Restorative Practice
14th September
Last Monday I attended a restorative practice session at south intermediate. Restorative practice is an approach to dealing with behaviour or issues with children. It is about not punishing children but instead calmly talking to the child about an issue and working out a consequence where they own up to their behaviour and take responsibility. Marg Thorsborne was the speaker and she was really interesting to listen to. She was blunt and gave some examples of her own experiences of using restorative practice over the years with her own children. This lead to a few laughs! Through attending this course I realised that I am using restorative practice when I am on duty in the play ground but I am not transferring that into my classroom. Therefore this will be an approach that I will use in the classroom. I enjoy restorative practice because it is not about punishing children it is about asking them what they were feeling and getting to the bottom of an issue rather than what you can see on the surface. It is about children taking responsibility for their actions and behaviour and they also need to come up with consequences by themselves to acknowledge what they have done.
Last Monday I attended a restorative practice session at south intermediate. Restorative practice is an approach to dealing with behaviour or issues with children. It is about not punishing children but instead calmly talking to the child about an issue and working out a consequence where they own up to their behaviour and take responsibility. Marg Thorsborne was the speaker and she was really interesting to listen to. She was blunt and gave some examples of her own experiences of using restorative practice over the years with her own children. This lead to a few laughs! Through attending this course I realised that I am using restorative practice when I am on duty in the play ground but I am not transferring that into my classroom. Therefore this will be an approach that I will use in the classroom. I enjoy restorative practice because it is not about punishing children it is about asking them what they were feeling and getting to the bottom of an issue rather than what you can see on the surface. It is about children taking responsibility for their actions and behaviour and they also need to come up with consequences by themselves to acknowledge what they have done.
Celebration of Learning
7th September
As a team we decided that this term we needed to showcase the learning we are doing in our school and share it with our families. Therefore we decided we could do this with our topic of 'Our bodies inside out'. This was a fantastic afternoon, it made the children proud of the work they had done and it gave it all purpose by being able to show their own hard work. As a teacher it was great to see the children proud of their learning and to see them explain their learning to their family and to their peers was awesome! This was a chance for our team to get feedback from the families to see what they liked about reports and their children's learning and what they thought we could improve on. It is always a huge help for us to receive parent voice so that we can use the feedback when planning our next unit. We value your opinions and views and always want to hear about what you think of your child's learning as this helps us with what we do as teachers in the future.
As a team we decided that this term we needed to showcase the learning we are doing in our school and share it with our families. Therefore we decided we could do this with our topic of 'Our bodies inside out'. This was a fantastic afternoon, it made the children proud of the work they had done and it gave it all purpose by being able to show their own hard work. As a teacher it was great to see the children proud of their learning and to see them explain their learning to their family and to their peers was awesome! This was a chance for our team to get feedback from the families to see what they liked about reports and their children's learning and what they thought we could improve on. It is always a huge help for us to receive parent voice so that we can use the feedback when planning our next unit. We value your opinions and views and always want to hear about what you think of your child's learning as this helps us with what we do as teachers in the future.
Yolanda Soryl
27th August
Today I attended a course with Yolanda Soryl where she discussed reading, writing and phonics. She is the guru at literacy and it was a pleasure listening to her. She gave me many wonderful ideas and I took a lot away from it. The main things that I will be now checking to see is making sure that children are actually reading the words in their books rather than black squiggly lines. I will also be implementing more rhyme and songs into my classroom. This not only makes it a happier place to be but they are extremely important for children's development. When children are able to rhyme then it makes phonics a lot easier for them and it is easier for them to understand. During writing I will getting children to focus a lot more on rereading their writing. A good writer rereads! Through listening to Yolanda she gave me a greater understanding of the phonics programme and the importance of it. I will now teach it with more confidence and more of a background knowledge. I thoroughly enjoyed attending this course and it has done wonders for my understanding of literacy and how children learn. I can't wait to implement this into my classroom.
Today I attended a course with Yolanda Soryl where she discussed reading, writing and phonics. She is the guru at literacy and it was a pleasure listening to her. She gave me many wonderful ideas and I took a lot away from it. The main things that I will be now checking to see is making sure that children are actually reading the words in their books rather than black squiggly lines. I will also be implementing more rhyme and songs into my classroom. This not only makes it a happier place to be but they are extremely important for children's development. When children are able to rhyme then it makes phonics a lot easier for them and it is easier for them to understand. During writing I will getting children to focus a lot more on rereading their writing. A good writer rereads! Through listening to Yolanda she gave me a greater understanding of the phonics programme and the importance of it. I will now teach it with more confidence and more of a background knowledge. I thoroughly enjoyed attending this course and it has done wonders for my understanding of literacy and how children learn. I can't wait to implement this into my classroom.
