ABCD time - PE
Libby and I have been taking PE as part of our Friday ACBD time. We have been coming up with new ways to challenge the children and consulted Whaea Rochelle on new ways to use equipment and what had worked well with her in the past. Have a look at the pictures of our tamariki fully involved at ABCD time, helping each other and taking risks.
MediTrain first aid training
Last Saturday, most staff members took part in first aid training. This was a fantastic day of learning. I learnt some excellent skills that are so important for working with children. I learnt about safely approaching an accident scene to ensure my safety and others safety. We practised CPR on an adult, child and baby plastic model. It was an excellent refresher for such a valuable skill. I also learnt about asthma, how to treat burns, broken bones - particularly which bones are more serious due to nerves and arteries, shock, head injuries, poisoning, strokes and the FAST method (face, arms, smile, time), bleeding and choking. I am very happy that I took part in this training and will keep my manual close by for frequent revision. Here are some pictures of me doing CPR.
Maori course
Ako Maori Learn Maori
Ako Tuatahi First learning
I attended a night class to deepen my knowledge of the language and culture. I thoroughly enjoyed attending these sessions and learning more language and my mihi. I found writing my mihi to be a valuable experience to connect with my heritage. I had written a mihi in the past but wrote a more in depth mihi including my grandparents and siblings. I am keen to continue learning Maori in the future individually or in a group setting.
Ako Tuatahi First learning
I attended a night class to deepen my knowledge of the language and culture. I thoroughly enjoyed attending these sessions and learning more language and my mihi. I found writing my mihi to be a valuable experience to connect with my heritage. I had written a mihi in the past but wrote a more in depth mihi including my grandparents and siblings. I am keen to continue learning Maori in the future individually or in a group setting.
Maths professional development
I love teaching maths and am always eager to improve my maths teaching. As part of my own deeper learning, I attended a maths course
on Saturday. I enrolled in three workshops. The first workshop was about
linking early childhood education to new entrant maths. This included ideas for
activities, a strong emphasis on play and the importance of patterning. The
second workshop was called creating number sense. A number sense involves
children knowing what a number is, what it means and all the different ways it
can be represented. Lastly, a workshop about creating a maths environment
throughout the school day. I came away feeling inspired to make some
adjustments to my programme and learnt about some great activities to bring to
the classroom.
Collaborative reading
Nicky (Rm 9) and I both teach new entrants. We have decided to collaborate for morning routine, writing, reading, maths, music, PE and art. I believe collaboration is a very effective teaching tool as we can work to our strengths and bounce ideas off each other. I will outline our collaborative reading routine.
We read the shared book together in room 9, one teacher reads and one takes assessment or early words. We then split off into two groups, ability based. I take levels 3 and 4 and Nicky takes level 1 and 2. It is great to be able to do this as the independent activities I have in my room are really targeted to the ability of the children. The activities are grouped into technology (iPads), word work, working on writing and reading to self, this is our take on programme called the daily five. Each child has a choice of what they want to do out of some provided activities. Choice is important as children learn best when they feel that they can take ownership of their own learning. I am also able to have more focused group teaching because of our collaborative teaching.
We have put a lot of thought into our reading programme and have adjusted, changed and critiqued to ensure best teaching practice. This reflection happens daily! Ask your child about their favourite things to do at reading time.
We read the shared book together in room 9, one teacher reads and one takes assessment or early words. We then split off into two groups, ability based. I take levels 3 and 4 and Nicky takes level 1 and 2. It is great to be able to do this as the independent activities I have in my room are really targeted to the ability of the children. The activities are grouped into technology (iPads), word work, working on writing and reading to self, this is our take on programme called the daily five. Each child has a choice of what they want to do out of some provided activities. Choice is important as children learn best when they feel that they can take ownership of their own learning. I am also able to have more focused group teaching because of our collaborative teaching.
We have put a lot of thought into our reading programme and have adjusted, changed and critiqued to ensure best teaching practice. This reflection happens daily! Ask your child about their favourite things to do at reading time.