Back in the Classroom – Assessing and Caring

2013-05-25 | puppy1952

It’s a short blog this week and sorry folks – no photos.

At the best of times my life runs at a hectic pace and I like it like that. It keeps me interested and stimulated and I am never bored. This past week, though, the pace was more hectic than ever with dentist appointments, visa applications, bank problems, an unexpected school meeting to attend, an extra sports duty to perform, a midweek and Saturday play rehearsal and the culmination of a Bird Club function that I organised. So I have to confess – I got a tad behind in my marking! I’d love to say that next week will be calmer – but somehow, I doubt that!

For those parents who are reading this – don’t worry – I still managed to teach your brilliant children and my marking is now up to date! Throughout the term we continuously teach and assess and next week we will begin our report writing. Some assessments have to be done one on one with Grade Ones and so the little girls have had to work quietly on their own while their teacher tried to get through individuals as quickly as possible. Sitting still too long is of course not easy when your’re six or seven so I have to remember to get them up and moving often! The minute the noise level rises – we get up, do a movement song or go for a walk, change the task and then settle down again. I am proud that the girls are coping and cooperating.

Even when there is a rushed week of goings on the little dramas of small girls cannot be ignored. On Thursday I greeted my girls with the usual indication of how each one was feeling on a scale of 1 to 4 and one of my most cheerful entered with a one and was in fact very tearful. Her best friend was tearful and before long several others were snivelling too. The problem – her doggy was sick and had to be put down. We had a care circle . Wow ! She shared so eloquently how she felt that I had tears in my eyes. I hugged and she sobbed. The other girls were silent and then as the teddy was passed around they all had words of comfort. “He won’t be sore any more”. ” He will be like a puppy in doggy heaven.” “My doggy died and I still miss him but I know he’s happy in doggy heaven.”

Afterwards the doggy-bereaved child said, “I also have some good news. My friend is having a sleep-over with me and Mom’s going to make popcorn. And I’m getting a new puppy to keep my other dog company!” And the tears were dried and she moved on. Aren’t kids great! We can learn so much from them.

Back in the Classroom – Birthdays, Bonds and Cooperative Learning

2013-05-19 | puppy1952

No matter how well you plan as a teacher you never know what is actually going to happen on that day! Take Thursday for example. As I greeted my girls no fewer than five arrived in mufti! Five birthdays on the same day in the same class – what were the chances! Of course this meant five lots of treats to celebrate too. Oh boy – we worked flat out till snack time before I handed out the first party pack at 10:10. And yes – the sugar high had set in and I had to do a lot of movement activities as sitting still was going to be a problem. At 12:30 they got the sliced cake and cake pops and finally as they left at hometime cup cakes and iced donuts were distributed.

The Five Birthday Girls

It’s a Barbie Cake

We have been working hard on our number concepts. We can count to 100, in ones, twos, fives and tens. We have worked hard on knowing the difference between before and after, one more and one less, recognising numerals and number names and many more things. Now we are ready for real sums. To introduce the concept of partners in our bonds we play a wonderful game called dancing digits which gets the children moving – so good for the brain. Each child is marked with a number (Don’t worry moms – it comes off easily!) and told to find someone else that she can partner with to make, in this case, five. They scurry around and argue and debate, little fingers work overtime and finally they connect with the right partner holding tightly to her hand until the teacher congratulates them on their cleverness.

Together we make five!

So do we although its the other way round!

Zero is a difficult concept but we’ve got it!

Mathematics is so much fun!

In our groups we use concrete apparatus to reinforce the concepts. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for children to use all their senses to learn. Seeing the counters, touching them, moving them around, listening to songs and rhymes about numbers etc are all part of the learning process. Learning bonds off by heart before the concept is embedded in the brain does more harm than good.

Find three with your eyes and grab it make it one more – make it one less – how many do you need to make five

Interpreting the written sum – Those signs can be confusing!

