28/2/17 Everyone has settled into school life. Routines are coming along with some having to be revisited. New enrollments have adjusted very well and are enjoying themselves in Room B and at Turaki School. Struggling with getting our reading rotation running with 7 groups and getting around to seeing everyone is a mission. Once things start settling down I know that it would be more manageable. The children have come along amazingly with their swimming. Children are becoming more confident with their kicking and freestyle strokes. Great to see how much progress they have made in such a small amount of time Enjoyed the PLD with Fairfield Primary visitors. A lot of work has gone into their programmes. It would be an idea maybe that we have parent interviews in Term 1 with the focus on getting to know our children and whanau at the beginning of the year. The body has taken a bit of a toll, but it was expected. 14/3/17 Very busy two weeks. Had an awesome parent support in our class swimming demonstration with just over 20 whanau turning up. Children were amazing and have shown great progress with their swimming techniques. Reading rotation is working well. Just need to tweak time management as sometimes its a bit of a struggle to get through all of the rotations. Using independent reading worksheets for my top groups to work through based on an item in either Junior Journals or School Journals. Found from www.therelievingteacher.weebly.com Boys in the class are fighting/finding their place in the pecking order in the class. Having to spend a bit more time on classroom management then I would like to having to deal with inappropriate behaviours. Although they are getting better with knowing classroom expectations for behaviour. Started a home contact book with one of the boys with support from home. I have to re-think the reward goal as he is struggling to meet it with showing positive behaviour both at school and at home. Restructured the class set-up moving away from groups as most of the class were struggling to stay focused and would rather talk to their peers instead of completing their work on time. Writing and maths are not as strong as what I would like and am looking at restructuring my timetable so there is more of a focus in these two areas. Possibly moving them both to the first block as the children are more motivated to learn at this time of the day. Class is loving Inquiry and looking at the structure of the main street. It is amazing how many of the children know the order of shops in the main street. They loved using Google Maps to find their homes and mark it on the map. I am wanting to make more of a visual display to show in the class.
2/5/17 Good to be back. Created a new behaviour chart for 5 boys who were peaking at the end of last term with their own individual goals. Starting off really well. The purpose is to try and make them more responsible for their behaviour and trying to keep them on task. Class changed seating arrangements. Moved back to groups as the row structure that we had last term gave many of them the opportunity to turn around to their mates and be off task. This term I want to try and support the whole class to build some independence instead of continuously wanting to get approval for their work and taking risks. Putting it back on them. End of day clean up is becoming a bit of a shambles, so I will be looking at restructuring the way we pack up - possibly giving responsibilities to certain children who take it as an opportunity to start playing. Looking at including more vocab activities to the programme. Proven today that the whole class has very limited vocab and adding detail. Have to make short and snappy though. 30/5/17 Behaviour chart is working well for the boys. Three of them have completed their charts. Going to start new ones straight away with different goals. Not very good week last week with an escalated incident with Levarn. Having to spend two days in Room M. The atmosphere changed completely without him. It was the first time that I had let a child get to me. Very thankful that there was support from other staff members (Jill) after an escalated incident and Kyra willing to take on Levarn. Much better start to this week. Class is enjoying working with fractions. Loving it when some children moved away to work independently after understanding what they need to do. I think that a lot of it has to do with using materials. Have had a few children away and it is frustrating having to go over instructions again when they return back to school. Assessments are going slowly as it is a bit hard when half of the class are struggling with working independently. Only 10 more Running Record to do though. Great progress with half of the class moving on to PROBE. It is showing that they need to move more onto comprehension strategies. Sheena Cameron Done e-asTTle and from the initial stages it is showing that some of the children have either forgotten or have not retained sentence structure - how a sentence is formed and when a sentence ends. Have been getting frustrated with the length that some children have been writing (or lack of it), but talking in staff meeting, I think I need to focus more on quality of stories and not quantity. Children have been learning their times tables off by heart and the majority know their 2, 5 and 10 times tables with are working on the others. I am going to work on multiplication and making the connections with times tables and multiplication.
