Term 4
This term has zoomed by as usual - there never seems to be enough weeks to get through all our work. We have started doing six monthly and yearly reports for our Juniors and it certainly takes the pressure of the end of year reporting. It means that we need to be continually doing these through the year but I think the coming year will be better as we are more aware of what we need to do.
In our Inquiry we had to come up with something to help us reduce our waste at school. The class looked at chickens and using them to eat our waste scraps and garden weeds. We had to design an enclosure for our chickens and build a prototype. We followed the life cycle of our chickens as we were lucky enough to have an incubator in the classroom and hatch our own chicks. We kept them in class until the end of the year and then the six chicks went to a good home. Next year the senior students will hopefully be making our selected cage that we designed.
In Writing we concentrated on writing reports. We went through this step by step and finished the year with the children writing their own report about a chicken.
In Maths we finished off with number - addition and subtraction and symmetry. It was fabulous to hear the children using the correct terminology - reflect, rotate and translate, and now hopefully the will remember these for next time.
We had Athletics at Glenavy again and were lucky this year as it was a lovely day and we were able to do the full programme with the Juniors.
Our production at the end of the year was Jump Jam. The school was divided into 4 groups and the senior students led each group. It was a fabulous production with the senior students taking on more of a lead role rather than the teachers directing the children.
Our combined class has been a learning curve for all involved. We have changed and adapted and changed back. I think we have a good programme going now and we know where we can improve. We will only have the two classes in the first term together as the new classroom will not be ready until term 2 then we will need to look at our programmes again - so doubt some more change in store.
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Saturday, 18 October 2014
Term 3 Reflections
Term 3
Reflections and PD
This term our class has been busy getting organised for PrEP by making ginger beer and doing baking. We were lucky enough to have parents come in and help the children with the making of chocolate chip biscuits and truffles. Our parent helpers are a god send as without them it would be quite challenging to organise 47 children with 2 teachers to get all the making done in the time available.
On top of PrEP we have had our Gymnastics festival and Cross Country. Our children have to prepare for these by practicing their gymnastic routines over at the hall and also running each day - and we still have to do the core subjects - reading, writing and maths. It was no wonder our children were all exhausted by the end of term.
In Writing we have started peer writing programme to help with spelling, punctuation, getting words on paper and working together. We are only a few weeks into the programme as it takes a lot of setting up. We have had the help of our RTLB lady in implementing this programme with the hope it will help our challenging few. Chris and I went to observe the programme at another school and decided we would give it a try. We have had to change and adapt it to our particular needs. In the first few weeks it felt like bedlam and we had to change a number of tutor/tutees as they were not working together. Already we have noticed the increase of correct punctuation and spelling and our focus will be back on content which seems to have slipped. We think we have the right mix now of tutor/tutees and look forward to the beginning of the next term and continuing with it for another four weeks.
Our Maths focus for the term has been number and fractions. We have been revisiting our strategies in addition and subtraction and learning new ones. I have had a big focus on number of the day with place value being the main focus. It is interesting that the children who are still working at Stage 3 are struggling with this - I wonder if it is too much for them and that they are not really ready for this concept yet - but they must know it (mmm????).
Our Reading focus has been understanding the text and this will continue next term. We are working on going back to the text to find the answers - quite a challenge for some. We have started Reading Eggs in our Junior classes this term and the children are enjoying the activities on here more so than other reading online programmes we are involved with.
At the start of Spring we visited the daffodils across the road at the Hurst's. The children had to sit on their own and sketch the daffodils. They did four sketches each taking a little longer to do. The children then made a stencil and did rubbings. They then wrote a poem using a noun, saying what it was doing and then activating the noun. We got some fabulous pieces of writing for both the daffodils and fire.
The class also painted daffodils. They only had green,yellow, orange and white to use and we ended up with some lovely pictures to display. It is interesting to watch children using the paint and getting it on the paper thickly. Lots more work needed using paint.
Reflections and PD
This term our class has been busy getting organised for PrEP by making ginger beer and doing baking. We were lucky enough to have parents come in and help the children with the making of chocolate chip biscuits and truffles. Our parent helpers are a god send as without them it would be quite challenging to organise 47 children with 2 teachers to get all the making done in the time available.
On top of PrEP we have had our Gymnastics festival and Cross Country. Our children have to prepare for these by practicing their gymnastic routines over at the hall and also running each day - and we still have to do the core subjects - reading, writing and maths. It was no wonder our children were all exhausted by the end of term.