The girls also did another cooperative activity this week and learned from the previous weeks’ experience. It was so rewarding seeing the lesson learned and the ones who were in conflict last week working beautifully this week.

This week’s activity got the girls looking for 3D shapes in pictures of actual things. They made a graph of these. They compared their columns but also discovered where they went wrong by comparing their graphs with those of the other girls.

It goes in this column I think

This is so much fun

Do we have the same results?

It is the Autumn term and the weather is getting chilly but we have been lucky with some lovely sunny days and inside the classroom there is always sunshine with these precious little girls.

Back in the Classroom – Beach Outing and Mothers’ Day

2013-05-11 | puppy1952

Another great week at our Fun School under the belt so its a bumper blog today!

We pride ourselves on being a brain based school – this means we consider how the brain works and what it needs to function properly. Among other things we try to ensure that our children hydrate regularly, eat correctly and move! We do things that some might think is hokus pokus. I start each lesson with ‘mind moves’ – little exercises to wake up and switch on the ears, eyes and brain. No writing lesson begins unless we do a crossing the midline action game or song and we get our tiny fingers stretched and ready for fine movement. Our sports field is set out as a ‘walk-it’ circuit with stations at intervals where fitness exercises are done and we take our classes out at any time of the day to make us of this facility. Do these things make a difference? Definitely. One day last week I was really feeling under the weather with a thick head – I actually felt that my brain was missing! I muddled through the day and wondered why my girls were chatty, restless and producing messy work. It took a while for me to register that I had not done a single movement song or vigorous exercise with them – Hello. The next day in spite of still feeling groggy myself I got back with the programme and those girls were back to their brilliant selves!

But enough of my inadequacies and back to the rest of our stunning week. The rewards of teaching the First Grade as I have mentioned many times are great. How rapidly these little girls learn. Remember everything is new – so when they have to write a sentence many things come into play – I must get my pencil grip right, mind how I form the letters correctly and make sure the construction makes sense. Up until now the teacher or room parent has written their dictated sentences into their News Book. But on Monday they got to write their sentences on their own! First they tried it out on a strip of paper finding words on the Thrass chart, in their reading or sounding out phonetically and only when a word was just too difficult did they raise their hands for help. I was super proud of the results.

On Thursday we all arrived at school on a slightly chilly morning but still full of excitement because we were off to The Beach! Were we crazy – no in Sunny South Africa winter beach visits are quite acceptable. By nine o’clock the sun was out and it was just a little breezy. The children were briefed to note all the sounds, smells, feelings, tastes and sights they experienced. They needed no second invitation to strip to their bathing costumes and play in the shallows. We had a tough male gap student up to his knees and they were not allowed beyond him. We drew a boundary line on the sand and they weren’t allowed beyond that mark. The moms and dads were vigilent along with the teachers – there were two classes totalling over 60 boys and girls. And what fun we had – splashing in the sea, playing on the sand and building elaborate sand castles.

Splashing in the cool breakers

Sculptures in the sand

Old fashioned Hop-Scotch is still a fun game

Do you like our castle

A Dad getting wet

Kids don’t feel the cold

What a great classroom this is!

Me cold – Don’t be silly – I’m a water baby

We heard the clackety clack of train roaring by

Getting the feel of the gritty, cold, squishy sand

Boys and Girls joined forces and shared building skills and ideas

What joy on their faces

Smile for the camera

Stuck in the Mud

All too soon it was time to pack up and get back to school. We had given the children our paper coffee cups to use as mini buckets and after making sure these and all other litter was picked up and put into the bin we lined up ready to go back to the cars. A senior citizen approached me -“What school is this?” I told him and he said, “I have to compliment you on very well-disciplined and beautifully behaved children. I am a retired principal from Gauteng and it’s lovely to see the little ones having so much fun.” Of course I was hugely proud! What excellent adverts you are for your school boys and girls. That was not the only compliment we got – Fish Hoek Beach’s regular contingent of retirees were down there that morning and several of them asked where we were from and commented on how sweet the children were. They did not mind the ‘invasion’ at all.

