We grew a Beanstalk!

On my final professional practice as a trainee teacher, I decided to enhance the classroom in many different ways in order to help the children in their learning and to show what we had been learning. As our topic was plants, I decided to create an activity where the children would retell the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ to display in our reading corner.

The activity was an extension activity which I planned for the children to complete during an afternoon session. Each of the children would be given a freeze frame image from the story  which I had read earlier that day and a green leaf where they would retell that particular part of the story for our beanstalk.

The children found it enjoyable to write about the story which they had heard earlier in the day, and thought it was a good addition to the reading corn which we had in the classroom.

The beanstalk was later used in a mathematics lesson towards the end of term where footprints were placed on the floor coming from the beanstalk, where the Giant wrote the class a letter asking them to complete the mission. The children were engrossed in the activity and intrigued as to how the Giant could have got down. It was a real focal point in our classroom.

Here is the lesson plan which I created for the afternoon when this activity took place:

25.02.2016 Topic lesson plan

How it meets the standards:

• TS1: Part A of standard 1 was met in this piece of evidence because I had to make sure it was safe and not hazardous in our learning environment. However, because it was put into our reading corner the children loved it and enjoyed reading the story they had written as a class.
• TS2: For this display to be put up, the children had to complete high quality writing based on the story which they had heard. It meets sub section A because I had to ensure all of the children made good progress in their writing and that they were working to improve their work in order for it to be put up on display in the classroom area.
• TS3: I feel that this piece of evidence shows that I have been working towards part A and B of standard 3 because I had to understand that the children would be able to complete an activity like the one which I set and that it would be worth their time. Also I had to ensure that all children would be capable of completing this activity with minimal support, and that they could talk about what they had written.
• TS4: All of the children were engaged with the writing activity which they completed in order for this display to be possible, and loved reading their story over the following weeks when the beanstalk was put up. Because of this, I feel this shows I am working towards part B of this standard. Also, the activity was part of the provision which was available around our classroom and encouraged the children to read in the reading area which shows that I am also working towards part E.
• TS8: I feel that I have continuously been working towards part C of this standard throughout my final professional practice. It can be seen in my planning attached that I have thought about the support staff which I had available to me in the classroom and I thought about how they could be deployed effectively to ensure all children were working to their best ability.

 

Science Display – What we have been learning

Towards the end of my recent Professional Practice I had a look around the classroom and saw that although I had been enhancing the learning areas and displays already in the classroom, there was a subject which had nothing displayed for the children and parents to see. That subject was science, one of the main subjects in the primary and secondary years of education. So I decided to have a think about which display could be replaced and how I could let it include the children’s work throughout the most recent weeks.

Here is what I created:

In science we had been looking at plants and growing, which linked in with our topic for the term well. I decided that we would have a display where we would show the different parts of a flower as we had been looking at what they each did in recent lessons. I then also decided to pick some of the children’s cress diaries which they had completed to show what we had been learning at the beginning of the term. The flower was difficult to put onto the display due to there being an old alarm box in the middle of the display which is why there was not another option as to where the flower could go.

We made our cress diaries in the second science lesson of the term, looking at how we can grow fruit and vegetables as this was a common misconception amongst the children in the previous week. The planning for this lesson can be found here:

29.02.2016 Science Lesson Plan – Growing cress

The display which I created was all put up using blu tack which means it will be easy for the class teacher to swap and change as they please now that I am no longer at the school. The aim for the display was to show what we know, as well as leaving room for it to be a science working wall which can be left in the classroom.

