Transport

Our topic for the last 4-5 weeks has been transport. 

My first lesson was discussing what mode of transport go on land, sea or air. We did this together and then the children had to do their own.

Funny story - I drew the mountains green on the board and the kids got very confused as we don't have green mountains in Oman 😊

We have had a big focus on the character Mrs Armitage who has a bike and over time adds crazy things to it. We created our own Mrs Armitage stories where children had to create a story plan of what they would like on their bike and then turn this into their own story.

As a class we made a big brainstorm of all the modes of transport we knew. One of our discussions was to group the types of transport into categories. Children discovered they could in more than one category and there was many ways that transport can be grouped. It also started the discussion of how do we know it is a type of transport.

We have created some super art work this week with the transport theme. We looked at hot air balloons as transport and then we made these - this idea is from another teacher. 

First we painted the back ground and then on another piece of paper we covered it with tissue paper, this was either hot or cold colour or children could mix. We then cut our tissue paper out in the shape of a ballon and glued it in. Below is the final outcome.

We have looked at parts of a car and labeled these.

I have had my observations by my grade co-ordinator and head of primary and both were very good so I am pleased to have done them.

One thing I have been missing is my maths modelling books and my white board teaching table!!!! I have just recently set up a maths learning journal. In this I put my class modelling and it is referred to at the beginning of each lesson and accessible for all the children during the whole maths lesson. 

In maths we have been working on shapes, fractions, doubles and halves. I quite like teaching maths as the children do not differ hugely in ability and it is quite hands on learning.

In literacy I run what I would call reading rotation. I allow 45 minutes per day for this and I aim to read with 2 groups and work with a phonics group while my teaching assistant reads 1:1 with a group and takes a phonics group. The rest of the children are doing completely independent activities and these include:

- bingo

- play dough words

- read to self

- phonics games

- chalk words

- white board words

- library reading 

Pirates

At school we teach through themes. These are generally around 5-6 weeks long and all learning (maths, reading and writing is linked into the theme).

We started off with Pirates - I didn't take as many photos of our learning as I would have liked but I have a few. We had the head of primary come and drop of a letter that a pirate had delivered to him on the beach. It was a cool hook and the kids loved it. We split off into house colour and went on a treasure hunt around school. 

We made pirate hats - following instructions!

We wrote instructions - how to dress like a pirate.

We learnt poems and had a go at re-writing our own.

We made wanted posters for some pirates who had stolen some money.

To top it off we dressed up as pirates and had a fun game making maps, hunting for treasure and playing dress ups.

During pirates we also learnt about the 5 senses. The first week we learnt what they were and made and labelled Mr Potato Head.

The first week we went on a listening walk. We listened to the story the listening walk on YouTube first. We went and lay down on the basketball court for 5 minutes, then the corridor for 5 and then the classroom. We made a list of all the things we could hear.

Sight we played eye spy and spot the difference. We talked about what is used to help sight etc. 

Smell...I can't remember (we smelt something but not sure what it was - I'll add it when I do).

Taste we had a variety of food - sweet jam, bitter chocolate and sour lemons. The facial expressions when eating the lemons was halirious.

Touch I set up 7 stations in the class for the kids to touch, feel and explore. We had: 

- play dough 

- gloop (oobleck)

- cooked pasta

- ice

- shaving foam

- jelly

- dish liquid

The kids had a blast getting all messy!

Setting up a classroom in an International School - The Middle East

Below are some pictures to start with - add into the factor that the temperature has not reached below 30 degrees yet!

Muscat International School

Before of my class

After

The children

Classroom door

Playground

Greenfield with artificial grass

Basketball court

Computer room

Library

During the first week of  being in Muscat we were getting the class set up and learning the way of the school etc. 

The first 1-2 weeks of school we're getting. The know the kids so lots of games and free play. I had 22 on my roll but this went up to 24 within the first week, my roll has remained at 24 but has the potential to go to 25.

During the first few weeks we had to identify children who were EAL learners and Special Ed chn. I have children on both of these rolls and identifying these children was not something I have had to previous do so this was an experience in itself. The identified students go to specialised teachers 1-2 per week.

I also very quickly got use to the idea of students going to Arabic, Islamic and Physical Education all of which are taught by another teacher. During this non-contact time I complete marking or planning. Below is my timetable (blue is my teaching time and orange is non-contact time.

I have duty once a week which has been hard because it is so hot but the children generally play well together in the playground.

In grade 1 there are 4 teachers so we doing all our planning together which makes life a lot easier and it is nice having the ideas from others. 

Settling in has been good, but I have missed my old class and the fact that they knew all the routines etc (I know with time my class will get there).

A big challenge in Muscat and not just the classroom is remembering not to compare it to home. It isn't the same country, expectations are different, the people are different etc.