Back in the classroom the children drew pictures and labled them with sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste words like – roaring ocean, gritty sand, squishy mud, salty chips, stinging eyes, clattering train, shrill whistle and pongy sea-weed!

It is Mother’s Day tomorrow – and I wish all my Moms a great and rewarding day with your little angels We had a big discussion on what our moms mean to us and then with great concentration they settled to making cards and creating their own sentences using their newfound skill of word hunting – of course teacher could be included a source for words. I just loved what they wrote and hope you do too:-) This one stood out – I love my mom because she teaches me important things! Don’t you just love it!

Busy making a very important card

This if for a very special mommy from a very special little girl

So Creative!

This is a bumper blog so I just need to write about one more thing! We teach our children to work cooperatively. I saw this working in a natural environment on the beach where the children chose who to build castles with. But in the classroom it might not run as smoothly. The children do not choose with whom they work. They have to learn to get on with everybody and of course there are often conflicts which they have to sort out mostly on their own. On Friday I set the girls to work on a specific cooperative activity. They had to make a graph of the different items in their lunch boxes, deciding who would do what and how to go about the process on their own, knowing their roles of organiser, gatekeeper, encourager and reporter. While they were busy I took a few minutes to explain to a room parent what I wanted her to do for me. One of my girls came up to tell me that one of her group was not taking turns! Now this was a mature, sensible little girl and instead of asking the room parent to wait, in my misguided wisdom I said, “Just let X do what she wants to for now and I will come and sort it out in a minute.” Wrong move, Teacher – those few moments were vital to that group – Justice had not been served and the three ‘good’ ones were outraged. They took the law into their own hands with disastrous results – yelling, pinching, scratching and tears! But it was not too late to save the day. We had a mini care circle and they worked out for themselves how things could have been done differently – what wisdom they demonstrated. The ‘culprit’ served a bit of time out and soon joined her group when she calmed down. Everybody learned from the experience. The interesting thing is that each group had a different way of working out the problem with equally good results. In the report back we all learned not only what we set out to discover – what was the most common item in our lunches – but also how each group went about handling the task. Definitely a good thing to do on a regular basis.

Back in the Classroom – First Assembly and Pyjama Party

2013-05-06 | puppy1952

To those of you who faithfully follow my blog I have to apologise for posting this week’s episode late. I have been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks and not been quite with the programme. I fear I have been a grumpy teacher and not given my girls my best either. But thankfully the little people are very tolerant and have put up with me in spite of my moodiness.

This last week was a fun week and exciting one for the Grade Ones. Our topic this term is all about our families. Constructing family trees helped us learn about the importance of each person who makes us who we are. And boy were we proud of our trees. For a few weeks now we have also been preparing for our first ever performance at Assembly. Each grade in the school has to take their turn to demonstrate at an assembly what they have been learning in class. The Grade Ones have been watching in awe as the others have been the centre of attention and now on Tuesday it was their turn.

Parents are always invited to our assemblies a score or so turn up each week. But on Tuesday – wow – every chair was taken. The four Grade 1 teachers were hugely proud of their little stars. They performed to perfection – it was a thousand times better than the rehearsals. It was as if having an audience got them to pull out all the stops. Well done Grade Ones – Your teachers are proud of you!

To end the week we entertained our classes at a Pyjama Party on Friday Night. What an excellent turn out we had. Of course the object of this is twofold – to raise funds for the school and to give our parents a ‘date night’. The little ones had a ball and from the comments I had from my parents they seemed to appreciate what we did.

It was a pyjama party so did I wear my pyjamas? Of course – and my little girls loved my Hello Kitty PJs.

