A ‘A.C.E‘ approach to understanding the difference between needs and wants.
The children opened their new project through imagining that they had been stranded alone on a deserted island. Read the rest of this entry »
This morning we wrote a report about Martin Luther King Jr!! Nicole liked the story and so found it easy to do. Carly felt that by hearing the story and talking about it on Monday made her remember more facts. Katy found it interesting. Blair found it is good he wrote 3 pages! He then re read his work and checked he had everything I was looking for. His piece of writing was then peer assessed in a small group. He is very pleased with it.
In the afternoon they enjoyed hearing the story of The Fish That Could Wish by John Bush and Korky Paul. Mairi thought it was good because it linked to our project because Martin Luther King Jr had a wish. We then loved hearing about everyones dreams - some wanted to fly, some wanted animal cruelty stopped and some just wanted lots of sweets! We then thought about how we wanted to display our dream work.
This morning the children were learning about Martin Luther King Jr and why sometimes rules can make people angry. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week we were talking about basic needs and how although we don’t need friends to survive life would be very boring, lonely and sad without them. Read the rest of this entry »
I approached the topic from the point of view of the children acting as tour guides for Katherine and handing over responsibility of ”what’ they wanted Katherine to learn about Cockenzie and ‘how’ they were going to do this to the children. At first, I was slightly apprehensive as to how successful this was going to be, especially, since the Primary 1’s were still settling into School life. The children did find this tricky and it was difficult to extend their ideas and thoughts further than the classroom and school grounds. However, with teacher intervention we got there and came up with almost an identical list to that which was already on the Environmental Studies topic plan.
Approaching it from this way gave the children total control of their topic, which resulted in a very motivated and engaged class! The children chose very practical ways to report information and models and photographs played a key role. I think it is important to remember that certain skills still need to be taught but it is about allowing them to choose which skill they want to use during a specific task.
Our topic ‘Our Community’ allowed meaningful cross-curricular links to be established and Active learning was always at the forefront of our learning, which was undoubtedly easier to deliever with two class teachers.
Last week I focused on the Golden Rules with the children and then we looked at rules for different clubs. Read the rest of this entry »
I am now working within my own school - Campie Primary School, Musselburgh - with P2a and Miss Claire Flagerty. The 3 main outcomes for the project are: that the children will understand their basic needs (physical and emotional) and be able to to identify ways in which they are met, that the children will understand rules and the need for them,
and the children will know that there are different viewpoints within a disagreement. Read the rest of this entry »
Today was interesting! I spent the morning getting the children to tell me about what they have enjoyed learning, what they have learned and what else they would like to find out about. I recorded this so I could play it back and therefore be clearly involved in the conversation and not furiously taking notes.It was obvious that children really benefit and appreciate being out and about on trips. These are really valuable educational experiences. We should do our best to find ways round expense, parent helpers and risk assessment to get children out more! They love it!What they learned - summary This is where my evidence on the trips comment above came from. Even though Katie and I made every effort to ensure active learning within the classroom, which was personalised and involved choice, almost all the children reported back that the things they learned most about or enjoyed was during our visits. Luckily then they have a few more to go on after Oct hols that could not be arranged for before - a beach visit with an East Lothian ranger and a tour of Seton Collegiate Church.
It was also clear from the interviews that having a purpose to a task motivated and engaged them at a deeper level. A number of them referred to the fact that they were showing Miss Macnaughton (me) around the school or Port Seton/Cockenzie. They enjoyed making the maps to show others what they had learned.
What they still want to know - here are a couple of the more interesting comments!
Daniel - wanted to learn more from information books. He felt he had not read any to learn things from!
A couple of pupils referred to wanting to learn more about writing and making labels - this had been a little focus in a couple of the activities Katie had done.
Lewis - wanted to know more about Cockenzie power station and what’s inside it.
Again a number of pupils wanted to know more about the harbour - hopefully the ranger is going to come and talk to the class about this.
Faith and Holly - wanted to talk to the fishmongers to find out how they get the fish and what they do to them. We discussed how we could contact them to find this out.
Someone wanted to see another school!
This was interesting. Katie found it really hard at the beginning of the topic to get the children to come up with things they wanted to know - having less life experience we found this maybe harder than you would further up the school or later in the year. We did however try to listen to conversations and let the children lead the learning. Perhaps doing a little evaluation session in the middle of the topic, like we did today, would have steered the topic even more towards the childrens’ interests. Ah good old evaluation! Kat
Monday 1st OctoberRight first on today’s agenda was a visit to the local church - Chalmers Memorial Church. The class were going there for 2 reasons. Firstly they wanted to show me the church and learn more about it, and secondly it was to see the harvest display.