Sports Start Course
10th August
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a Sports Start course which was run by Sports Canterbury. This was an awesome course to attend, it was very hands on and we were active the whole day. Sports Start is a physical education programme that we teach at West Spreydon. Although I have been teaching from the books, it was great to learn more about them and to fully understand the programme. This programme looks at teaching a certain skill through games and activities rather than focusing on a specific sport. Most actions or skills relate to many different sports so by teaching the fundamentals of that skill/action the children can then these transfer their learning into specific sports when they choose to specialise. This programme is a lot more affective than how I was taught physical education at school. In my day we would focus on a sport for a term and if you didn't enjoy that sport it was a very long term! Teaching this way was would often create children who were very good at one specific sport only or children who would in the end become fed up and bored of that sport. Through the sport start programme, children learn skills/actions though games this ensures full participation and enjoyment. These games can then be changed depending on the ability of the class and to the needs of the children. At this course I learnt about how to change these games to suit the needs of the children. I learnt how to question children in order to change the rules of the games to make it easier or harder and to give the children ownership over the games.
I really enjoyed myself at this course, I enjoyed having to participate in these activities. It created a better understanding for myself and I enjoyed having to teach a game out of the book to the other teachers on the course, this gave me a chance to take what I had learnt and put it into practice. I can't wait to now teach it to my own class and to put into practice all I have learnt!
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a Sports Start course which was run by Sports Canterbury. This was an awesome course to attend, it was very hands on and we were active the whole day. Sports Start is a physical education programme that we teach at West Spreydon. Although I have been teaching from the books, it was great to learn more about them and to fully understand the programme. This programme looks at teaching a certain skill through games and activities rather than focusing on a specific sport. Most actions or skills relate to many different sports so by teaching the fundamentals of that skill/action the children can then these transfer their learning into specific sports when they choose to specialise. This programme is a lot more affective than how I was taught physical education at school. In my day we would focus on a sport for a term and if you didn't enjoy that sport it was a very long term! Teaching this way was would often create children who were very good at one specific sport only or children who would in the end become fed up and bored of that sport. Through the sport start programme, children learn skills/actions though games this ensures full participation and enjoyment. These games can then be changed depending on the ability of the class and to the needs of the children. At this course I learnt about how to change these games to suit the needs of the children. I learnt how to question children in order to change the rules of the games to make it easier or harder and to give the children ownership over the games.
I really enjoyed myself at this course, I enjoyed having to participate in these activities. It created a better understanding for myself and I enjoyed having to teach a game out of the book to the other teachers on the course, this gave me a chance to take what I had learnt and put it into practice. I can't wait to now teach it to my own class and to put into practice all I have learnt!
Mathematics Course
10th August
Over the last few moths I have attended a course at the University of Canterbury on Mathematics. The course was spread out over three sessions. This course really unpacked the mathematics books that we use in our teaching. It went through the books to look at what was important. We looked at each stage and pulled apart what information fit into each stage. We also looked at different subjects within mathematics for example, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions. We looked specifically at each subject, how it develops from stage to stage and we were taught the best way to teach them. This course was a great way to unpack an already known resource and to find out more about it and how it worked. I found it most interesting looking at how each specific subject develops through the stages and we were given many helpful hints that I will use throughout my own teaching of mathematics.
Over the last few moths I have attended a course at the University of Canterbury on Mathematics. The course was spread out over three sessions. This course really unpacked the mathematics books that we use in our teaching. It went through the books to look at what was important. We looked at each stage and pulled apart what information fit into each stage. We also looked at different subjects within mathematics for example, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions. We looked specifically at each subject, how it develops from stage to stage and we were taught the best way to teach them. This course was a great way to unpack an already known resource and to find out more about it and how it worked. I found it most interesting looking at how each specific subject develops through the stages and we were given many helpful hints that I will use throughout my own teaching of mathematics.
First Aid Course
30th May
On Saturday I participated in a first aid course at school. This was the first, first aid course I had attended and I am so pleased I was able to be a part of it. All the learning was very practical and made simple so that it was easy to follow. Jed Keenan was our instructor and he was brilliant! He was very easy to listen to and he had many great stories to tell which made what we were learning more realistic. After attending the first aid course I now feel a lot more confident to deal with issues I may face inside and outside of school. Especially for being on duty within the school. When you are on duty you are usually the first person on the scene of an accident and by doing the first aid course I am now more aware of the potential risks and I now know the correct action to take.
On Saturday I participated in a first aid course at school. This was the first, first aid course I had attended and I am so pleased I was able to be a part of it. All the learning was very practical and made simple so that it was easy to follow. Jed Keenan was our instructor and he was brilliant! He was very easy to listen to and he had many great stories to tell which made what we were learning more realistic. After attending the first aid course I now feel a lot more confident to deal with issues I may face inside and outside of school. Especially for being on duty within the school. When you are on duty you are usually the first person on the scene of an accident and by doing the first aid course I am now more aware of the potential risks and I now know the correct action to take.