Snuggling into our cosy rugs

Looking for ‘monsters’ in the dark

Bonding

We were allowed to bring siblings and cousins

Even the teacher wore pyjamas

Back in the Classroom – Family Tree Project

2013-04-26 | puppy1952

We have been learning about families. Our own nuclear families, of course are the most important. We have learned that there are different kinds of families – single parent families, grandparent headed families, extended families and so on. The most important thing in a family the girls believe is that each member cares about the others. The girls certainly have a strong sense of family.

We have also focussed on our ancestry and yesterday the Grade 1s constructed family trees. They all brought a bottle filled with sand, a branched twig and loads of photographs and bits and pieces to decorate the end product. They cut out leaves and pasted on labels. It was an Expo Day so many visitors wandered in and out while all this was going on.

I will let the photographs speak for themselves.

Busy Tree Builders at Work

I am the newest leaf

I need to get to the top branches

Grandparents are the roots

Do you like my tree?

Concentrating carefully on the cutting out

Some strong branches on these trees

I have a great family

Back in the Classroom – Welcome Back, Creative Orals, Three Little Pigs and Parent Interviews

2013-04-21 | puppy1952

A lovely sunny weekend ended our brief Easter Holiday and then the second term started with Rainy Day Procedure! But this did not dampen the spirits of my young learners who entered the classroom with their usual enthusiasm and bursting to tell me their news. At my school we go to great lengths to welcome the kids back. We write a welcome message on the board, set out new stationery on their desks and each one gets a colourful welcome back card and a treat of some sort. This time it was a marshmallow Easter Egg. I once said to my grandsons who are now well established in High School, ‘I don’t think they even notice the trouble we go to – they just glance at the card, gobble the sweets and that’s that!” Oh no – they declared – We loved the first day of term and those messages, cards and treats made us feel special. We miss that in High School! (So there Grumpy Teacher!)

Well – my girls made me feel rather special too – they all insisted that they’d missed me and said that school was much nicer than the holidays. That’s Grade 1 for you!

Right from the start we got stuck into good old fashioned hard work. We have finished our prepared handwriting booklets and on Monday we begin to write on 17mm lines in our big books! The girls can’t wait. Our topic this term is My Family and we are learning about what a family tree is. Watch this space to see our projects on this turn out!

Up until now most of our oral work has been sharing in care circles and telling news. We took this to a new level earlier this week. They were told to look at a sequence of pictures in their Language workbooks and in pairs make up a story of at least three good clear sentences. By working cooperatively they had to agree on how the story would then be presented orally to the teacher. My expectation was that I would get three simple sentences – The dog chased the cat. The cat ran up the tree. A boy rescued the cat. They had 5 noisy minutes to prepare but when I stopped them – they said – no we need more time. Okay another 3 minutes. Well, I was (not for the first time) blown away with what they came up with. Each pair presented a preamble about why the dog chased the cat, described what the cat felt like, explained what the dog did when the cat got up the tree, and elaborated on how the boy discovered the cat up the tree and his method of rescue. The great this was that each story was completely different.

I believe that if you give the children free rein to use their creativity, to let them share ideas and give them time to put it all together they come up with more than you expect. The classroom does not always have to be a hushed place of concentrated work. So if you pass my classroom and hear a bit of a commotion – don’t judge the teacher for her lack of discipline – No – It’s Little Geniuses at work!

Relating the story

You won’t believe what happened next

In Afrikaans we have been learning the story of ‘Die Drie Klein Varkies’ The girls love it and enjoy repeating the bits like “‘ Hy klop aan die deur. Varkie, Varkie, Laat my in. Nee, nee, nee! Dan sal ek blaas en blaas en blaas etc.

But the other day they begged – Please can we have it in English! “But you know The Three Little Pigs in English,” I said. “Surely you don’t want it again!’ “Yes we do,”they insisted. It was the end of the day so I decided to Google and find a video clip to make it more interesting. I was delighted to see that in spite of all the stuff they’re exposed to today 6 and 7 year-olds still love the traditional tales that we all enjoyed as children. Just look at the wonder and delight on their faces at the antics of the piggies and that big bad wolf!

