I've just blogged over at the Australian Teachers Collaborative Blog about science and maths activities that you can eat! Go and check it out!
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Monday, 19 September 2016
Thursday, 5 November 2015
Investigation Station Writing
Today students wrote about the Movement Investigation Stations. They had to write what they noticed and provide a reason why they thought it happened. The explanations were really interesting, and I loved this one!
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Movement investigation stations
For inquiry our students were investigating how changes to size, shape and weight affected how things move. They rolled different sized cylinders, rolled different shaped objects, dropped feathers and tennis balls, took ten steps to see how far they got, jumped from standing and with a run up, kicked a ball from standing or with a run up, bounced different shaped balls, and rolled themselves along the grass.
Now they have to write what they noticed about movement from the activity they were photographed doing. It was great fun, and the students loved experimenting!!
Saturday, 23 August 2014
Five for Friday
What an incredible week!!! We celebrated both Book Week and National Science Week. Here is a snapshot of the week and my Five for Friday.
-one-
We started off Science Week with some theme writing on Monday. During the week the preps added to a booklet that I'd made called Weather in my World to go with our current weather unit in Science.
The book had three pages (one for each of the 'normal days' of school this week). They had to write about their favourite type of weather, what they like to do on hot days and what they like to do on cold days.
-two-
On Tuesday to celebrate Book Week we read some of our favourite shortlisted books. My kids loved the winning book in the Early Childhood category:
Tuesday was also eventful because one of my little guys was swinging on his chair, overbalanced, fell backwards and smacked his head into the window. He was fine (thank goodness) but the glass looked like a giant spider web. I have an appreciation for safety glass now!!
-three-
On Wednesday we had a visit from the Star Dome, which is a mobile planetarium. A giant dome is filled with air, you have to crawl through a dark tunnel to get inside, and then footage is projected on to the inside ceiling of the dome. It was INCREDIBLE!!! We got to watch a video about weather (links to our unit of work) and then got to look at some of the constellations in the night sky. My kids were absolutely in awe of it - such an amazing experience. I forgot to take a photo of it...
-four-
Thursday... what a day!! We held a Forensic Science Day to celebrate National Science Week. It was the Case of the Missing Chocolate Cake. One of my school's science coaches and our art teacher organised it. They planned out the 'crime', made a video which they showed during Junior Detective Initiation (30min assembly with the whole school), planned 7 different forensic science related activities which the kids rotated through, and then had a video ready to show the 'culprit' being apprehended. The activities were fingerprint analysis, handwriting analysis, powder analysis, cloth analysis, hair analysis, footprint analysis and money analysis - all based on 'clues' left at the 'crime scene'. The staff were the suspects and we all had a Suspect Data Record sheet showing our fingerprints, handwriting, shoe length and a suspect statement. The discussions about evidence and innocent until proven guilty were fantastic. The students ended up solving the crime and the 'culprit' was brought out in handcuffs (he is an awesome teacher and was a great sport on the day with all the finger pointing...). It was a phenomenal day. Absolutely amazing.
To top it off, we then had our first Science Fair and Art Show accompanied by hands-on Science and Art activities. We had great support from our school community, and the displays were awesome. I took some pics of the art work, but forgot to photograph the science stuff.
-five-
Friday was our Book Week celebration day. It was a dress-up day, and we had a parade in the morning. I was a pirate:
Every child in my class dressed up! The standout costume for the day was a grade 6 boy who dressed as a pink flamingo princess - such confidence, and he looked amazing!! We also had activities that the kids did. We had three activities for the prep-2s and three for the 3-6s. The prep-2s got to make some Dirty Dinosaurs, some Windy Windmills and some Cute Chickens. At the end of the day with had a Book Swap. Children had to bring in books they were finished with, and for each book they got a token. They could exchange their tokens for new books that had been donated by other students. I always make sure I donate a few extras so that I can hand out a couple of extra tokens to my students who can't/didn't bring their own in - it's always nice to participate!
