Week 1 term 2 2014

This week has been very busy reminding children of the routines we have set up and going over the rules expected in the class.

In maths this week we started by exploring shapes. The children knew a bit about shapes such as their name so that was great to start on. We then spent the rest of the week exploring the features of 2D shapes. By the end of the week the majority of the class could describe a shape. I will be adding this into the maths calendar so that children can retain this knowledge.

Writing started off really good and I was pleased with the quality of writing I got from the children. This term in writing Catriona and I are team teaching. Each day we will take a group and work with them on their goals. This week I have been working with a group to start their story in different ways and use WOW words in their writing. Another group I have been working with has been learning to listen for the sounds at the end of a word. Next week we have Lisa back in the school working with us on writing.

Reading has also got off to a great start. I spent monday going over each activity with the children so they know how to do them correctly. My groups have changed slightly since last term but all the children picked up where they left off which was great.
I am continuing Early Words this term and I am running it straight after reading. I do believe it is helping the children out especially during reading time.

This term we are looking a dinosaurs as our topic. This week we were exploring what a paleontologist is. Children were given dinosaur bones in groups of two and were required to build the dinosaur together. The children worked really well on this activity and it stemmed some questions that the children have about dinosaurs.

Below are some photos of the class working as paleontologists:

End of Term Reflection

This term has been a really busy term. Probably the most stressful so far. Over the term I have learnt so much about a junior class and feel I have really only brushed the surface - there is just so much to learn.

I spent a lot of time at the beginning of the year setting up my routines and expectations. This has really payed off as I feel my learners know what is expected of them and are working really well.

I have been running my maths in needs based groups and changing these depending on my class needs. This term our focus has been on number knowledge and strategies. After testing my children in a different way - same questions as JAM but in a more informal group manner. I have found the results more accurately reflect what my students can do.

I am continuing to run the Daily 5 programme which I believe works really well for my class and they can do all activities independently. I currently have 7 reading groups which are all going really well with most of my learners moving at a steady pace. I also run the adapted Early Words programme during this time and I do notice a difference in their reading.

After consultation with Lisa from Te Toi Tepu regarding my students writing she brought to my attention the lack of phoneme awareness in the class. So I have made time to teach the children nursery rhymes and each day we spend 5-10 minutes going through the ones we have learnt. This is also helping them in reading as they are learning the words of their rhymes and reading them in their stories.

Writing has been going good. The students are all becoming independent writers and are much more self sufficient which I am really happy about. A lot of what they write about is based on real life experiences as I have found the quality of writing is much better.

My afternoons are spent doing topic, PE, drama, music and maori. I find that I tend to run out of time for some of them so next term I am going to ensure I stick to a strict time regime.

I am looking forward to next term and all the challenges that it brings to me.

PRT course - Louise Dempsey

Last week I went on my 2nd PRT course and this was based around writing. Louise Dempsey took the course and a large portion of the content was based around 'The Writing Book' by Louise Dempsey and Sheena Cameron.

I found the course quite similar to the one she took last year, her intro to the writing book and one of our school cluster sessions. However it was quite good to go through it again and just refresh my memory about things I may have forgotten. 

Mish Mash TV

Check out my wee guys showing Mish Mash TV around the school:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-m5TPqdLhs&safe=active

Week 6, Term 2 2014

This week went by really fast I had a day out for a PRT course on wednesday. The rest of the week was spent doing my normal class routine.

Maths went good however my learners didn't meet the expected outcomes and I believe this is because they really only had 2 teaching sessions during the week. I will be continuing the same learning intentions next week.

Writing was ok, we started the week by going on a bear hunt and then writing about it. I then had Lisa from Te Toi Tupu Literacy and English Language Learning in my class on Thursday doing a modelled lesson. I found this really good and got a lot of ideas for how to run my writing lesson that I wouldn't have otherwise thought of. On the other hand it was a hard day because it really dawned on me how little I know and how much I have to learn but I am looking forward to the big challenge I have ahead of me.

Reading has been good, Kristen observed me this week and gave me some good feedback so I have taken that and built on it. One thing I was required to do was look at the triggers to move children from magenta to red and 3/5 children are displaying these so I have moved them up a group. The rest of my groups are learning decoding strategies and are working on being able to use these on their own.

