Mrs. West Knows Best

Classroom Economy

2014-07-31T20:34:00.001+01:00

I am very excited about this new product I've made and about using it in my class this year. I've never used a class economy system before, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it pans out with my Primary 4/5's (Grade 3/4).

I haven't figured out all the nitty-gritty quite yet, but I think I'm going to assign jobs to them at first, then introduce job applications once they have a feel for what each job entails. They'll know what jobs are most desirable or least, and perhaps have a better idea of what the responsibilities are. I'm hoping the application process will be painless, but we'll see!

I've also made up some Class Job cards to use on our class jobs display. I'll rotate the jobs accordingly. Some jobs require more than one person. I've also made up a jobs chart that has a wee reminder of what the job entails, because we all know little minds can forget.

To keep track of deposits and withdrawals, the kids are going to use a check book recording sheet. I love that it provides additional practice for adding and subtracting, as well as having real world connections with money management. Bonus!

Have any of you used a classroom economy in your classrooms? How did it work out?

Big Changes Ahead

2014-07-25T22:42:00.001+01:00

Well, there are some big changes ahead for me. I've been teaching Nursery (Kindergarden) for more or less the last 3 years, but I'm moving on to Primary 4/5 (Grade 3/4) in August. I'm excited to finally have my own class, older children, and the chance to expand my experience beyond 3 & 4 year olds! So excited, in fact, that I got started with labels and organisation well before the end of term.

This is the part where I would post some photos of the pretty labels I made, but blogger is being stupid and won't let me post anything. Surprise surprise.

Nevertheless, I've made tray labels and peg labels for all the children. The kids don't have desks to keep their belongings in, but we have these tray units, and each child has their own tray to keep their things in. Instead of desks, we have tables, which I actually prefer. It's easy to move kids around and you don't have to worry about moving furniture because all their "stuff" is in their tray. Anyway, I've made up some simple labels for their trays and coat pegs.

I've also put together a set of subject labels that I will use for our daily schedule. You'll just have to take me word for it that they are super cute.

Besides going on a label spree, I've been thinking a lot about how I want to tackle this year with a composite class and a new stage for me. Reaching all the needs of the children is always a stress, but now that I have two stages mixed in with all their needs already, it makes things a bit tricky. I've decided that I'm going to try to take advantage of rotations or stations of work in order to spend more time in small groups to meet children's needs. What have your experiences been with this? I've put together my literacy block timetable and my numeracy block timetable, which is half the battle, in order to visualise how I will divide up my time with the children and decide how they will spend their time when I'm busy with groups. I'm really hoping this strategy works for their benefit and mine. I anticipate that I may have to shuffle some things around or restructure, but I really want to make a go of stations/rotations.

What else do you think I can be doing with a split class to benefit them and their learning?

Mark Making: Engaging the Uninterested

2014-02-17T09:59:00.000+00:00

I teach 3 and 4 year olds, and it's my responsibility to help prepare them to start school. One of the things I've asked current Primary 1 teachers is what they want the kids to be able to do when they come to them from Nursery. One of the resounding requests is that the children know how to hold a pencil and are at least beginning to make marks that resemble symbols and letters. This is tricky business when Nursery is all about free choice, free flow, and freedom. If I can't take the children to the drawing table, I have to take the drawing table to them.

1. Use different mediums and resources. Some children aren't at the stage where they feel confident with traditional writing tools like pens and pencils. Touch screens are a great way to engage hesitant mark makers. They don't have to fumble with a writing tool, and they can instantly start a new picture.

2. Provide interesting props, resources, and tools. Sometimes all it takes is some interesting prop or picture or thingamabob. Other than pens and pencils, what are you putting out on your drawing table? Maybe just the pens and pencils aren't motivational enough to bring those hesitant mark makers over. I've provided photos, mirrors, word mats, books, toys, staplers, stampers, hole punchers, tubs with things related to an interest, vegetables, shells, keys, pebbles, lego, stickers... The list could go on.

3. Change the location. Mark making doesn't have to happen at the drawing table, or any table for that matter. Look around your room; where are your kids playing? Neatly at a table or sprawled across the floor? In this particular example, I taped a huge piece of paper to the floor and provided paint and brushes. The children listened to music as they painted what the music made them feel or think. On other occasions, I've simply left the large paper taped to the floor and let the children create in any way they wanted. Large movements help develop skills necessary to eventually make smaller movements on smaller paper.

4. Make a mess. Kids love getting messy, so use that to your advantage. The shaving foam is very popular in my room, and although you can't keep the evidence of mark making, it's still happening and developing those important fine motor skills. Take lots of photos!

5. Take it outside. The outdoors offer a lot of opportunities to mark make. Chalk, puddles & brushes, puddles & wheels, leaves, sticks, pebbles, grass all offer opportunities to mark make in a less traditional sense.

In the end, don't fret. Your kids will learn how to hold a pencil. They will learn how to write. But they need the opportunity to explore mark making in different ways before they're forced to actually write words and numbers and letters. They need that time to learn that marks and print can have meaning, and to begin to attribute meaning to their own work. Chances are, they'll be able to hold a pencil by the time they get to Primary 1, and most will be able to write their name and copy print. Just give them time to have fun and explore.

Happy Mark Making!

Story Writing in the Early Years: Stepping Stones

2013-11-30T10:46:00.000+00:00

The other day I sat down with a basket full of whiteboards, pens, and rubbers, and 5 children came to sit with me intrigued by this new resource. We had a small discussion about what we could do with the whiteboards. They liked that they could rub out their pictures if they weren't happy with it. The conversation turned to what they could draw on the boards and a story began to emerge.

