Peek at my week - Term 4 Week 2

Already this term is flying by. We're about to begin week 2 of the last term of the school year. I will be saying goodbye to my little preppies in no time...

A quick recap of last week. I had on last week's plan that I was going to do fine motor skills groups. They went so well!! I had to share our activities.

Here we are using the awesome Fine Motor Mats by Tara West. We used the glass beads this time and next time we'll use tweezers as well. Most of my students were fascinated by how many 'jewels' they were using so they were also counting as they did this activity.

The preps had to write or draw with chalk, then they magically made the chalk disappear by tracing over it with water on a paint brush! They thought it was very cool, and it was a novelty to use chalkboards.

Ol' faithful - playdough!

They had to make the tallest tower they could. Steady hands were necessary!

Using tweezers to pick up magnetic letters or letter tiles (one at a time!!) from the rice sensory tub.


Now, here is a Peek at My Week (linked up with Mrs Wills Kindergarten) for next week.

We have a Stress Down Day every year. During the morning the grades will rotate around activities (20 minutes at each activity). Activities will include cyber safety, stories, games/puzzles and craft activities. After recess we invite the parents to come and participate in a Trivia Scavenger Hunt. Each group is given a list of things they have to find out, there is a winner drawn for the most correct answers. After lunch, which will be healthy salad rolls that the students will make for themselves, we have an incursion for a performance called Cyber Busters, all about cyber safety. To top it off, it is Pajama Day, too! Comfy comfy comfy!

Peak at my week Monday 6th October

I'm going to give the Peak at My Week link-up another go!

This upcoming week is the first week back at school for term 4, after our Spring break. I've had a lovely holiday but I'm really looking forward to getting back into work.

That's what my week looks like.

For writing I run Writers Workshop with mini lessons (which is just new to me this year and I love it!). I use Writing Through the Year by Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills as a guideline, and then add and tweak it to suit my group of kids and our scope and sequence/curriculum.

For Reading Groups I have five groups that do two activities each - a focus/phonics activity and then a phonics/fine motor skills activity, and I will pull one student at a time to do reading assessment with me in the lead up to report writing. This week we are focusing on Little Red Riding Hood retells and sequencing, and looking at word families -og and -at.

The 'World Around Us' is the name I gave to the hour when we do humanities/social skills work. This term we are talking about celebrations.

I don't normally do so much handwriting and fine motor skills, but given that my kids have 11 more weeks of school this year I'm really focusing on getting their handwriting up to scratch ready for grade 1.

For Buddies we work with a class of grade 3/4s, and we alternate between working on maths together on the iPads and doing 'team building' activities.

I love this link up because I'm fascinated by the different ways classes run!

Peak at my Week

I'm having a go at sharing my week as a link-up with Mrs Wills Kindergarten: Peak at my Week.

Here is my weekly planning document. We start at 9am and finish at 3.30pm. Recess is 30min at 11am, and lunch is 1hr at 1.30pm. Click on the document to see it up close.

Oral language is when a speech therapist employed by my school comes into my classroom and runs small group activities focused on key literacy skills. This week we are focusing on vowels and medial sounds.

Clubs happens twice a term. Teachers and parents run a 'club' for a group of students. I run Craft Club, but we also have groups who go to the park, do knitting, do cooking, do science, make cool things, etc.

Normally I have another document with more detail on it, lesson by lesson, but I have a student teacher who is teaching everything expect for Reading Groups, so she is planning everything. I don't have her plans yet.

This is what my reading plan looks like for the week:

It has taken me a while to find a reading groups plan that works for me, but this is working so far. We do reading groups on four days. The groups are the animal names on the left. I have goals for each group, and that is what I select their activity based on. They still need fine motor work so I always have the group do a fine motor skills (FMS) activity. I have an aide who helps out with the groups. Other than the activities highlighted in pink or blue, a group does the same activity two days in a row. This gives them time to practice the task.

Have a great week!!