It was a super amazing week!!! I do have some photos of the Forensic Science Day but I left my camera at school. I might write another post when I have the photos and explain a bit more about the activities. It was just awesome.
Personal goal - take more photos!!!
-one-
We started off Science Week with some theme writing on Monday. During the week the preps added to a booklet that I'd made called Weather in my World to go with our current weather unit in Science.
The book had three pages (one for each of the 'normal days' of school this week). They had to write about their favourite type of weather, what they like to do on hot days and what they like to do on cold days.
-two-
On Tuesday to celebrate Book Week we read some of our favourite shortlisted books. My kids loved the winning book in the Early Childhood category:
-three-
On Wednesday we had a visit from the Star Dome, which is a mobile planetarium. A giant dome is filled with air, you have to crawl through a dark tunnel to get inside, and then footage is projected on to the inside ceiling of the dome. It was INCREDIBLE!!! We got to watch a video about weather (links to our unit of work) and then got to look at some of the constellations in the night sky. My kids were absolutely in awe of it - such an amazing experience. I forgot to take a photo of it...
-four-
Thursday... what a day!! We held a Forensic Science Day to celebrate National Science Week. It was the Case of the Missing Chocolate Cake. One of my school's science coaches and our art teacher organised it. They planned out the 'crime', made a video which they showed during Junior Detective Initiation (30min assembly with the whole school), planned 7 different forensic science related activities which the kids rotated through, and then had a video ready to show the 'culprit' being apprehended. The activities were fingerprint analysis, handwriting analysis, powder analysis, cloth analysis, hair analysis, footprint analysis and money analysis - all based on 'clues' left at the 'crime scene'. The staff were the suspects and we all had a Suspect Data Record sheet showing our fingerprints, handwriting, shoe length and a suspect statement. The discussions about evidence and innocent until proven guilty were fantastic. The students ended up solving the crime and the 'culprit' was brought out in handcuffs (he is an awesome teacher and was a great sport on the day with all the finger pointing...). It was a phenomenal day. Absolutely amazing.
To top it off, we then had our first Science Fair and Art Show accompanied by hands-on Science and Art activities. We had great support from our school community, and the displays were awesome. I took some pics of the art work, but forgot to photograph the science stuff.
-five-
Friday was our Book Week celebration day. It was a dress-up day, and we had a parade in the morning. I was a pirate:
Every child in my class dressed up! The standout costume for the day was a grade 6 boy who dressed as a pink flamingo princess - such confidence, and he looked amazing!! We also had activities that the kids did. We had three activities for the prep-2s and three for the 3-6s. The prep-2s got to make some Dirty Dinosaurs, some Windy Windmills and some Cute Chickens. At the end of the day with had a Book Swap. Children had to bring in books they were finished with, and for each book they got a token. They could exchange their tokens for new books that had been donated by other students. I always make sure I donate a few extras so that I can hand out a couple of extra tokens to my students who can't/didn't bring their own in - it's always nice to participate!
It was a super amazing week!!! I do have some photos of the Forensic Science Day but I left my camera at school. I might write another post when I have the photos and explain a bit more about the activities. It was just awesome.
Personal goal - take more photos!!!
Friday, 15 August 2014
Five for Friday
It's Friday, yay! Time for Five for Friday.
-one-
It's been a relatively normal week at school, which has been really lovely. No excursions. No days off. No extra stuff. Just classroom, curriculum and time with my students. I love that after it's been so busy. It certainly wasn't the easiest week with a couple of my kiddoes, but the tough stuff is always balanced out by the cute things they say and do. One of my preppies wrote me a very cute note in their diary this week - love deciphering prep writing!
-two-
We are working on a Science unit called Weather in my World. Last week we made paintings using air because we had been learning about wind. The preps put blobs of paint onto cardboard, then blew through a straw to spread it out. Some over did the paint and I had to hold the paint over the sink to drain off some excess. I think they look fantastic. I love how unique they are. They also look amazing in my room - the bright white background with the bold colours looks awesome.
