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.

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.

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:

Inquiry - In the Hood

This term we are focusing on the history of Belfast School. We discussed the important people in a community and what they do to help us.

As an activity before school the children can sort out the important people in a community and what things they use. This will help the children draw on their prior knowledge about how these people help them and why a community needs these people. The children have been using this wall and it it great to see them sorting the pictures correctly. It is a great assessment tool to quietly watch them complete this activity in case there are any next learning steps that need to be addressed. 

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.

Kupu O Te Wiki

The teacher at the school who is in charge of the cultural committee runs 'kupu o te wiki,' the Maori word of the week. I have recently begun helping her to distribute these to the other teachers to help prompt the use of te reo Maori in classrooms.

Last term we focused on the weather. This was great as this related to our inquiry for the term. Each morning I went over each one and the children had to choose the one that matched our weather for the day.

One thing that blew me away was that one of my children begun to use this knowledge in his writing. He used the Maori words to describe the weather in his story. It was so exciting to see!

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.