Monday 23 February 2015

Peek at my week - week beginning 16 February

I love reading what other teachers are doing in their classrooms, and I love sharing what I'm doing. Here is a peek at my week!


Here is a recap of week four of term 1:

When my students come in each morning they unpack their satchels. Their satchels are blue, velcro-closure pockets that they carry notes, take home books and their diary in. They also transport money in them. Each morning they put their money pouch in the white box, their diary in the green box and their satchel in the blue bucket - we only started this routine last week and it is taking some time!!

We made these in maths. I love combining fine motor skills with other subject areas and number formation is an area we focus on. You can get the mosaic squares from Zart Art.

These were our four Reading Groups last week. We had guided reading with me, puzzles, playdough and beading. My students are still learning how to work in groups, and fine motor tasks are really useful for practicing group work. All students understand the tasks and can do them independently while I work with my small group. This week our phonological awareness focus was rhyme.

This is the board behind where I sit for Guided Reading. I write up our focus, and go through the black words (which are high frequency words from the book we are reading) before we read.

We started Maths Groups last week too. I will be doing an hour per week of Maths Groups, where the students will work in groups of 3-4 students and will complete 5 different activities. All activities will be focussed on number/place value. It is a great opportunity to do some quick assessment and see how different students are coping with the content.

Sunday 22 February 2015

My 2015 classroom

 
I absolutely love setting up my new classroom each year. This year I have moved back into the classroom I was in during 2013. It felt a bit like coming home. I wanted to give you a tour of my 2015 classroom. I have preps (5/6 year olds) again this year. I have 22 students in my class.

Here is a panorama photo of my room, taken from my doorway.

My small group teaching area/teacher desk.

What the whiteboard above looks like now.

My whole group teaching area. Love me Ikea chair!!

My timetable and mat rules on my portable whiteboard.

My amazing giant cupboard, tables, door to outside and trolley with resources on it.

 Close-up of my trolley with resources on it.

This is where I write up my learning intentions for the week.

Book Corner area.

Close-up of the Book Corner. My students LOVE spending time here.

I use these for my Reading Groups activities (on the right) and the ones on the left will be used for Maths Groups.

The view from my desk area.

Saturday 21 February 2015

Five for Fraturday - 21st February

After a very long hiatus from my blog I'm back! And with a gorgeous new blog design to boot!!

I thought a great first post back would be a Five for Friday! It is Saturday evening where I am, but it's still Friday somewhere!

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/five-for-friday-linky-party-february_20.html
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I have had an amazing start to the new school year. In my class I have 22 preps and they are all gorgeous. They are an incredibly helpful, happy and persistent bunch. Yesterday we did our first session of maths groups and I set out a few maths activities that were too hard to see how they reacted. Only one of my poppets gave up and had a whinge - every other one was persistent and had a go even if they weren't too sure about how to get it done. I'm really proud of the behaviours this class are showing, and it is sure to be a fantastic year with them!

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As with any start to the year a good clean-up is necessary.
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The way I have set up my classroom (and I will post a classroom tour next) has the smartboard and whiteboard in front of a window. It works perfectly for the way the room is set up, except it is quite bright through the windows. As a way to cut down the light I laminated some cellophane and bluetac-ed it to the window.

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A new school year also needs some new 'words to live by'.

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And a new hairstyle!

If you'd like to see more of my photos follow me on Instagram @jemluck