Totally absorbed

That so funny

What will happen now

–

He’s climbing down the chimney!

As a teacher it is very important for me to meet my learners’ parents. Parentline afforded me the opportunity of discovering how they are coping with their child’s first term at school. I found out whether or not they had picked up anxieties, problems with making friends, resistance to homework or any other issues. It was also rewarding to hear that their children are happy, love coming to school and love their teacher. It was good meeting with my girls’ parents last week. It was great sharing with them how I found their children in class. It was good to see their reaction and thrill that their girls were progressing well at their own pace. I had the opportunity to show them the right way to help with homework and to put their minds at rest that we would give intervention where it was needed. Ten minutes is not a lot of time but it is surprising how much you can pack into it. When my interviews were done, I felt good. My girls have great parents and I have gained better insight into each of my girls, the better to enable me to move forward with them. It is going to be a great term!

Back in the Classroom – End of Term

2013-03-28 | puppy1952

I love my job and I work hard at it. So by the time the end of term comes I expect to feel a little worn out. This last week I have felt this weariness set in and dismissed it as end of term burn out. But yesterday I suspected there was more to it than that – it was a different kind of tiredness so I went to the doctor and was told – you need a course of antibiotics – you are sick! Fortunately today was a short day and my little girls were angelic. After news and handwriting we Googled ideas for Easter Cards and filled with inspiration and a set of coloured papers they settled down to a happy hour of card making.

We had two birthdays to celebrate too and after a feast of little with Easter eggs and cup cakes as well as jelly baby treats from another little girl we finally got round to tidying up and sorting ourselves into our new groups for next term.

The older children had their final assessment paper today and the teachers all gathered in the hall after school for lunch and marking session before preparing our classrooms for next term. My wonderful Grade 1 colleagues saw that I was just not up to it and came in to help me. Thanks girls, it is much appreciated-

This time last year we had a two-week holiday – enough time to take the kids to Kruger – but this year we have no more than an extended long weekend! Still it will be enough to recharge the batteries before getting back into another exciting term. Have a wonderful Easter everyone.

Back in the Classroom – School’s Anniversary, Funky Feet and Athletics Day

2013-03-20 | puppy1952

A line in our school song goes – “It grows in fame each year” and indeed since its humble beginnings 36 years ago SVPS has grown both in number and fame. My two older children were among the first students and two of our grandchildren have already passed through its portals. In fact when it was a brand new school I was its first Itinerant Speech Correction Teacher and I was pretty new then too! How amazing it is to be back in my more mature years.

To celebrate we had a Funky Feet Day. Everybody – staff included – decorated their feet in a multitude of different ways. It was so much fun seeing hairy monster toes, stripy socks, colourful toe nails, beribboned shins and tattooed feet traipsing up and down the corridors. Fun and Funky it was and there were prizes for the most creative designs.

I involved my poor, patient husband in preparing my feet and toes knowing that my girls would be highly disappointed if I didn’t make an effort. It took two episodes of The Good Wife (I have a media player) for Hubby to glue on and paint nails and apply colourful tattoos to make my feet look gorgeous. There were a few grunts of keep your feet still, or point your toes this way but the entire procedure was pretty relaxing as I just lay and watched the movie! My little girls loved the result and oohed and aahed and exclaimed, Your feet look so pretty!

Results of Hubby’s Foot Work

Well so did theirs! It was also Athletics Day for the Foundation Phase and they all came dressed up in their house colours and most had feet to match. It was difficult to choose a winner but in the end I had to go for a cute little girl in green with feet proudly declaring which house she was running for!

A selection of Funky Grade One Feet

The Winning Feet

I was a score keeper for the races so didn’t have a second to take photographs but the girls ran well in their championship races and thoroughly enjoyed the fun race in the mommys’ shoes. But it was a long time for them to watch all the other classes run so when it was time to return for the anniversary treat they were ready and waiting!

