Shared Story
The students all love stories and they love being read to. So this term as the focus was fairytales and we used these as our stories for a 2 week rotation. This allowed them to really be able to know the story well and to be able to retell it.
Phonics
We worked on doing phonics altogether this term. We didn’t always get to lots of activities so we have scheduled the time just before lunch next term and have groups so that we can have extension for those that already know the letters of the alphabet.
Handwriting
Our handwriting was based on the letters of the week. We got through a good amount of handwriting this term and the students are definitely getting better. Everyone is taught with the same shapes. We set the books up so that those who need extra support have some highlighted letters and guidance for finger spacing. Those that have a good handle on their handwriting just have one letter example.
Handwriting Plan - Handwriting Assessment
Writing
Each week we worked to pick a topic that was unified throughout all groups but allowed for extension within these groups. Meaning we had to be able to make basic sentences for the lower groups but also be able to add in extra detail for those higher writers also. We always plan for the needs of the individual groups and then give the support necessary to the students in front of us. We used the fairytales a lot through our writing to great success as this was something we were carrying through a lot of the curriculum, they were listening to the stories, writing about it in writing time and acting it out during drama. So overall I think this gave excellent coverage of the subject and allowed for the students to build strong connections so they had something to write about.
Planning - Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9
Poetry
In poetry we were looking at nursery rhymes. This was fun for the students since you kind of sing these more. It really gave an extra way for those that struggle to read the words another way to remember. Whereas those with high reading abilities were able to read the nursery rhymes for themselves.
Our Health and Zones work this term was particularly powerful for our students this term. We used our health topic to address the unfriendly nature that was creeping into the classroom and then really explored our feelings through the zones of regulation. We used a variety of activities that I feel the students really connected to and overall they were being better friends and using the recharge station independently to recharge their energy when they needed it. Overall a very successful unit.
The PE was also fun though in general the skills are not great. We struggled with extending Malaefou and are working on ways that he can get that extension with athletics next term. Overall they made some good progress with small balls, though the skills of athletics are a struggle for them.
Zones/PE/Health Plan - PE AssessmentLockdown Relationships
Maintaining relationships was definitely made more difficult through the level 4 lockdown. With only email and phone conversations available it was definitely difficult to maintain relationships not only with students but also with their parents. It was extremely important to make sure we were there to support the families and students during this difficult time. I called all families multiple times, though I found that email was a better form of communication for most families. I communicated through email and through the linc ed hero emailing system also. I managed to maintain good communication with around half of the families in my class. They all knew that I was there if they needed me and some preferred to just keep to themselves and their own family. Others emailed me with questions and also with a request for a phone call as they wanted more information. I wanted to be there to support but I also didn’t want to annoy anyone by trying to contact them too many times so I tried to just follow their lead.
Nicole and I alternated each day between who would do the daily video as we felt it was important for them to see both of our faces. We also sent virtual fish tickets for students who were doing Mathsbuddy, Sunshine books or sending us photos or work from what we had posted for thats days learning on our site. It was cool sending the fish ticket to them and parents would respond which was very cool. Some of the children were printing them out and putting them up on their fridges.
When Nicole and I returned to school at level 3 it was great as we were able to do the videos together and host zoom sessions with the class which we really enjoyed and we played games of scavenger hunts and tried singing songs and doing tik toks together, these creating the fun element and allowed for the children to communicate with us and each other.
We also had a junior hub talent show and tell during our home learning time and we had lots of buy in from it and I then created a slide deck so we could share it for everyone to see I called it Whakatau Super Talents.
Linc Ed Hero Reporting
We took this unusual time and chose to document it through our reporting this term and share with families some of the key things that the students had taken away from the very unusual but also very special time at home, below you can see examples of this.
Zoom meetings - Lockdown Student relationships
It was so important to try and do what we could during the lockdown to support families to keep their children to be happy and to feel supported and not scared by everything going on in the world. So we tried our best to do this by creating our hub site sharing videos everyday of ourselves to have some sort of normalcy for them and making fun activities for them to complete. As well as sharing their work on the blog so they could keep connected with their peers. We also started hosting zoom meetings where we had lots of fun, gave them the chance to share and where we were able to connect with them and they were able to connect with and see their friends. This was all really important to help support the students and their mental and emotional health.
