Writing Buddies

Something I am finding is that teaching time goes so quickly! I find it so hard to meet with my writing groups and conference with them.

I have some very capable writers in my room and I have some children that find this such a challenge.

Something that I am trialing is a system called 'writing buddies.' I met with my more capable writers and we talked about how we could help our peers and what our goals could be. I formatted their ideas in an order and put this on a check list. The children keep this with them when they meet with their buddies and help guide their writing. I selected only a few children to see how this works.

So far it is working well. Some children are really embracing the leadership role this is giving them.

Next year I might simplify this but have the whole class working with a buddy to conference with.

Storytelling - The Little Red Hen

The Little Red Hen ·         Hear, map, step (acting it out.) ·         Read different versions of the story. ·         Deeping: Completed plot matrix and mood map. Children have acted out the story in groups. Sculpt characters from the story with playdough. ·         Imitation: Retold the story in Writing. Example of the map and the story sequence pictures: Children drawing their own story map: Children stepping out/acting out the story: Sculptures of the Little Red Hen:

Storytelling - Recount

I did not receive professional development about transferring the storytelling process over from a familiar story to a recount about a child's experience. I decided that after the holidays I would use the same process to help the children write their story in-depthly and in a good sequence.

I adopted the hear map step and then write:
Hear: children shared their stories with more that one buddy.
Map: Children had to draw a story map of their holiday with at least 5 pictures. This was a challenge for some as the children had to rely on their own memory, I could not model their stories for them.
Step: Children stepped out their stories. Again this was a challenge as every child had their own story they could not do it in buddies.
Write: Children had to write 2 ideas per picture.

My findings: the children's sequencing of their ideas was better as they followed their map for recall of their experience. The language was not as in depth as the other stories. The children found some parts of this process a bit more challenging as they could not work with their peers.

Storytelling - Maui and the Sun

Maui and the Sun For this story I found resources harder to find but there were some interesting ones I used.  ·         Deepening: Instead of stepping Room 7 acted out this story in groups. They loved acting out the story and this helped them to remember it for later.  Completed a picture dictionary. This was useful to help develop the understanding of the Maori language incorporated in the story.  ·         Story sequencing: Putting images in order. Discussed the movie 'Moana' and compared the character Maui from the movie with the one in the book.  Read other Maori legends with the character Maui in it to further explore this character.  ·         Imitation: Retold the story in writing. ·         Invention: Wrote the sun was dangerous and how to protect yourself from it. Story picture sequencing: My findings: The children found acting out this story a lot of fun. I found for 6/7 year olds acting out the story was easier to grasp that stepping out the story.  Once again the retell of the story was very well written even with my reluctant writers. as they knew the story well and they had multiple resources to help them remember the story, they were not as reliant on me or my modelling to help them remember the story.

Storytelling - Three Billy Goats Gruff

For this story again I continued with most of the process from the previous stories but I am still consolidating this new knowledge and adding more things as I go.  Three Billy Goats Gruff: New Things I tried:  Read Big Books and picture books that relate to the story. These followed the same storyline but the endings where different and sometimes the characters were different.   Deepening: Acted out the story in groups from a play.  Completed a picture dictionary.  Incorporated puppets and retell activities in Reading. Invention: Created out own character description of a troll. Picture Dictionary: Great for ESOL learners!  My findings:  The discussion after reading the different versions of story was great as the children could pick out all of the different things that did not match the version of the story that they were familiar with. At first I was worried that this would confuse them but instead it consolidated their knowledge of the story and it also provided them with more vocabulary to include in their own writing.  I also found that the detail of my writers retell of this story was fantastic! Most children included quotes from all three stories, including the play. Their writing had a clear sequence and I believe that the mapping process has helped this.

Storytelling - Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Goldilocks and the Three Bears The next story I focused on was Goldilocks and the three bears. I used the same process as the previous story but this time I added some different deepening activities. This helps the children get the know the story in more detail and exposes them to more language features that they can use in their writing.  ·         Read different versions of the story and made comparisons. ·         Same process as above but this time we completed a Mood Map and discussed the feelings of the characters throughout the story. ·         Deepening: Created character descriptions with brainstorms of WOW words. Acted out the characters around the room and described how they looked, felt, liked, disliked.  ·         Imitation: Retold the story in writing. Character Description: Mood Map: My Findings: I found that the reluctant writers where more engaged as they were involved in acting out the characters and the discussions around the key words.  I also found that the writing produced had more rich language although it was still written in mainly simple sentences and there was not a very clear sequence of writing yet.