Here they are enjoying their delicious jam doughnuts!

Happy Anniversary, SVPS

And did we do any work at all that day? Well after all the fun and celebrations there was still an hour and a half of school – so yes we did do some handwriting and reading as well as creating a cover for our books for next term! I have hard working little girls in my class!

Back in the Classroom – Speaker Reader Final, Group Teaching and Patterns in Nature

2013-03-15 | puppy1952

We had one Grade One from each of our classes up against the Grade 2s and 3s in the Speaker Reader finals on Wednesday. There was much excitement as we filed into the hall. There were four external judges seated at their tables ready and waiting. Who would the winner be? My little finalist was all dressed up in her tooth fairy outfit as she would be reciting a very topical poem about loose teeth! Those judges had a hard job choosing a winner. All the children were dressed up fancily with elaborate props, their confidence was phenomenal and they presented their pieces with a polish that belied their age. There was no microphone and the judges were right at the back of the hall. During practices I had encouraged h to her to speak as loudly as possible but she was still quite soft. But when she got onto that stage she blew me away – WOW – her voice was animated, loud and clear! She performed flawlessly. It just took an audience to bring out the best in her. I could have burst with pride.

Calling on the Tooth Fairy

But the competition was strong and I thought at most she’d make it to third place. Well the third place winner was announced and it wasn’t my fairy. So when her name was called in second place I jumped up from my crouched position where I was taking photographs and cheered! The third place was a Grade 3 girl who gave advice on how to survive as an eight-year-old and the winner was just outstanding – a wonderful poem about a smelly welly done by a talented little girl in Grade 3.

Proudly receiving her certificate

At my school there is always something happening. We have a full programme of varied activities as we believe in teaching children not subjects. However, the three RS are not to be neglected. In order to do all the marvellous things we do we have to be creative about time management in order to fit everything in. I find that honing in on small groups is the best way to ensure that each child’s needs are met.

Teaching children in small ability groups on the mat while the rest of the class get on with a task at their desks gives the teacher the opportunity to give each child the attention they need. Each group will work at their level. The material presented will never be too challenging for the slower learner nor too easy for the faster child. Because of this, each child feels secure in her learning environment and because she is not being stretched beyond her capabilities, she feels successful.

I know the answer!

A six to seven year old child still needs to work in the concrete. She learns to count by rote and to recognize number names and numerals even before she comes to school and this is important. But learning the three-ness of 3 and whether four is more or less than five objects requires objects that can be seen and touched. This is why it is important to be given this opportunity in the small learning group where the teacher can observe individuals and give guidance.

At home, counting actual objects, sorting socks into pairs, counting the cutlery when setting the table and sharing items with siblings and friends are all good concrete activities that help children master basic mathematical skills.

Working with counters – first grab three – how many more to make 5.

While one group is being taught on the mat the rest of the class get busy with a task. We investigated shapes in nature and with this inspiration decorated an African Pot for a book cover.

Animal prints are so attractive

Everyone had a different idea

Yesterday I asked my girls, Who wants to come back to school tomorrow? They all put up their hands. “Why do you want to come to school?” The answers I got were all to do with play and fun. – School is fun. I can play. I get to meet friends and make play dates. Break is cool. – And I was so waiting to hear – So I can learn to read, write and do mathematics!

Link

Another busy week at school has flown past. Each class in the school has been preparing for the Speaker Reader Competition. Every child had to prepare a story or a poem and orate before the class. The teacher then chose between three or five who performed for the whole grade. How impressed we were at the standard of our brand new learners! Choosing who to go through to the Foundation Phase finals was indeed difficult but after careful deliberation the four teachers were unanimous in their decision. Quite by chance there was one winner from each of the Grade 1 classes. More about the final outcome in a later blog!