There were a flurry of ideas about a dinosaur in a volcano, with a "coconut tree" nearby. The children discussed where this should all take place:

"The volcano is outside. It can't be inside."

"Dinosaurs lived a long time ago."

"There should be trees."

"A jungle!"

Unfortunately the dinosaur (later to be a Stegosaurus) got caught in the volcano and needed to be rescued. I said, "How will the dinosaur be rescued from the volcano?"

"Superheroes rescue people."

"Batman will help him."

"And Superman."

"Batman can go 'whoosh!' and pick up the dinosaur from the lava."

Me: "Where will they go?"

"They fly to a car to get away."

The children were engaged in their drawings as they talked about their story. The drawings evolved as their ideas became more complex and the story unfolded. The dinosaur couldn't fit in the car and Batman had to drive. Ropes were involved to attach the dinosaur to the roof of the car. And where did the car go?

Well, unfortunately even though the dinosaur was rescued from the perils of the volcanic heat, he was met with a rogue soldier who decided to take matters into his own hands. Batman and Stegosaurus didn't make it.

"The soldier comes and shoots them both. Bang! It wasn't real bullets. Just pretend."

One mum said it was video games, but she's glad her son was writing stories!

The kids were so engrossed in their story and they had very little input from me. The only stimulus they had were the whiteboards and their imaginations. This process could be developed further by providing props, pictures, or story books to inspire their ideas.

I was so proud of their story and we practiced telling it together, then headed into the "big school" to read it to our Depute Head. They were to thrilled to share their hard work and even got a wee sticker to reward their accomplishment.

Story writing in the Early Years doesn't have to be tricky. In fact, the children are story writing all the time in their role play. They imagine a certain environment, a particular scenario, and a variety of characters. They put themselves in the story and act it out with their friends or by themselves. Offering a role play stimulus, whether it's a kitchen, a doctor's surgery, Santa's Toy Shop, or simply offering open ended items, encourages story telling through drama - oral story telling if you will. Storytelling is a process for children and should be introduced as stepping stones. It may appear that the children are simply "playing," but they are in fact exploring roles, creating stories, honing social skills, and practicing vocabulary. These are important skills for children to learn in preparation for school. Then, perhaps they'll start drawing pictures of these stories or making marks to represent the writing in their story. Adults may scribe what they say to document their story. Eventually, in school the children will begin writing their stories. Stepping stones.

Happy story writing.

Sticks & Stones

2013-08-26T19:49:00.001+01:00

Today I brought out a group of children to explore with sticks. To begin, I simply asked, "how do we play with sticks?" and I got some answers that I expected:

"No running"

"No fighting"

"No smacking faces"

So we got the "No's" covered, but we didn't answer the question: how do we play with sticks? The kids were at a loss. They knew what NOT to do with them, but were uncertain what TO do with them. So to start them out, I just let them choose one stick and I listened to their conversation:

"Mine is bigger than yours."

"Yours is the biggest."

"Mine is bumpy. It has bumps."

"A stick is a tree."

"I can hit mine on the table."

This is when a chorus of stick songs broke out. On their own, the children were able to figure out something they could do with the sticks. After the impromptu jam session, we went around the table to let each child "perform" a stick rhythm and we all tried to copy it.

Next, we decided that sticks were good for making pictures.

The kids took turns putting down one stick to make a picture on the table top.

After our guided play with the sticks, the children were eager to get their hands on more sticks and create on their own. Some of them created small structures on their own, while others worked together to build larger structures on the ground.

Others, however, preferred inspecting the little creatures living in the bag our sticks live in. I see mini-beast houses in our future!

Little People

2013-06-22T14:31:00.001+01:00

Tears, bogies, questions, spills, stains, and energy.
Guess who's heading back to Nursery?

Reading Group Management

2013-05-15T20:49:00.003+01:00

"Mrs. West, can I go to the water fountain?"

"Mrs. West, what do I do now?"

"Mrs. West, I'm stuck."

"Mrs. West, I like dogs."

Sound familiar? During reading groups, I expect my kids to get started with their jobs right away and stay on task while I meet with reading groups. However, there's always a handful of children who vie for my attention in one way or another, and I end up with a string of 8 year olds at my elbow: "Mrs. West. Mrs. West. Mrs. West." Ignoring them just didn't seem to give them the message.

On Monday, we had a chat about what their responsibilities are during reading groups, and what mine are. We decided on the following:

Pupils will:
1. Get started right away
2. Stay on task
3. Use soft voices
4. Think what makes sense

Teacher will:
1. Meet with reading groups
2. Ask questions
3. Give praise
4. Give advice

Pretty great list from a group of 8 year olds, if you ask me. Number 4 on the pupil's responsibility list was the most important for this particular discussion. We added that one in because sometimes they just need a reminder that they need to think for themselves before coming to speak to me. We talked about how they need to think, "do I really need to ask this question right now?" and "What makes sense for me to do right now?" The children are always given enough information and tasks to keep them going for the whole reading session, so they shouldn't be asking me "what do I do now?" (Does anyone else hate that question? I have a whole display in my class called the "I'm Done" board with choices for them to choose from when they're finished).

