The Best Laid Plans

I had organised my third prac to start today but it was not to be.  The supervising teacher took a leave of absence and I could not be placed at that school otherwise.

Never mind.

My husband had a work trip away, my car has a flat battery and uni scheduled an exam within the first week of my supposed prac so maybe these things happen for a reason...

I have a backup plan in motion and I am looking on the bright side.  At least I will have time to study for that exam now!

PREX902

I have just finished my second practicum placement, or PREX902, and it was a wonderful experience for me.  The school I went to had 30 students and two teachers.  My supervisor was the Principal and my class was 17 students in years 3 to 6 so was a multi-stage class.

I loved this small regional public school as it was VERY similar to the primary school I attended as a child.  It was very interesting for me to experience a school like this from the inside and compare the experience to the memories I had as a student some years ago.

Technology did not feature in the class room at all.  I was prepared for this as when I visited initially to have my paperwork signed I saw the layout of the classroom and made the decision to practice my handwriting before I started!  The layout of the tables suggested to me that the students did not do much work in pairs or groups and this was the case.  I tried to implement as much small group work as I could for the collaborative learning opportunities and as you can imagine this was pure chaos at first! 

I did learn a lot in this class.  My handwriting is much improved and I discovered that mulit-stage classrooms are not that different to any other class in terms of having to teach to differing levels of ability and it was not as bigger issue as I feared it may be.  I was also worried that there would be less teaching time due to the end of year rush but this was not the case.  Assessments were largely done before I started and I was given free reign with science (electricity) and HSIE (gold) and sport (tennis) and team taught maths.  I also took on some grammar first aid which was needed for some students.

My final report was wonderful and I am almost embarrassed by how well it reads but I have worked hard both on prac and with my studies so I am proud of myself for my efforts too.

edit: I have since received a letter from the UNE prac office to congratulate me on my prac report which was a nice surprise in the mail. 

The school has asked me back to do my next prac in the adjoining K-2 (Early Stage 1 and Stage 1) class next year which will be nice as I will be familiar with most of the students and the school routine so I will be able to jump right in with enthusiasm.  

MiniLit

I have been offered a job by the school I completed my first practicum at.  I will be running a literacy programme called MiniLit.  I have already done my training for this new role and I am excited (and nervous) to be going back to work in a field that will compliment my studies and further my teaching experience too.

picture source 

It is a 20 week programme so I will be employed for both term 1 and term 2 this year on top of my studies and other duties.  I hope to enhance my literacy teaching skills and look forward to working closely with a small group of children.

At the end of last year I spent a day at the school setting up my office and putting up my alphabet frieze and other materials.  I cannot tell you how good it felt to do that!  It does highlight the importance of conducting yourself in a professional manner while on practicum; you never know what may come of it not just long term, but in the short term too.

Goodbye Prac

I feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful experience on my first prac.  This small school welcomed me from the first day and made me feel like I belonged here.  The students in the whole school, not just the class I taught made this experience wonderful for me.

 

 

I have learnt so much during the last 20 days, my confidence has grown as has my ability to manage a classroom and teach children.  I will always remember this class and all they taught me.  Thank you.

 

Postcard Art

 

For my last art lesson in the class I wanted to pick something quick, clean and fun.  I wanted to see the results that afternoon so I did not have to leave my ST with a lesson to finish after I had left.

 

I chose to do some postcard art.  I cut out pictures from magazines found in the storage room and let the children expand upon the various scenes using crayons.

 

They loved it!

Elmer - Art

In H.S.I.E we are doing a unit of work on 'who am I?' where we explore our differences and similarities that make us what we are.  I thought reading the book Elmer would be a good tie in and we made our own 'Elmer' parade for art.  The kids had a lot of fun with the paper, scissors and glue.  I put them all up for display in the hallway at the door of our classroom.  The idea came from Mrs Brown's Art.

World Teachers' Day

 

Friday the 26th of October is World Teachers' Day.  I was lucky enough to get a certifiacte and block of chocolate along with every other teacher at my school; I am grateful that I was included given I am not yet fully qualified but I was told that student teachers are just as important.

Water Cycle - Terrarium

To further our earlier lesson on The Water Cycle we again listened to the previously linked song via YouTube.  Then I loaded this interactive game of the white board and we all took turns to answer some of the questions as a whole class activity.

As a different way of viewing The Water Cycle in our classroom I decided to build a terrarium.  I had bought some plants at the school fete held the weekend before and I already had the rest of the equipment at home so there was little outlay. 

The kids LOVED this.  I let them all help put some rocks in the bottom so they had some ownership of this.  It now sits on the windowsill in their classroom and it attracts a group of students here and there as they look to see it working.  I love this, a lesson that stays with them throughout the week.