In Writing we have started peer writing programme to help with spelling, punctuation, getting words on paper and working together. We are only a few weeks into the programme as it takes a lot of setting up. We have had the help of our RTLB lady in implementing this programme with the hope it will help our challenging few. Chris and I went to observe the programme at another school and decided we would give it a try. We have had to change and adapt it to our particular needs. In the first few weeks it felt like bedlam and we had to change a number of tutor/tutees as they were not working together. Already we have noticed the increase of correct punctuation and spelling and our focus will be back on content which seems to have slipped. We think we have the right mix now of tutor/tutees and look forward to the beginning of the next term and continuing with it for another four weeks.
Our Maths focus for the term has been number and fractions. We have been revisiting our strategies in addition and subtraction and learning new ones. I have had a big focus on number of the day with place value being the main focus. It is interesting that the children who are still working at Stage 3 are struggling with this - I wonder if it is too much for them and that they are not really ready for this concept yet - but they must know it (mmm????).
Our Reading focus has been understanding the text and this will continue next term. We are working on going back to the text to find the answers - quite a challenge for some. We have started Reading Eggs in our Junior classes this term and the children are enjoying the activities on here more so than other reading online programmes we are involved with.
At the start of Spring we visited the daffodils across the road at the Hurst's. The children had to sit on their own and sketch the daffodils. They did four sketches each taking a little longer to do. The children then made a stencil and did rubbings. They then wrote a poem using a noun, saying what it was doing and then activating the noun. We got some fabulous pieces of writing for both the daffodils and fire.
The class also painted daffodils. They only had green,yellow, orange and white to use and we ended up with some lovely pictures to display. It is interesting to watch children using the paint and getting it on the paper thickly. Lots more work needed using paint.
We have looked at Fire Safety this term and presented a dance and song to the whole school at assembly when we completed our unit. We learnt about getting down and keep low if a fire happens in our house and talking with their families about a safe meeting point.
PD
This term Chris and I visited another school to observe and implement our Peer Tutor Writing Programme. It was good to see it in practice and working well.
We have worked through the ELL programme on line. We both thought that what we learned on this site we were doing for our ELL in our class. As a school we are now doing the JOST when new ELL students arrive and then have a TA working with the children in areas that need developed.
Our school is involved with two other schools working to combine our resources and teacher strengths to improve student agency. Student Agency is our school inquiry and we have worked with the other schools to develop 'I Can' statements in reading and writing for students to follow. I can see student agency working well in the senior part of the school as students are able to read and assess where they are going quite easily. In the junior part of the school I think it is going to be a little more challenging. A lot of our 'I can' is verbal and giving children a sheet with where they are heading to when they can't read yet will be interesting.
Sunday, 20 July 2014
Term 2 2014
This term has been a short term and trying to cram everything in has been a mission.
Our numbers were getting quite high and with our new class being completed and the seniors moving into it we have moved our New Entrants and most Year 1's into the hub.This has enabled us to have 2 teachers in the 2 classrooms. The noise level has decreased but it is a pity as it defeats the purpose of keeping all the Juniors together - our NE and Year 1's do not see what is expected of them as they progress through the class.
We have changed our programme a number of times in Whare Iti trying to ensure we cover everything. The children are all very adaptable and enjoy the change. We are still moving students between our 2 classes and it is great that children are able to work with others at their level.
We have now included our Handwriting into our Reading time and children have the choice of when they do this. We are looking at changing our Spelling Programme again as we seem to run out of time to do and we are not seeing any improvement in the children's writing.
Our focus for the term in writing has been Fairytales. We have looked at characters, settings, time connectives, adjectives and verbs used. It has been a fabulous term of writing and we completed it with our giant footsteps in the classroom.
In Maths we have been working on Measurement, Geometry and Number. Most children are able to use a ruler correctly now which is great. We have looked at 2D shapes and their properties and continue with 3D at the beginning of next term.
We have had Technology Challenge up at Waitaki Valley School again this year. It is wonderful to watch the older students taking the lead in their groups.
Our speech competition was held in the second last week of term. The Year 1 and 2 children recited poems. There was some varied results but all children got up and said their poem which was fabulous.
In topic the class has been looking at Food and what is available here and overseas. We also start PrEP which continues in term 3. We are having a Cafe on Market Day and are making Ginger Beer and baking to sell at it.
I have discontinued one child off Reading Recovery with pleasing results. I am starting another child at the beginning of the term and hope to have another finished by the middle of next term.
It has been a changeable term with us teachers trying to get the right mix that will work for us. I look forward to next term and keeping our programme the same. We may find other challenges with calving in full swing and tired children.