How it meets the standards:

• TS1: I feel that this display and the work the children completed for it addresses part A of this standard, as it is a stimulating environment for the pupils, with examples of their work on display.
• TS2: This piece of evidence meets sub sections A and B as in the planning attached shows how I questioned the children at the start of the lesson to gain an understanding of where their knowledge is and throughout the course of the week after this lesson was delivered I asked the children to think and talk about the changes in the cress which they were growing.
• TS3: Sub sections A and B are demonstrated in this piece of evidence as I had to know about the growing of different plants and what they need in order to teach the lessons for the children to complete their work.
• TS4: Areas A, B and E are met in this piece of evidence as I had to plan and deliver the lessons which lead to the work which is on display. I used the lesson which the plan is attached for, along with a previous lesson to teach the children about plants and what they need to grow, which is demonstrated on the display which I created. I made the lessons interactive, letting the children experience the growth of cress use what they see to complete related activities.
• TS8: Sub section A of this standard is addressed as it shows part of my contribution to the way the school are able to see how the children are learning. It also addresses section E as it shows parents and visitors what they children have been learning as they enter the classroom.

 

Seed Investigation – Continuous Provision

As I was in a mixed year group class on my final Professional Practice, I had to think about the classroom environment which I taught in, and how it could be enhanced for the younger Reception children in the class. The younger children required a continuous provision of activities for them to take a lead in their own learning, however with an aim for the activity. The continuous provision activity which I decided to put into the investigation area of the classroom was the one pictured above. The aim of the activity was for the children to feel the different seeds which were in the basket, and to sort them into the surrounding pots. The seeds which I incorporated into the basket were:

Sunflower Seed

Yellow Split Pea

Pinto Bean

Pumpkin Seed

The children enjoyed feeling the different textures of the seeds, and telling me what they think they were called. Each of the children who worked in the main learning classroom in the morning (Reception and Year 1) wrote in a speech bubble about the seeds, saying what they felt and looked like. These can be seen on the all behind the activity.

The children told me about what they thought the seeds would grow into if we planted them and engaged with the activity well, sorting them into the flower pots and using them in their role play in the other learning areas.

How it meets the standards:

• TS1: This piece of evidence meets parts A and B of this standard, as I had to think about the safety elements of putting this activity into the learning environment and make sure it was safe to run with. I had to talk to all of the children before putting the activity to make sure that all children were aware the seeds should not be eaten. I also challenged the children daily to see how many of the seeds they could separate and sort before the end of the day.
• TS2: I think that the sub sections A and D are met as I had to understand the concept and running of continuous provision before implementing this activity into the classroom. The children used topic appropriate language when engaging in this activity which was developed over the 5 week term.
• TS4: This piece of evidence meets section E of this standard as I had to consider if the activity would be engaging enough for the children in the continuous provision environment.
• TS5: Sections B and C of this were met with this piece of evidence because I had to understand how the activity would engage the minds of the youngest children in my class, and how it would aid their physical, mental and emotional growth.
• TS8: This display shows that I am working towards section A of this standard because I have thought about the learning environment for the mixed Reception and Kew Stage 1 children, and how it can link into the topic work for the term.

 

 

Telling the Time – Visual Aid

Whilst on a recent Professional Practice I had the challenge of helping my children to start to tell the time. At first I thought it would be an easy task as telling the time is something I now don’t even need to think about, however I was very wrong. It proved to be quite a problem as I also struggled to think of a creative way to teach it.

As our class topic was on plants, I decided to try this approach, by adding a petal to each of the 5 minute intervals with their amount of minutes. I decided to put this up when the children were out of the classroom for their PE lesson with the sports coach and when they returned, all they could talk about was the clock. This proved to be positive for the children and myself as I could see that the children were observant with the changes I had made and they were engaged, wanting to know the purpose of the giant flower.

During the afternoon I explained to the children that the flower was to help them to tell the time, so that they could independently learn. I explained how we would be starting to look at the time and how each of the petals tell us how many minutes past the hour each of the big numbers stand for.

Original image from Pinterest

I also took the opportunity to teach the children that the larger hand is for the minutes, so when it is pointing to one of the petals, that is how many minutes past the hour it is, and that the smaller hand points to the hour which it is. The aim for the starter of the afternoon was to help children to learn how to use the visual aid which I had made and put up in the classroom, and to teach them what they should know about telling the time, passing on my subject knowledge of the time.