-three-
This week the preps have been learning to count by 5s. We've been using stacks of five unifix to help us remember that counting by five means counting five numbers at a time. We also made this awesome chart as a class:
And we loved singing along to this fun counting by 5s song:
-four-
We are a GoNoodling class! We have done 185 minutes so far. My preppies love it! This week some GoNoodle stickers arrived in the mail. I was so excited to get the cute pink envelop, and my kids were beyond excited to get a massive GoNoodle Champ sticker. Of course, I forgot to take a photo of the sticker, but I took a photo of the envelope.
-five-
We have a VERY busy week coming up next week, part of which is a dress-up day. Here is the start of my costume:
I'm going as a pirate. Next week is Children's Book Council of Australia Book Week and it's National Science Week in Australia. My school is celebrating both. We are having a visit from Stardome Mobile Planetarium during the week. We are running a Forensic Science Day, a Science Fair and a Family Science Night. We are having an Art Show. And then our Book Week Day is a dress-up day with activities for the kids based on the shortlisted award books. Whew!! I'm going to have heaps to write about next Friday (just have to remember my camera!).
Last week I was part of the Swap Share Give link-up with some fellow Aussie Bloggers. Thank you for your support, it was my first link-up of this kind. I also ran my first Rafflecopter giveaway and the winner has been announced - congratulations Kirsty!
-one-
It's been a relatively normal week at school, which has been really lovely. No excursions. No days off. No extra stuff. Just classroom, curriculum and time with my students. I love that after it's been so busy. It certainly wasn't the easiest week with a couple of my kiddoes, but the tough stuff is always balanced out by the cute things they say and do. One of my preppies wrote me a very cute note in their diary this week - love deciphering prep writing!
-two-
We are working on a Science unit called Weather in my World. Last week we made paintings using air because we had been learning about wind. The preps put blobs of paint onto cardboard, then blew through a straw to spread it out. Some over did the paint and I had to hold the paint over the sink to drain off some excess. I think they look fantastic. I love how unique they are. They also look amazing in my room - the bright white background with the bold colours looks awesome.
-three-
This week the preps have been learning to count by 5s. We've been using stacks of five unifix to help us remember that counting by five means counting five numbers at a time. We also made this awesome chart as a class:
And we loved singing along to this fun counting by 5s song:
-four-
We are a GoNoodling class! We have done 185 minutes so far. My preppies love it! This week some GoNoodle stickers arrived in the mail. I was so excited to get the cute pink envelop, and my kids were beyond excited to get a massive GoNoodle Champ sticker. Of course, I forgot to take a photo of the sticker, but I took a photo of the envelope.
-five-
We have a VERY busy week coming up next week, part of which is a dress-up day. Here is the start of my costume:
I'm going as a pirate. Next week is Children's Book Council of Australia Book Week and it's National Science Week in Australia. My school is celebrating both. We are having a visit from Stardome Mobile Planetarium during the week. We are running a Forensic Science Day, a Science Fair and a Family Science Night. We are having an Art Show. And then our Book Week Day is a dress-up day with activities for the kids based on the shortlisted award books. Whew!! I'm going to have heaps to write about next Friday (just have to remember my camera!).
Last week I was part of the Swap Share Give link-up with some fellow Aussie Bloggers. Thank you for your support, it was my first link-up of this kind. I also ran my first Rafflecopter giveaway and the winner has been announced - congratulations Kirsty!
Friday, 8 August 2014
Five for Friday, but no photos...
I am very glad it is finally Friday, I'm so tired this week!!
-one-
On Monday we had a pupil free day and all of the staff at my school went to do a training day called A Framework for Understanding Poverty. It was fantastic! It is all about the ways children from disadvantage are different to those who have more resources. I really liked that there was a broader view on these children as lacking in resources (such as social, emotional, support, and vision for the future) rather than just the economic thing. We talked about the hidden rules of the different groups in society and about mutual respect. The whole day was incredible!