The past two weeks have been very testing with a few of the boys in the class. I am spending time thinking about how to capture them to stay focused and not worry about others. One thing that I do need to do is new behaviour charts for four of them because they completed their first charts. Maybe this could be a starting point. Their goals will be focused around their butting in and back chatting. The staff have been very supportive with having some of my problem boys when they have gone too far or see that I just need a break from them. It makes so much difference. I have had Literacy Contracts up and running for four week and they seem to be going okay. The topics are a bit boring so I asked the class what they would like to learn about and that will be the base for the next lot of contracts and linking in to maths as well. On a positive note ..... I am proud and impressed with the progress that all the children have made since the beginning of the year. It feels as though we have done nothing and the children have not learnt anything, but the testing shows otherwise. For the first time in so long I only have one child on 1B. It is such a good feeling. I'll take what I can get. Fractions are a hit with the class. A small number of the class have moved on from finding unit fractions to finding bigger fractions of a number using multiplication. Slow progress, but getting there. Keep chugging along and amping up the topic based learning.
The last couple of weeks have been very hard mentally. Unfortunately, a group of boys have been very disrespectful, rude, leaving class and down right awful. There have been a couple of times where I have doubted myself and asking myself if it is worth the stress and mental strain to put myself through it. Then I thought about the other children in the class and it brought me right back to why I chose this profession in the first place. The staff have been so supportive to which has softened the regret and blame that I have been putting on myself. I am going to look at restructuring the seating and go right back to more structured learning where the choices are limited.
The project based learning seems to be going okay, but I need to make them more structured and keep instructions comprehendible to the children. I was wrong with the assumption that the children were very IT literate, but having the knowledge and skill to research information on the internet is very limited.
It is also sad that we have had a few children leave the school in my class.
25/7/2017 Term 3 , Week 1 Nice relaxing break......went too fast. It was good to see the kids back, unfortunately there are a few away still sick.
Spent a lot of time reflecting and thinking over the break on how to cope with and support the group of boys that were I was having issues with at the end of last term. Have come back this term with more of a calmer approach with the boys. I am trying to have a couple of the boys that really flared up working with me at the table and still making sure that I rove around with the rest of the children. So far, so good.
I am breaking down the sessions into even smaller bits, mainly for the boys so it is more manageable and achievable. There are still a couple that demand attention, so I am trying to put more ownership on to them. The challenge is for them to take risks and build confidence in doing their tasks reflectively and independently.
The information that Nat and Rose gave from their PLD with 'Attachment Principles' looks very informative and I will be looking into it further along with the information about Joseph Driessen and dealing with boys. There are a lot of ideas out there and I need to try different things to figure out what will work for them and hopefully get them to be more independent, remembering that it wont happen overnight.
Had an observation today and I felt that it went better than what I expected. Chn were okay and am looking forward to seeing the notes.
This term is going to be another busy term, but hopefully it will be a good one.
8/8/17 Term 3 Week 3 The term seems to be settling down with behaviours. Much better than the end of last term.
Feedback to staff was very informative last night. There was a mention of the noise level in the class could possibly have an impact on CVDW's focus. Tried giving him a pair of headphones. Lasted all of five minutes then took them off. Worked most of the day at my desk to try and keep him focused, but taking away time with other children. Maybe look at changing seating arrangement for hom to move to a quieter group with more independent children.
Also going to try more of when-then and easier work so that the chn can recognise that they can do as a lot of them have the 'I CAN'T' attitude and won't move on unless fully supported from me.
Had a break through (fingers crossed it continues) with LB. Gave him the headphones to try and got so much work out of him today. It was a relief to have him doing SOME work. He did spend time with me at my table, but once he knew what he needed to do, he did it.
Had an awesome trip up the mountain with the chn last week. Everyone had fun and it was a good break for them to get away from the school scene. Hopefully we can have another trip later in the year.
So many things have happened this term. Feeling drained, but also thinking about changes that can be made for next term.
I think that I need to have more of a stronger focus on social skills, especially with the boys and research areas where they can take more ownership of their behaviour.