Our numbers were getting quite high and with our new class being completed and the seniors moving into it we have moved our New Entrants and most Year 1's into the hub.This has enabled us to have 2 teachers in the 2 classrooms. The noise level has decreased but it is a pity as it defeats the purpose of keeping all the Juniors together - our NE and Year 1's do not see what is expected of them as they progress through the class.
We have changed our programme a number of times in Whare Iti trying to ensure we cover everything. The children are all very adaptable and enjoy the change. We are still moving students between our 2 classes and it is great that children are able to work with others at their level.
We have now included our Handwriting into our Reading time and children have the choice of when they do this. We are looking at changing our Spelling Programme again as we seem to run out of time to do and we are not seeing any improvement in the children's writing.
Our focus for the term in writing has been Fairytales. We have looked at characters, settings, time connectives, adjectives and verbs used. It has been a fabulous term of writing and we completed it with our giant footsteps in the classroom.
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| Giant Footsteps that were in our class when we arrived one morning. How did they get there? |
In Maths we have been working on Measurement, Geometry and Number. Most children are able to use a ruler correctly now which is great. We have looked at 2D shapes and their properties and continue with 3D at the beginning of next term.
We have had Technology Challenge up at Waitaki Valley School again this year. It is wonderful to watch the older students taking the lead in their groups.
Our speech competition was held in the second last week of term. The Year 1 and 2 children recited poems. There was some varied results but all children got up and said their poem which was fabulous.
In topic the class has been looking at Food and what is available here and overseas. We also start PrEP which continues in term 3. We are having a Cafe on Market Day and are making Ginger Beer and baking to sell at it.
I have discontinued one child off Reading Recovery with pleasing results. I am starting another child at the beginning of the term and hope to have another finished by the middle of next term.
It has been a changeable term with us teachers trying to get the right mix that will work for us. I look forward to next term and keeping our programme the same. We may find other challenges with calving in full swing and tired children.
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Term One 2014
What a fantastic term we have had in our new class of NE to Year 3. It has been a huge learning curve and adjustment for all concerned - teachers and students. Working in a confined space with 3 classes and teachers is challenging at times - not your own class or space. The noise level is quite loud sometimes but the children are adjusting to the numbers and learning to keep their voices low. Children are working collaboratively with each other with the Year 3 students taking on the role of leaders with ease - it is fabulous to see them working with and helping the younger students. We are lucky to have parent helpers come in to our class at literacy time and all children are reading most days with an adult.
Our classes are mixed. It is fantastic for all children as they are working with children of the same abilities in maths, reading and writing. The children are moving with ease between teachers in all these areas.
We are using Joy Allcocks Spelling Programme in our Year 2 and 3 classes to increase our children's awareness of language and spelling and hopefully transfer this to their writing.
This term in topics the class has looked at 'What makes our community special' and 'How can we bring the Buzz back to our community'. This is my Reading Recovery time so I miss out on these areas but it is fantastic to see and hear all the students are learning. I know there was concern that our topic would not stretch our older children but this has not been the case as they are the ones who are doing more research at home - finding out new and interesting facts and bringing it back to school to share with all.
We have looked at our reporting for our Junior Classes and are changing to reporting 6 monthly and at the anniversary of their birthday. This will mean we are essentially reporting all through the year and will need to ensure we are a lot more organised.
I am enjoying the challenge of working in our combined class and know by the end of the year as our numbers increase it will become more of a challenge for space.
I am finishing may Children's Lit papers this year and will be keeping busy in all my 'spare time' getting my assignments completed.
What a fantastic term we have had in our new class of NE to Year 3. It has been a huge learning curve and adjustment for all concerned - teachers and students. Working in a confined space with 3 classes and teachers is challenging at times - not your own class or space. The noise level is quite loud sometimes but the children are adjusting to the numbers and learning to keep their voices low. Children are working collaboratively with each other with the Year 3 students taking on the role of leaders with ease - it is fabulous to see them working with and helping the younger students. We are lucky to have parent helpers come in to our class at literacy time and all children are reading most days with an adult.
Our classes are mixed. It is fantastic for all children as they are working with children of the same abilities in maths, reading and writing. The children are moving with ease between teachers in all these areas.
We are using Joy Allcocks Spelling Programme in our Year 2 and 3 classes to increase our children's awareness of language and spelling and hopefully transfer this to their writing.
This term in topics the class has looked at 'What makes our community special' and 'How can we bring the Buzz back to our community'. This is my Reading Recovery time so I miss out on these areas but it is fantastic to see and hear all the students are learning. I know there was concern that our topic would not stretch our older children but this has not been the case as they are the ones who are doing more research at home - finding out new and interesting facts and bringing it back to school to share with all.
