Showing posts with label maths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maths. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Maths - Strand - Shape

These past few weeks our focus in Maths has been about shape.

To begin this unit I did a diagnostic assessment to assess the knowledge that the children currently had about the topic before any learning occurred. This was great as it helped me to develop an understanding of the knowledge that the children have.

At the end of the unit I gave the children the same assessment to serve as a Summative assessment. This was great as the children were familiar with the test as they had done it before. It also helped me to develop an understanding of what knowledge the children learned.

Throughout this unit, before each lesson I showed the children a youtube clip that related to the key learning objectives of the lesson. This was a great way to harness the attention of the children and to get them excited about their learning. It is also another way of enhancing their learning as these clips were presented with songs, music and different visuals, a different method of catching the children's attention.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Term 4 - Week 1

Term 4 Ahhhhh! It has come round too fast!

I have thought a lot over the holidays about my practice and feedback from parents. Last week I posted about a parent's concerns relating to the reading log book. I have realised that this is something that has gone on the back burner a little bit. I am making more effort to check and sticker the books for each night read. I am making sure that the children are seeing me do this to provoke a bit more motivation.

My big focus this term is Writing. I want to get better at my time management during writing time. I find that some lessons run late and this runs into writing time. Therefore I need to cut my modelling time shorter otherwise there is not much time allocated for writing and then my conferencing time goes out the window! This week has been amazing for time management. Yesterday the children had a full modeled session as well as 20 minutes of silent writing time. We even had time to do a writing circle. This is where all children bring their writing to the mat and we have some children share their writing. As a writers circle the children show respect towards others and they provide feedback by saying 2 things they liked and one way that child could improve their writing. I am recording the children who have shared so that it is fair and all children will eventually get a turn.

I find it a challenge to assess writing and establish children's writing levels. My tutor and moderated all of our children's writing to check that our assessment is fair and consistent. I have found that this as made my assessment clearer and more fair.

I created a game for Mathematics called "I have...Who has..." This is game that targets number knowledge and place value. At the end of the holidays some of my children pulled out this game and played it independently. It was great to see the children do this.


Wednesday, September 21, 2016

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.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

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. 





Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Term 3 - Week 4

The term is flying!

Last week was maths week and this was a really fun and fast week. The children had lots of activities all relating to maths. For writing the children could write about how they use maths in their every day lives. They could also write some word problems. They also could have had a maths challenge where they brainstorm as many words that they could think of and try to put them in a story.
The children completed a maths about me template which look really cool.
The children also completed a fruit burst challenge where they had to rip the rapper into the longest line they could.
The children had a question to answer every day which was a fun competition.
They also had some maths are to complete.
With the buddies the children did an activity called metric me. This involved them measuring themselves and their buddies. This was a lot of fun and was a good challenge for my class.

As mentioned previously, my focus is oral language and writing.
I trialed using the 'talking donut' for sharing time. This was great for the children as they got to share with their buddies the first time and then after that they had to share with other people. This is something I will do again.
We had a staff meeting yesterday which provided a lot of ideas that I could use to enhance my writing programme.

  • For conferencing time, I should allow the children to look for their own errors and they do their own highlighter marking. 
  • Spend 2 min conferencing a part of the child's writing, not the whole piece. As I'm talking to one child, the child beside them will hear my questioning and get themselves ready for their conferencing making this process faster. Ideally the children will be fixing their errors so that they are ready. 
  • Use a card at the top of the books to write a writing goal onto. This could save time and the children will be able to see their goal everyday. 
  • Introduce the term writing club instead of group.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Term 3 - Week 3

This week has been Maths week and man it has been crazy!
There has been lots of extra things happening this week. The children have had a canta maths competition. They have also had a maths trail. All week there has been things that relate to maths. They have been having lots of fun and some children have asked me if we could do more maths on a Friday.

I have been closely monitoring my writing programme and the progress of the children. One boy I have been concerned about as his handwriting hasn't been getting any better. I looked through his book and I haven't seen a lot of progress. I have found teaching this boy quite challenging because he is very quiet and he doesn't respond to my questions very often. I have let the school SENCO know about my concerns. It has now been arranged for him to have some extra support. A lady will work with him for 2 30 minute sessions each week. One session will be based on his writing and oral language. Another session will be focused on his handwriting.

As a whole the children are very well behaved when working independently. They remain focused and most get their work completed to a high standard. The mat manners still needs work. There are about 5 children that struggle to put up their hands and call out a lot (particularly the boys). It is these children that influence the others to cal out too. These is a point system. They have 5 seconds to be giving me 5. Id they do it, they get a point. If they don't, then I get a point. The incentive is 5 minutes of free time.

My organisation is improving. I am organised for the whole of each day and this makes me more flexible to accept change. I try to be fully planned for the next week the week before to limit my work load over the weekend. This does mean long days of work, but I enjoy having most of the weekend to get more sleep.

The Olypics inquiry topic is starting up now. The children have begun to create some olympic torches which look fantastic. This will be a lot of fun. My class will represent the Philippines. The children will have the opportunity to learn about this country and compare their results with New Zealand.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Week 9

Thinking to myself about how the class is running, it is great to see the children really getting into the routine.

I am so happy with my Maths planning. It is clear for the children, they are quiet and focused. They have a group task board to follow which includes basic facts activities, follow up activities, ICT, and numeracy games. I am getting a lot of quality work out of them at this point. It is very rare when my group sessions are disturbed, which is great. The only thing I am trying to work on at this point is to allow for more time during each group session.