There was so much to take and the children asked loads of great “fat” questions e.g. why were there people on the windows? I found this church really interesting as there were lots of links to the fishing community of Cockenzie/Port Seton.
When we got back to class we noted down everything we could remember and enjoyed learning about. The children were then asked how they would like to display this information for visitors to the class. Mark suggested they could make a map (building on his previous experience from the week before). The children drew pictures and wrote labels which were then stuck down in a church shape.
What came out of today was very interesting. Both Katie and I stood and looked at the overall outcome of the children sharing their learning. It was clearly the children’s work. Nothing like we had envisaged. No neat cutting and mounted borders! If the children are to take ownership of their work and how it is displayed do not expect it to look pretty. However it is the process that is important and the children were proud of their achievements. As teachers we will need to learn to take a step back and allow them to decide what they want to do.
Tuesday 2nd October
An early morning trip to the library was first on today’s agenda. The library is within the local community centre which a large proportion of the children visit weekly. Again this was one of the things the children thought I should see. The librarians - Irene and Doreen - did a great job explaining everything. Back in class we got the children to choose groups and for them to record what they had learned - wow! P1/2 doing their own mind maps - fantastic! The children were really grateful for the experience and wanted to write them thank you cards. We provided them with a choice when we went back to school - thank you cards, a book cover for their favourite book and to colour in and add to the sheet the librarians gave them. The children made their choices and were really motivated - some even went on to choose again! They were all on task and knew what to do. Interestingly enough the split between the 3 tasks was almost even!
In the afternoon Katie carried on with the maths. I took small groups to use the Beebots and taught them the basics - this certainly was problem solving in action - trying to get the robots from one shop to another on the special mats - a challenge.
The children had done a number of activities over the past week involving choice and personalisation - linked to their interests in the topic over the last few weeks. This had led Katie and I to a number of discussions round the topic of personalisation and choice. In fact we have discussed this as a group. As teachers we can not lose sight of the fact that there is still teaching to be done. The children need structure and need to learn the skills that they can then go on to use in independent work. We should not lose sight of the 5-14 curriculum and the structure it provides - particularly in maths and language. We need to take this formal structure and weave it in with the Curriculum for Excellence to provide learning activities and experiences for the children that are personalised, meaningful and allow choice but still allow the basic skills to be taught!
Kat
Hey
It’s the end of our first full and proper secondment week and I am beginning to feel like I know what I am doing and what my purpose is - well a little bit more!!
I am working with Katie Letchford the Primary 1/2 teacher at Cockenzie and her lovely class. Our topic is My Street/Cockenzie/Port Seton a mouthful I know. Katie sat with her class in small groups and spent time talking with them about what they knew about Cockenzie, what they wanted to know and what they could show me – the outsider! They were planning to be my tour guides!
It was very clear that the school and the beach/harbour were the main focuses.
When I arrived on Monday morning the children had decided they were going to show me around! One group had birds eye style drawings of the classroom to show me to help me find my way around the place! Apparently the teacher’s desk and the Star of the Week were the most important things to be able to find!
The next group had made a map of the school. This involved photographs stuck down on a scroll in a circular fashion with arrows showing me which way to go. The pupils were really motivated and we used the map to navigate our way round the school referring to it at all times!
The last group had photographed the enormous playground. We went round trying to find out where all the photographs had been taken. The children had again displayed these too and we took them out as a kind of map!
On Tuesday afternoon the pupils were showing me around the streets of Cockenzie they had a list of things they were to show me! Before we went out Katie had used a Claire Warden’s idea of a Talking Tub to stimulate thinking and discussion around what we would see on our walk. This helped to activate prior knowledge. The children loved the walk and there was a great deal of quality discussion going on during it.
When we got back to class we were unfortunately very short of time. Ideally the children would have recorded, in groups, what they could remember/enjoyed/learned/wanted to know more about however Katie and I split the class and did the writing ourselves. It was clear the childrens’ main focus was still the beach/harbour but also the Secret Garden. Find out where the children will lead us next?
Off to do some more professional reading – not done this much since uni!! Its very interesting and insightful!
Katherine
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