Teaching Challenges

Tech Tips Tuesday

2011-10-25T12:07:00.004+11:00

I thought that today I would mention the tech tools and resources that I called on in my first week back at work. One of my challenges has been remembering what some of the online tools and resources are called, and after that finding that they have changed since I last used them! Some of the resources below were already being used by the teachers in the classrooms I share.

Information sources:
Talking Textiles - This contribution from "The Children's University of Manchester" provides interactive activities and quizzes that help students to develop an understanding of textiles including how they are made and decorated.

How the Body Works - This Kids Health site has movies, quizzes, articles, word finds and activities to teach students about the body systems. I used this with the Year 5/6 students who will be writing explanations of the respiratory system later this week.

Behind the News - This ABC program was used in both Year 3 and Year 5/6 to expose students to recent news and to create opportunities for discussion around current affairs.

Study Ladder - (previously Smart Kiddies - and wow, what an upgrade!!) I used this resource for interactive whiteboard activities for Maths lessons, but there are now activities in a great range of learning areas. Study ladder is free for all my purposes, but for more information on costs see the pricing chart.

Worksheets:

Math Drills - I used the free black line masters for fractions to use with my Maths class.

Classroom Organisation:

Super Teacher Tools - I used the Group Maker tool to create random pairings of students in my Spelling and Maths groups.

Lesson Design:

When creating interactive whiteboard pages for my lessons I returned to the Flickr Creative Commons for images to bring the pages to life.

Back to Teaching

2011-10-25T08:50:00.002+11:00

I've been back at work a little over a week now and my world hasn't fallen apart. My little one hasn't cried as I've left to go to work, and while he is happy to see me when I get home he doesn't seem to be concerned that I wasn't there all day.

I've been enjoying the company of my colleagues and given the collaborative nature of my school, I haven't actually had to do much planning yet. I've been surprised by how many things are second nature to me. It felt almost as though I walked out of the classroom on Friday and back in on Monday.

Just a short post today as it is my day with bub and it's time to get him up from his morning nap!

The Countdown

2011-10-12T20:44:00.004+11:00

So, my little one has just had his first birthday and my maternity leave has drawn to a close. I have just four days left before I walk back into the classroom and begin it all again. For the remainder of this year I will be working three days a week - one day in Year 5/6 and Year 4, one day in Year 3 and one day in Kindergarten or relief teaching.

People have been asking me how I feel about going back to work - whether I think I will cry, whether I'm ready, or whether I'm keen to get back into it. I'd have to say that I have mixed feelings. I'm pretty sure I'll cry, but I'm looking forward to seeing all 'my' other kids again, and I do think I've reached a point where I feel ready.

I have been very fortunate to have enough maternity leave, annual leave and long service leave to have seen me through a whole year at half-pay. It has been a luxury that I've taken full advantage of. I've enjoyed spending time with my son - going for walks to the park, swimming at the pool, meeting up with other mums and bubs, visiting the library, playing with toys, rolling around in the backyard having a wrestle... It has been a pure delight to watch him change from a teeny-tiny baby reliant on me for EVERYTHING to an active, playful little boy with a mind (and will!) of his own. And while we probably won't be able to enjoy such a leisurely pace in the future, we will still enjoy many special moments together.

I look forward to getting back to work in time to see my Year 4s from 2009 as they graduate to high school. I look forward to catching up with my Year 1/2s and seeing how much they've grown and changed in the last year. I look forward to the mental challenge of teaching and the companionship of other teachers. My passion for teaching is as strong as ever - it has just been dormant for the past year!!

So, am I ready? I think so. I've ticked off most of my to-do-before-I-go-back-to-work list. Now it's just a matter of doing what I can to take the pressure off the first week - things like cooking up a batch of baby casserole to freeze, packing a baby bag for babysitters, and trying to get the place looking pretty clean and tidy.

I'd like to say that I'll let you know how it goes, but I think I will be a bit preoccupied for the first few weeks. We'll see...

Tech Tips Tuesday

2011-04-26T11:58:00.003+10:00

Animated Online Books

Another site for online books was brought to my attention this week. Story Time For Me currently has 30 books in its library and 1-2 books are being added each month. The stories are animated and narrated with options for students to read at their own pace as well. Most of the stories have a moral for children to learn - some more explicit than others. It would be wise for teachers to view the stories in advance to select those stories that portray the messages relevant to the needs of their students.