I am still unhappy with my Reading Planning. This is something I am going to change up completely over the school holidays. I do not want to do it now as the children will just get into it and then it will be the school holidays.
I observed another teacher's reading programme today. I noticed that she had a limited amount of Can Dos for the children to choose from. I also noticed that a must do for them was to silently read their story to themselves straight away. As I see 3 groups each day and the children get two books a week I think it would be a good idea to have the children silently read their book on a Monday and a Wednesday (these are the days that they get new books) and then buddy read on Tuesday and Thursday (they will be more familiar with their books on these days).
I am planning on doing a little bit of research and looking into what other reading activities I could use. I know that some children are getting bored and I would like to have activities that excite the children.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Reflection-Week 8

Thinking over the last week I have seen some other issues arise.

With my reading programme, when the children can move onto their 'can do's' many are gravitating to the same activity. This increases the noise volume of the room instantly. I have now started to put out can do's on the tables. There is now also a 6 person limit on an activity. This encourages the children to use the room space and to also find different activities for each day.
I am wondering if these children need more structure for their reading programme. A 'free for all' with the can do's is quite daunting for a couple of children. This session might be more manageable if I set tasks or a rotation for the children during this time.

In regards to Dezaiah's behaviour, I am noticing that he is sitting quietly for longer periods of time. Sometimes I have to give him warnings and then send him out of the room for some thinking time. When this occurs I have to have a private discussion with him about him making a choice- to either make good choices and follow instructions, or to lose some of his play time. He chooses to make good choices. This will work for a short period of time in the classroom, then he will start to call out again but not as loud. A RTLB referral has been put in place for him.
The children are aware that ignoring his behaviour is crucial as he is seeking their attention. I have one boy who is not ignoring him but is beginning to copy his behaviour. I can see this problem will snowball if I don't address it immediately. I am trying to praise this child and to encourage him to use his ignoring muscles.

My maths planning is coming along better than I had hoped. The children know what is expected of them, routines are becoming more concrete and quality work is being produced at this time. The only issue that has arsed at this point is that children are interrupting my group sessions by having issues with other children. I am beginning to encourage them to see three before me.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Classroom Displays

Here is an image of my Reading display:
I have all of the groups displayed with their WALT (fortnightly focus) clearly written for parent to see and for children to refer to. I use a modelling book for each group. I also have this on display for children to refer back to. This is helpful for parents to see and be aware of what their child is learning during their group time. I also have displayed some handy hits to help readers that I can pull down and use as a visual reminder. I have the Must Dos and Can Dos displayed here as well for the children to refer back to as a reminder during Reading time. 

Here is an image of my Writing display:
Here I have displayed some of the modelling I have done with the children for them to refer back to. I also have the writing process for Belfast School clearly displayed. This I will pull off the wall so the children can focus on different parts of the writing process. I also have the writing goals for each writing Level (1b, 1p and 1a). Up on this display is the criteria for writing marking and the symbols used for writing feedback. 
I have also displayed each child's writing on the wall. This is to help enhance their confidence and to allow them to feel proud of their work. The parents can read it and other children can read their writing as well. I try to put a new piece of work up each fortnight. 


Here is an image of my Maths display:
Similar to the Reading display I have all of the groups displayed with their WALT (fortnightly focus) clearly written for parent to see and for children to refer to. I use a modelling book for each group. I also have this on display for children to refer back to. I have the Maths Task Board which the children refer to as a reminder during Maths time. I also have a number of the day chart which can be a good hot spot in the morning. 

Here is an image of my ICT display. 

I have a WALT (focus) for both children and parents to refer to. I also have the Username and password clearly displayed for the children to refer to. I also have instructions to help remind the children how to shut down the computers. The children use different Maths and Reading websites such as Reading Eggs and Sumdog. The user names and passwords for this are inside a folder inside one of the desks.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Mid-Week 3 Reflection

Woooow! Week 3 already! It is amazing how fast the time goes!

Room 7 are beginning to follow routines better and better. We had to practice stopping, looking and listening for a bit as I noticed that I was starting to talk over top of children. We rehearsed this for a while and the children are much better at stopping and listening.

I have begun implementing my reading programme this week which involves must dos and can dos. I have 6 groups. I want to have time to really look into and break down a book so I see three groups a day and the other groups read all together. The children know to move onto their 'can dos' when they have finished their 'must dos.' I am monitoring their noise level at this point in time and their choice of activity.

I am now in the process of creating writing, maths and phonic groups for next week. I am using the data from last year to create my groups. I am looking forward to getting these underway so that the children are involved in a more structured routine.

I am thinking about my handwriting programme. At the moment I am teaching handwriting in a whole class context. However after a couple of weeks I may change this to a rotation. This will help me monitor children's handwriting more closely to check that they are forming their letters correctly. At this point I am thinking of having approximately 3 or 4 groups. One group will be with me with their handwriting book, one group could be forming letters with playdough, another group could be using the whiteboards. I will keep thinking about this and might make a plan.

I am working hard to keep in contact with parents. I am emailing them with reminders when something is coming up. I am aware of those children whose emails are not working so those parents get a written note home. I have sent out an introductory letter about myself. I also am making myself available from 8.30-9 and after 3 to talk to parents. Meet the teacher even is on Thursday 18/02. This will be a great opportunity for me to meet any parents that I haven't met yet.

Reflecting on Dezaiah's behaviour-He is looking for attention by calling out and being disruptive. I have spoken to his previous teachers and they have recommended that I be fair and firm with him. They also recommend that I set up a behaviour management programme for him. They say I need to get to know him, find out what he likes and build a relationship with his mother. I have created a racetrack and a contract for Dezaiah. He must obey his contract and his car moves forward. If he doesn't then his car moves backwards. When he reaches the finishing line he gets 10 minutes of free time on the computer.