Over the past two weeks I have trialled a different rewards system for Logan with the support from RTLB. It is going well in the class and his behaviours have lessoned since it started. Will continue with it next term and see what happens. I know that we will have to go back to rules and routines at the start of the term, and maybe research ideas or easier strategies that could be used to cater for the other boys.
Next term sees new children being shuffled through from another class and hopefully they transition well, and the class adjusts well with them in here.
Looking forward to what next term will bring with our new principal.
Busy, frantic and exciting few weeks. Assessments done and excited with the progress that every child has made from the beginning of the year, even from previous results. Once again I felt that I had not done enough for the class in regards to their learning and thinking that nothing had sunken in, but the results say otherwise. Yay me!!!!!
Reports next.......
As expected honeymoon period is over with the new behaviour strategies that I had in place for the boys. Back to square one with trying new things. Two of the boys came back from the holidays with attitudes to challenged my patience, but with support from our new principal and new strategies introduced things are okay.
I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment with staff leaving to explore new changes, but looking forward to changes that may be put in place next with the tamariki at the forefront. Will be exciting and a lot of work for the positive.
This year so far has been very interesting in Room B. The complete change of children bar two have been a refreshing beginning and not having to deal with attention seeking and time wasted on behaviours. My class is very good.
I am now looking at the different levels and learning styles of each child. There is such a wide range and styles mainly, as levels are around the same for all of them.
Swimming of course has made a bit of an impact to the quantity of learning that is taking place. We are down to our last week so things are going to get better from her. On the note of swimming, the children are amazing. This is the first year where I have not had any children and can't put their heads under the water. Streamlining and freestyles techniques have come along so well. Whanau swimming demonstration was a hit with a huge number of whanau turn up to support their tamariki.
Our rules and routines are working nicely, but need to focus on noise levels. Children are excited to be in class. A nice change
Looking forward to the rest of the term and getting to know the children more deeply and excited to see them thrive.
28/2/17
ReplyDeleteEveryone has settled into school life. Routines are coming along with some having to be revisited. New enrollments have adjusted very well and are enjoying themselves in Room B and at Turaki School.
Struggling with getting our reading rotation running with 7 groups and getting around to seeing everyone is a mission. Once things start settling down I know that it would be more manageable.
The children have come along amazingly with their swimming. Children are becoming more confident with their kicking and freestyle strokes. Great to see how much progress they have made in such a small amount of time
Enjoyed the PLD with Fairfield Primary visitors. A lot of work has gone into their programmes. It would be an idea maybe that we have parent interviews in Term 1 with the focus on getting to know our children and whanau at the beginning of the year.
The body has taken a bit of a toll, but it was expected.
14/3/17
Very busy two weeks.
Had an awesome parent support in our class swimming demonstration with just over 20 whanau turning up. Children were amazing and have shown great progress with their swimming techniques.
Reading rotation is working well. Just need to tweak time management as sometimes its a bit of a struggle to get through all of the rotations. Using independent reading worksheets for my top groups to work through based on an item in either Junior Journals or School Journals. Found from www.therelievingteacher.weebly.com
Boys in the class are fighting/finding their place in the pecking order in the class. Having to spend a bit more time on classroom management then I would like to having to deal with inappropriate behaviours. Although they are getting better with knowing classroom expectations for behaviour. Started a home contact book with one of the boys with support from home. I have to re-think the reward goal as he is struggling to meet it with showing positive behaviour both at school and at home.
Restructured the class set-up moving away from groups as most of the class were struggling to stay focused and would rather talk to their peers instead of completing their work on time.
Writing and maths are not as strong as what I would like and am looking at restructuring my timetable so there is more of a focus in these two areas. Possibly moving them both to the first block as the children are more motivated to learn at this time of the day.
Class is loving Inquiry and looking at the structure of the main street. It is amazing how many of the children know the order of shops in the main street. They loved using Google Maps to find their homes and mark it on the map. I am wanting to make more of a visual display to show in the class.
2/5/17
ReplyDeleteGood to be back. Created a new behaviour chart for 5 boys who were peaking at the end of last term with their own individual goals. Starting off really well. The purpose is to try and make them more responsible for their behaviour and trying to keep them on task.