Even after our discussion, though, I still thought the kids might need a visual reminder that they need to think before coming to me. It's not fair to interrupt another group's time with me! I found this cute lantern at ASDA (Scottish version of Walmart), and I keep it with me during reading groups. When the light is on, the kids know that I'm only available to the reading group I'm meeting with. I turn off the light when I'm transitioning to a new group. That way any pressing issues can be dealt with quickly before I meet with my next group.

So far, it's worked really well. The kids have really seemed to "get" it that I'm busy and that they need to think for themselves or ask a friend before coming to me. When I turned on the light with one reading group today, a wee girl said, "Yes! No one can bother us now!" I'm glad she enjoys our time together so much!

Work in Progress

2013-05-08T19:36:00.000+01:00

Just a little something I'm working on...

These task cards will be aligned with the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, but that's not to say you couldn't use them in any classroom! Keep an eye on my TpT shop for when they'll be available. All content is original, including the clip art (clip art by me can also be purchased in my TpT shop!).

Book Detectives: Reciprocal Teaching

2013-05-07T15:48:00.001+01:00

Book Detectives is an amazing resource that I use during reading groups. It's not my idea (it came from ~~Moray Council~~ Aberdeenshire Council in Scotland), but I have made it my own and established it in my classroom routines.

The above task cards are developed by me using the Book Detective roles. I created Learning Intentions and Success Criteria to go with every role. On the back, there are examples, questions to consider, or other prompts to help pupils fulfill the success criteria.

I implement these task cards in different ways. I have 4 reading groups. Each reading day, I meet with 2 reading groups (by the end of the week, I meet with each group twice. We have 4 reading days). Every reading group is given a task from the Book Detectives ring that they must complete. Sometimes each group has the same task, sometimes different ones, depending on the book they're reading or the skills they need to practice. With older children, I would slowly train them to become more independent with the roles/tasks and have each member of the group fulfill a role and feedback to their reading group. I'm no where near that with my current class, but maybe some time in the future with a more able class I will be able to implement Book Detectives that way.

How do you implement and organise your reading groups?

Class Tour - April 2013 - Primary 4

2013-05-06T13:40:00.000+01:00

If anyone reads this, you know that I changed schools in April. I'm permanent! Yay! I moved to a very new building; the school opened in April 2011, so you'll see that everything looks very fresh and bright and new. I thought I'd post some photos of my new classroom. Hopefully in August/September I will post my setting up process when I "start from scratch."

This is what you see when you first walk into the class. Yes, those are lovely big windows along the back wall.

Looking into the class on the right, we have our meeting area with the SMARTboard. I also have two of these portable double sided whiteboards. They are FAB. I've since moved this one so that I have easier access to the cupboards behind it, and so there is more room for the children to sit on the floor.

This is our computer area. These are all connected to the internet. The laptop on the far right is mine that connects to the SMARTboard.

My school is open plan. All the walls between classrooms and out to the corridor can be opened up. The walls to the corridor all must be open (which took me all of a day to get used to), but the walls between each class are closed in the Senior wing. I've put borders up on the wall that divides my classroom to the one next door so that it can still open when we need it to (like for our Science Fair this week).

I have a tiny wee book corner as there isn't much room for anything more, but the kids seem to like it. And yes, that's a sky-light in the next photo! I have a remote control that opens it up to let in some fresh air. It also automatically detects rain and closes on it own (a great feature to have in Scotland!).

These tray shelves are brilliant. Each child has their own tray labelled with their name. In them, they keep unfinished work, personal whiteboards/pens, homework diaries, and reading books. The extra ones are used by me to store spelling resources, extra whiteboards/pens, writing resources, etc. The other photo is VERY important for the smooth running of my classroom. Children know to look to the "I'm Done" board when they are finished their tasks so they know what to do next.

These photos depict my Behaviour Birds clip chart. The children each have their own peg with their name. They start on "Perfect Peacock" and move up or down depending on their behaviour. You can buy your own in my TpT store.

My kids love this! As a class, there is always something they need to work harder at. Right now, it's being a quality audience. If they show that they are working towards mastering this skill, they get to add a piece to Mr. Potato Head. When he's finished, they get 5 extra minutes of play time.

On one of my whiteboards, I have 3 folders for handing in any work that is not written in a jotter. Kids have to think about how they did on their task as they hand it in. Work completed in jotters already has self assessment forms stuck in them.

That's the tour for now. As I add things to the new room I'll add more photos. Do you have a classroom tour on your blog? I'd love to see!

Preparing for a Supply Teacher

2013-05-05T21:17:00.001+01:00

I realise I haven't posted on this blog for awhile. Oops! I do have an excuse though. I changed jobs! I left my temporary post as a Nursery teacher and joined the teaching staff at another Primary school as a permanent member of staff. For the duration of this school year, I am teaching Primary 4 (Grade 3). So my excuse is I have been crazy busy. And the first two weeks of April were a holiday. Now that I'm settled in with my new class and my new school, I'm back to posting. And now that I've started my new permanent job, I'm leaving for a week for a wedding! Great first impressions, right? Excitingly, I live in Scotland and I love it, but it makes it tricky when family members get married back home in Canada. As a result, I've prepared some information for the lucky teacher who gets to take my lovely class while I'm gone.

I have a simple cover and welcome letter to give a bit of information about the class.

Next, I have a class list which will have photos of the children. This can definitely come in handy for supply teachers. It's tricky learning 25 new names. Hopefully this will help speed up the process.

After that, I have a page for important information like what to do during a fire alarm, where to put money collected from pupils, and how to log on to the laptop and use the SMARTboard. Every school is different and every class is different, so it's important to me that my supply teacher feels they have the information they need to make the day run smoothly.

