Manaiakalani - Sharing Blog Knowledge

Today in our staff session I looked at a blog and the benefits of having a blog. I looked at Simon Scott's Blog. He is a Deputy Principal at Hornby Primary School. He discussed that as part of his learning journey with Manaiakalani he assigned his students the task of creating a blog for their learning journey. He said that it was exciting to see the high levels in engagement with the children as they were sharing their knowledge with their peers via their blogs.
A focus for him was teaching the children to comment on other peoples posts. To do this the children followed the following criteria:  

He stated that  "following this template it has stopped children from giving shallow feedback like 'Good work',  'Awesome, well done!'.  Their comments now are full of advice or questions that promote further learning or initiate a learning conversation.  But the biggest impact to the students learning has been the improvement of punctuation in their writing.  This has been transformational!  Through the combination of the  3 steps to writing a comment and having an authentic audience the children's punctuation has improved out of sight. "

When reflecting on my classroom environment I do not feel that teaching the children to have their own blog will be beneficial. Due to the age group this will be a struggle to monitor and teach the children. However I like the idea of the 'Positive, Thoughtful and Helpful Feedback.' This is something that I could teach the children to do after following a learning experience, whether this is Writing, Reading, Mathematics, Performing Art, etc. This could be done verbally to help the children develop the ability to listen and accept feedback from their peers.

Handwriting Incentive

I have recently noticed the children's focus and care slipping a bit during Handwriting time. It is clear that some children are not producing their best work during this time.

I have decided to include more management strategies to increase the positive reinforcement in my room. Each Handwriting session there is an incentive for those children with their neatest work and who have been following instructions beautifully to receive a handwriting brag tag. They also get to sit out of Handwriting the next time and they use the Handwriting app (School Fonts: Learn to Write).I feel that it is important to reiterate to the children that it is about the neatest work that they can produce, not their friends. It is about their progress and the work that they put in, not about comparing their work to other peoples. Each time I document those children who have had a turn to make sure that each child gets to experience success.

So far I have found that the children are very hopeful to receive the reward of the Brag tag and a turn on the ipads. Some children are taking more care with their work and if they are reminded they are following instructions better.

This app is great as I also can instruct children who need extra support in handwriting to use it during reading time as a rotation activity.

Term 2 Week 6

I have been noticing more behaviour problems lately and most of them are occuring in one area of the classroom. this is the cubby hole area. I am finding that lots of children are hiding out in there and this is where they can begin to bother other children and swap toys.

How my classroom was set up my back was to the cubby hole so therefore, I could not see what was going on in there. I believe that the children were completely aware of this. I have now moved my teaching station so that I can see the cubby area while I am teaching. I have also done this so that my mat space is smaller. This way the children have to sit up close to me and this is limiting some distractions.

So far this is working well. Only one child has attempted to hide in there since and I could spot him moving straight away.

Behaviour management strategies

As noted in older comments I have kept similiar behaviour management strategies from last and continued to use them for my class this year. In reflecting on these it is amazing to notice just how differently they are working. In all honesty they are not working as well as they were. The classroom dynamics this year is so different and the children are not as competitive this year. As these strategies are well imbedded into my programme I am reluctant to change all this yet. I am thinking of ways to change it subtly as first but this is proving to be more of a challenge as some of these children are not interested in earning a reward.

Is a little bit of a head scratcher at this point but I will continue to think of possible changes that will benefit these children.

Assessment Week

So far in my teaching career I have realised how difficult it can be to monitor children's progress and ensuring that the learning I am giving them is at the right level.

My tutor teacher has helped me here as she has recommended having assessment weeks near the end of each term.

This means I give the children plenty of learning opportunities for the week that allow the children to practise the key things that they have been taught without my assistance. This way I can pull children away form their learning and assess their reading with a Running Record and their Maths.

This has helped me to constantly readjust my planning and my learning groups to help ensure that the learning is catered to the needs of the children.

At the end of each term I have also asked each child to produce a writing sample so I can assess the progress they have made with their writing over the term.

Brag Tags!!!!!

