Term 2 - Week 8

The whole class is going so well this past week. They are following instructions really well and are managing themselves. Some children are more focused on other children are are forgetting about what it is that they are supposed to be doing. I am trying to encourage the children to manage themselves and to mind their own business.

An issue that has been popping up is that some children are very competitive in Room 7. They have been laughing at other children when they make a mistake and have been fighting to yell out answers first.
I have started the first of many workshops relating to the school motto CARE, SHARE, LEARN and GROW. We talked about the importance of mistakes and how to be supportive of each other. We also talked about calling out on the mat and how important it is to take turns talking.

The children are not taking care of the classroom equipment. There are a lot of pens missing and whiteboard markers drying out because lids are not being out on them. My next circle time will focus on this.

I have been thinking about the importance of a reflective practice. I value reflection clearly as I reflect on my practice each week. I would like to allow more time for the children to reflect on their day at school. I am thinking of either recording this on the class blog weekly or creating a booklet that I can use at the end of some school days. It would make a great point of closure for the day or week.

My Teaching as Inquiry is all about oral language and trying to create opportunities for the children to talk about their writing with others. I tried something new last week that went really well. Sometimes the children struggle to look at their own work critically. They don't see or don't admit to their own errors. I am a person who struggles to proof read my own work so I can relate to this. At the end of a writing session I decided that the 8 children who had finished could participate in an editing circle. This is were they edit and proofread someones work and make some changes. We talked about having respect for other people's work and that they spent a lot of time on their writing and that they are proud of it. We talked about how important it was to ask before we made changes as it is not our writing we are changing. The children were aware of this. I modeled some writing and had some children offer ideas of how I can fix it to make it better. I accepted their feedback and I made the changes. I asked why they felt certain things needed to be changed. After the children had swapped books I sat back and watched. They were reading and actually making changed. Fantastic discussions were taking place as they were offering ideas as to why certain things needed to be changed. The children were accepting the feedback from their peers and would make the changes to their writing together. This is something I would definitely like to do again.

Term 2 - Week 7

The Term is absolutely flying by!

Last term and this term I have completed many 'I can' Numeracy assessments. This has made me reconsider the stages I have the children working at on my planning. All children should be assessed. I plan to over the next few weeks go through all of their 'I cans' and regraph and regroup the children. This will make the learning more meaningful for them.

Last week I talked about the Reading Contracts that I have created to extend my top two Reading groups. This so far is going really well. The work is being completed. The children are enjoying selecting a book that they want to read. They are focused on this each day. Occasionally an activity is forgotten but I'm sure that this will happen less and less as they get used to the routine. I am trying to make the last activity of the week a bit more fun like a puzzle or a wordfind. The children are enjoying the self-management and they are working together.
Last week some contracts were going missing. This was an issue because they can't complete the work without the contract as it holds all of the activities. I have decided to take the contracts in each and put them in the group box. This way I can monitor it and I can mark it as they go. This will also prevent children from doing the work at home.
Another issue is that the children are forgetting to swap books. I try to get a variety of 4 books and I put them in the group box. The children know to swap these amongst themselves and within the group box. They will need reminding of this.
Over all, I am happy and I think the parents are too :)

Promoting the Well-being of Akonga

• Physically Safe Environment: Classroom Treaty and rules outlining how to move about the classroom safety. Written about stair manners and how to manage behaviour. Social story: about the rules on the playground.
• Socially Safe Environment: Sharing and talking about the Belfast School moto “care, share, learn and grow.” Examples of what this looks like. I plan to take images and do a brainstorm of what each one looks like with photos and present this.
• Culturally Safe Environment: I plan to complete the “where do we come from wall" with images of each children with links to where they were born.
• Teaching and encouraging the children to use their WITS and their I statements.
• Emotionally safe: Circle time weekly or when needed. Discussing how we are feeling.
• Incorporating the use of te reo Maori, kupu o te wiki, celebrated matariki with the children, celebrated samoan language week by incorporating the language as much as possible.
• Celebrated New Zealand Sign Language, taught them how to play hangman with Sign Language.

Term 2 Week 6

This week, some new challenges have risen.

I have a boy in my class who is timid and quite shy. I was warned at the end of last year that he may be reluctant to read to me. I have kept this in mind but have not had too much trouble getting him to read to me.
When a child turns 6, they must have a sic year net assessment. When the lady came in to test him he began to cry and I could see that he was anxious and scared. After trying very hard to prompt him to go I realised that he wouldn't go. Asked if the lady would try to test him in the classroom. This did not work as he became upset again. I spoke to mum and we thought that he may do the test if I was present. So I walked him over to the room to where the testing takes place. There was no verbal response and he did not want to read the book for the lady to take a running record. After 10 minutes of prompting there was still no verbal response.
The lady has talked me through most of the tests and I have started to implement some of them. He is responding to me and this is working well. I have sent the tests to the lady for her to analyse and she will get back to me for the rest of the testing. These tests consisted of a running record, a letter identification test, word reading score test, the burt word reading test and a writing vocabulary observation test.

After sitting down and thinking about my Reading programme, I have realised that most of the children in my two top groups (Level 21-23) are getting bored of some of the books. I want them to be motivated to read. So I have created some reading contracts which involves the children reading a variety of books based in one topic. They have a selection of activities to complete, one a day. I am still debating if this is too much work for the children. I will reflect at the end of the week and make changes to next weeks planning if necessary. Overall I think the children are more exited as they get to choose which books they want to read each night.