-two-
On Wednesday my class went on their first big excursion. We drove almost an hour in a bus to Ecolinc. It was fantastic!! My school is incorporating Science as a big curriculum component and this facility has a focus on environmental science. We did a program called Living in the Extremes and talked about plants and animals that live in extreme weather, the kids got to make their own bug with plastic pieces a bit like Mr Potato Head, and then we got to look at insects found in the pond under a microscope. I was so incredibly proud of my little preppies behaviour during the excursion! For 5/6 year olds it was a very long day, but they really enjoyed themselves.
-three-
Today my school held our Athletics Day. It was meant to be last Friday but was postponed due to an 'extreme weather' warning. I supervised the triple jump which was absolutely hilarious at times! So many kids find the required 'hop, step, jump' really hard. It was a really fun day and all the kids tried their best.
-four-
Ooooh, I have one photo, which is non-school related. I bought a new handbag!!
The brand is Timberland. It is beautiful soft leather, a great size, fits everything in it and I love the colour!! I was so excited today when it turned up in the mail - thank you eBay!
-five-
I am finally over my cold so I am really looking forward to making the most of this weekend. I've got a few boring jobs to do, like clothes washing, but I'm also catching up with my bestie for afternoon tea tomorrow (crepes, yum!) and I think I'll go to the movies. Maybe Begin Again?
Now, I'm totally stuffed from a very hectic week, so I'm off for an early night!
-one-
On Monday we had a pupil free day and all of the staff at my school went to do a training day called A Framework for Understanding Poverty. It was fantastic! It is all about the ways children from disadvantage are different to those who have more resources. I really liked that there was a broader view on these children as lacking in resources (such as social, emotional, support, and vision for the future) rather than just the economic thing. We talked about the hidden rules of the different groups in society and about mutual respect. The whole day was incredible!
-two-
On Wednesday my class went on their first big excursion. We drove almost an hour in a bus to Ecolinc. It was fantastic!! My school is incorporating Science as a big curriculum component and this facility has a focus on environmental science. We did a program called Living in the Extremes and talked about plants and animals that live in extreme weather, the kids got to make their own bug with plastic pieces a bit like Mr Potato Head, and then we got to look at insects found in the pond under a microscope. I was so incredibly proud of my little preppies behaviour during the excursion! For 5/6 year olds it was a very long day, but they really enjoyed themselves.
-three-
Today my school held our Athletics Day. It was meant to be last Friday but was postponed due to an 'extreme weather' warning. I supervised the triple jump which was absolutely hilarious at times! So many kids find the required 'hop, step, jump' really hard. It was a really fun day and all the kids tried their best.
-four-
Ooooh, I have one photo, which is non-school related. I bought a new handbag!!
-five-
I am finally over my cold so I am really looking forward to making the most of this weekend. I've got a few boring jobs to do, like clothes washing, but I'm also catching up with my bestie for afternoon tea tomorrow (crepes, yum!) and I think I'll go to the movies. Maybe Begin Again?
Now, I'm totally stuffed from a very hectic week, so I'm off for an early night!
Saturday, 3 May 2014
Five for Friday
It's time for.....
-one-
This week I took my preppies for their first excursion!! We walked to our nearest kindergarten to visit the 4 year old group. In their room they had live chicken eggs. Three chicks had hatched the night before we visited, and about 30 minutes after we left another chick hatched. My littlies were absolutely fascinated watching the babies chicks. And they also loved playing with the kinder stuff! I took heaps of photos, but I left my camera at school - whoops!
-two-
I've started doing a teacher photo a day challenge on Instagram. It's at #padteacherchallenge. I love sharing photos of my classroom, and I love seeing photos of other teacher's classrooms!
