Fairy tales

We began this topic exploring the story gingerbread man.

On Wednesday we made gingerbread men, in groups children had to mix ingredients, knead and cut. It was a rather stressful lesson as I allowed an hour to make 4 batches however next time I would definitely allow more time. I then took them home that night and in batches put them through. The next we decorated them. Children had to first design their man and then they had the opportunity to ice and decorate them. They were quite pleased with their work - I can't say how they tasted as they took them home to eat and I gave mine to our wee cleaner who was stoked.

Our next story was the Elves and the Shoemaker. We watched the story through You Tube and discussed the feature of the story. Over the last few weeks children had bought in their own old shoes. I gave students out their shoe and they had to sketch an image of it. I then explained that we would be creating our own shoe and what materials (to tie into our topic) they could use. They then set about doing their sketch and creating a final design. Once their design was complete I let them loose on the fabric, beads etc. Now I have never heard concentration like I did this afternoon. The whole was silent in a very busy concentrated haze. The final product was awesome and the kids were really proud of their work.

During our fairy tale topic our science focus was material. I began this by introducing children to fabric, metal, plastic, paper and wood. I had small labels made up and children had to go around the class and identify the materials in the class and then stick them. Most children did this easily. My next lesson was a sample of the 5 materials and children had to explore whether they could stretch, bend, roll, squeeze etc. 

We had a break between out two topics with Science week. During this week we had to present to different classes our learning over the last few weeks and we also got to visit other classes. I had some children bring in some great wee experiments in the weeks leading up so we decided to use this in our class. The experiments we did were: floating egg, lava lamps, pepper with dish liquid, orange peel and balloon, and dancing popcorn. The kids did an awesome job presenting them to children older than themselves I was really proud. Next time I would do a bit more work around the science of the reactions. 

During science week we were given challenges. Our first class challenge was to build the tallest tower using only the material supplied (news paper, pasta, tape, tin foil, blue tack). I put my kids into 3 groups and gave them 30mins to make a tower. It was quite interesting to see how they tackle a practical task and the children who can work together - they gave it a good go but only got a tower 80cm tall.

The next challenge was the egg drop - to create a egg protection shell using the material provided (plastic cups, shredded paper, tape, tin foil, news paper). The absolutely loved and when it came to dropping them - how exciting! We began at 1m, then 2m and then from the steps (about 7m) - 3 survived the 7m drop so we took them to the school roof. Unfortunately none survived the roof but it was a great team building experience.

Teachers were also given a challenge to build a car that could safely transport an egg the furthest without using battery power. We decide to use human power and borrowed the tricycle from KG. We made a box to fit over the drivers head. This was also good fun and put some healthy competition between the grade and provided a good team building activity for our grade!

In maths I have been doing number bonds and positional language.

Number bonds was good to teach, most children know their addition facts to 10 so it only took several lessons to help them realise the pattern. My more capable students picked it up faster and I was able to extend them well. To finish the learning we made number bond butterflies which was a nice end of week craft, consolidation of learning and looked great on the wall.

Our next week in maths we did positional language. Unfortunately it is very hot in Oman now 45 degrees so we were confined to the class. I started the lesson by instructing them to move into different positions in the class. I then gave them a sheet where they were required to listen carefully to instructions and draw pictures in certain position, was a nice lesson. The next lesson was similar however I gave them more independence and they were required to read instructions themselves. The next we learnt left and right (I explained that I struggle with left and right so we would learn together). This was more a practical lesson mixed with positional language.