Class changed seating arrangements. Moved back to groups as the row structure that we had last term gave many of them the opportunity to turn around to their mates and be off task.
This term I want to try and support the whole class to build some independence instead of continuously wanting to get approval for their work and taking risks. Putting it back on them. End of day clean up is becoming a bit of a shambles, so I will be looking at restructuring the way we pack up - possibly giving responsibilities to certain children who take it as an opportunity to start playing.
Looking at including more vocab activities to the programme. Proven today that the whole class has very limited vocab and adding detail. Have to make short and snappy though.
30/5/17
Behaviour chart is working well for the boys. Three of them have completed their charts. Going to start new ones straight away with different goals.
Not very good week last week with an escalated incident with Levarn. Having to spend two days in Room M. The atmosphere changed completely without him. It was the first time that I had let a child get to me. Very thankful that there was support from other staff members (Jill) after an escalated incident and Kyra willing to take on Levarn. Much better start to this week. Class is enjoying working with fractions. Loving it when some children moved away to work independently after understanding what they need to do. I think that a lot of it has to do with using materials.
Have had a few children away and it is frustrating having to go over instructions again when they return back to school.
Assessments are going slowly as it is a bit hard when half of the class are struggling with working independently. Only 10 more Running Record to do though. Great progress with half of the class moving on to PROBE. It is showing that they need to move more onto comprehension strategies. Sheena Cameron
Done e-asTTle and from the initial stages it is showing that some of the children have either forgotten or have not retained sentence structure - how a sentence is formed and when a sentence ends. Have been getting frustrated with the length that some children have been writing (or lack of it), but talking in staff meeting, I think I need to focus more on quality of stories and not quantity.
Children have been learning their times tables off by heart and the majority know their 2, 5 and 10 times tables with are working on the others. I am going to work on multiplication and making the connections with times tables and multiplication.
The past two weeks have been very testing with a few of the boys in the class. I am spending time thinking about how to capture them to stay focused and not worry about others. One thing that I do need to do is new behaviour charts for four of them because they completed their first charts. Maybe this could be a starting point. Their goals will be focused around their butting in and back chatting. The staff have been very supportive with having some of my problem boys when they have gone too far or see that I just need a break from them. It makes so much difference.
ReplyDeleteI have had Literacy Contracts up and running for four week and they seem to be going okay. The topics are a bit boring so I asked the class what they would like to learn about and that will be the base for the next lot of contracts and linking in to maths as well.
On a positive note ..... I am proud and impressed with the progress that all the children have made since the beginning of the year. It feels as though we have done nothing and the children have not learnt anything, but the testing shows otherwise. For the first time in so long I only have one child on 1B. It is such a good feeling. I'll take what I can get.
Fractions are a hit with the class. A small number of the class have moved on from finding unit fractions to finding bigger fractions of a number using multiplication. Slow progress, but getting there.
Keep chugging along and amping up the topic based learning.
The last couple of weeks have been very hard mentally. Unfortunately, a group of boys have been very disrespectful, rude, leaving class and down right awful. There have been a couple of times where I have doubted myself and asking myself if it is worth the stress and mental strain to put myself through it. Then I thought about the other children in the class and it brought me right back to why I chose this profession in the first place. The staff have been so supportive to which has softened the regret and blame that I have been putting on myself. I am going to look at restructuring the seating and go right back to more structured learning where the choices are limited.
ReplyDeleteThe project based learning seems to be going okay, but I need to make them more structured and keep instructions comprehendible to the children. I was wrong with the assumption that the children were very IT literate, but having the knowledge and skill to research information on the internet is very limited.
It is also sad that we have had a few children leave the school in my class.
Things are going to get better..........
25/7/2017
ReplyDeleteTerm 3 , Week 1
Nice relaxing break......went too fast.
It was good to see the kids back, unfortunately there are a few away still sick.