A word of warning - this site contains quite persistent advertising for personalized books that can be purchased. These may be a bit distracting and deter student attention to the text. Teachers should be mindful of this when using the site and monitor how this impacts on student learning.

The Beloved Library

2011-04-18T13:37:00.003+10:00

The Mummy Bit...

Being a big believer in reading to babies, I started to read to mine in the womb. Yes, a little bit extreme, I know, but it helped me to keep the habit going despite all the many challenges of starting out with a newborn. We also began visiting the library regularly to change books. I can't rave enough about how great the library system is and how fantastic to be able to enjoy such a vast array of books at no cost. We have been borrowing board books, picture books, CDs and parenting books and magazines.

Our library also has story time for under school aged children, and Giggle and Wiggle for the babies.

The Teacher Bit...

I never cease to be amazed by how much my students enjoy their visits to the school library. They get so absorbed in their search for books of interest and they love to share their finds with their friends. They love to be exposed to great reads and to seek out books by the same author.

Selecting Good Books

One way of selecting good books to read is the trial and error, quick flick method. We have found a few gems this way including Isabella's Garden by Glenda Millard and Rebecca Cool and You and Me by Giovanni Manna. We've also walked by the display table on the way to the door and picked out a couple this way too.

Another (perhaps more efficient) way is to draw from book lists of recommended books. I purchased Don't Leave Childhood Without... A guide to the best books for children and have been working my way through the books listed. I log onto my library's website from home and request items from the list. The library texts me when they arrive and then I just pop in to pick them up. (Much easier than trying to find the books by looking through the shelves myself!) I've used this book when teaching to find a novel my students might enjoy hearing read aloud. 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up is another resource that could be helpful for this.

Of course, it's also nice to see some of the newer books that are coming out, and to go with a few that are being noticed for awards. The Children's Book Council of Australia is a great source for these gems, although it may be more difficult to get your hands on a copy through the library system.

In wrapping up...

Don't forget the beloved library as a resource for encouraging children to develop a love of reading. It is free and convenient, offering a great range of material.

Not just another mummy blog

2011-04-13T22:55:00.003+10:00

One concern I have with beginning to blog again is that I don't want this to become a Mummy blog. From time to time however, I may like to share some of the insights I have gained as a mum or thoughts I have on educating children from an early age. These posts will be tagged "early starts" and will have their own link on the side bar.

After much consideration, my husband and I have decided to avoid creating an online presence for our son - through photos etc, and instead allow him to decide how this will be done later in his life. We are both somewhat tech savvy and enjoy the latest gadgets, and plan to share these with him, but we also want to leave his options open so that he can forge his own online identity without any embarrassment relating to what his Mummy posted on her blog during his childhood.

So, you won't find any identifiable photos of him here. You'll just have to believe me when I say that he is a sweet looking boy who often gets comments for his unusual amount of hair and big blue eyes.

And this is not another Mummy blog!

Returning to the Blogosphere?

2011-04-12T21:18:00.002+10:00

It has been too long since I last contributed to this blog. As I sit here typing, I am trying to spark up a bit of commitment to what I have started and deep down want to continue. I liken it to someone returning to work after having won a million dollars. Of course, if you won a million dollars you would want to take a break, get away for a while and enjoy what most people could only dream of, but in the end you might want to get back to doing some of the other things you are passionate about and that have given you something to work towards.

Having a child is something that I have always dreamed of and feel incredibly lucky to be experiencing. With the birth of my son, I have been enjoying the special time that we have together while I am on leave from work. I am now halfway through my leave, and I realise that I also need to begin thinking about and planning for my "what next?". On top of that, my little one now has more of a daily routine, so there are points throughout the day where I could jump on the computer and write a post, read and respond to emails and all those other things I've struggled to find time for.

And so, I hope that this is the start of something that will gain momentum again in the weeks and months to come. I look forward to sharing with you and catching up on what I've missed!

