A few days back on the morning news I learnt about a school up country implementing a "daily mile" to their school day. The story behind this being that someone accused the students at the school of being unfit so the staff decided to get the students to run around the field for a mile. They couldn't so the school decided to carry this on each day to get improve fitness levels.
The school I'm currently on placement at (Cockwood) today had their first "daily mile". The whole school (foundation- Year 6) had 15 minutes to move how ever they wanted around the school green at the end of the day. They also had to think about why their best friend was their best friend as they went (implementing PSHE) and feedback at the end.
The children could move around the edge of the field how ever they wanted with some walking, others jogging and most running trying to get the most laps. It was a great experience to be part of with the staff at the school even joining in with the kids. Some children we having mini races with each other and some were jogging a little bit and then slowing down to have a chat with their friends. I thought this is a great way for children to improve their fitness levels as well as blowing off some steam at the end of the school day.
However, this was the first one, it would be interesting to see if the school manages to keep this going over a period of time and to see if the children will still be enjoying it. The other issue being that it took in just over half an hour for this to be completed as the teachers had to get the children down to the school field (which is down the road) and back up after the mile. The time it takes for the children to get there and back should improve with time and I hope it does because the children seemed to really enjoy it!
Wednesday, 24 June 2015
Saturday, 20 June 2015
Summer Placement 2015 Week 3
The class teacher I've been working with this week has been ill so consequently I've been given much more teaching responsibility. Tuesday- Thursday I've taught English and mathematics following the teachers lesson plans.
One lesson in particular that did go well was Wednesdays maths lesson where I introduced algebra to most of the children. I felt by the end of the lesson the most of the children had a basic understanding on what algebra is and hopefully when the teacher goes through it again in 2 weeks time they'll prove me right! The only issue was with the lesson was that because it's a Year 4/5/6 class the year 6's already had a good understanding of algebra so they were instructed to sit with the younger children and reinforce what I was teaching. Some of these year 6's seemed to get bored of this quickly and I was under the impression that others were just giving the answers to the younger kids. This is one clear issue with having a class with such a range of ages.
In the English lessons we were looking at adjectives and used them to describe characters in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, underline adjectives in an extract from the book and finally we made fathers day cards with adjectives that describes their dad's on a word cloud on the front (where we had major problems with the kids laptops!)
At times I'm still struggling to get the children listening when I want an input after I've set them off with a task but it has definitely improved with practice from last week.
One lesson in particular that did go well was Wednesdays maths lesson where I introduced algebra to most of the children. I felt by the end of the lesson the most of the children had a basic understanding on what algebra is and hopefully when the teacher goes through it again in 2 weeks time they'll prove me right! The only issue was with the lesson was that because it's a Year 4/5/6 class the year 6's already had a good understanding of algebra so they were instructed to sit with the younger children and reinforce what I was teaching. Some of these year 6's seemed to get bored of this quickly and I was under the impression that others were just giving the answers to the younger kids. This is one clear issue with having a class with such a range of ages.
In the English lessons we were looking at adjectives and used them to describe characters in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, underline adjectives in an extract from the book and finally we made fathers day cards with adjectives that describes their dad's on a word cloud on the front (where we had major problems with the kids laptops!)
At times I'm still struggling to get the children listening when I want an input after I've set them off with a task but it has definitely improved with practice from last week.
Tuesday, 16 June 2015
Summer Placement 2015 Week 2
This week I've finally got involved with some whole class teaching. On Thursday my placement partner and myself took a computing lesson. The aim of the lesson was to learn some basic programming skills with the help from a new piece of tech called "Pop Kits". Pop Kits look similar on the iPad to Scratch but instead of programming a game to program physical components like making a light with a switch. The lesson went fairly well with the children meeting the objective which was for them to create a code to make a door bell. However, at times I found it difficult to bring the class back together when I wanted them to give feedback and because the school only had 4 of the "Pop Kits" some children said they didn't get much of a go.
The day after I repeated this lesson on my own with the 7 children who missed the lesson the day before. This went much better as it was easier to get their attention and they had enough Pop Kits around so everyone got a go.
I've learnt that I need to practice getting a classes attention faster and the it is important to have enough of a resource to go around (although this wasn't my fault in this case!)
The day after I repeated this lesson on my own with the 7 children who missed the lesson the day before. This went much better as it was easier to get their attention and they had enough Pop Kits around so everyone got a go.
I've learnt that I need to practice getting a classes attention faster and the it is important to have enough of a resource to go around (although this wasn't my fault in this case!)
Monday, 8 June 2015
Summer Placement 2015 Week 1
For my summer placement I've been placed in a tiny tiny school in Dawlish called Cockwood. The school only has just over 90 children in 3 classes which are Foundation and Year 1, Years 2,3 and lower ability Year 4 and the class I'm working in higher Year 4, 5 and 6.
This week I've mainly been making observations of the children and their teacher but I have taken some responsibility in the class by taking the register and taking individual children for reading. I want to take more responsibilities in week 2 and I think that me and my partner are going to take a computing lesson using "Pop Kit".
Out of the normal school day I have also attended a staff meeting and was surprised how much this small school has going on. I have also gone with a teacher and the schools "Digital Leaders" to a showcase where they presented their K'NEX London Tower Bridge project which they had programmed to move up and down. There were some other cool projects here which included a school showing off their school radio show, I even got interviewed by a couple of children on air! On Friday I went with the class to their first tennis coaching session which the kids and myself really enjoyed.
Thoroughly looking forward to the next 4 weeks!
This week I've mainly been making observations of the children and their teacher but I have taken some responsibility in the class by taking the register and taking individual children for reading. I want to take more responsibilities in week 2 and I think that me and my partner are going to take a computing lesson using "Pop Kit".
