continue this structure for Term 2. I will also be inquiring into how I can encourage students to use the word wall.
My goal for Maths was to use more technology in maths. I was teaching about shapes so I found this quite easy. I made a whole heap of QR codes that linked to shape videos and activities.
My goal in literacy was to use more hand on activities that children could talk about and then transfer into their reading or writing. I achieved this goal by doing 2 water cycle experiments with my class. Children got the do the water cycle and then they had to talk about what was happening and then they wrote about it. I could feed in heaps of vocab and lots of WOW words so I got some really good writing. I plan to continue this structure for Term 2. I will also be inquiring into how I can encourage students to use the word wall.
My goal for Maths was to use more technology in maths. I was teaching about shapes so I found this quite easy. I made a whole heap of QR codes that linked to shape videos and activities.
Next week we will be having our whole school art week for some collaborative learning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)