Tech Tips Tuesday

2010-08-03T19:41:00.003+10:00

This Week's Tip - Mind mapping with Kidspiration

I've mentioned Kidspiration on other occasions, but found it useful again this week and worth another mention. It's such an easy tool to use and students pick up on it quickly and use it effectively. I tried it with students in my Year 1/2 class and they really got into it and taught themselves how to find and add pictures, how to change line colours and much more.

Students were asked to create a mind map of the things that keep them healthy. I demonstrated the basics and created my own mind map (though incomplete) as seen below:

They began with the central idea - Keeping Healthy, and then branched out as their inspiration led them. One of my gripes with the program is that it doesn't pick up on spelling as students type or offer suggested spelling. These days that is one of the things you come to expect.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2010-07-20T00:32:00.000+10:00

This Week's Tip: Learning about the Brain

Next term both my Year 1 students and my Year 2 students will be completing a health unit. The unit for the Year 1s focuses on what makes us healthy including diet, exercise, sleep, hygiene etc. They unit for the Year 2s focuses on the different body systems and how they work. I've spent some time these holidays seeking out some interactive resources that I can use with a particular focus on the brain and nervous system. I'd like to share some of these with you here:

E-learning for Kids - has a great activity about the brain and nerves. This would be useful to explore with students to gain a greater understanding of how the brain works. It is interactive and has kid-friendly pictures and animations.

The Secret Life of the Brain - is a PBS site providing a range of information about the brain. I particularly like the 3D anatomy of the brain which allows you to look at an illustration of the brain from different angles.

Your Brain and Nervous System and Your Gross and Cool Body: Nervous System- provide explanations of the brain. These will be useful during our literacy lessons when we teach students about the features of explanations and model how to write them.

Brain Drain - is a simple activity for getting an idea of the functions of different parts of the brain.

Brainy Games - is a variety of games to help you learn more about the brain and test your knowledge. I haven't tried them all, but found the ones I did most useful for revision.

Neuron Explosion - goes into greater detail than I plan to cover with my students, but may be a useful activity for students who want to take things further. This simple activity explains the parts of a neuron and has a true/false quiz.

I hope you find something useful for stretching the minds of your students too! Enjoy

Tech Tips Tuesday

2010-06-29T00:01:00.000+10:00

This guest post was written by education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for PharmacyTechnicianCertification.com.

20 Free Summer School Resources for Students

Studies have shown that kids experience learning loss from grade to grade if they do not participate in educational activities on their summer break. Of course, convincing kids to study during the summer is no easy feat. Turning to the Internet may be one of the best ways to keep them engaged and interested in academic activities. When kids are online, they don't usually feel like they're studying--especially if they're having fun. Here are 20 sites your student can try throughout the summer.

Book Adventure - Designed for K-8 students, this free reading motivation program allows children to create their own book list, get reading recommendations, take quizzes about books they have read, and earn points and prizes for their efforts.

Big Universe - Big Universe is an award-winning site for both reluctant readers and creative kids. Registered members can read hundreds of books and take quizzes to test their comprehension. Big Universe also offers a unique tool that allows users to create, print, and publish animated e-books.

MeeGenius - MeeGenius is an online picture book library for kids. Library patrons can read books, personalize books with their own name, and share the books they read and personalize with other people.

Read Print - This online library provides more than 8,000 classic books, poems, and plays that can be read for free online. Children's favorites include Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Little Women.

Librivox - Librivox is a good source for free audio books. The site's volunteers have recorded thousands of books that are in the public domain. MP3 and ogg files are available for many of the best-loved classes.

365 Pictures - 365 Pictures offers writing prompts to inspire creativity. A new photo prompt is published each day. Old prompts are also available in the site's archive.

Whyville - Whyville is a social learning community for kids. After becoming Whyville citizens, children can chat, play games, and learn about science, math, art, and more.

Seussville - Seussville provides a wide range of games based on Dr. Seuss' books. Site visitors can also listen to music and sign up to win free books.

Tutpup - This free, award-winning site provides a safe place for children to play educational games and challenge other students around the world. Game categories include spelling, times tables, basic math, and algebra.

Math Playground - Designed for elementary and middle school students, Math Playground offers math games, logic puzzles, word problems, math videos, and other resources to keep kids up-to-date on their math skills throughout the summer.