The whole syndicate is now on board with the Brag Tag behaviour management scheme. The children each have a brag tag and when they have made an achievement they earn a brag tag. These look great on the wall and the children are excited about them. I like the children to have a goal to work towards and when they achieve the goal then they get the brag tag. I have a Brag tag of the week display as a reminder and when children are working towards earning the brag tag then their name is put on the display.

 I spent a long time making brag tags for the syndicate to use and occasionally adding more to our pile.

Promoting Self Management!

I am trying really hard to promote self management this year and encourage children to take responsibility for their choices.

 Here is an image of a wall that is easily accessible to the children. They refer to this wall to help them to get themselves ready for the day. There is also photos of each child that they move onto the rocket to 'sign in' for the day. I am trying to remind children to complete these tasks before the 8:55 bell.

I found last year that my shelves were at total mess. Therefore, equipment was going missing and it took me a long time to tidy and reorganise each term. I have now created a classroom jobs chart. Each week the pegs change and each child has a job to complete at the end of the day. I play a tidy up song to encourage them to stay focused and to get tidied up within a time frame. It sounds silly but after the song the children quickly turn themselves into a pencil shape. This give me their full attention and prevents any children sneaking off to pack their bags. Once again - promoting self management from the children!

Term 1 Week 3 - Class Treaty

What a start to the Term! I have forgotten how hectic things can be.

Room have finally created our treaty and, of course, this is space themed. I had this structured with words to help the children think of rules they may have wanted in their classroom. This looks great. However I have not been referring to it very much. I may have to move it to a more central part of the classroom. Therefore it will available as a more visual reminder for myself and for children.

Term 4 - Week 3

Soooo Orana Park was a success! I felt this was organised well and the children had a great day. Whooo!

I am thinking more and more about my practice and changes that I can make for next year.
Something I am really considering is setting a job chart for children. The state of the classroom and the shelves is not being looked after and this just adds an extra job.

I am also thinking about displaying the writing process in a fun and inviting way. I have seen this on line. I would love to adapt it so that it fits with the Belfast school writing process. I like how it clearly shows where the children are working. This similar to what some of the other teachers are doing at this school. It would fit in well with my programme as we spend more that 1 day on a piece of writing.

Term 3 - Week 9

Almost at the end of another term!

I have noticed how tired the children are. There has been a lot of tears this week. It is so important for me to maintain a calm and settled environment to help these children get through the week.

For Mathematics, I have created a game called I have Who Has. Today it was great to see some children pulling this out to have a play independently. It involves place value and knowing the amount of ones and tens that are in a number. It was lovely to see them helping each other and playing this game so well together.

I had some feedback from a parent this morning which is well worth reflecting on. She was not happy with the children's reading log book. She was concerned that I was not looking at these and therefore the children do not have an incentive to be reading at home. She said that if I wasn't checking them then what is the point of having them. I do check these but I am not recording that I am looking at them. Next term I will definitely make this more of a focus in reading time and I will mark each reading night with a sticker and I might put a comment in there for a week.
This is something worth thinking about as children love to receive stickers and to know that their reading at home is acknowledged.

Term 3 - Week 7

The term....where is it going! :0

This week has been fantastic! I am just so happy with how things are going at the moment.

Regarding the behaviour management - the boy who's behaviour was becoming challenging has become so much better. He is now on a note book. I write in this everyday after each school block and this is sent home to mum. This helps him to manage his behaviour better. We check over his notebook every morning and look at the previous day. We talk about what he was proud of and what he thinks his goals will be for the day. This notebook also limits the meetings with mum. This was taking up a lot of time. Yes it is important but it is an easier way for me to give her the information.

I am a very reflective practitioner. I am constantly thinking about my teaching and making changes as I go. This something that I feel is very important and it is something that I want to model to the children. Therefore I have created a reflection wall. This happens every Friday afternoon where the children have the opportunity to talk about the highs and the lows of the week. I have created starter bubbles and a visual prompt. I also record the children's names who have shared so that over time everyone will get at turn. The children have enjoyed this so far.

Star of the day: Everyday I have a star of the day. They get to sit on the special chair and they get to do any jobs that need doing for the day. They get to take Leo the lion home and they have a book where they can write what they get up to with Leo. I have been struggling to keep track of who has a turn. I had a list but I would forget to mark on it as it was on the other side of the room. I have created a new list with is more appealing. I mark the star with stickers and this is kept right beside the teacher. I find this much better as it keeps me and the children on track.