Out of the normal school day I have also attended a staff meeting and was surprised how much this small school has going on. I have also gone with a teacher and the schools "Digital Leaders" to a showcase where they presented their K'NEX London Tower Bridge project which they had programmed to move up and down. There were some other cool projects here which included a school showing off their school radio show, I even got interviewed by a couple of children on air! On Friday I went with the class to their first tennis coaching session which the kids and myself really enjoyed.
Thoroughly looking forward to the next 4 weeks!
Thursday, 21 May 2015
Year 1 Swimming Lessons
On the Thursday (last day at St Francis) I went up with Year 1 to take each class for a swimming lesson. We took a coach to the local leisure center and when the children were changed sat them down to wait for the teachers the center were providing. There was some kind of mix up and some paper work went missing so no-one had any idea about which children should be in which ability group. This caused chaos and the other teachers and myself had to quickly assess each child and put them into three groups. When this was finally sorted I took the lowest ability group in the shallow end. I have taught swimming for several years and expected this to be a doddle. However, this was not the case as the children I had taught in out of school lessons usually had some kind of experience in the water. These children had none. The lesson did not go well as I expected the children to be able to do more than they could. Also, I didn't know any of the children's names which made organising and behavior management difficult.
The second coach brought the second Year 1 class who were slightly better organised and has a better idea of who was supposed to be in which group. In this class I had about 14 children (double what I had in the first) so I expected this lesson to go even worse. However, this was not the case and the children were far better behaved. I also had a better idea of their abilities, so I was able to give them better suited activities. Instead of trying to get them doing anything that involved them taking their feet off the floor I just did water confidence games. This lesson went fantastically!
This has taught me how it is important to be aware of children's abilities before trying to get them to do something that will prove to be too difficult for them.
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Last couple of days
Spent Tuesday afternoon in with year 5 who were making paper mache masks as part of their Mayan topic work, I don't think I've done paper mache since I was at the school as a pupil myself!
Thursday afternoon I asked if I could observe year 3 (one year group that I have had very little to do with so far) and with a teacher who actually taught me when I was in year 5 at this school. The class had PE where they were doing tennis. I particularly enjoyed watching the warm up which the children also really enjoyed. All the cones were spread out in an area of the playground. One team had to turn them into volcanoes (up side) and the other craters (filliped up-side-down) this linked to their topic work. The children then had to run around the court and when a color was shouted they had to quickly find their own cone of that color. Lastly, the cones were spread out a little more and the children had to run through as many "gates" as they could in 30 seconds. This was repeated where the children had to beat their score but had to hop then crawl.
Tomorrow I'm taking a year 1 swimming lesson...
Thursday afternoon I asked if I could observe year 3 (one year group that I have had very little to do with so far) and with a teacher who actually taught me when I was in year 5 at this school. The class had PE where they were doing tennis. I particularly enjoyed watching the warm up which the children also really enjoyed. All the cones were spread out in an area of the playground. One team had to turn them into volcanoes (up side) and the other craters (filliped up-side-down) this linked to their topic work. The children then had to run around the court and when a color was shouted they had to quickly find their own cone of that color. Lastly, the cones were spread out a little more and the children had to run through as many "gates" as they could in 30 seconds. This was repeated where the children had to beat their score but had to hop then crawl.
Tomorrow I'm taking a year 1 swimming lesson...
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
MADD
This week I've decided to come home to do a weeks work experience at St Francis, the school I helped out during my time at 6th form and also my own primary school.
MADD is music, art, dance and drama combined into one and the school uses this to create a musical every other year where each class is involved. The teacher is devoted to just teaching MADD across the whole school and unfortunately told me she fears it may be scrapped in the future due to lack of money.
This years production will be Disney's "The Little Mermaid". The teacher started the lesson by getting the children to play "Just Dance" on the Wii as a warm up. This was done in a similar way to what I saw at St Johns but with year 6 children instead of KS1. I was a little surprised that every child joined in as I was expected the boys to just cower in the corner. I was told that they have been brought up through school doing things like this so that they are used to it which I think is great as it helps to develop their confidence, I don't think I would have joined in when I was in year 6.
Next the children were given verbs such as "crumble", "creep" and "float" for them to move around the room to their interpretation of the word. This was followed by watching YouTube videos of other peoples production of the musical which the children compared and discussed. They then split off into their groups to create a sequence of dance moves to the music. The teacher explained to me that the art comes in when they make props and costumes, some of the children will be fish while others will be jellyfish and turtles.
This lesson was great to watch and all the children seemed to be enjoying it! I will certainly be looking to compare with lessons like this done in other schools and to do some more of my own research into MADD.
MADD is music, art, dance and drama combined into one and the school uses this to create a musical every other year where each class is involved. The teacher is devoted to just teaching MADD across the whole school and unfortunately told me she fears it may be scrapped in the future due to lack of money.
This years production will be Disney's "The Little Mermaid". The teacher started the lesson by getting the children to play "Just Dance" on the Wii as a warm up. This was done in a similar way to what I saw at St Johns but with year 6 children instead of KS1. I was a little surprised that every child joined in as I was expected the boys to just cower in the corner. I was told that they have been brought up through school doing things like this so that they are used to it which I think is great as it helps to develop their confidence, I don't think I would have joined in when I was in year 6.
Next the children were given verbs such as "crumble", "creep" and "float" for them to move around the room to their interpretation of the word. This was followed by watching YouTube videos of other peoples production of the musical which the children compared and discussed. They then split off into their groups to create a sequence of dance moves to the music. The teacher explained to me that the art comes in when they make props and costumes, some of the children will be fish while others will be jellyfish and turtles.
This lesson was great to watch and all the children seemed to be enjoying it! I will certainly be looking to compare with lessons like this done in other schools and to do some more of my own research into MADD.
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