The theme for this year at my school is “Irresistible Schooling” We are teaching for the future and strive to make learning irresistible to our children. On Thursday between 9 and 10 o’clock our classes were open to visitors who after listening to a brief talk by our principal wandered in and out at will to observe how we teach using digital devises. In Grade 1 THRASS lessons were being presented on a digital white board in one class; a digital projector and screen in another; I had mine on a flat screen TV while another colleague had her children using I-pads. Children today are born knowing how to work digitally so we do what we can to use a medium of instruction that they can relate to.

Perhaps in the future – the very near future – children will no longer require pens and pencils; a frightening thought to many of the older generation. But don’t panic – we are still teaching them penmanship. Writing to an adult seems such a natural thing – you pick up a pen and all you think about is what you want to write. You do not consciously consider which side of the page to begin on, where to begin each letter or even if it’s the left or the right hand page you need to write on. But when you begin, all these things can be confusing. So each lesson begins with mind moves to wake up the ears, the eyes and the brain. Finger exercises prepare the fine muscles required to write neatly and we sing a song to remind us of correct posture. To the tune of Frère Jacques/Brother John we sing – Lets write neatly, lets write neatly, sit up straight, sit up straight, put your feet together, put your feet together, heads up too, heads up too. Imagine the concentration required to pay attention to sitting correctly, finding the right page, figuring out left to right direction and still having to form that letter the way the teacher is insisting upon. It is exhausting both for the child and the teacher who has to be very aware of which children need extra attention in learning these skills. Right from the beginning the child needs to learn the correct way of forming her letters so that those neural pathways are set and writing becomes an automatic skill.

Some things might interfere with a child learning to write. Problems with spatial perception, fine motor coordination, motor planning etc., can be corrected with professional intervention. If a teacher feels that a child is finding learning to write challenging, she may recommend an Occupational Therapy assessment. Reading problems may also be present but not necessarily. The thing to remember is that children do not deliberately write badly. You might say – but he started off so well – but look at the mess at the end of the page. The thing is – that neat bit took an enormous amount of energy and concentration to get right – and it simply could not be maintained. Quite often children who are extremely neat while at the same time are very slow to complete tasks – need Occupational Therapy. Their energies are going into getting it right – and not on the content of their work. Today children with extreme writing problems are lucky – digital devices take the stress out of having to write neatly.

Early diagnosis of problems is important but we allow children time to learn; we allow them to make mistakes and encourage them to practise the correct formations to set the neural pathways before we send parents for expensive assessments.

Back in the Classroom – A Visit to Imhoff

2013-03-01 | puppy1952

This week the girls have got in touch with their senses. They now know that an ear isn’t a sense but the instrument that uses the sense of ‘hearing”. They have learned new vocabulary to describe what they see, hear, touch, smell and taste. And to put this all into practise e visited Higgledy Piggeldy Farm at Imhoff on Thursday. Their lunch boxes were filled with different tastes, there were wonderful sounds and smells and sights and they could get up close and touch the animals that they were also allowed to feed. We arrived at snack time and were allowed to use the lawn in front of the restaurant for our picnic. There was a play area with a big tree and a rope swing – oh what joy! My Gap student soon had them lined up and taking turns and there wasn’t one incident of selfishness. This was the second class she was assisting and had learned from her experience with the first one to have a plan of action and to make sure every one understood the rules! Well don Emma – you did a fantastic job of organising the girls.

Picnic Time

The swing was a hit

What fun to climb a real tree

Down the chute I come

Then it was our turn to go and feed the animals. The girls’noses twitched and the new smells – which most of them describes as nasty but none were put off. Some with drew their hands at the unfamiliar feel of animal lips nibbling feed from their hands; there were nervous giggles which soon changed to shrieks of delight. They identified the quack of the ducks, the bleat of the goat and the oink of the piglets.

Feeding the ducks

The goats were grateful for the treats

But which animals did the girls enjoy most? Without a doubt the bunnies. There were some brand new baby ones and weren’t they the cutest! We let the girls in a few at a time and boy was it hard to get them out of that enclosure to let the others have a turn!

