First Grade | Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

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.

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!