We have looked at our reporting for our Junior Classes and are changing to reporting 6 monthly and at the anniversary of their birthday. This will mean we are essentially reporting all through the year and will need to ensure we are a lot more organised.
I am enjoying the challenge of working in our combined class and know by the end of the year as our numbers increase it will become more of a challenge for space.
I am finishing may Children's Lit papers this year and will be keeping busy in all my 'spare time' getting my assignments completed.
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Term 4
Term 4
The end of the year has come around all to quick again.
The last term was as busy as ever. We had reports to do by the end of November which always puts pressure on. I will be looking at suggesting we change our reporting in the junior school as some children have not even spent a whole year at school. I would like to do reporting after 1 year, 2 years and 3 years at school then go to end of year reporting. Will work on this next year.
In Reading most of my class ended the year reading at or above their age which was fabulous. The next step for the higher reading children is inferring and to continue to understand what they are reading.
My ESOL child has had a teacher aide and she has been working with him in his own language and translating. He is making good progress and I am looking forward to next year and working with him again.
Our Inquiry Unit was 'What Lies Beneath'. Our Junior classes worked on the being a paleontologist and looking at the dinosaurs that were here before us. It was a hit. We visited Vanished World and Elephant Rocks in Duntroon to begin our unit. We were able to dig for our own fossils and look at the fantastic rock formations around the area. Well worth a visit to get the children all enthused.
Our whole school went to Tutus on Tour performance at the Opera House. It was fantastic for the children to see these amazing dancers - both male and female.
My Reading Recovery children both came off at 19. One will need to be monitored right through his primary schooling but the other should now be able to keep up with his peers.
We have been using KnowledgeNet for showing our children's learning this year instead of doing 'Snapshots' three times a year. It has been a learning curve posting work on and commenting. I think it will be great once as teachers we become better at this and we have all parents on board.
Next year is a new beginning for our school. We will have 6 full time teachers working in 5 classes. Our New Entrants to Year 3 will be working in 2 classrooms with 3 teachers - exciting times ahead. The bonus is the children all know the teachers and although some will have a new teacher there will still be the familiarity of their teacher from the previous year with them.
Saturday, 19 October 2013
Term 3
Term 3 has flown by as usual.
This term I had 2 children join my class. One of these children has just arrived from the Philippines and is still adjusting to New Zealand life. They have limited English so this has been a challenge for me to ensure he is understanding what I am asking him to do. I have been doing some research by reading 'The English Language Learning Progressions' and 'Supporting English Language Learning in Primary Schools' on how to help him adjust to my class. I have a few ideas now and will need to ensure I go back to these publications regularly to gain more ideas.
I had the privilege of spending a CRT day in my daughters class observing her teaching. It was fantastic to see her in action.She has a diverse range of children in her class and for a beginning teacher she is doing a great job. Her class respects her and are responding positively to her. I look forward to being able to observe her in another twelve months.
This term I have had a student teacher in my class. This has been an interesting experience. My class enjoyed having someone else teaching them for a change. She gained lots of experience by being able to teach for more than was required - trying out new ideas, behaviour control, lessons. I thought I would get all my 'testing' up to date, but no, the four weeks she was in my class just flew by and I found that by the end of term 'testing' still needed to be done.
I tried to use SOLO in my Science Unit but was a little disappointed. I know children need to know where they are going but when you ask them to show where they think they are, using the hand signals, more often than not they copy each other. I will give it another try in another area to see if there is any difference.
In Science we had to do fair testing. We had a 'sharing' day at the end of term. My class had their porridge experiment, some of our experiments from term one and our Gummy Bear Experiment. This was a hit with everyone.
I have been using 'I've got Something to Say' By Gail Loane in my writing programme. I have noticed a huge improvement in a number of students writing when they have the model and hope they will continue to use the ideas when doing independent writing. This term I am also using 'The Writing Book' by Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey. Like the Gail Loane book there are lots of easy to read and follow lessons which I will be able to use in my class.
This term I had 2 children join my class. One of these children has just arrived from the Philippines and is still adjusting to New Zealand life. They have limited English so this has been a challenge for me to ensure he is understanding what I am asking him to do. I have been doing some research by reading 'The English Language Learning Progressions' and 'Supporting English Language Learning in Primary Schools' on how to help him adjust to my class. I have a few ideas now and will need to ensure I go back to these publications regularly to gain more ideas.