Arcademic Skill Builders - This site offers free single-player and multi-player arcade games that can be played online. All of the games are educational and designed to maintain and approve academic skills.

Canvastic.net - Canvastic.net if a web-based graphics tool for K-8 students. The free version has many useful features, but does include advertisements. An upgraded version without ads is available for a small fee.

Tux Paint - Tux Paint is an open source drawing program for children age 3 and up. The program provides easy-to-use drawing tools, sound effects, and a helpful cartoon mascot.

Crayola.com - Students can express their creativity and work on their art skills in Crayola's Creativity Center. The site offers a card maker, certificate maker, games, and more.

Stellarium - Stellarium is like a planetarium for your computer. The software is free to download and displays a realistic night sky on your desktop.

International Space Station - NASA offers a wide range of information about the International Space Station on their website. Students can view videos, photos, and details of current missions.

National Zoo Web Cams - Children can tour the Smithsonian Nation Zoological Park over the summer by tuning into the zoo's live web cams. Some of the animals that can be viewed include fish, otters, ferrets, cheetah, leopards, fishing cats, lions, tigers, pandas, gorillas, and flamingos.

FreeRice - This UN World Food Program site is good for older students who like trivia and community service. Every time a trivia question is answered correctly, rice is donated to the hungry. Trivia categories include art, chemistry, English, math, foreign languages, and geography.

Yugma - Yugma is a free web-based conferencing tool that would work well for students who need off-site tutoring over the summer. The tool allows users to share desktops and meet with up to 20 people at once.

BJ Pinchbeck's Homework Helper - BJ Pinchbeck's Homework Helper is an excellent place to find additional summer school resources. The site links to resources all over the web. Resource categories include art, music, computer science, English, math, science, health, foreign languages, and social studies.

Friday Fun - 30/4/10

2010-05-02T18:22:00.002+10:00

Term 2 started this week and it was nice to get back into things with a short week. Here are some of the highlights.

Fun This Week

Anzac Day Assembly

On Tuesday afternoon the Year 5/6 students hosted a special assembly in recognition of Anzac Day. The proceedings were very respectful and students maintained a very solemn attitude throughout.

Antonyms

We taught students about antonyms (more commonly thought of as opposites) and encouraged students to think of words that pair up. We had a cardboard jigsaw for students to use to extend this learning, and also found a couple of online games to practice pairing antonyms. One is at Do2Learn and another more complex one can be found here.

What's in the Box?

This term Year 2 students will be exploring different materials and considering their properties and how they may be changed. We began by presenting them with eight different items in shoe boxes. They reached into the box and felt the object and then wrote down words to describe the properties they identified. We used the following worksheet to record the investigation. Items we used included: glass, wood, concrete, rubber, aluminium, plastic, plasticine, and styrofoam.

What's in the box

View more documents from pennyryder.

Art

For 2P and 1/2Rs art lesson we played with tones, textures and fractions to create an abstract piece of artwork. Students were given three coloured squares - black, grey, and white. They cut one of these in half creating two triangles; one in half creating rectangles; and one in quarters (squares or triangles). They used scrunched newspaper to splotch a large sheet of purple paper with yellow paint (for the background). I also gave them some strips of crepe paper streamers to twist or fold into lines. Students then added all their bits to the purple paper - creating a picture or pattern if desired or placing in an abstract design.

The Blogger Behind This Blog #8

2010-05-02T16:27:00.002+10:00

I feel I owe my readers an explanation for my slackness with blogging this year. It's not that I have come to devalue blogging, or that I've given up my interest in teaching and technology - these are all still a part of who I am. However, something else has come to the fore. It has jiggled up the way I see the world and the way I use my time.

I'm sharing my body with a baby. I'm going to get to be a mummy.

For me this is huge. This has been my biggest dream for the longest time. In my perspective, this is bigger than anything I've done so far - bigger than teaching, bigger than running, bigger than living in New York City.

I'd always hoped that one day I might get my chance, but never really believed it would happen. I was busy filling my life with these other things, hoping that they might satisfy me instead. And while these have become an important part of who I am, I am very excited by what lies ahead. I feel that it is at the core of who I am.