Collaboration afternoon tea
25th May
Last Tuesday we had an afternoon tea with the junior team and all parents and families were invited. This was a chance to talk about collaboration and what is happening throughout the classrooms in the junior team. Thank you to all of the parents and families who came. It was a wonderful chance to catch up with you all, answer questions and talk about collaboration. The purpose of this afternoon tea was to find out what you the families think of collaboration, to inform you of how we are collaborating throughout the classrooms and to see what we can improve on. This was a great success! It was very helpful to find out what you the families thought of collaboration and the feedback and support you have given us in this process has been amazing. We hope to have another afternoon tea next term to help keep you informed and for us as the junior team to keep getting feedback from our families.
My door is always open for all of our families if anyone wants to talk more about collaboration and or their child's learning.
Last Tuesday we had an afternoon tea with the junior team and all parents and families were invited. This was a chance to talk about collaboration and what is happening throughout the classrooms in the junior team. Thank you to all of the parents and families who came. It was a wonderful chance to catch up with you all, answer questions and talk about collaboration. The purpose of this afternoon tea was to find out what you the families think of collaboration, to inform you of how we are collaborating throughout the classrooms and to see what we can improve on. This was a great success! It was very helpful to find out what you the families thought of collaboration and the feedback and support you have given us in this process has been amazing. We hope to have another afternoon tea next term to help keep you informed and for us as the junior team to keep getting feedback from our families.
My door is always open for all of our families if anyone wants to talk more about collaboration and or their child's learning.
Collaboration
This term room 6, 7 and 8 have started to collaborate.
We collaborate during our reading time. During our planning sessions we have discussed how we can meet the needs of all children throughout the three classrooms. We have grouped the children according to their reading level and they have been placed across the three classrooms. The children have a specific classroom that they go to at reading time and this caters to their reading level. The reading session begins with a shared book and a poem. We all read the same poem across the three classrooms and a different shared book. We meet often to discuss how children are progressing and if any children need to be moved to another group. We are constantly giving feedback about the children to the child's key teacher to keep them informed on their progress.
We are also collaborative during our maths time. We have been doing a lot of assessment and we have grouped children according to what they need and the gaps within their mathematical learning. We are focusing at the moment on number ID, forward and backwards number sequencing and fractions.
We have also begun a sustainability of the earth topic throughout the junior team. Each of the 5 teachers across the team are looking at a different aspect within the topic of sustainability from bees, deforestation, water pollution, climate change and recycling. We are challenging the children to ask questions about their planet and the environment. We are getting them to think about were we are now and where we will be in the future and what will happen to our planet if we don't look after it.
We collaborate during our reading time. During our planning sessions we have discussed how we can meet the needs of all children throughout the three classrooms. We have grouped the children according to their reading level and they have been placed across the three classrooms. The children have a specific classroom that they go to at reading time and this caters to their reading level. The reading session begins with a shared book and a poem. We all read the same poem across the three classrooms and a different shared book. We meet often to discuss how children are progressing and if any children need to be moved to another group. We are constantly giving feedback about the children to the child's key teacher to keep them informed on their progress.
We are also collaborative during our maths time. We have been doing a lot of assessment and we have grouped children according to what they need and the gaps within their mathematical learning. We are focusing at the moment on number ID, forward and backwards number sequencing and fractions.
We have also begun a sustainability of the earth topic throughout the junior team. Each of the 5 teachers across the team are looking at a different aspect within the topic of sustainability from bees, deforestation, water pollution, climate change and recycling. We are challenging the children to ask questions about their planet and the environment. We are getting them to think about were we are now and where we will be in the future and what will happen to our planet if we don't look after it.
Canterbury Primary Mathematics Symposium
On Saturday the 2nd of May I attended a maths coarse at the University of Canterbury, College of Education. This was a wonderful experience to listen to some experts and to meet other teachers from all over the South Island. My mind was opened to the wonderful new ways of teaching mathematics and how to help engage our children in the classroom. I attended three workshops. The first workshop was about using maths games to help engage children. I learnt some great new games which I was able to play with other teachers, this was a lot of fun. We were lucky enough to receive copies of all these games which was great as teachers love free resources!!! I can't wait to use these games throughout my teaching and to see if the children enjoy playing them as much as I did. The second workshop included finding the gaps within our children's learning. We looked at patterning and how important it is and how it is included within everything that we teach throughout mathematics. The third workshop introduced us to rich task activities and how we can use them to motivate our children when learning mathematics. We looked at the knowledge we teach our children in the classroom and then we looked at how we could make it a rich task to help create deeper learning for our children. I thoroughly enjoyed this course the information was very practical and current and I am looking forward to using my new found knowledge and games throughout my classroom to help support and encourage our children's learning.
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