-three-
Our Science topic this term, as I mentioned last week, is What's it made of? This week we walked around the school and discussed some of the items in the school ground. We talked about what they are used for, what they feel like, and what we think they are made of. Next week we are going to map out where we walked and what we saw. In the lead up to the work on maps we did a fun lesson about treasure maps. I read a pirate book which had a treasure map in it (it's called Captain Teachum's Buried Treasure), then my students made their own treasure map. It had to have an island and some water, an 'x marks the spot' for their treasure, a pirate ship to show where to start looking, a path to follow, and an arrow to show which way up the map goes. Based on this we also touched very briefly on north, south, east, west and compasses. They LOVED it!!
-four-
I'm trying to be healthier and lose a bit of weight at the moment. I bought myself a Fitbit One and I've just started using MyFitnessPal. Hopefully tracking a few things will help keep me on track!
-five-
I've been sick this week (which is why I haven't blogged). This is my third year as a teacher, and over the first two years I had about 20 ear infections! I know... I was building up my strong teacher immune system. This is my first cold for the year, so fingers crossed I'm developing my ability to withstand 5 year old's cold/flu germs!
This week I took my preppies for their first excursion!! We walked to our nearest kindergarten to visit the 4 year old group. In their room they had live chicken eggs. Three chicks had hatched the night before we visited, and about 30 minutes after we left another chick hatched. My littlies were absolutely fascinated watching the babies chicks. And they also loved playing with the kinder stuff! I took heaps of photos, but I left my camera at school - whoops!
-two-
I've started doing a teacher photo a day challenge on Instagram. It's at #padteacherchallenge. I love sharing photos of my classroom, and I love seeing photos of other teacher's classrooms!
-three-
Our Science topic this term, as I mentioned last week, is What's it made of? This week we walked around the school and discussed some of the items in the school ground. We talked about what they are used for, what they feel like, and what we think they are made of. Next week we are going to map out where we walked and what we saw. In the lead up to the work on maps we did a fun lesson about treasure maps. I read a pirate book which had a treasure map in it (it's called Captain Teachum's Buried Treasure), then my students made their own treasure map. It had to have an island and some water, an 'x marks the spot' for their treasure, a pirate ship to show where to start looking, a path to follow, and an arrow to show which way up the map goes. Based on this we also touched very briefly on north, south, east, west and compasses. They LOVED it!!
I'm trying to be healthier and lose a bit of weight at the moment. I bought myself a Fitbit One and I've just started using MyFitnessPal. Hopefully tracking a few things will help keep me on track!
-five-
I've been sick this week (which is why I haven't blogged). This is my third year as a teacher, and over the first two years I had about 20 ear infections! I know... I was building up my strong teacher immune system. This is my first cold for the year, so fingers crossed I'm developing my ability to withstand 5 year old's cold/flu germs!
Friday, 25 April 2014
Five for Friday on ANZAC Day
One of my favourite posts: it's time for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!
-one-
This was our first week back after having two weeks off. I loved being back. I had such a productive/relaxing holiday that it was awesome getting back into work and seeing my little preppies.
-two-
It was a three day work week! With the Easter Monday public holiday and the ANZAC Day public holiday we were only at school Tuesday-Thursday. We still crammed a lot in to the week (but I didn't take any photos...).
-three-
I started reading groups with my preppies this week. They loved it! I thought they would. My students do two activities a day and we will be doing reading groups twice a week. It was awesome to sit with a small group and work on their reading, and some of my kiddoes really blew me away with how far they've come along in their reading. One of the activities used my coloured rice - I had put Scrabble tiles, plastic letter tiles and magnetic letters in amongst the rice, and they had to fish around for the letters then sort the letters into lower case and upper case. They loved it, and worked really hard not to make a mess with the rice. I will take a photo when I'm at school and post it, totally forgot!