So, my life has taken a bit of a turn. I'm no longer trying to forward my career in order to make up for being childless. I'm no longer looking for a running challenge to push me to my limits. I'm no longer balancing on the cutting edge of technology, waiting to try the latest and greatest. Instead, I'm trying to look after my family: my husband, my baby and myself. I'm taking time to rest and relax. I'm taking time to talk to my husband and plan for the future. I'm taking time to eat right and take the dog for a walk.

I plan to keep blogging, at least for now, but over the next couple of months I will be moving Friday Fun across to the School Website on our My Classes page. This will make it only accessible to parents, but will make it easier for other teachers to contribute to and continue once I go on maternity leave.

I want to thank those of you who have supported me with my blogging journey so far, and apologise for my inconsistency of late.

Cheers,

Penny

Friday Fun - 2/4/10

2010-04-03T12:50:00.007+11:00

The past couple of weeks have been exciting for a number of reasons. It was great to meet up with parents during the three-way interviews and to have the opportunity to discuss each child's learning and development. We have been doing lots of special things in the classroom and having fun with our learning.

Harmony Day Activities

For Harmony Day this year students wore orange and made a donation to the Red Cross efforts in Haiti. In the Year 1/2 and 2 classrooms we selected some activities for students to rotate through. One teacher taught students some origami, another taught students a game, another made a circle of decorated orange hands with them, and I played and discussed this video from explore.org. Our message was that everyone is different and we can appreciate and learn from the differences of others.

Earth Hour

We didn't do anything too spectacular for Earth Hour this year. We continued with our Friday Fun, but with all the power turned off. The room was darker, but not too dark. You would think that it would be quite easy to play with Lego without any power, however I did have students ask if we could put some music on, and I found myself itching to get on a computer and finish typing up students' stories! It's sad how reliant we become on electricity.

Cityscape Artwork

Year 2 students created cityscapes by cutting out paper buildings and then using black marker for adding detail. They added land and other features using oil pastels.

Excursion to the Botanic Gardens

The day of our excursion started out with a good bout of rain. It got so heavy at one point on the bus ride that we seriously considered turning around and returning to school. We decided, however, to continue as planned but to have something to eat in one of the classrooms before beginning our journey around the gardens. Finally the rain let up enough for us to move on. The Year 2s investigated the bridges throughout the gardens and completed booklets made by Miss Poore. The Year 1s explored the biodiversity of the gardens, pointing out interesting features of plants and insects. They also completed this booklet provided by the Botanic Gardens.

Bridge Building Day

Year 2 students brought in boxes and other items from home to use for building bridges. They were given some time to plan their design and then got busy with the building. It was great to see the designs they were coming up with and to see their responses to some prompts ie. "How do the cars get up onto the bridge?"

Year 1 Presentation

While the Year 2s built bridges, the Year 1s went through the photos that were taken during the excursion. They then created a PowerPoint presentation and speeches to share with the other Year 1 students to explain what they had seen and learnt at the Botanic Gardens. They enjoyed selecting the pictures to include and changing the background colours for each page.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2010-03-23T20:32:00.004+11:00

This Week's Tip: Thoughts on "Thinkin' Things 1"

During my computer lab duty last week I did some playing with the software our school already has access and licences for. I came across Thinkin' Things Collection 1. While I'm not sure how much I would be willing to pay for this program, it was a great find for something we already had. There are six different activities for students to explore thinking skills and creativity with music, patterns and shapes. Levels can be modified according to desired challenge.

My students enjoyed exploring this software and experimenting. Partway through the session we paused with our playing to share the things we were discovering. Everyone was buzzing with excitement and loved the opportunity to get creative.

In particular, I enjoyed playing the chicken xylophone (which plays clucking sounds!) and also trying to play Oranga Banga's instruments after hearing him play them in the dark.

I'm looking forward to trying our Thinkin' Things Collection 3 during my lab duty this week!

Friday Fun - 19/3/10

2010-03-21T09:09:00.006+11:00

I feel as though I turned a corner with my class this week. It seems that we've got to that comfortable zone where we know enough about each other to be able to relax a little, even let down our guard and enjoy a bit of fun together.

