Upon reflection, I was glad I had organised this, even though it was hard work on top of all the other stuff teachers have to deal with. It was great to give something back to the community. It also gave me the opportunity to reach out to the community as I do not live in the school community area. I have also made a good relationship with Geoff who I hope to work with in the near future.
Following on from the SPCA visit I decided it would be nice to do something nice in return. I therefore organised a cupcake sale to some much needed funds for the SPCA. I asked all the Juniors to come on board and we had so many cupcakes to sell we had to hold the sale over 2 days. We raise a staggering $1084.20 for the SPCA. Geoff from the SPCA was 'blown away' by the amount and said it ould go a long way to help the animals. Upon reflection, I was glad I had organised this, even though it was hard work on top of all the other stuff teachers have to deal with. It was great to give something back to the community. It also gave me the opportunity to reach out to the community as I do not live in the school community area. I have also made a good relationship with Geoff who I hope to work with in the near future.
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This is a way to keep track on those children who are moving through the spelling lists. It allows me to see what spellings they have mastered and which ones they still need to learn. In view of the recent dog attacks on children in NZ, I thought it would be a good idea to invite the SPCA in to talk to the children about the best and safest way to approach dogs. I decided to open it up to the whole of the Junior team. It took a few weeks to organise but it all came together and the visits were a great success with both children and staff. I even had some good feedback from parents who told me the children were repeating what they had learned off Geoff and his dog Chloe. This also links to RTC 02
I realise that Te reo Maori is an important part of NZ's heritage and culture. However i am new to NZ and therefore my Te Reo is very limited. I obviously needed to do something about this so I have enrolled on the He Papa Tikanga course. This is a one year course that is accredited with a qualification at the end. I have been enjoying learning about NZ's culture and heritage and I have been able to put some of this knowledge into my teaching. Erica came in today to see how I am getting on with implementing oral language in the classroom. I wasn't expecting her but felt the observation went well. She has given me some good advice to use in the classroom regarding pair share work which I plan to implement straight away. It has been a work in progress but I feel I have opened up opportunities for my student to engage in oral language. activities. I thought the activities would impact on my teaching a lot but they only take a few moments and have a huge impact! Below are the photos of Erica's notes. The children are now getting used to choosing their own WALT and reading activities but I find this is sometimes taking too long. I had a think about this and decided I would give them options. I limited it to two options only so they have less choice (which takes too long) but they are still taking ownership of their own learning). I write the two options on a whiteboard and give it to the reading group and they decide as a group what it is they would like to achieve for the following week. I also give the children the option of keeping the current WALT if they feel they have not yet achieved it. Once the group has come to an agreement the Walt is recorded in my note book to be incorporated into my planning for the next week. Next the children move onto choosing the rotations they would like to work on in reading, again they are recorded in my note book for the planning. I found this works better, as it is quicker, the children have less choice so less confusion. The children work well as a group and are learning to listen to others opinions before choosing. This takes place on a Friday morning. It's at the end of the week so we can see if we have met the current learning goal, and move onto the new one for next week. Below are some pictures of it in action. IIt is important to involve parents as much as possible in their children's learning. Parents are invited in at the end of every topic unit, for community items and to celebrate their child's success. Below are some photographs showing the parents helping the children with the night and day topic, they even joined in the children's favourite brain break of 'Go Noodle.' To incorporate more oral language in the classroom I have implemented some more ideas. The first idea I got from a teacher at a PD day I attended. After changing the calendar the children stomp the days of the week whilst saying them out loud, they then jump on the actual day. When they have done this they then stomp and say the months of the year. The other idea is instead of the children choosing the 'buzzword' of the day and then just leaving it, I now choose an interesting word and the children have to work with the person next to them and put it into an 'interesting' sentence. The children love doing both these activities and I have heard them correcting each other when they forget to jump or jump at the wrong time. Also doing the sentences is increasing their vocabulary, allowing them to work with one another, the more able can help the less able and it is also improving their literacy writing.! |
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