-four-
This week our maths focus has been on skip counting by 10s. My class has done a super job. We recited counting to 100 many times, and they just keep on joining in and trying their best. We have used our fingers to show ten, we have clapped with each number, we have marched around in a circle as we counted, we have taken fairy steps as we counted, we made a poster with 10 fingers on a card that shows the numbers we say when counting by 10s starting with 10, and on Thursday each child had an abacus and we practiced moving 10 beads at a time across the bar as we counted to 100.
-five-
I did the first lesson of a new Science unit with my kids today. I had the help of my Science coach which was awesome. This term our topic is called "What is it made of?" For the first lesson the focus was on starting a TWLH chart. We focused on the questions "What do we think we know?" and "What do we want to know?". My kids pretty much amazed me. They have such awesome inquisitive minds! I'll have to take a photo of our two charts, because they had some pretty awesome ideas. I will definitely write some follow up posts about our Science unit, because I am totally enjoying teaching Science in such a structured/regular/consistent way!
This was our first week back after having two weeks off. I loved being back. I had such a productive/relaxing holiday that it was awesome getting back into work and seeing my little preppies.
-two-
It was a three day work week! With the Easter Monday public holiday and the ANZAC Day public holiday we were only at school Tuesday-Thursday. We still crammed a lot in to the week (but I didn't take any photos...).
-three-
I started reading groups with my preppies this week. They loved it! I thought they would. My students do two activities a day and we will be doing reading groups twice a week. It was awesome to sit with a small group and work on their reading, and some of my kiddoes really blew me away with how far they've come along in their reading. One of the activities used my coloured rice - I had put Scrabble tiles, plastic letter tiles and magnetic letters in amongst the rice, and they had to fish around for the letters then sort the letters into lower case and upper case. They loved it, and worked really hard not to make a mess with the rice. I will take a photo when I'm at school and post it, totally forgot!
-four-
This week our maths focus has been on skip counting by 10s. My class has done a super job. We recited counting to 100 many times, and they just keep on joining in and trying their best. We have used our fingers to show ten, we have clapped with each number, we have marched around in a circle as we counted, we have taken fairy steps as we counted, we made a poster with 10 fingers on a card that shows the numbers we say when counting by 10s starting with 10, and on Thursday each child had an abacus and we practiced moving 10 beads at a time across the bar as we counted to 100.
-five-
I did the first lesson of a new Science unit with my kids today. I had the help of my Science coach which was awesome. This term our topic is called "What is it made of?" For the first lesson the focus was on starting a TWLH chart. We focused on the questions "What do we think we know?" and "What do we want to know?". My kids pretty much amazed me. They have such awesome inquisitive minds! I'll have to take a photo of our two charts, because they had some pretty awesome ideas. I will definitely write some follow up posts about our Science unit, because I am totally enjoying teaching Science in such a structured/regular/consistent way!
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Five for Friday (on Sunday...)
I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five for Friday linky!
-one-
This week we learnt the letters Aa and Tt. The kids made Alligator Hats for our Aa craft, and we made old school televisions for our Tt craft. Both of these came from the Alphabet Hats pack by Simply Kinder.
-two-
Each year at school we have a Welcome BBQ, and it was on Thursday night. It was fantastic to mingle with the families who came, and chat in a less formal setting. And, boy, do the kids love running around while eating their sausage in bread!! I had one of my sweet little preppies come up to me at the end and say "I had a fun time!". He didn't want to come to begin with, so this was a pretty big deal.
-three-
The Science team have been exploring some different 'hands-on' ideas for our school's new Science Area. We currently have a touch tank that is full on sand and shells which the kids can look at and touch. On Friday we were testing out those vase water balls. You put tiny bead-like things in water, they absorb the water, they you can keep flowers hydrated in a vase while looking pretty. We were just exploring them because they are a polymer and polymers are endlessly fascinating to kids. After school on Friday a few of us were enjoying the therapeutic benefits of running yours hands through a bowl of these balls:
-four-
I've put two new products up on Teachers Pay Teachers (check my last two blog posts for details and links).