Fun this Week

Tower Building

This week all the Year 2 students completed a technology project to design, make and appraise a tower using 10 sheets of newspaper and 50cm of tape. The tower needed to be free-standing and to hold a ping-pong ball at the top. Students considered different ways of manipulating the newspaper to increase strength, stability and appearance. When they were

finished, we conducted a "gallery tour" where students walked around and jotted down constructive feedback for one another on a sheet of paper next to each tower. In a couple of weeks we will be having a "Build-A-Bridge Day" where students will have a chance to use recycled materials to design, make and appraise a bridge.

Year 1 Assembly

This week my Year 1s spent quite a bit of time in with the other Year 1s preparing for the assembly they hosted on Friday. They sang two Peter Coombe songs and showed some of their mini-beast artworks. The Year 1s did a great job and it was nice to see them up there with all their other Year 1 friends.

Beatrix Potter Books

During our visit to the library on Tuesday, I read my class one of the little Beatrix Potter Books. It's been a while since I've picked up one of these classics and found I needed to spend quite a bit of time clarifying the meaning of words which are no longer commonly used. Quite a few of the girls enjoyed the story and decided to borrow some of the other Beatrix Potter books. The librarian said that they had been coming up on the 'at risk' list in a cull she is required to do to remove the books that haven't been borrowed for a number of years. Guess their safe now for a little longer!

Money, Money, Money

In Maths we focused on recognising coins and adding and subtracting with money. One of the groups worked on team problem solving using the canteen price list, another worked on finding how much change students would get from a dollar if they spent different amounts. My group worked on calculating totals using 10c and 5c coins and also finding different ways to make up 80c. This is one of those maths concepts that is an important life skill to develop and easy for parents to practise with their children at home.

Graphing

Students in 2P and 1/2R surveyed one another about their favourite bridges and created a bar graph to show student preferences. Students found it lots of fun and a little challenging, particularly when it came to keeping track of who they had already asked.

Cricket

In Cricket this week students learnt how to bowl with straight arms and practised bowling at wickets. It has been great to watch them developing these skills a little more each week, and we look forward to the mini-game they will get to play next week.

Story Writing

Last week my class read the big book The Greedy Goat by Faye Bolton. One of the things we discussed together was the role that mice often play in stories: while small, they often make the biggest difference. Examples include The Lion and The Mouse, Who Sank the Boat, and The Mitten. As I had a copy of Jan Brett's The Mitten on hand, we read it for a bit of fun. So this week, when selecting my big book, I found The Old Man's Mitten retold by Yevonne Pollock. After reading this with the class we used a Venn diagram to compare Pollock's version with Brett's. (You can find other follow-up activities here.) Students then created their own stories with a similar plot.

Paper Planes for Friday Fun

I've been trying to stick to some kind of sciency theme in my room during Friday Fun and, not being particularly sciency myself, it's not always easy. This week I decided to do some exploration of flight using paper aeroplanes! We watched some eHow videos to learn how to make a couple of different designs and then took them outside for some test flights. Students then made modifications to their planes and we tested them out again. I think we all had a lot of fun playing around with planes and experimenting with the best way to get them to go the distance.

Friday Fun - 5/3/10

2010-03-08T09:23:00.006+11:00

It's hard to believe that we've just made it past the halfway mark of first term. Where does the time go? We're now well into the swing of our routines and it was great to have so many parent helpers flowing into the classroom during the week. We really appreciate the help that parents can offer in the classroom and it goes a long way in helping students to consolidate their learning. It also frees teachers up to be able to target specific students and support them with their needs.

Fun this Week

Maths - Groups Of

In my Maths group, I worked with students on the concept of 'groups of''. We particularly looked at groups of 2 and 2 groups of _ because it connected with our work on doubles from last week. We also looked a little at groups of 5 and practiced counting different objects by multiples.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Students in 1/2R read a big book version of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. In this version, each line is marked in one of four colours and students join in by reading their allocated colour. This was a great way to get everyone involved with the reading, and after a couple of times, all students knew the story well. On Friday students worked in small groups to retell the story through drama. They practiced a couple of times before performing it for the group.

We also used this text as a springboard for adding adjectives to our writing. Students began by choosing a creature eg. rabbit, and added adjectives to build the description.

For example: The fluffy rabbit.

