Science Club

On my most recent professional practice I organised and ran an after school Science Club for children between the ages of 4 and 11 to explore different exciting investigations with the other student in the school. We decided to explore fun experiments which may not necessarily link to the national curriculum to get children engaged in their learning. We catered 16 children in the club and each week looked at different activities. The science club ran for 4 weeks after school on a Thursday and we looked at experiments ranging from making slime to the Coca-Cola and mentos investigation.

Running the after school activity for the children was beneficial to my own development as prior to this practice I had not taught any science lessons to a group of children on previous practices, so felt uncomfortable teaching the subject. It helped to build my confidence when teaching the subject and encouraged me to become more familiar with the science strand of the National Curriculum.

Attached below is a copy of the lesson plan for the first Science Club session:

25.01.2016 Science Club lesson plan

How it meets the standards:

• TS1: Parts A and C of standard 1 are met in this piece of evidence because I had to make sure it was safe and a non hazardous learning environment for the children to learn in. Also, I feel as though I have demonstrated  positive attitudes, values and behaviour which are expected of pupils throughout the Science Club sessions which we held. 
• TS2: I feel as though I can show working towards part D of this standard because I had to demonstrate my own knowledge and understanding of how children learn and how this can impact on the teaching of an after school club, which need to be approached differently from ordinary national curriculum based lessons.
• TS3: I feel that this piece of evidence shows that I have been working towards part A of standard 3 because I had to understand and have a secure knowledge of science investigations and curriculum areas, in order to maintain pupils’ interests in the subject, and address any misunderstandings the children may have.
• TS4: I have been able to impart my own knowledge of maths into the sessions and develop understanding through effective use of lesson time, as well as promote a love of learning in sessions which shows I am working towards sections A and B of this standard. The out of school hours club shows I am securely working towards section C as I have arranged and ran an out-of-class activity to extend the subject knowledge children have in Science. i also feel as though this shows I am contributing to the design and provision of an engaging curriculum within science, working towards part E.
• TS5: I feel as though this piece of evidence shows that I have been working towards all parts of standard 5, A, B, C and D because I had to differentiate the sessions due to it being available for children between the school years of 1 and 6, covering two key stages where the children would have different understandings in Science. I had to have an understanding as to how all of the children in the group would be able to learn with their capabilities and support them through their different stages of development. I also had to have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs, as two of the older children in the group suffered from cases of SEN/D and needed extra support when learning in a classroom environment.
• TS7: Running an out of school club for children to access and enjoy shows that I am working towards parts A, B, C and D of standard 7 because I had to manage the behaviour of the children who attended the club and have high expectations of all, especially the older children who should have been setting a good example for the younger children attending the club. I also had to maintain good relationships with all children in the club in order for it to run smoothly and effectively.
• TS8: Parts A and E of this standard have been met with this piece of evidence because I made a contribution to the wider school community by providing the experience of an out of school science club for the children and I had to communicate with the parents of the children to inform them of the club or any concerns with any of the children after each session.

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.

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.

Maths Makes Sense

Recently, whilst on my third Professional Practice, I had the opportunity to observe a mathematics lesson based on the Maths Makes Sense Programme. The lesson focussed on simple addition. The following  video demonstrates the addition method which was introduced to the children in the session:

The children worked with a mat each, where one side is a ‘Resource Table’ and the other is a ‘Maths Table’. The children used paper cups to have physical objects which they can use. Their Maths Makes Sense mats were laid out like the following photograph:

The children found it easy to use and showed a lot of progress within the 50 minute mathematics session. The children were thoroughly engaged in the session and chose it as a continuous provision activity throughout the day to revisit.

This is a method I hope to adopt in future mathematics lessons, throughout my final year placement and teaching career.

How it meets the standards:

• TS1: I think that this piece of evidence shows that I am working towards section A of this standard because we had to establish a safe environment for the activity before introducing the children to it. Even though I was only observing this lesson, I still had to ensure that all of the children were sensible with the equipment which we provided them.
• TS2: This evidence also shows that I am working towards part D of standard 2, as whilst observing this activity I had to demonstrate my current knowledge and understanding of how children in Key Stage 1 learn and how it impacts on the teaching which was provided.
• TS3: I think that this evidence shows I am working towards 3 areas of standard 3, parts A, B and E. I had to develop my own knowledge of mathematics in the Early Years and Key Stage 1, as well as understanding how developments can be made in the subject and curriculum area. It was also an opportunity to learn more about mathematics in the Early Years, and Key Stage 1, and to think about how I could implement the strategies which I had seen into my own teaching.
• TS5: 3 areas of this standard have been addressed with this piece of evidence, B, C and D. I had an insight on how a range of factors can inhibit pupils’ ability to learn, and had a chance to develop my understanding of physical, social and intellectual development of children, especially in the earlier years of the Primary Education. Also, in the class were children with additional needs and with English as an Additional Language, so I had the opportunity to observe how the learning can be enhanced to aid these children.