We started learning small ball skills this week and I have tried to turn this time into games that help them use the skills they are leaning.

For topic we started looking at the scientific process. Our first experiment is looking at how plants grow in different conditions (I was sent a planting kit by Dairy NZ through Rosie's education so I am incorporating it into our science). I think that science is going to sit well with the majority of my students as they seem to have a keen interest already.

Individualising Learning for Boys and Girls by Mike Scadden

Today I went on my first PRT course for the year. Our focus for the day looking at the different ways a male and female brain works and was taken by Mike Scadden of Brain Stems.

The day was broken up into three sessions, the first was spent looking at concentration time. I have found this year with my class that they can only stay concentrated on a task or activity for 10 minutes at the most. Mike talked about the blood in our brains drains and settles else where when we are not up and moving every 12 minutes and this can be lower for children. He suggested having children up and moving every 6 minute and this could be as simple as standing up and sitting down. I have been trying to do this in my class however I need to keep track of the time more frequently. We also learnt that when I child has lost concentration they tend to fiddle and this help to turn the brain back on - I have lots of boys in particular that do this. I have found some manipulative's to give them so they are not tempted to fiddle with others.

The second session was spent looking at the way we talk and give instructions. We discussed how important it was to go over instructions slowly and clearly. Mike also said that although we have expectations of children's work we need to make sure we make it clear what we expect each session. We also spent the time looking at listening styles, I came out as a connected see photo below of how we figured this out.

Session three was spent exploring classroom displays (keep minimal for boys), questioning and feedback.
Questions that we ask need to be specific and we don't need to ask why questions because they don't contain learning.

Feedback needs to come from the learner, when doing this with a student take go along the process of:
- What were we trying to do here?
- Show me where you have done that?
- What are you going to do next?
- Clarify with any questions.
- Add positive comments.
- Add next step comments.
- Complete with summary.

Over all I found this a great course and can relate a lot of the content I learnt back to my own classroom and I look forward to working with some of his ideas.

Week 2/3 Term 1 2014

The last two weeks have gone by fast and I have been so busy that I haven't had time to sit down and make a post.

The juniors are keeping me on my toes and I am learning lots about about the way they work. I have a larger portion of boys than girls so I have found that I really need to keep them moving.

I started the term with a timetable as below:

I have had to change it around over the last few days as I found my students were finding it really hard to stay focused on their writing. My programme now starts with maths in the morning followed by phonics and writing straight after. After morning tea I then run shared reading, Daily 5, oral language and handwriting. After lunch we do poetry and depending on the day PE/music/maori/topic/inquiry etc.

Writing last week went well. Students are responding better to the think, pair, share method and I am starting to get some good conversations. I am keeping with them same topic all week and having children build on their stories so I can get more out of them. I also have Catriona in the class to help work with my new students as I have so many needs with in my class. So far it is working well and the kids are getting more one-one teacher time.
I am doing phonics right before writing to help students transfer the skills they are learning - I am noticing a slight difference with a couple.

The senior students are starting to work with my students who are doing Early Words so it will be good to see them transferring this knowledge into their reading and writing.

Maths was spent doing statistics and I believe students have a basic understanding of how to graph information. Next week (week 4) we are moving into learning number knowledge.

Daily 5 set up is going good. Students are practicing Read to Self and Read to Someone (I did introduce Work on Writing but they are unable to writing independently at this stage so will reintroduce later in the year). Week 4 we will be learning to Listen to Reading and I will be introducing them to some of the Work on Word activities. I have been reading with groups for the last 3 weeks and the groups are getting easier to manage as students begin to understand the Daily 5 programme.

I have also been teaching swimming for the first time which has been fun. I have some students who are very confident in the water and others who will not attempt to put their head under. I am starting to make progress with the less confident by having them blow bubbles and the rest of the class are beginning to float unassisted (without a kick board) on their backs.

Next week I am starting to investigate the science process with my class which I think they are really going to enjoy.

Over the next 2-3 weeks my main goal is to have children working independently and asking each other for help.

Below are some photos of the activities that we have been doing in Room 6:

Our art focus - colours of the rainbow

Daily 5 display

An example of the classes placemats