-five-
I started Fine Motor Skills groups this week. They were AMAZING!! It is the quietest I've had my class while doing an activity at their tables. They were totally engrossed in their tasks. There were four tasks:
Week 4 here I come!
-one-
This week we learnt the letters Aa and Tt. The kids made Alligator Hats for our Aa craft, and we made old school televisions for our Tt craft. Both of these came from the Alphabet Hats pack by Simply Kinder.
-two-
Each year at school we have a Welcome BBQ, and it was on Thursday night. It was fantastic to mingle with the families who came, and chat in a less formal setting. And, boy, do the kids love running around while eating their sausage in bread!! I had one of my sweet little preppies come up to me at the end and say "I had a fun time!". He didn't want to come to begin with, so this was a pretty big deal.
-three-
The Science team have been exploring some different 'hands-on' ideas for our school's new Science Area. We currently have a touch tank that is full on sand and shells which the kids can look at and touch. On Friday we were testing out those vase water balls. You put tiny bead-like things in water, they absorb the water, they you can keep flowers hydrated in a vase while looking pretty. We were just exploring them because they are a polymer and polymers are endlessly fascinating to kids. After school on Friday a few of us were enjoying the therapeutic benefits of running yours hands through a bowl of these balls:
-four-
I've put two new products up on Teachers Pay Teachers (check my last two blog posts for details and links).
-five-
I started Fine Motor Skills groups this week. They were AMAZING!! It is the quietest I've had my class while doing an activity at their tables. They were totally engrossed in their tasks. There were four tasks:
- Free play with construction blocks
- Threading beads onto string
- Sorting out 30 random items (eg. plastic dinosaurs, screws, marbles, pompoms, shiny beads)
- Weaving straws through a basket
Week 4 here I come!
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Five for Friday link-up
I'm joining up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!
-one-
Our second week of school went very well. We did our first Science lesson this week. The lesson was about listing things that we need to stay alive. We compared what chickens need and what people need to stay alive. This was our T-chart (sorry about the glare):
-two-
We started learning letters this week. I start with S then M, and do two letters a week. I always start with a brainstorm of words that start with the sound we are learning. Here is our circle map for /m/:
-three-
After the brainstorm the preppies do an initial sounds sheet from my TpT product. They love that we do the same thing each time we learn a new letter - it gives them a sense of routine:
-four-
Then we do a craft that links to the sound/letter we learn. Here are our /m/ monsters!
-one-
Our second week of school went very well. We did our first Science lesson this week. The lesson was about listing things that we need to stay alive. We compared what chickens need and what people need to stay alive. This was our T-chart (sorry about the glare):
-two-
We started learning letters this week. I start with S then M, and do two letters a week. I always start with a brainstorm of words that start with the sound we are learning. Here is our circle map for /m/:
-three-
After the brainstorm the preppies do an initial sounds sheet from my TpT product. They love that we do the same thing each time we learn a new letter - it gives them a sense of routine:
-four-
Then we do a craft that links to the sound/letter we learn. Here are our /m/ monsters!
-five-
We practiced subitizing, recording, using dice and writing numbers in maths this week. The group I've got this year are stronger in maths than in literacy so far. It has been really interesting.
So that's part of my week in pictures. It was a fantastic week! Looking forward to next week. We are learning A and T.
Saturday, 18 January 2014
My first linky
I have always loved reading all the interesting stuff that comes up as part of linkies. And now it is my turn to join in!
I have joined up with Where the Wild Things Learn to share my daily schedule.
At the moment I am still on summer holidays (being an Australian teacher) but this is the plan for the 2014 school year. I am lucky enough to have 4 hours of specialists each week. My students get an hour each of Indonesian, Music, Art and PE. Those specialists happen at different times during the day, so the schedule above is a generalisation of what a day might look like.