Storytelling - the gingerbread man

Story: The Gingerbread Man The school where I am working has a focus on Storytelling at the moment. This focuses on oral language and writing where children engage with one chosen story and pick apart in-depthly. The children learn more language features and this helps them to sequence their writing as well as add more detail to their writing. The first story I tried this with was the gingerbread man.  With storytelling you begin with the process of Hear, Map, Step, Speak.  Here are some things I did for this story:  ·         Acted out the story multiple times, sometimes used children to help. ·         Mapped out key parts of the story. ·         Went outside to step out the story. ·         Imitation: Retold the story in writing. ·         Invention: Missing posters for the gingerbread man.

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 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 4

What a couple of weeks it has been!

Dezaiah's behaviour has been fluctuating a lot lately. Some days I find that he can be challenging, other days he is great. I am trying to actively record observations of his behaviour to see if there is any corresponding patterns. I have spoken to the Deputy Principl about his behaviour and she mentioned the amount of time the children spend on the mat. I have thought about this and I am now trying to include more movement breaks.
I then spoke to the other Deputy Principal regarding whether he needed a RTLB referral. She has offered me her help regarding his behaviour. We talked about is contract and we ave decided that the reason it is not working is that I haven't referred to it enough and also because 10 steps to get to a rewards is too much for him. She has created a new template which involves moving 3 pictures. We target one single behaviour. Every time he shows the desired behaviour a picture is moved. When all three are moved, he gets a reward. Once he is doing this a lot, the template changes to 6 pictures, then 9, then 12. Once he has been on the 12 template for a while and can do this successfully, We start again but with another behaviour to target. I am looking forward to beginning to implement this new behaviour strategy.

A focus for my teaching as inquiry is writing and how to implement more oral language. I am including more think, peer, share time. I am also trying to get children to say sentences and stand up the front. I have 5 children each with a sentence and they tell the recount or procedure writing. This encourages more oral language and less talking from me.
I discussed this with the Deputy Principal and she recommended having the children break off into groups and repeat the 5 sentences together in their group. This will encourage more oral language.
I also went and observed Julie Winton's writing programme. She had amazing structure and her modelling book was fantastic. Please refer to my observation as this has a lot of self reflection.
The main thing I thought about was that she gave her children a purpose for their writing. She talked about who would read it and why it is important to think about this. Therefore, I have created the star writers club. This is where I choose (or my class could choose) 3 children to have their writing published on the class blog.

This week my class and I ran the Syndicate Assembly. This was very nerve racking for me but I was very proud of Room 7. Some children shared their half portraits and other were readers to introduce the assembly. We had practised on the Friday and the children who were reading practised their lines over the weekend. Then we practised again on the Monday before. The ICT didn't fail (THANK GOODNESS). It was a well run assembly. Next time it would be cool to perform a jumpjam dance or something like that. I think Room 7 would enjoy that.

Term 2 Week 2

I am settling more into the new routines set up. I had changed a lot over the holidays and it has taken we a wee while to get used to my own changed. The children are dealing with this really well and are settling into this routine.

The rotation is fantastic! I don't have to remind the children of their noise level very much. They know exactly where they need to be and they are focused.

Helen and I have thinking about my term goals and trying to make sure that these align with the New Zealand Teachers Criteria. We are going to look over these in more depth and create goals that interlink with these.

Thinking about my students learning......I think I am catering quite well for those children who are my priority learners. I make sure that I am seeing them everyday and including them in extra workshops.
However I have many children who are above the standard and I am worried that they are getting bored or aren't being challenged enough, particularly with their reading. I may need to talk to some experts about how to extend those children who need to be challenged.

Overall I feel like I am on cloud nine :). I could not be happier with how things are going. I enjoy being reflective and changing those things that do not work.

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.