Digging into learning

This term we have been researching dinosaurs and fossils as part of our explorations on our changing world. I found this great fossil kit (Dig it out) at the Taronga Zoo. The children had great fun taking turns to unearth the fossil buried inside. I also hid some small plastic dinosaurs in the school yard sandpit for students to discover, so much fun! They were delighted to find the dinosaurs buried all over the place as they experimented with being an archaeologist, setting students off on their own path of discovery. 

This certainly encouraged students to go further and dig deeper with their learning. Everybody was very keen to share their findings with a buddy or the whole class. Which proved helped when it was time to do our individual speeches on our favourite dinosaur. Instead of being hesitant to stand up in front of their peers, students were eager to share their knowledge with the class.

As part of this unit of study we implemented higher order thinking skills into a blooms and multiple intelligence matrix to offer opportunity to extend thinking and learning for all students. Children needed to accrue a certain number of points (for each activity) over a seven week period before completing a culminating task. The more complex tasks were allocated higher points, taking longer to complete and included a number of steps that students needed to carefully work through. This allowed for autonomy and independence to bloom and grow - great skills for Grade Ones to develop early in their learning journey.

Students loved worked with a buddy as they researched and gathered information from a variety of sources. The iPads were a great learning tool, which were made a whole lot easier for the children to use (and access information) with suitable websites being pre saved to the home screen prior to use. 

A fossil is a creature that died a long time ago. It's body turned into rock.

There is nothing better as a teacher than seeing students fully engaged and excited about learning. I found myself expectant and eager for 'Project Hour' each week as I watched students immersed in 'hands on' learning opportunities. Watching the excitement light up their faces as they called me to check out 'this and that' was so very satisfying. We ALL learnt a lot!

Grandparents Day

Grandparents day is always a highlight at our school, not just for the little people but the big people too. I love seeing the excitement on the students faces as grandparents visit the classroom. This year our Grade One's painted their grandparents hands and then the grandparents painted their grandchild's hand to make a special memento to take home. Fun was had by all, such a lovely day to bring the generations together. 

2013 ... here we go!

We have hit the ground running ... 4 weeks into the new school year and things are humming along. The start of a new school year is always fun ... and just a little tiring too! The little tykes are so full of energy. After such a lovely long break for summer, it takes a bit of getting use to the early starts in the morning and being on the go again ... but we are getting there :) We are off to a flying start and looking forward to a very fun year.

Grade One certainly keeps you on your toes, such fun little people with a unique view on the world and so eager to impress with all their worldly wisdom. This was made apparent during a devotion on Friday. I read the story of 'Noah and the ark' to a class of wide eyed students. I explained that it was a story from long long ago. After reading the story a little hand shot up in the air and an excited voice proudly announced that his Grandad was on that boat. I had to stifle a giggle. It is moments like this that remind me why I made a career out of teaching ... because amongst the busyness of the day and the learning of sounds, counting in 2s, 5s, and 10s AND everything else that goes into a jam packed learning schedule, it is the unexpected surprises of innocence that keeps me smiling. Every day, I get to shape souls, mould hearts, stretch minds and open up a whole world of possibilities to curious little people. Such limitless potential continually beckons me forward. I really do have the best job in the world.

Grade One love on Valentines Day ... so blessed!

Technology in the classroom

There is nothing better as a teacher, than seeing students fully engaged in the learning process and working on ipads means this happens regularly. Whenever my students get a chance to use an ipad they are super excited about learning. Whether it is working on phonic and maths apps or reading and comprehension tasks, students are keen to learn and stay focused for extended periods of time.

Students who are tempted to disengage during mat time or those who are easily distracted become focused and dedicated learners when they can manipulate this particular learning tool. The ipads have proven to be a great tool for buddy work where students effectively peer tutor one another. By teaming students up in their individual areas of strength, they are able to co-teach their peers and further the consolidation process of curriculum content, concepts and facts.

I have used the ipads as a successful differentiated learning tool across a variety of different learning needs. Students in need of learning support enjoy tasks that assist them in consolidating their sounds and phonological awareness in a fun and stimulating format. However, I have found that these students need careful monitoring to ensure that they use the app tasks effectively and purposefully. Careful hovering ensures that students do not make random selections or undertake unnecessary guesswork when learning their letter and sounds. Students are reminded to carefully select sounds and letters by also using wall charts and alphabet cards displayed around the classroom.

For those students ready  and in need of extension of curriculum content, the ipad has allowed them the freedom to learn autonomously and independently at their own pace. Opportunity is given to pursue areas of personal interest around broad curriculum themes. This term a few of my students investigated matter and specifically explored the concepts of solids, liquids and gases. After gathering the information that they needed, students worked in their project books and presented their learning to the rest of the class. A highlight was showcasing the variety of science experiments that they had worked on, which was a great teaching and learning tool for everyone. Used wisely ipads compliment classroom learning in purposeful and meaningful ways.

Writing a paragraph - Hamburger style!

When teaching my students about the art of writing a good paragraph, I came across this very fun way of teaching them how to make sense of it all using the idea of a hamburger  ~ thus sandwiching their ideas together. 

The top and bottom bun hold everything together - all the details (the yummy bits of the meal) are stacked one on top of the other. 

Writing took on a whole new meaning and the students enjoyed sharing their delicious ideas.

The Story of Chicken Pox

The story of Chicken Pox ... as told by a student in Grade One.

Chicken pox did the rounds in my classroom last term, so for many weeks we had numerous students absent. There were a lucky few who escaped the spots, much to the surprise of those who were unfortunate enough to catch them. One thoughtful student wrote a story, just so we all knew what the Chicken pox was all about ... just incase we didn't know!

So here it is ... short and sweet!

'While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.'
~ Angela Schwindt

Class Newsletter

This term we had a lot of fun with our 'Farmyard Frolics' unit. A highlight of this unit was our visit to Paradise Country where we watched sheep being shorn, working dogs round up sheep and stockmen with their whip cracking skills. Feeding and petting the baby animals brought squeals of delight and great photo moments. Throughout the term we learnt how a farmer looks after his animals and what products come from the farm. We even churned butter into cream, shaking it up in a jar, right in the classroom. Exploring animal habitats in other regions like the arctic, rainforest and the ocean opened our eyes to the vastness of the world around us and the plethora of living things that roam the earth.

As part of this unit we investigated a micro habitat and set up an ant farm in the classroom.

Ants are fascinating little creatures and provided hours of fun exploration as we learnt a variety of ant facts.

Below are a few drawings of farm animals from our amazing little artists.