Throughout the course of the rest of the teaching placement I frequently asked the children in Year 1 and Year 2 what the time was, and although some were a little hesitant, most were able to tell me the time. This showed me that the children had made great progress in their ability to tell the time, even though I had not planned any specific lessons on the subject area.

How it meets the standards:

• TS1: I feel that this piece of evidence shows that I am working towards parts A and B because it enhances the environment where the children are learning and on a daily basis I challenged the children to tell me what time it is. The use of the resource allowed me to stretch the children who were developing the understanding of how to tell the time.
• TS2: This piece of evidence show that I am working towards parts A and B because it helped me to extend the childrens learning and teach them a subject area which can be used throughout the curriculum. Also, I was aware that the children in reception only needed to know the time hourly so set them the challenge to tell me when it was at an hour so they could tell me.
• TS3: I am working towards sub sections A and E because I knew a visual resource would be the key to engaging the children in a topic which could be boring to teach, such as telling the time. Also, I had be aware that not all strategies would work for the Reception children as they were only at the start of their mathematical learning in school.

Maths Display/ Working Wall

In the classroom where I did the majority of teaching throughout my final Professional Practice, the Maths display was the area which I knew I could continually add aspects and examples of work due to the topics which I was teaching. At the start of my placement I could tell the display had been put up at the beginning of the school year, and there was little which had been added throughout the Autumn term. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to add my own ideas and the children’s work as we covered the different areas of mathematics. Below you can see a photograph of what the display looked like on my last day of Professional Practice:

As you can see on the image, the main focus of the display was the numicon which we used, and examples how much each one is worth.

Throughout teaching practice I taught the children about doubles, and the children displayed their knowledge onto the ladybirds which you can see on the left hand side of the display.

We also looked at 3D shapes and how to make them using different materials. I decided that these could hung from the ceiling so that their understanding of what they look like can be clearly seen by anyone as they look up.

Another area of maths which I looked at with the Year 1 group which I worked with was their number bonds to 10 and beyond. The children had little understanding of their number bonds so I decided to laminate tulips which I made. The children wrote all of the different number bonds onto the tulips and they were put onto the display as a reminder of what they have learnt about. They provide a visual stimulus and linked to our topic of ‘Plants’.

At the bottom of the photograph, under the display you can see a large whiteboard. On the whiteboard was a table with the columns ‘Heavier’ and ‘Lighter’, which was a part of the last maths lesson I taught with this group. Below were some balance scales and the children were encouraged to weigh the different objects in the classroom to see what was heavier/ lighter of the two.

I feel as though I enhanced this display/ learning area well throughout the time I was in this classroom, and left plenty of visual reminders for the children to use in their future mathematical learning.

How it meets the standards:

• TS8: I feel that this piece of evidence shows that I am working towards parts A and E because it was a visual contribution to the classroom, to let all of the children that were working in the classroom see their work on the wall. Also, because the school assembly was held in the classroom it let all of the staff and children from the school see what KS1 had been learning about. It was also a way to communicate with and show the parents what we had been learning as they came into the classroom to drop off/ collect their children.

Phonics Garden – Continuous Provision

Being in a mixed age group class on my most recent Professional Practice proved to be a challenge, especially being in a mixed Key Stage class. The class of mixed Reception/ Year 1/ Year 2 required the older children to be focussing on their upcoming SAT’s whilst the youngest were to be taught a completely different curriculum, encouraged to explore the enhanced learning areas and take a lead in their own learning. Because of the different styles of learning happening in the same classroom it was essential to enhance as many areas as possible to aid the younger children. I decided that due to the nature of our topic ‘Plants’, to enhance the Phonics area by making a garden, where the children could plant their phonics sounds and words if they could say them out loud. The area which I created looked like this:

