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.
Saturday, 19 October 2013
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.
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Term 2 2013
Halfway through the year already. My class has changed with Year 1 students joining us. The dynamics and needs are a lot wider now. They have made the move quite easily though - it certainly helps with having Discovery Time together each week and this last term we also did our Technology - making biscuits together.
All children are either at or above where I expected them to be mid year in reading which is really pleasing. I will continue with my programme with the lower level readers and begin to have the more able readers more independent.
I have continued with Reading Recovery once a day with a child and they are now at the expected level for their age. Next term I start a child that has been at school just a year and is not really interested in reading or writing so this will be a nice challenge for me
In Maths we have been working on Time, Geometry (shape) and Number - add/sub. The new NZ Maths pink book is out and it is much more user friendly. We incorporated art into our shape unit by painting pictures in Kandinsky style.
This term I went to a course in Dunedin on Solo Taxonomy. Pam made it look so easy to use in class. There are lots of templates available on her website http://pamhook.com/. I can see it working in the senior classes but am not sure about the juniors. I am going to trial it this term to see if we will incorporate right through.
I also attended a course after school by Stephen Graham (Nelson Learning) on Report Writing. He was very interesting and broke the writing process of reports right down into easy manageable steps.
We have been learning Ukulele this term and played one of our songs at assembly on the last day of term. It is fabulous to see that even Year 1 and 2 children are able to play an instrument and sing at the same time
All children are either at or above where I expected them to be mid year in reading which is really pleasing. I will continue with my programme with the lower level readers and begin to have the more able readers more independent.
I have continued with Reading Recovery once a day with a child and they are now at the expected level for their age. Next term I start a child that has been at school just a year and is not really interested in reading or writing so this will be a nice challenge for me
In Maths we have been working on Time, Geometry (shape) and Number - add/sub. The new NZ Maths pink book is out and it is much more user friendly. We incorporated art into our shape unit by painting pictures in Kandinsky style.
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| Time Unit |
I also attended a course after school by Stephen Graham (Nelson Learning) on Report Writing. He was very interesting and broke the writing process of reports right down into easy manageable steps.
We have been learning Ukulele this term and played one of our songs at assembly on the last day of term. It is fabulous to see that even Year 1 and 2 children are able to play an instrument and sing at the same time
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