I had the privilege of spending a CRT day in my daughters class observing her teaching. It was fantastic to see her in action.She has a diverse range of children in her class and for a beginning teacher she is doing a great job. Her class respects her and are responding positively to her. I look forward to being able to observe her in another twelve months.
This term I have had a student teacher in my class. This has been an interesting experience. My class enjoyed having someone else teaching them for a change. She gained lots of experience by being able to teach for more than was required - trying out new ideas, behaviour control, lessons. I thought I would get all my 'testing' up to date, but no, the four weeks she was in my class just flew by and I found that by the end of term 'testing' still needed to be done.
I tried to use SOLO in my Science Unit but was a little disappointed. I know children need to know where they are going but when you ask them to show where they think they are, using the hand signals, more often than not they copy each other. I will give it another try in another area to see if there is any difference.
In Science we had to do fair testing. We had a 'sharing' day at the end of term. My class had their porridge experiment, some of our experiments from term one and our Gummy Bear Experiment. This was a hit with everyone.
I have been using 'I've got Something to Say' By Gail Loane in my writing programme. I have noticed a huge improvement in a number of students writing when they have the model and hope they will continue to use the ideas when doing independent writing. This term I am also using 'The Writing Book' by Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey. Like the Gail Loane book there are lots of easy to read and follow lessons which I will be able to use in my class.
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Gail Loane Writing Workshops
This week our school has spent two days at workshops with Gail Loane to enhance our writing programmes. I have her book 'I've got something to say' and hoped after going to her workshops the book would make more sense - I was not disappointed.
We began by being reminded that writing is an important and deeply satisfying skill and that all children have something to say - they all have their own experiences to share. As teachers we want to build independent writers.
There are four areas we looked at - personal - what is going on in their lives; local - what is going on in my community; national - what is going on in our country; global - what is going on in our world. As teachers we need to be aware of what is happening around us - be more observant.
We were introduced to 'quick write' and a jottings notebook. A quick write is an opportunity to jot down what you think about something that is happening. It is a tool for thinking and something to build on. A jotting notebook is just that - a notebook children use to write down thoughts, ideas, wonderings, opinions or draw. These 'jottings' can be turned in to a larger piece of writing at a later date.
Gail showed us how to use 'other authors' texts for our models when designing lessons. Having a model is really important in all aspects of writing. We learnt about 'helping circles' and always referring back to the author asking them to elaborate on what they are saying.
She talked about 'storytelling' and how it is an important part of writing as it enables children to get images in their head. This is something to work on in my junior class - sharing a story orally rather than shared writing and getting them to visualise before writing.
The workshop focused on the process of writing and the question was asked about punctuation - the dreaded capital letter and full stop. Again having models and talking explicitly about punctuation is needed. Children need to notice and become aware of punctuation. Punctuation is a courtesy for the reader.
I gained a lot from the workshops having come away asking myself how am I going to implement some of these ideas into my class programme. I need to be more explicit in my teaching of writing - focus on making the story they write enjoyable for the reader.
I am a learner writer alongside my students. Children need to know writing is about them and their life - a memoir - real life, real reason.
We began by being reminded that writing is an important and deeply satisfying skill and that all children have something to say - they all have their own experiences to share. As teachers we want to build independent writers.
There are four areas we looked at - personal - what is going on in their lives; local - what is going on in my community; national - what is going on in our country; global - what is going on in our world. As teachers we need to be aware of what is happening around us - be more observant.
We were introduced to 'quick write' and a jottings notebook. A quick write is an opportunity to jot down what you think about something that is happening. It is a tool for thinking and something to build on. A jotting notebook is just that - a notebook children use to write down thoughts, ideas, wonderings, opinions or draw. These 'jottings' can be turned in to a larger piece of writing at a later date.
Gail showed us how to use 'other authors' texts for our models when designing lessons. Having a model is really important in all aspects of writing. We learnt about 'helping circles' and always referring back to the author asking them to elaborate on what they are saying.
She talked about 'storytelling' and how it is an important part of writing as it enables children to get images in their head. This is something to work on in my junior class - sharing a story orally rather than shared writing and getting them to visualise before writing.
The workshop focused on the process of writing and the question was asked about punctuation - the dreaded capital letter and full stop. Again having models and talking explicitly about punctuation is needed. Children need to notice and become aware of punctuation. Punctuation is a courtesy for the reader.
I gained a lot from the workshops having come away asking myself how am I going to implement some of these ideas into my class programme. I need to be more explicit in my teaching of writing - focus on making the story they write enjoyable for the reader.
I am a learner writer alongside my students. Children need to know writing is about them and their life - a memoir - real life, real reason.
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