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.