Heroes Inquiry

I began the term introducing our Heroes topic. As a class we brainstormed the difference between a super hero and a real life hero. We then made a list of of these heroes which children then chose their own hero to research. 

I got a great variety with the majority of boys choosing super heroes and girls real life heroes.

We then moved to deciding on some questions that we would like to find out about our superhero - I made several compulsory questions that all children must answer. 

• What is a hero?
• Why are they your hero?
• What qualities does a hero have?
• What makes your hero special?
• How does your hero make a difference?
• Describe the looks of your hero.

• How did you choose your hero?

We talked about 'good' questions we should be asking and I used SOLO taxonomy to help model this.

Once all children had developed their questions we then moved into researching. The students in my class are quite computer literate but I wanted to ensure all children were given the same access. We did some learning around how we can research and good websites. We also discussed that everything read online can not always be believed. Some students decided they wanted to email their questions to a company or expert so we had an opt in mini lesson on constructing and sending emails - it was fabulous when some of these people replied to the questions. 

As the information was developed we then moved into publishing and the different tools we can use to publish and the requirements when publishing.

• An answer in detail to all questions
• A title and author
• Pictures, hand drawn or printed
• Correct punctuation
• Correct spelling
• Neat writing

As children decided on how they would present we had mini opt in lessons on how to use the different tools the main ones were slides and posters. For our next inquiry I would like to delve in some new tools. Below are some finished presentations.

To reflect on our inquiry journey I had the kids reflect on their learning using the thinking hats. They also reflected on whether they hit the brief of the task and I gave personalised feedback on this.

We then began having some discussions in class on how we take some of our heroes values to do some good in our community. The class decided they would like to do some baking and then donate it to the community. In the upcoming weeks children will be deciding on recipes baking them and donating them.

Writing Inquiry

https://docs.google.com/a/wanaka.school.nz/presentation/d/1bZybwyW4JG1pV36OqhJDDGGU3e1rX0HJwUyEpiE-24g/edit?usp=sharing

Joining a class mid way through the year.

I was lucky enough to get a fixed term position at Wanaka Primary School until the end of 2017. This was my third time starting in a class mid way through the year however I was able to meet with the previous teacher and spend quite a bit of time with him in the classroom. It was so valuable being able to do this as I was able to build up a rapport with the kids and wasn't a brand new face on the first day.

I spent time in the first few days setting up expectations, class rules and getting to know the children.

Our class charter

Individual goals

In my previous classes I have run the Daily 5 programme so I wanted to stay near to the current programme but also add on using my developed knowledge. Students all have google accounts so this has made a big impact on how I run my reading programme. My rotations are: read to self, read to someone, listen to reading (which I have uploaded listening books to google so all kids can access them), and word work. I found a fantastic website called GetEpic which has a huge variety of books and the children love it. I have a shared book at the beginning of each lesson with a different comprehension focus - the last 2 weeks have been main ideas and the next will be identifying detail. During my rotations I am working with small ability based groups.

At our school we use the STEPS spelling programme as well as the Alpha to Omega programme. Having not used either of these before I did a lot of research on how to teach using them. I have found that Alpha to Omega is quite similar to the Yolanda Soryl phonics teaching. I use the Alpha to Omega in my ability based groups and I use STEPS as a follow up linking the words in group teaching to STEPS.

My maths programme is also ability based group rotations. I have been trying hard to ensure that my students are getting a lot of hands on engaging activities and not just book work. Last week we had a great time using MnMs for fractions.

I wasn't happy with my writing programme and felt this was an area I need to develop in order to benefit my students. I have spent time this term observing team leaders and have begun working alongside our assistant principal. More to come on this.

So far I am loving my time at WPS and I have a fantastic class, a very supportive pod and friendly colleagues.

Relief Teaching New Zealand

Since being home I thought it would be nice to see what relief was available and I have been pretty lucky to pick up a couple of weeks of relief work at schools in Oamaru.

I spent a couple of days prepping activities that I could use in a variety of ways across a variety of levels and so far I am pretty pleased with them. I was quite nervous not having done any relief work before but once I got into the class it all came back to me and I have been lucky enough to relieve in all ages from 0-8.

One of the most handy things I have had supplied by a school was a list of names with the photos of the children beside it - came in super useful many times.

I didn't take many photos of the activities I did but here are a couple of things I did in a Year 4/5 class.