The area was in the middle of the classroom with access from all angles. I decided to get a tuff spot tray and put it onto one of the stands, to make it elevated with easier access for the children. I filled it with compost and small planting pots. On each of the corners of the tray there was a  plastic pouch containing some flowers on lollipop sticks, each with a different sound or word from the Read Write Inc. programme which the children were familiar with. The sounds were on different template flowers to the green words, as were the red words. I also placed some grass along one of the edges with some other words along it. Above the tray I hung a watering can with water droplets ‘pouring’ from the spout which the children had previously completed, with everything they knew about plants on them.

The children found the area engaging and went to it frequently, and even though I was teaching another group in the classroom, I could clearly hear them pronouncing the sounds and words which I had made for the area. They became fond of the area and the new activity very quickly, engaged with their own personal learning.

The different words which I included were also appropriate for all of the children in the classroom, promoting reading and blending skills for all. As we introduced a new set of green words for the children, I made their corresponding flowers and inserted them into the pouches to encourage children to continue their phonics development.

How it meets the standards:

• TS1: This piece of evidence shows that I have been working towards parts A and B of this standard because it promotes a safe learning environment and it challenges children to enhance their own learning by reading the words which they know or are working towards in their phonics lessons.
• TS2: For this standard I have been working towards parts A and B because I had an understanding of where the children were in their phonic learning after teaching many lessons, and throughout about how the children could be progressed in this area of the continuous provision. They could be extended with new words and alien words as they become more familiar through the programme.
• TS3: Parts A, B and D are all shown in this piece of evidence as my knowledge of phonics and early reading had to be strong in order to teach the lessons and create this resource for the classroom.
• TS4: This evidence supports that I am working towards part E of standard 4 as I have contributed to the design and provision of an engaging curriculum which emphasises the importance of phonics in the Early Years and Key Stage 1 areas of the Primary Curriculum.
• TS5: Sub sections B, C and D have all been worked on and are displayed in this evidence because I understand how children develop in the earlier years of their development through schooling and that the activity had to be suitable for children of all backgrounds and abilities. Through the final weeks of my practice, a child who spoke little English was able to engage with this activity and develop her own English by using the activity put into place and the other children were able to help the child with this.
• TS8: Part A of this standard is being developed in this piece of evidence as it impacted not only the children in my class, but other children in the school who had difficulties in their English could access the activity to develop their communication skills.

National Space Centre School Trip

Whilst on my final Professional Practice, the school went on a school trip and I was lucky to be asked to go with a group of children from Year 3, a class I wouldn’t have usually worked with due to them being in a different Key Stage to my class. The trip was to the National Space Centre and all year groups from Year 2 to Year 6 went. The Space Centre was busy with lots of different schools visiting, ranging from college students to toddlers with their parents. We set the task for all of the children to learn as much as possible whilst on the trip, about space which was the Topic for Key Stage 2 at the time. We wanted the children to do as much of their own learning as possible, engaging with the exhibits and taking a lead in their own learning. While at the Space Centre, we were able to see a show in the Planetarium about how Night and Day are formed, as well as looking at the stars and the different constellations which they make. I personally found it very engaging and interesting to learn about an area of Science which I am interested in, and many of the children were amazed about what they learnt throughout the day.

Below is a map of the Space Centre and the different exhibits which were on offer:

Map of the exhibits in the National Space Centre

 

Throughout the trip,, I was responsible for 9 Year 3 children, who all had exceptional behaviour throughout the day and were excellent role models to the younger Year 2 children who were a part of our larger group. They showed enthusiasm throughout the whole day, even towards the end when it was tiring for all after walking around.