My school is working on becoming a 'science-focused' school. This year we have two teachers who are going to become Science Coaches. This means that we have scrapped 'theme learning time' and now integrate Science throughout our core areas (Reading, Writing and Maths) as much as it can be done. Each term has a focus topic taken from our Science curriculum. For term 1 my kids will be learning all about the things that humans, plants and animals needs to survive.
I will be doing Morning Meetings for the first time this year. I plan to do a read aloud to start the day, then complete a version of Calendar Maths. I have been working on a SMARTBoard version of it because I don't have a great deal of display space in my room.
In term 1 I will be doing either PMP (Perceptual Motor Program) or Fine Motor Skills everyday. We will work on things like balance, crossing the mid-line and hand-eye co-ordination in PMP. In FMS we will work on pencil grip, wrist and hand strength, and pinch grip, etc. This is the first time I have planned this way but I'm really excited about it!!
Writing will be focused on recounts and responding to texts to begin with. Even though we have a Science focus, I still do a bit of 'All About Me' to begin the year. We will draw and write about our families and some of our favourite things during term 1.
I teach 2 letters a week as part of phonics. I will also be using the CAFE strategies to support our Reading curriculum.
Last year my school focused on our maths curriculum. I have learnt so much about how to teach maths over the past 6 months, in particular. I have decided to have 2 week focus areas in maths and really explore the topic. Last year I would do a different area each week and sometimes I felt like I was skimming the surface. We had a maths coach at our school (the amazing Andrea Hillbrick) and one of her key points was to allow lessons to 'travel' (or continue over more than one lesson) if they are really working well. I never did that because I was too busy racing through the topics.
Other things that we do during the week are Show and Tell (a favourite for my students, I do all of my class all at once in one hour, and we have a learning goal for the session), library, Religious Education, assembly, values education (You Can Do It is our current values program and we are starting a FRIENDS program this year) and buddies. It's a busy week, but I love doing it!
I have joined up with Where the Wild Things Learn to share my daily schedule.
My school is working on becoming a 'science-focused' school. This year we have two teachers who are going to become Science Coaches. This means that we have scrapped 'theme learning time' and now integrate Science throughout our core areas (Reading, Writing and Maths) as much as it can be done. Each term has a focus topic taken from our Science curriculum. For term 1 my kids will be learning all about the things that humans, plants and animals needs to survive.
I will be doing Morning Meetings for the first time this year. I plan to do a read aloud to start the day, then complete a version of Calendar Maths. I have been working on a SMARTBoard version of it because I don't have a great deal of display space in my room.
In term 1 I will be doing either PMP (Perceptual Motor Program) or Fine Motor Skills everyday. We will work on things like balance, crossing the mid-line and hand-eye co-ordination in PMP. In FMS we will work on pencil grip, wrist and hand strength, and pinch grip, etc. This is the first time I have planned this way but I'm really excited about it!!
Writing will be focused on recounts and responding to texts to begin with. Even though we have a Science focus, I still do a bit of 'All About Me' to begin the year. We will draw and write about our families and some of our favourite things during term 1.
I teach 2 letters a week as part of phonics. I will also be using the CAFE strategies to support our Reading curriculum.
Last year my school focused on our maths curriculum. I have learnt so much about how to teach maths over the past 6 months, in particular. I have decided to have 2 week focus areas in maths and really explore the topic. Last year I would do a different area each week and sometimes I felt like I was skimming the surface. We had a maths coach at our school (the amazing Andrea Hillbrick) and one of her key points was to allow lessons to 'travel' (or continue over more than one lesson) if they are really working well. I never did that because I was too busy racing through the topics.
Other things that we do during the week are Show and Tell (a favourite for my students, I do all of my class all at once in one hour, and we have a learning goal for the session), library, Religious Education, assembly, values education (You Can Do It is our current values program and we are starting a FRIENDS program this year) and buddies. It's a busy week, but I love doing it!
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