He feels so silky

Enthralled by a bunny

The girls were ever so gentle and kind to the animals. I do believe that animals are therapeutic; shy children loosen up, sad ones begin to smile and all because they get to pet a creature who doesn’t judge them in any way.

It was altogether a successful outing. Thanks to the parents who gave up their valuable time to transport the girls. It is very much appreciated.

Back in the Classroom – Mini Funscapes and Staff Development

2013-02-23 | puppy1952

This week was a short one. We had what we call Mini Funscapes on Monday. Each child pays a nominal fee to have a day of fun activities with their teachers at school. Normal school work happens until 10 and then each grade has four stations of activities with a teacher in charge of each. The Grade 1s had – Movement to music and making a musical instrument, A session of making a beautiful mask for a ball, A delicious session of cookie baking and out on the field there was a slippy slide! My station was the mask making and oh boy was it interesting to see the difference between the boy and girl classes! They all loved it but the girls certainly have the edge when it comes to cutting out and pasting at this age. The boys took a little longer but were just as creative. Each session was 45 minutes. We were having so much fun that I forgot to take photographs!

But here is one of the girls on the slippy slide.

Fun on the Slippy Slide

On Thursday, the children were sent home at 12:00 for a long weekend. Lucky for them they do not have to return until Monday morning. This happens every year so that the staff can get together for some training and team building.

Once we’d seen our learners off we indulged in a delicious lunch, listened to our principal on the topic of bias, had a discussion on how we could handle this in ourselves and came up with ideas on how to teach our children to understand, deal with and control their own bias.

Then the fun began. We all got up and danced! We were ably instructed by an expert who patiently demonstrated the steps while her regular pupils dressed in red t-shirts were there for us to copy. Then the music started and we were off! Now I am notorious for my lack of coordination and although I might be fit when it comes to remembering a sequence of dance steps – I am a complete dummy. But I was concentrating for all I was worth and getting the hang of the step together step touch, vine, vine etc and delighting in my grace and rhythm when – oops I went the wrong way and stepped on a colleagues toes!

Getting into the swing of it

Some of our young male colleagues were showing just how good they were at this and were coaxed on to the stage to demonstrate their prowess.

Cool moves

Look at those legs

Move it, move it

They had us in cheering, wolf whistling and laughing and completely leaving our serious teacher personae back in the classroom.

On Friday, we started the day with a wonderful Continental Breakfast – the croissants were to die for. They feed us well at my school. (Overheard:- “You can’t complain when your mouth is full”)

On our tables we found a small packet filled with little treasures – a pack of highlighters – the foundation phase teachers oohed and aahed – nothing like colourful stationery to excite our breed; a notebook and pen, peanuts and raisins, Smarties and a flash stick. I just loved that our school’s name was on the cover of the notebook and the pack of highlighters. I a a bit of snob about brand names!

There was also a programme and a grid to show us where we were to go when; as we were divided into five groups of 14. It took our dull brains a while to figure out the coordinates on the grid but we didn’t feel so bad when even our boss got it a bit confused too. When it was finally worked out we set off to the different seminars – an hour long each with of course breaks for tea (delicious pastries) and lunch (mouth watering briyani).

I will not go into detail as to what we learned but each workshop was absolutely excellent. We did not sit and listen to long and detailed lectures – we got involved, we discussed topics and learned from each other. Our groups were a mix of different genders, generations and phases – pre-school, foundation phase, sports staff, high school and intermediate phase. We got to grips with issues that bothered us and to understand why this school puts the things into place that it does. We were inspired to go back to our classes with fresh ideas for digital teaching, effective discipline, movement, care and effective report writing I am proud to be working at such a dynamic school where we have to work as a team, where we involve parents, where the child’s interests are paramount and where we provide a safe base for them to learn. We are truly a 21st century school and we are teaching children for the future.

Thanks to our Leadership team for a great Programme. Thanks to the secretaries, catering and estate staff for all the background work. We really appreciate it all.