I played on the excitement of fidget spinners and children played an addition game (not sure they realised it was learning)

Because it was Samoan week we created Samoan inspired art

Teaching in Scotland

I went to Scotland on the assumption of doing some casual relief work while also travelling, this however didn't go as planned and I was really lucky to walk straight into a teaching position. As I'm sure many of you are aware Scotland (especially the highlands and coastal areas) currently has a huge teacher shortage, it has gotten so bad that they have begun offering Kiwi teachers a £1000 ($2000) bonus. Any teachers wanting to go over make sure you do your teacher registration well in advance.

The school I gained a position at was called Hermitage Primary up in Helensburgh. Each morning/afternoon I travelled a scenic 40 minute train ride along the coast. My class was a great wee class of P1 students (end of kindy/new entrants level). My class was in a open plan area with the option to close the door between our classes.

Every morning we began with Jolly Phonics and Active Learning (play based learning). I found Jolly Phonics relatively easy to teach as Yolanda Soryls phonics programme has aspects of it included (plus I had been introduced to it in Oman). Our Active Learning for the week would depend entirely on our topic. Children would split up into groups of 5 and complete simple tasks. For example The Post: programme a bee bot to deliver mail, design a airmail envelope to a country of choice, sort post from other classes and deliver, weigh and sort packages. These changed weekly and had topics such as Halloween, autumn, babies, Christmas, measurement and shape.

The first topic I was involved with was Our School and this was focused around the school and the people who help us (teachers, cleaners, cooks, lollipop ladies). We did activities such as mapping the school, identifying and interviewing the people in our school and because this was the first topic a lot of work around the rules at school.

Our next topic was the post shop and this was a great topic. We looked at the journey of a letter and how it gets from the sender to the receiver. The children all made a letter to someone else in the class and these were then put in envelopes. We organised a trip to the local sorting office who were great at taking the time to show the kids the process from arriving to being sent with the mail man. We then purchased some stamps and posted our letters from 4 different mail boxes 3/4 arrived the next day and 1 arrived a week later. During this topic we set up post boxes around school for other classes to send mail to each other (it worked out great with Christmas time and all the Christmas cards being sent)! Each day children would have to collect, sort and deliver the mail to each class which was great especially when they were dressed up in all the post gear.

During our post topic we were also super busy with Christmas play rehearsals. We decided to do a play called the Wriggly Nativity and it was awesome. Lots of hard work was put in by all and after all the practice and rehearsals the kids did an awesome job.

As a teacher we had to run a club during the term and my stage partner and I ran nature club together. We began by introducing the focus and gathering the students questions. From this we developed a rough programme of what we would cover each week.Our first session began with a bug hunt and it was awesome seeing the children getting their hands dirty and the language they used when hunting.

Over the few months I spent in Scotland I learnt so much. Their programmes differ slightly from New Zealands and I can see the benefits from both. I had a laugh when we started using these old school head phones!

Space

Our last topic for the year is space.

We began this topic with a visit from Grade 3 who had just been studying space. After this we looked at the planets and their features. I then gave children a sheet that had the 8 planets (and Pluto) and they had to colour and glue in the correct order in their book. 

The next lesson I gave students a questionnaire that required them to read through space info cards. The next day I gave students the option to make either a poster or booklet to inform people what they had found out. They used their questionnaires and also a range of texts about space. This was completely independent (I was very impressed with their work). 

For art we made out own planets. This was extreeeemly messy (I had done this lesson with a previous class and I don't remember it being as stressful, maybe because we had done it outside). I gave children a small pile of shaving foam (in itself they loved) they then choose what colours they wanted their planet to be and added several drops of food colour. They then did a little mix - the less it was mixed the better they turned out). They then put the paper on top of the shaving foam - normally I would have used a ruler or the likes to scrap the excess foam off. However by that point the classroom was chaos! 

We then pushed all the desks back and covered the floor in paper to make our sky. We covered a piece of paper in black paint (school has run out of black paper so we had to improvise) and then we sprinkled it with white glitter. Once both had dried we cut out the planets and glued them on. They did turn out looking good.

The next week we began by making rockets. This was simply paper on the end of a straw - what fun! We had competitions to see whose rocket could go the furthest and just in general had fun shooting the rockets.

For art this week we made our own aliens. We began by sticking 8 googly eyes on our paper. I then modeled how to draw an alien using the eyes and let the children draw as they pleased.

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.