Spent a lot of time reflecting and thinking over the break on how to cope with and support the group of boys that were I was having issues with at the end of last term. Have come back this term with more of a calmer approach with the boys. I am trying to have a couple of the boys that really flared up working with me at the table and still making sure that I rove around with the rest of the children. So far, so good.
I am breaking down the sessions into even smaller bits, mainly for the boys so it is more manageable and achievable. There are still a couple that demand attention, so I am trying to put more ownership on to them. The challenge is for them to take risks and build confidence in doing their tasks reflectively and independently.
The information that Nat and Rose gave from their PLD with 'Attachment Principles' looks very informative and I will be looking into it further along with the information about Joseph Driessen and dealing with boys. There are a lot of ideas out there and I need to try different things to figure out what will work for them and hopefully get them to be more independent, remembering that it wont happen overnight.
Had an observation today and I felt that it went better than what I expected. Chn were okay and am looking forward to seeing the notes.
This term is going to be another busy term, but hopefully it will be a good one.
8/8/17
ReplyDeleteTerm 3 Week 3
The term seems to be settling down with behaviours. Much better than the end of last term.
Feedback to staff was very informative last night. There was a mention of the noise level in the class could possibly have an impact on CVDW's focus. Tried giving him a pair of headphones. Lasted all of five minutes then took them off. Worked most of the day at my desk to try and keep him focused, but taking away time with other children. Maybe look at changing seating arrangement for hom to move to a quieter group with more independent children.
Also going to try more of when-then and easier work so that the chn can recognise that they can do as a lot of them have the 'I CAN'T' attitude and won't move on unless fully supported from me.
Had a break through (fingers crossed it continues) with LB. Gave him the headphones to try and got so much work out of him today. It was a relief to have him doing SOME work. He did spend time with me at my table, but once he knew what he needed to do, he did it.
Had an awesome trip up the mountain with the chn last week. Everyone had fun and it was a good break for them to get away from the school scene. Hopefully we can have another trip later in the year.
What a term!!!
ReplyDeleteSo many things have happened this term. Feeling drained, but also thinking about changes that can be made for next term.
I think that I need to have more of a stronger focus on social skills, especially with the boys and research areas where they can take more ownership of their behaviour.
Over the past two weeks I have trialled a different rewards system for Logan with the support from RTLB. It is going well in the class and his behaviours have lessoned since it started. Will continue with it next term and see what happens. I know that we will have to go back to rules and routines at the start of the term, and maybe research ideas or easier strategies that could be used to cater for the other boys.
Next term sees new children being shuffled through from another class and hopefully they transition well, and the class adjusts well with them in here.
Looking forward to what next term will bring with our new principal.
Busy, frantic and exciting few weeks. Assessments done and excited with the progress that every child has made from the beginning of the year, even from previous results. Once again I felt that I had not done enough for the class in regards to their learning and thinking that nothing had sunken in, but the results say otherwise. Yay me!!!!!
ReplyDeleteReports next.......
As expected honeymoon period is over with the new behaviour strategies that I had in place for the boys. Back to square one with trying new things. Two of the boys came back from the holidays with attitudes to challenged my patience, but with support from our new principal and new strategies introduced things are okay.
I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment with staff leaving to explore new changes, but looking forward to changes that may be put in place next with the tamariki at the forefront. Will be exciting and a lot of work for the positive.
Roll on 2018!!!
This year so far has been very interesting in Room B. The complete change of children bar two have been a refreshing beginning and not having to deal with attention seeking and time wasted on behaviours. My class is very good.
ReplyDeleteI am now looking at the different levels and learning styles of each child. There is such a wide range and styles mainly, as levels are around the same for all of them.
Swimming of course has made a bit of an impact to the quantity of learning that is taking place. We are down to our last week so things are going to get better from her. On the note of swimming, the children are amazing. This is the first year where I have not had any children and can't put their heads under the water. Streamlining and freestyles techniques have come along so well. Whanau swimming demonstration was a hit with a huge number of whanau turn up to support their tamariki.
Our rules and routines are working nicely, but need to focus on noise levels. Children are excited to be in class. A nice change
Looking forward to the rest of the term and getting to know the children more deeply and excited to see them thrive.