Crayon Resist Art

For our last art lesson I did crayon resist art.  I knew my year 1/2 class had done that before so it would not take a lot of explaining in regards to technique.  Because in science we are studying water I set them the task of creating an underwater scene.

I found an example of this at Mrs. Browns Art:

picture

To challenge them I spoke about perspective and how drawing something in a different size can make it look further away.  I stood up in front of the class and showed them how tall I was, then I walked to the other end of the class and they all said 'you look smaller!'.  They had fun with that concept and I loved some of the pictures they drew.

 

RS 2012

Adjectives

I taught a lesson on adjectives to my Stage 1 class last week.  I started by describing what an adjective was and then I played them this Schoolhouse Rock clip called unpack your adjectives.

 

 

They loved it!

We had been looking at books written by Lynley Dodd so I based my worksheet on the book Hairy Maclary.  I put a picture of each dog on it and asked the students to 'unpack' their adjectives and describe each dog.  Because there was a few Hairy Maclary posters in one corner of the classroom I asked the lower reading group to sit in that corner so they could refer to the posters for help with spelling and ideas.

 

It was a fun lesson and to finish up I played another clip on the IWB that is full of adjectives, The Wonky Donkey.  This was a great way to finish as I know they are singing The Wonkey Donkey in music so they loved seeing the video.  I hope they think of adjectives everytime they are singing that song from now on.

 



Numeracy Warm Up

picture

 

Race to 100: The students worked in pairs and took turns to roll two dice, they had to add the total from their roll and then use the base ten blocks to record their score.  Each player had to add and trade up as their score got bigger with each roll of the dice. 

It can be a race to 50, or 100.  If addition and trading up is going well you can direct the class to start subtracting so that they have to trade down as well.  A simple activity that can be fun while students use mental strategies to trade while showing an understanding of place value.

Less than or Greater than: Still in pairs, students roll the dice and write down the number rolled in the thousands column of their laminated sheets, they roll again for hundreds, tens and ones.  They either model this number in MAB blocks or write it using a whiteboard marker.  Get them to read the number out loud to their partner and then work out whose number is greater than and whose number is less than their partners number.

Science & Water Lesson: What I Learnt.

If you give students a map to plot the points water is found around the school AND an iPad to take photos of some of them the maps will get ignored in favour of taking photos of the toilets.

Water is more fun if someone is getting wet.

If you are not very specific students will run with a concept, but not necessarily in the direction you would have chosen.  

Just because you are told the iPads are synced and ready to go does not mean they are.  This added an extra element of 'fun' to the beginning of the lesson.



PREX901: Week 1

 

 

I have just finished my first week of prac at a small Catholic school in rural New South Wales.  My class is a combined year 1 and 2 class with 23 students.  There are a range of students in the class, some with learning difficulties. 

 

They are a rowdy bunch of students and at times the class is loud and active which does require a range of various strategies to get their attention.  Counting down works well; the count gets their attention and they know at the end there will be a 'shhh' or a 'zip it' which they then attend to.  Sometimes the teacher claps a rhythm and the students listening repeat it, after 2 or 3 quick repeats of this the whole class is usually joining in and quiet.

 

I have taught some of the small groups in both reading and maths and I have read to the class and organised them for various activities.  I did a book review with each reading group using their PM readers which was a great activity as using the same template it was suitable for all the levels depending on their abilities.  My maths group was working with numbers 1-20.  We played 'teen memory', 'number before bingo', 'floor walking' and 'dot patterns'.  All pretty simple stuff, but challenging for this group of students.  I did plenty of marking to help my ST.

 

We had two WET and COLD days.  The children were stuck inside and it was CHAOS.  There is no multi-purpose hall so we split the children between two of the classrooms and watched them inside.  The noise level was frightening and the mess was mega to say the least.  That first wet day was the only time I have questioned my abilities to be in charge of a classroom!  Thankfully the next day was not wet, just very cold so we did get out to run and play tee-ball and things were much better.  Maybe everyone was too busy shivering to be rowdy!  We also had school photos on one day which did add to the confusion.  Next week will be a normal week, and hopefully without rain; I feel guilty wishing for no rain as the crops around here need it badly.

 

They are such wonderful children, if a bit of a handful at times.  I am ready for next Monday when I have more reading and maths activities as well as the whole class for science.  I have organised a 'water walk' where we talk about how water is used and then walk around the school with a map and plot the areas where water is found.  We are taking the iPads so we can take photos for the water word wall and their science journals.  The principal (my supervising teacher) looked over my lesson plan and said it was great. I can't wait!!