Maths- I have been trying to think of ideas to make Maths time more interactive for those children who are not with the teacher. I have also learnt how important it is to teach Place value so that children can consolidate this knowledge and apply it to knew learning. Therefore I made a wall where children have to build numbers and be thinking about the amount of tens and ones. This is great so far! It also allows the children to work in the shared space and this keeps the noise level down in the classroom. I am looking for a similar resource that involves hundreds. This will help to expose children to bigger numbers and to challenge those who want to give it a go.

At Belfast school, I am part of the cultural committee. Therefore part of my role is to congratulate those children who have participated in Kapa Haka and in Maori language week. This is fantastic as I can interact with other children at Belfast School and these children can get to know who I am.

Writing! As part of my teaching as inquiry I am focusing on Oral language and trying make writing and fun and exciting time of the day. This term we are focusing on Poetry writing. I am not very good at poetry writing myself, so I knew that this would be a challenge for me. I have been doing some reading from Gail Loan " I've Got Something to Say." This text mentions the importance of models and how the children should be exposed to other author's writing and to use this to draw from. Therefore I found short poems from other authors and the children used this to create their own poems. This has been great! Their focus is on changing the words to fit their own poem. I am very excited about these poems. 

Term 3 - Week 1 - My Focus

I have thought a lot about what I want to focus on this term.
Writing is a whole school focus and this is something that I am taking seriously. I am trying to think of methods that I can use to improve my writing programme. Something I am beginning to implement after each lunch time is speed writing. This is where straight after lunch the children have 10 minutes of silent writing time. They can write about anything that they like. This is work that I do not mark. The purpose of this is to increase their time writing and school and trying to increase their mileage.

Another focus for me is behaviour. This, again, is a school wide focus.
One method that we are implementing is circle time. This will be done at least once a week. I have received some resources to help me implement this effectively. I have found a template that describes the rules of circle time. This will be used as a visual to help reinforce the rules. The first few sessions will focus on setting up the rules and the expectations. Other focuses I will use will be active listening, being a good friend, making mistakes is okay, using your WITS in the playground and seeing a duty teacher.

Wall displays

Just a few images of recent wall displays that have gone up :)

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.

Term 2 Week 5

I am trying to help the syndicate out with odd jobs here and there that can ease the work load a little for others. I have created some playground card rules that are used as visual reminders for children. The duty teachers can use this to help remind them to keep vigilant.

It has been discussed the behaviour in the playground and how we can manage this better. We have talked about the need for sports gear to be put out for the children so that they have something more constructive to do during their break times.
My tutor teacher and I are organising the playground equipment into some kind of container. I am hoping to collate all of our sports gear so I can take a photo and create a stock sheet. This will make it easier for us to keep track of the sports equipment.

I am trying to focus on sending an agenda out to parents via email each Friday or Sunday. This is to give them a heads up on what is coming up for the week. It is an opportunity for them to reply with any questions or concerns that they may have.

Helen and I have reflected on the incorporation of Wordlab. At the moment I am trying to fit it in during Newsboard time. I am finding this very muddly as it doesn't link in with Maths which comes next. It also doesn't flow well as there is not time for the children to write the words which is very important. This makes it not meaningful for the children. They can not link this learning with their writing. I have talked to Helen and we have decided it is better to focus on the Our Words and teach the wordlab during Phonics time as the spelling patterns link with Yolanda Soryls phonics programme.

I had previously mentioned meeting with the DP about Dezaiah.  She has created a chart for him. She came in and taught him how the chart works. The other children were asking why Dezaiah has this and they don't. The DP discussed that all children have different needs and that this is what Dezaiah needs. I think that the children need an incentive to help Dezaiah with this. I am thinking about talking to them and explaining that when Dezaiah's chart changed from 3 to 6 boxes, the whole class gets 5 minutes extra play. This will be more of an incentive for Dezaiah as he will be in control of if the class can get the extra play.

Rehashing Blog

I am just thinking about my blog and how to make this more organised for people who view it.
I am adding more labels that correlate with the Registered Teacher's Criteria.