For consistency's sake, I have a page dedicated to behaviour systems in place in the class. I'm sure the children would mention table marbles or Mr. Potato Head (because they constantly remind me!), but it's important to have that info in black and white so the supply isn't totally confused when the kids ask, "Can we add a piece to Mr. Potato Head?"

Last, I have a few pages dedicated to the classroom routines. Spelling and Reading are pretty much carried out the same way each day. Kids are creatures of habit and the less change that occurs, the better. I've also included any special things that will pop up in the timetable, like assemblies and swimming lessons.

As someone who has gone into classrooms as a supply, this sort of thing would have been really helpful. I've gone into classrooms where the teacher's desk is a disaster and there is not hint of a plan left to go by. I've just had to fly by the seat of my pants, so to speak. As much as I love going with the flow, I still think there needs to be an element of routine and planning and sanity-saving.

In preparation for my absence, I am also planning to leave some games, worksheets, books, and task cards that can be used so the children are always learning. I still want my kids to accomplish something while I'm away!

What do you do to prepare for a supply/substitute teacher?

A Teacher's Professional Portfolio

2013-03-05T14:57:00.002+00:00

*update* after using this Professional Portfolio in my interview last week, I got the job! And a permanent one at that!
*another update* My new Head Teacher gave me some feedback from my interview. I thought this may be helpful to some of you as the end of the school year approaches and some of you may be interviewing for new jobs. Here are some of the positive points from the interview when I used this portfolio:

1. Referring to items in the portfolio during the interview showed that I was organised and prepared for my interview. This indicated that I am an organised teacher as well.
2. My Head Teacher liked that I had photos of things I'd done in other classrooms so she could see what I was talking about.
3. By including things I'd made (like my behaviour management clip chart), I showed that I was creative and ICT savvy.
4. My depute self-proclaims to suffer from OCD and she loved all the tabs, charts, and tables in my folder. :)

__

Does anyone actually use one of these in interviews? I'm under the impression that these are a must in America, but here in Scotland, teaching portfolios aren't really something the majority of teachers take with them to an interview. That being said, it's not going to stop me from putting together a folder of "look how great I am" to my interview next week. For the interview I did for the job I'm in now, I took with me some resources and photos of things I've done in my classes, but not much else. It impressed and it got me the job. This time around, inspired by all the teaching portfolios I've seen on Pinterest, I've decided to take that extra step and put together a folder of goodies to take with me. From my experience the last time around, it really helped to focus my thoughts when I had something to refer to. So without further ado, here is my portfolio:

Right at the front, I made sure to put a title page with my name. The next page is a Table of Contents to state what each section of the folder holds, and of course, I have dividers to make it easy to flip through the folder as I'm speaking in my interview.

The first section is my Philosophy of Education, which was in my application when I applied for the job. Next, I included a section for Relevant Work History and References. Again, this stuff was in my application, but I just thought I'd pop it in there anyway. Most likely, I won't be referring to this stuff during the interview.

Next, I have a section for Planning and Assessment. In this section, I included forms for planning and assessment I've used for different stages of Primary. I want to be able to make myself look like a versatile teacher who can succeed in any Primary stage, so I have examples throughout the portfolio from Nursery to Primary 5 (Pre-School to Grade 4 for you North American folks).

I've included a copy of a topic plan I created for Early stages last year in Health and Wellbeing. I also have an example of a mind map I did with the children in my current Nursery class. I did this to show that I plan using the Curriculum, but also using the children's knowledge and influence. I've also included a daily plan example from Primary 4, as well as a Topic Plan for tasks children can do when they complete classwork.

To show my knowledge and experience with Assessment, I've included a resource I created on Assessment is for Learning strategies (AifL), an example of Learning Intentions and Success Criteria being used in assignments, and an assessment format that I would like to use in future for larger projects or units of study. I'm very interested in assessment strategies and methods at the moment because the Scottish Curriculum can be a bit vague when it comes to National Assessment.

Next, I have a section for Curriculum Development. I'm fairly early on in my career, so I don't have much experience with Curriculum Development, however I have had the benefit of teaching the Heath and Wellbeing Curriculum to Primary 1-5 last year, which brought the responsibility of developing the Health Education Plan. I've included a copy of the plan in this section.

Following that, I've included a short section on classroom displays, and I popped in some photographs for interest. The reason I did this is to show that I have an understanding of how display can be used in the class to benefit the learner, and not just to show how creative I can be.

Next, there's a section I've titled Active Learning. This is a hot topic at the moment, which is why I've included this in my portfolio. It also allows me to show some of the fun learning opportunities and experiences my pupils have had. I made sure to include photographs of children of varying ages to show my versatility. The photos will also be a great talking point and give my memory a wee kick when I'm trying to come up with examples of active learning.

After that, I have a section for Behaviour and Classroom Management. I've actually printed off one of my blog posts and popped it in here because its all about behaviour management strategies that I've used or heard of. I've also put in a behaviour scheme that I created. I think this section will highlight my knowledge of behaviour strategies as well as my ICT savvy! Personally, I think Behaviour and Classroom Management goes hand in hand. If you have good Classroom Management routines and expectations, then behaviour should be in check. Of course behaviour strategies are still necessary. That being said, I've also included some group task cards that I created as an example of good classroom management, as well as reading task cards that I use during reading groups. Along this topic, I would also be talking about the way I set up my class (grouped desks vs rows) for different types of learners.