The fluffy, white rabbit.

The fluffy, white, cute rabbit.

Famous Bridges

Each class selected a famous bridge to find out more about. We learnt some facts about these bridges and the elements that make the structure unique. Students from 2P and 1/2R used trundle wheels on the school oval to get a sense of the length of the bridges they were investigating. Next week students will be placed in groups with members from each of the four classes, to teach each other about the bridges they covered in class.

Literacy Rotations

While 2W and 2D have been doing Literacy Rotations for a couple of weeks now, 2P and 1/2R got started this week. We organised ability groups across the two classes (2P and 1/2R) and selected a variety of activities suited to students' needs. These include Spelling, Grammar, Handwriting, Reading, Listening Post and Computer activities. We made an activity work board so that

students can see which activities they are supposed to work on, and in which order. We also organised boxes for each group which contain their books and the worksheets that they will require. Our activity stations take place between recess and lunch on Wednesdays with an additional hour on Thursday mornings. They worked really smoothly this week, particularly due to the support of parent helpers.

Cricket

We had the first session of our Cricket clinics this week, during which time students practiced throwing a tennis ball and catching it in cupped hands (or one cupped hand). They also developed skills in aiming, by trying to hit cones at various distances.

Walkathon Rev-up Assembly

After lots of singing practice and script run-throughs, we hosted this week's assembly. We performed "Octopus' Garden" and led the school in singing "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". There were lots of other announcements in the assembly, including a Year 5/6 skit to rev everyone up for the walkathon, and an amazing violin performance by a teacher who tutors violin for interested students. It was great to see so many family members who made it along to the assembly.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2010-03-02T20:14:00.004+11:00

This Week's Tip: Basic Word Processing

I don't like to spend too much time teaching the basics of word processing, but I know it's something that my students need to learn. Here's an activity to teach a few things in one hit and produce a book that students can take home to learn about their classmates. I did this with students in a Year 1/2 class. I demonstrated all steps (except the printing and saving process) before sending students to work. Skills covered are written in red.

Who Am I? Book

Preparation: Upload photographs of all students to a location they can easily access. Ensure all students have a folder to save their work in.

Step 1: Log onto a computer and double click on the Word icon.
Step 2: Choose a larger font size (we used 26 because we didn't have to scroll down to select it!)
Step 3: Students type 5 clues about themselves eg. I am a girl. I have long brown hair. I am in Year 1. I am good at tennis. I like riding my bike.
Step 4: Teacher circulates and demonstrates how to right-click on spelling errors underlined in red, and select the correct spelling. Teacher corrects misspelled words where the correct option is not given.
Step 5: Students select Word Art following the path Insert/Picture/WordArt. They select the style they would like to use and type into the box: Who am I? (After pressing OK, they can resize the text by dragging the edges/corners of the text)
Step 6: Students press the Return/Enter key to move to the second page and then follow the path Insert/Picture/From File to find and insert their photo.
Step 7: Below the picture, students type: I am (insert name)
Step 8: Teacher demonstrates how to print and save.
Step 9: After checking with the teacher, print the document.
Step 10: Save document into folder.

Completion: Collect up student work and bind pages or insert into a pocket display book. Students can then read this in class or take turns to take it home to read with family.

Who Am I

View more documents from pennyryder.

Friday Fun - 26/2/10

2010-02-27T18:44:00.009+11:00

Where did this week go? We had a great week, despite the number of afternoon meetings we teachers had to attend. I must admit, it's nice to be a teacher again this year, and not one of the leaders needing to organise and run the meetings! I'm enjoying the time I get to spend with my students, the easier pace, and the better work/life balance.

Fun This Week

Build it Up
Students looked at a Flickr slideshow of images of bridges. They then filled out KWL charts to jot down the things they know about bridges (K), and the things that they want to know about bridges (W). We made a list of their suggestions and later in the week we used a 'hot-dotting' procedure to determine the most popular student interests. To 'hot-dot' students placed dots next to the suggestions they liked most. They had a purple dot to represent 3 points (for their first preference) and two green dots to represent 1 point (for their next two preferences).

Monet's Bridge
1/2R and 2P students created artworks inspired by the work of Monet. They drew a bridge landscape using watercolour pencils and we will be finishing them off and adding the water next week.