Physical environment
Our physical environment remained basically the same except upon their return we labelled their chairs rather than the table so they actually stayed and didn’t fall off as they were continually doing on the table. We continue to work on their teamwork skills by having them sit at group tables and learning to work together and help each other out when they need it.
Transition back to school
It was super important to transition the students back to school after the lockdown so they felt comfortable being back at school and being away from their families when they had been with them for such a long time. We took a week to settle them back in and to reflect upon the time we spent at home. Here is a link to our timetable from that week.Developing learning focused relationships
We spent a lot of the first term getting to know our students and working on finding out more about them. In the photo to the right you can see that the students made these lapbooks about themselves. We have played lots of games and done lots of fun activities together.
Foster trust respect and cooperation
We are working on this in a few different ways. The first is through the behaviour/values lessons. Each week Nicole and I take this very seriously to try and get across the importance of each value to the students. We model these lessons and encourage the students to tell us what we are doing wrong so that they can learn well what they should and shouldn’t do. Behaviour Expectations.
We have also been teaching cooperation by creating group tables where the students from both classes are mixed up at tables. They earn group points for doing the right things and for working well as a table. This will be something we continue to keep working on how they work together and how they can learn to share ideas with each other.
High Expectations
We set our high expectations by making goals with the students and their parents before the beginning of the year. We talk with the students about what we expect both with behaviour and their learning often. I think the most important thing is that the students really develop self belief and self confidence in their own abilities so it is important to help develop their confidence.
Physical environment
This year Nicole and I have worked hard to set up the learning environment in a way that is clean, tidy and organised for the students. As well as making it a space that they feel comfortable in and that they can feel like they belong. We did this through spending a lot of time having the students create and complete artwork to fill the walls, filling the class with their own things. I think this has gone well and the students are really learning where everything goes so they can better help keep the space tidy and organised. The environment also displays the cultures of our students and some brief information about where they are from.
I really enjoyed going along to the PB4L session with Rebecca and Clay. As I am doing the values side of the behaviour lessons it was interesting to go and understand the book more and to have the chance to look at it in-depth and to focus on our direction of where to next for us as a school. IO took a lot of notes and I enjoy taking notes and it helps me take it all in. As I have been helping some members of my team this year work on their behaviour management strategies it gave me more ideas to bring into the team. I have had the book since before we started on the PB4L journey and after the session I am really hooked on it and totally believe we should be using the key ideas from there.
I was buddied up with Clay due to their Covid level 2 restrictions so I was very impressed with how well we worked together, ever since our wee clash I have worked hard to maintain a good professional relationship.
I am quite happy to be involved with Clay and Rebecca moving forward and being part of the planning team for the whole school staff meeting etc and I appreciated having them listen to my ideas and thoughts.
Section One of the book is huge and key to setting up your classroom and all teachers need to focus on this area heading into the 2021 school year. It will set you up to have success!
I have been working on continuing to strengthen the relationships within my team. I am always thanking them and praising them for their good work and offering support in any way I can. I also give wee chocolates as a pick me a up often like a Sante bar which the team all love and appreciate.
There was a lot of new learning I experienced whilst undertaking the home learning and I enjoyed the relationships and support from my team :D
This year we had another cultural day where we celebrated our cultures through creating the wall below. We identified the cultures of our families through a cultural survey sheet and also how we are able to best support them and their cultures. This was noted down in our know the learner document and transferred onto linc ed. On our school wide cultural celebration day we began to look at our different cultures through this slide and we had a shared lunch together as well as a cultural show and a flag ceremony.
Through our inquiry learning this year we have been learning about our culture thinking about the fact that our nation is a bicultural nation and learning about how our country came to have two cultures of people in it. We learnt about the first arrival of people and then the European settlers. We also thought about how this affects our lives now. Our school has English names and Maori names each due to different reasons. We were really trying to reflect upon how our country came to be the way it is now and the fact that although we may all have different heritages we are all New Zealanders.
In Term 3 we had a great cultural staff meeting all about harakeke which was led by Christine Brown the RTM. We learnt how to use it and the protocols behind it. We then used this knowledge to harvest our own harakeke and to prepare it and use the stalks we prepared to create our own mats. This was such a strong and powerful experience, I didn’t really know anything about weaving except that you go over and under when you weave. So to learn the things that actually go behind it and the whole process from harvesting was amazing and I really enjoyed it. I always enjoy the meetings that Christine delivers as it is always engaging and you always learn a lot. Here is a picture of Joanne applying what we learnt.