The next section is on Inclusion, where I've included photos of a visual timetable, a poster I made with different languages, and examples of visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic learners. During my time speaking about Inclusion, I'd also be mentioning other professionals involved with different types of learners, provision the school provides, and ensuring that I have a clear and deep knowledge and understanding of pupil needs.

Next is Parent Communication, where I have photos of ways in which I've made parent communication much easier. I've popped in a copy of a recent newsletter I put out, as well as a calendar I use to keep parents informed about upcoming events. Here, I would also speak about parent inclusion and partnership and how they are vital to their child's learning journey.

Lastly (finally!), I have a section on Professional Development, where I've included the titles and dates of courses I've attended.

Each section has a title page the same as the one at the front, and all papers are neatly tucked into page protectors. Sounds a bit OCD, but it looks pretty, so it's worth it.

Hope this helps any of you for upcoming interviews. Is there anything you would include in your portfolio that I missed out?

Houses: A Collaborative Project

2013-02-02T13:45:00.000+00:00

This project all started from this one inspiration at the Duplo on Monday. A few children were building houses and I asked them what their houses were like and this attracted a lot of attention and interest. I also asked about different rooms in their houses, but I quickly realised that this was met with some confusion and lack of understanding. Rooms? I got answers like "teddy bear," and "I have a doll." Hmmm. Guess we don't really understand the concept of a room. When I said words like "kitchen" and "bedroom," the children began to understand a bit better. The next day, we put out a resource that the children could play with to explore different rooms in their homes. I don't have a photo of it, but it's essentially like a doll's house, but separate boxes to act as rooms, and the children set up the furniture and characters appropriately.

Next, we looked at photographs of different types of homes in their community. There was a lot of interest as they recognised buildings and houses like their own, and we discussed things like the shapes, colours, and what they're made of. From there, we began our project of making a house.

One child drew a big square after discussing what shape the house should be. Next, several children helped cut along the lines.

This was a great way for me to assess some of the children's scissor skills. I also made sure that children had appropriate scissors for their developmental level. You'll notice that some of them have spring scissors while others have regular children's scissors where they operate them by opening and closing.

Next, we had a discussion about how we should colour the house. Most children agreed that we should use paint. I asked them what we should use to paint it because a house wall isn't always smooth. There was some confusion, so to help them understand we went outside to look at and feel the texture of the wall on the outside of the school.

Some children said, "bumpy," "rough, "ouch!" and "spiky." When we went back inside, we looked at some of the things we could use to make the house look like those words. We found gloves that have textured materials attached to them and we all agreed that they would make our house look bumpy.

When our house dried, we talked about what elements it should have. They all agreed that we needed windows and a door, so we got to work. Again, this was a great opportunity to see some scissor skills in action. Throughout this project, I had children dropping in and out, so I always had different helpers.

Next, we painted the door blue. We used rollers because that's what "house painters" use.

Throughout this project, we had been looking at photographs of houses for reference. The children noticed that there was white trim around the windows and doors. We discussed what they might be called, but they didn't know, so they learned two new terms: "window frame" and "door frame." They used the rollers to add this to their house as well.

In some of the photographs, the children noticed a "fence" or the porch and they wanted to add that as well.

Finally, the children discussed their need for a triangle roof. They drew the shape, cut it out, and painted it red. One of the children said as they were rolling, "It feels like I'm painting a real house."

When everything was dry, two helpers attached the square house and triangle roof using sticky tape.

Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of the finished product up on the wall! I assure you, it looks fab because the children did it all by themselves with only verbal guidance and prompts from me. After we hung it on the wall, some of the kids made labels so that visitors will know what all the parts of a house are.

There are so many things we can do from this project, and I'm hoping it's not over yet. As you can see, this interest has already made its way into other areas of their learning:

And all from this one little model:

Documenting Learning

2013-01-26T18:44:00.001+00:00

Documenting children's learning is an important aspect of a child's education. Revisiting learning experiences allows pupils to talk about what they did with friends, parents and teachers, and they have a better chance of retaining what they've learned. There are countless ways to document learning experiences.

Mind maps are a good way to compile prior learning before starting a topic. It's also something you can revisit and add to throughout the topic.

Displays with children's work/models/projects with their words act as evidence of their learning.

Taking photographs of children engaging in their play is a great way to "save a moment." I often use these photos as part of a display in that area of the room, or in their individual learning journey books.

Having children involved in documenting their learning is another great method. I've had children help write labels as part of a poster or display.

Our planning format is a working document, which means we add to it on a daily basis. At the end of the week, we post it on the wall in the corridor for parents to read. We are well aware of the "forgetful-itis" syndrome that plagues most children when their parent asks them what they did at school that day. Yet another method to track pupil experiences.

What are some things you do in your class to document pupil's learning experiences?

Down by the Station

2012-10-07T12:58:00.002+01:00

Boys and their trains. My afternoon class is absolutely smitten with anything with wheels - trains in particular. One wee guy always comes into Nursery exclaiming "trains! trains!" Naturally, the planning has made a shift over to trains and other wheeled vehicles to cater to this current interest.

We have an outdoor train set which the children love to build with. We also have an indoor one that uses Duplo trains. More often than not, the trains are out, and I really don't mind. Some people may think that the children need a different resource out to expand their learning and experiences, but they seem to do that all on their own with the same train set. They work together, construct complex tracks, problem solve when faced with challenges, and add in other resources to extend their play (like wooden blocks). If they're getting all that from a train set, and they aren't bored yet, why put it away?

