Hello everyone,
Thank you for stopping by to have a read of my blog. This post is just an update really. So, I am mid way through my fourth week in school. It feels like I have never worked anywhere else. It is funny really, how quickly one gets used to a new school new pupils, new rules and new routines. Teachers are very adaptable creatures!
Dip wise, those of you who have it ahead of you, will be happy to hear it gets easier. It is manageable once your long term plans are done. Mine are nearly there now. I can actually enjoy planning my lessons without spending all my time on paperwork. Don’t under estimate how much time the long term plans take. It is worth using quite a bit of detail in them however, as it will make it easier to plan your weeklies. It is annoying though, because I have changed my mind several times regarding themes and lessons I want to use, so I’ll have to redo some plans, which is a pain!
I have developed a few more tricks of the trade over the last few weeks, so I shall share them with you!
1. Ensure the children write down their homework first thing in the morning, before children start going in and out to support teachers.
2. I find News2Day great for oral language. Every morning we discuss local, national and international news, then we watch five minutes of the news to see if there is anything we didn’t cover. It’s a great stimulus for discussion.
3. Children love tables challenges. I used to do Kings and Queens daily but they are just too good at their tables, so now we have extra long table challenges, e.g 9x3x2/2 or something like that. The longer the equation, the better!
4. Literacy games are excellent to use as transitions or to break up the day. (Keep an eye on the blog for more posts regarding literacy games)
5. Get the children involved in your class blog. We are focusing on the genre of report writing this term, and the children are busy writing reports which will be published on our blog. The class have loads of inspiring and fascinating posts to share!
6. My main problem is that there simply isn’t enough time in the school day to cover everything. So a few projects, such as our architectural project, had to go home with the children. Hopefully my time management will improve and I’ll stop over planning some day!
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