Below is a link to the National Space Centre website and I would truly recommend a visit with or without a class of children as it was accommodating and showed age appropriate content and exhibits throughout.

http://spacecentre.co.uk/

How it meets the standards:

• TS1: I am working towards sections A and C of this standard because I had to ensure the environment was safe for the group of children I was working with on the day, and remind the children that they were representing the school so they had to be well behaved throughout the day.
• TS7: Throughout the trip I feel that I was showing elements of sub sections A, B, C and D of this standard because throughout the day I had a duty of care for the children, and had to make sure their behaviour was good, as to not damage the reputation of the school. Even though I was working with a group I would not usually work with in school, I had a strong connection with the children and all were able to follow tasks whilst having a good behaviour and attitude towards what they were learning.
• TS8: Section B of this standard was what I had been working towards for this standard with this evidence because I was working with two other colleagues with their small groups throughout the day, and each of us in turn helped the other groups as we explored the exhibition. We were able to navigate the centre and enhance the childrens learning throughout the day.

Mother’s Day Cards

On my recent Professional Practice, I was the full time teacher for the children throughout the time I was there. This meant that I had to create and design a template for the children to complete Mother’s Day Cards when the time came. After searching through Pinterest and other teacher friendly websites I was stumped for a creative card which was suitable for the 4 to 7 year old age range which I had in my class. I decided to consult with my Teaching Assistant and Mentor and came up with the following design:

Examples of children’s Mother’s Day cards

The design was a simple flower, however the children had a variety of different tissue paper pieces which they could collage their flowers with. The cards were A5 and all of the children enjoyed completing their card, thinking about the colours which they were using and if their Mother’s/ Carers would like them.

The cards were sent home with the gifts which the children bought at the ‘Secret’s Room’ and the feedback and comments received from parents were positive.

How it meets the standards:

• TS8: This piece of evidence shows that I am working towards part A of this standard because I created an idea for the children to create mosaic style Mother’s Day cards. The cards were created in school and were sent home for the children to give to their parent/ carer to celebrate the day. I helped the class to celebrate the special day as we talked about what the children could do to make their parent/ carer feel special on the day.

Good to be Green Behaviour Scheme

The ‘Good to be Green’ behaviour scheme was implemented throughout the school on my final placement. It proved to be effective for all of the children as they knew it was school wide and the more green days which they could achieve throughout the term meant that they would score a point towards an end of term treat. In each of the classrooms there was a ‘Good to be Green’ chart and each of the children had a set of cards: 1 red, 1 yellow and 1 green (see below). All of the children would start on a green card at the start of the day and the aim was for them to have good behaviour, meaning that they would stay on green for the entirety of the day. However, if a child had poor behaviour during one of the lessons, at break time or lunch time, then the child would be told to change their card to a yellow, provided their behaviour did not harm another. The children could also get a red card. They could get this card by either getting another yellow card, or if they had harmed another child, or used inappropriate language, for example, it could go straight to red. There is also the possibility for a child to gain another red card if their bad behaviour continues and they would have to miss 5 minutes of their break time for each red card gained in that particular day.

Wall chart for each classroom, from the Primary Teaching Services store.

If the child was on a yellow card and showed a significant improvement in their behaviour and learning, there is the possibility for the child to change back to green provided a member of staff agreed.

I really liked using this scheme throughout my final teaching placement because it provided a clear visual representation of how the children were behaving, lending to a visual learner. It was quick to implement in the lesson, providing minimal disruption and the children all understood how it worked. I would favour using a scheme like this throughout my teaching career as it was beneficial for all members of staff using it and clear for the children to see how they were working in terms of behaviour.

How it meets the standards:

• Ts1: I think that this piece of evidence meets section C of this standard because I have been praising children for good behaviour, looking for positive attitudes, values and behaviour which the children have towards their work and each other during school time.
• TS7: This evidence shows that I am working towards sections A, B and C of this standard because I have been using the behaviour scheme put into place by the school whilst in my own teaching, and modelling good behaviour in and out of school. I follow the protocol for bad behaviour by using the ‘Good to be Green’ scheme to ensure good behaviour is taking place throughout the class.