As a result of this interest, trains and other modes of transportation has been incorporated in other areas of the curriculum to get them exploring different learning experiences. Using their interests to get them to explore things they wouldn't normally explore is a great way to get them involved. Some of my boys rarely go to the mark-making station, but when I put some trains and paint on that table, they were all over it:

You may notice I only had blue paint out. This was a conscious decision, as we are focussing on colour recognition at the moment as well. A lot of my kids really struggle to connect colours with their colour name, and I find they get a little less confused if we only have one colour out to focus on. Our language throughout the activity is based on the movement of the trains, the colour of the paint, and their experiences on trains and where they went.

We have a growing collection of cardboard boxes in our outdoor area (always a great open-ended resource to have on hand!). Naturally, the boxes became a train one day.

The children lined up the boxes, climbed in, collected tickets, and they were on their way! Some great language was happening here: ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd), who drives the train, prepositional language (in front, behind, forward, backward), and discussion about where to go. They all agreed to go to the train station. Very practical.

We've been singing a wee song that I remember from my childhood:

Down by the station,
Early in the morning,
See the little puffer trains
All in a row.

See the station master
Turn the little handle,
Puff, puff, toot toot
Off we go!

Do you know any other train songs we could use to expand our repertoire?

Play is the Work of Childhood

2012-09-30T16:48:00.002+01:00

Something to keep in mind when you're making your weekly plan :)

Tiny Targets

2012-09-18T20:17:00.000+01:00

I got this idea from a friend of mine who recently introduced it into her class. My class has been talking about their families and who lives in their houses, so a way for us to document what the children have said is to put up their photos on our Tiny Target poster with a speech bubble of their words. The actual target is laminated and blue-tacked onto the blue card so I can change the target easily as needed. I have laminated speech bubbles that I can easily write on with dry-wipe pens so I can reuse them.

I was speaking to my friend who came up with "Tiny Target," and she said she also made up stickers with the target typed on so she can easily pop them into their Learning Journeys/Portfolios/etc. as a permanent record of their progress. Super idea!

Let the Children Jump

2012-09-16T12:18:00.001+01:00

Jumping is such a simple and easy activity for children to do, and yet is offers so many benefits to their gross motor development, their health, and interacting with others (at least in the context my class were jumping in the other day).

Look at the line of children waiting for their turn to jump off the box. I had no involvement in this "rule" the children imposed on their play. They naturally came to the conclusion that the best way for everyone to get a shot at jumping without everyone clamoring in each others' way was to form a line and take turns. (Most) children have a natural inclination towards rules, right/wrong, and fairness. Watch them when they make up games independently of adult support. Rules are a natural addition to their play.

Jumping offers great gross motor development practice. The children experimented with different ways to jump off the box. Most chose to jump with both feet facing forward. Some adventurous types spun in the air, while others did the splits in the air! Some who were a little more hesitant, but wanted to join in the jumping fun, chose to simply step off the box onto the mat. Landing also offered great gross motor opportunities; keeping your balance after a big jump is quite a skill, and not all the children were able to master it yet. Fortunately, they loved doing a little roll on the mat as they landed.

Getting children away from the screens and moving around can be a challenge. Offering a stimulus for active play is often all it takes to get children moving. All I did was pop a few boxes outside with a mat and the children did the rest.

Happy jumping!

The Body: Child-Led Learning

2012-09-15T10:35:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about mark-making which showed different stages of drawing people. One of the examples depicted people with legs coming out of their necks, which is quite a common thing for children to do when drawing people.

As a result of this, I thought a good way to progress the children's understanding of the body would be to look at it a little closer and learn about all the different parts. First, we traced someone's body:

Then we made a mind map of what we know about the body. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the mind map right now, but essentially, it says "bodies" in the middle and the children drew pictures, shared ideas, and wrote words all about the body. One wee boy said that we all have a love heart in our bodies! Another boy prefers writing to drawing, so he wrote words like "feet," "chin," "back," "eye," "eye," (yes, twice, because we have two eyes) "body," and "nose." He wrote it all with minimal support!

Next, we took photos of different parts of our body. The children were in charge of deciding what body parts to photograph and they were in charge of actually taking the photo. The more responsibility the children have, the better.

After we printed the photos, some children helped to make labels for them and we stuck them up on the cut out body tracing on the wall.

Simultaneously, there was a body painting activity going on. The children chose what body part they wanted to print onto paper with paint:

The body painting was so popular, we had to bring the activity outside for some collaborative foot printing:

The paint trays got a little slippery, so there may have been some painty bottoms! If you do this activity with your class, make sure you have some tubs of warm, soapy water, towels, and chairs handy for the clean up!

Speaking of clean up, always get the children to be responsible for cleaning up their own messes. It's their classroom, so they should be responsible for it to have a sense of ownership.

Phew. All that from a drawing of legs coming out of a head! And we're not done yet! The children have shown an interest and knowledge about bones and the heart. I'm hoping to extend their learning experiences with this interest in mind.

Note, these activities did not all take place in the same day. These occurred over the course of a week or so, always adding and extending learning experiences based on things the children said, did, or asked about.

Natural & Open-Ended Resources

2012-09-08T11:48:00.001+01:00

How many times have you set out resources for your kids to use, and they haven't used them according to your expectations? How often do we see educational toys that are designed with only one use in mind? Pirate ship play-grounds can be exciting and look really neat, but they limit the type of play that can occur. A pirate ship play-ground will ultimately result in pirate play. There's nothing wrong with pretending to be a pirate. I can "yar me harty" with the best of them. But as educators, we should be encouraging children's natural curiosity, creativity, and need to explore, and one of the best ways we can nurture that is through open-ended resources.

With open-ended or natural materials, children can explore, create, imagine, and learn through play without the resource dictating what their play should be. I'm always surprised at what children's imaginations come up with; it's often not at all what you intended, and that's okay!

After a short "stick safety" chat, the children had free reign of our collection of sticks, branches, driftwood, and medallions. Someone discovered the flower box and decided to add a floral finishing touch to their creation.

Sadly, children don't always have the opportunity to use their imaginations in their play. With video games, computers, and ready-made toys, children have all the heavy lifting done for them.

With natural and open-ended materials, children can do the heavy lifting all on their own.

Or with a little help from a friend.

Development in Mark Making

2012-08-27T20:05:00.002+01:00

This week we are talking about our families and who lives in our houses. The children all did black pen drawings of their families. We made sure to talk about facial features and other body parts that we could include in the drawings. Some children even included pets!
I've posted some of the children's drawings here to show different stages in the development and progress of mark-marking.

Although this drawing shows the added development of actual writing, the drawing itself depicts very basic features. Children often focus on the face and leave out the rest of the body when they are in the early stages of drawing people. I call this the "floating heads" stage.

This one cracks me up!

This is quite a common stage in drawing people as well - the legs growing straight out of the head.

"The preschematic stage stage of drawing is the first conscious creation of form which provides a tangible record of the child's thinking process. The first representational attempt is a person, usually with circle for head and two vertical lines for legs. Later other forms develop, clearly recognizable and often quite complex. Children continually search for new concepts so symbols constantly change." -learning design

This week, we are taking photos of the children with the person who drops them off to continue our families display. We've also asked parents to bring in photos of their families to help with "family vocabulary" like "brother," "sister," "uncle," and "grandmother."

As a result of some of the drawings that lack body parts, we are going to be tracing our bodies to create a display. We will label basic body parts, take photos of our hands, legs, feet, elbows, etc. and discuss where we can put them on the body tracing. We will also use mirrors again to help us become more familiar with what our bodies look like. I can't wait to see their drawings after all this focus!

A Seashell

2012-08-26T11:29:00.000+01:00

J. found a shell in the garden! What a great discovery. He noticed the lines on the shell, and imagined it came from a place called "Shell-land."

J. found another shell in the sand pit. It had dirt stuck inside it. He used the first shell as a spade to dig it out, and rinsed them in the sink.

At Circle Time, the children gathered to look at, feel, and smell the shell. Some children said they've seen shells at the beach, others said the shell felt rough and had lots of lines. We had some great discussion about what the children like to do at the beach and who they go with. We even had some discussion about how the seashell came to be in the garden. Some children thought a seagull dropped it there. All the children had something to contribute because it was something they could all relate to. It was great having an impromptu Circle Time with the children about one of their own discoveries. That's was Pre-School should be about.

Class Tour - better photos

2012-08-25T10:53:00.000+01:00

I took some better photos of my new classroom this week!

This shot is looking to the story corner, construction center, and art table.

Small World and puzzles table, with the role play corner behind it. To the right, there's a door to the Nursery garden! I love that we have direct access from the classroom to the outdoor space.

The story corner has a lovely new carpet. The children like to choose a minibeast to sit on. I love that we have a Smartboard, too. I'm so excited to integrate it into the children's experiences!

The art/writing area is so organized, thanks to my Nursery Nurse! Hopefully it stays this way! I've really been on at the kids this week to make sure they look at where materials belong and put them back in the right spot. I really think it's important to make the children responsible for their space.

There's a huge whiteboard right by the art table. The children have decided to put up some of their drawings from the first week of school. I have some talented artists on my hands!

We have a HUGE role play corner. The children are quite imaginative compared to my class last year. They love role play. It's interesting to watch them interact with each other.

I love this shelf. One side holds resources for the water table, one side holds resources for the sand table. The children choose for themselves what they want to use and take it to the sensory tables themselves. I'm striving for the children to be independent in their learning experiences and in the general operation of the classroom.

Since my classroom is massive this year, I have the luxury of having this great double easel! One side is for painting and the other is a whiteboard. I love that 3 children can work easily and comfortably at the easel.

The resource boxes are clearly labeled with text AND photos so the children know where things belong and can put away resources independently. It's important for children to see the text as well, despite not being able to read yet. I strive for my classroom to be a text-rich environment so children become familiar with it as they begin to mark-make and write.

Every class in the school received their own huge floorbook to contribute to throughout the year. My children are heavily involved in deciding what goes into it and what they want it to say. This particular page documents our class trip to the Bear Factory where we chose a new outfit for our class bear, Dora. We took a city bus into town and everything! The children were able to talk about waiting for the bus, how to cross the street, and what landmarks the recognized on the way to town.

Here's Dora, our class bear! She has QUITE the wardrobe! What you see here isn't the half of it! The kids love dressing her up and using her in role play.

This year, we've started a new teeth-brushing method with Brush Buses! I LOVE these. They are so much better than the children having individual boxes with their toothbrush in it. Each child has a picture (apple, milk, strawberry, etc.) that corresponds with a toothbrush with the same picture. They have been really good with putting their brushes back in the right spot!

That's it for the updated tour with better photos!

"The Rules"

2012-08-19T14:00:00.001+01:00

source

Ah the dreaded First Week of School when you need to start right back at the beginning. You forget how much work it is to get back into a routine, settle the children into school, and establish "The Rules." My school actually has established Golden Rules that are to be followed by the whole school, but I still think it's important to discuss your own class rules so everyone knows what the expectations are for the classroom. So how do you go about doing that?

I've seen this done in different ways. Of course, there's the list of "don'ts" that clearly state your aversion to gum chewing and interruptions. Naturally, you want children to know what they aren't allowed to do in class, but in my experience, kids already know the don'ts, and they don't like hearing the word "no." Children respond to positive language. Don't you?

Be Positive.

Keep your "rules" positive. Instead of saying "Don't hit others," simply change that to "Be kind to others." That simple statement covers a multitude of sins (hitting, name-calling, exclusion, etc.), that way you don't need to list every little offense that a child might commit. One teacher I know only has two rules in the class. They are 1. Show respect (to yourself, to others, to property) and 2. Do your best (best teamwork, best work, best thinking). I love that the kids only have two things to remember, and the rules are broad enough to cover almost everything.

Include the Children.

This may be old news to most of you, but I still think it's worth talking about. Establishing the rules of the room should be led by the children, not you the teacher. Kids know to put up their hand to talk. They know not to hurt people. They know they need to try their best. They know not to eat the glue (for the most part). They will give you EVERYTHING you want to hear. And if you give them the responsibility to remind YOU and EACH OTHER of what those rules are, they will take that responsibility VERY seriously. What they come up with may need a little narrowing down, and that's where you come in. I don't think it's necessary to put "no picking your nose" on the final copy (or maybe it is?).

Rules.

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of the word "rules." I'd much prefer to go about this task in a more positive manner, telling the children that we are creating a Class Promise or Full Value Contract or Code of Conduct (depending on the age of your class). Despite the age, I think it's important to get the children to "sign" the Promise, even if they are still at the pre-writing stage.

Consequences

I'm a firm believer in natural consequences. I hate the idea of time out (I do believe in taking a break, but I will get to that in a minute). If a child is doing something where they could potentially get hurt (like balancing on blocks), and they eventually fall and get hurt, that is a natural consequence. I wouldn't take them away from the blocks; they would have learned already that balancing on blocks can be dangerous and to be more careful next time. Let children learn from their mistakes. Side-note: As as adult, I would obviously not let a child take a risk that I felt was dangerous.

Obviously, if a child is hurting someone else, I would take them away from the situation, but not to a time out. In my experience time outs aren't very effective. They are a temporary solution where the adult rarely puts any input into the solving of the problem. Even for 3 year olds, it's important to talk about what happened, remind them of the Class Promise, and relocate them to something or someone different, NOT to a specified "time out". Sometimes kids just need a break from each other. I have a "Breath Box" in my class, if necessary. It's full of things like playdough, stress balls, photographs depicting different emotions, sensory bottles, paper/crayons, bubbles, etc. Sometimes, a child just needs a few minutes to themselves to regroup, breath, and exert some of that emotion on some playdough.

With older children, I would even have a go at having them come up with some consequences. Sometimes, they can be a little more harsh that I would ever be! If they decide on the consequences, they may be even more likely to behave according to the class's Code of Conduct (or Promise, or Full Value Contract...).

Rewards.

I don't want to dwell too much on consequences because I think it's even more important to focus on, and reward those who are doing exactly what they should be. I'm not talking about a Treasure Chest of Poundland rubbish, but about natural or non-tangible rewards. Sounds exciting, right? It can be! A simple, "my you're sitting smartly!" can sometimes be all it takes to motivate a child to continue doing what they're doing (and encourage those around them to as well). Sometimes it can be easy to forget about those children who are always following the "rules" because they aren't being disruptive. Don't forget to see those kids and recognise that they are fulfilling the Class Promise.

See Behaviour 101 for some other ideas on how to manage behaviour in your class.

How do you establish "The Rules" in your class?

New Classroom Tour

2012-08-16T14:05:00.000+01:00

It's that time of year again when it's time to drag your feet back into the classroom to set up! Much to my delight, when I walked into my new room, most of it was already done! A couple of the Nursery Nurses at my school worked through the summer, so they took the liberty of organizing toys, labeling boxes (complete with pictures of what's in the box!), and generally setting up the furniture. When I first walked in, I thought, "Oh, but I wanted to set up the room," but after looking around, it was really the only way for the room to be set up anyway because of where the carpeted flooring and linoleum flooring was, and where the Smartboard was already mounted. Those things really dictate how you can set up a room. So, even though I didn't get to set up the room, I am delighted with how it looks!

This year I am teaching Nursery (that's Kindergarden for all you North Americans!). I have two classes - AM & PM - adding up to 40 children in total! That will be interesting during report writing time!

Here are some poor quality mobile phone photos to show what the room looks like so far, before the children have stormed through.

Really, the only major thing that I needed to do was organize the filing cabinet. It still had some things in there from 2007 (not as bad as my classroom last year that had files lying around from 1998!). The filing cabinet is really the only place in the room for me to keep personal files/resources, as well as general office supplies (scissors, pens, stapler, etc.), so I spent some time reorganizing so I know exactly where everything is.

I'm almost finished organizing files. I've used folder dividers to subdivide paperwork, masters, resources, etc. This way it's easy for me to find or file things quickly. Hopefully it will stay this organized for the year! We'll see...

Have you been into your classroom yet?