Insect Close-Ups
As part of their Biodiversity unit, the Year 1 students learnt about a variety of mini-beasts and created magnified drawings of them. They used oil pastels to colour these in.

Recorder
Students had their first recorder lessons for 2010 this week. The Year 2 students took off from where they left at the end of last year, and my Year 1 students had an introductory lesson with me. They learnt how to hold a recorder, how to blow through it, and the fingering for notes B and A. The Year 1 students also joined the Year 1 unit for a singing lesson in the afternoon.

A Class of Spies
1/2R read the big book "The Spy Meeting" by Jill Eggleton this week. Students then drew pictures of themselves as spies wearing "hats for hiding in", "shoes for slinking in", big jackets, dark glasses and carrying spy paraphernalia. They then named their spy and wrote about their spy. We put these together to create another Overnight Take Home Book. I also found this unit plan for the big book - too late for me, but it may be handy if you are going to use it!

Little Visitors

The Year 1/2 class had some little visitors on Monday when one of the students brought in his baby mice to show us. Apple Strudel and Berry Strudel enjoyed their visit and everyone was keen to have a pat.

Doubles Facts

This week our Maths lessons focused on the link between addition and subtraction. My Maths group made ladybirds to learn the doubles facts and the subtraction facts to go with them. We used the ladybirds from Sparkle Box.

How Long is a Metre?

1/2R and 2P played with the concept of a metre. Students began by estimating a 1m line with wooden blocks and then checked it with a metre tape. I was impressed with how close the estimations were. They then measured items around the classroom and completed a table to show things that were less than a metre, about a metre and more than a metre.

Octopus' Garden

Next week the 1/2 and 2 classes will be hosting the assembly at school so we began preparing a song to perform. We will be singing "Octopus' Garden" with the guitar accompaniment of one of the teachers. (The Beatles version is pitched too low for our students.) I sense that we will be doing a lot more practice next week!

Swimming Carnival

We had our annual swimming carnival on Friday and the younger students enjoyed time with structured activities: tyre relay, noodle relay, kick board relay, cork scramble, ball games, hoop activities etc They also had some time for free play including the use of the slide. The older Year 2s had their first time at the big carnival and enjoyed cheering for their house and swimming in races.

Friday Fun - 19/2/10

2010-02-21T07:47:00.008+11:00

Having had such a bitsy week with sickness the week before, it was great to get back into gear and have a proper week at work. Things are starting to come together better and we are working out how our routines are going to work and how to manage differentiation across classes. The Year 1s in my class got to spend some more time with the other Year 1 students, which they'd missed out on in the previous week. Next week we hope to get started with home readers, Spelling, and Maths groups, so it may be a little rocky to begin with, but it always is at the beginning.

Fun this week:

Footsteps Dance

Last year we had a trial lesson with Footsteps Dance Company to see whether we wanted to use them this year. We were very impressed, so had them back this week. Rachel worked with students across all grade levels and taught them a dance to perform for our Thursday evening performance. The Year 1/2 and 2 students learnt how to "Walk Like an Egyptian". It was a lot of fun and found it irresistible to join in with them during the practices!

SouthCare Helicopter Visit

On Friday morning the SouthCare Helicopter landed on the oval adjacent to the school. We took classes down to watch, and then students got to walk through and see the inside. Our local milk suppliers provided a free carton of milk to all the students. (It's always funny to hear how much the kids love the milk - it must taste different when it's given to them in a small carton!) These visits are always very exciting and get the kids nicely hyped up for the rest of the day!

Build it Up - Year 2

I took my Year 2s out to look at the construction that is taking place in our playground. To see what is happening and try to make sense of the bits we can see. We will visit again throughout the term to see how things are progressing.

The Earth - Year 1

The Year 1 students began their Integrated Inquiry. They learnt about the meaning of Biodiversity and watched segments from a video called "Earth" which looks at how animals interact with their environment and with each other. They learnt that living things require water and the sun.

Maths

I spent a lot of time during the week organising the new Mathletics passwords and logons for 2010. Students should now be able to access Mathletics again and teachers can use it (and Rainforest Maths) in their Maths lessons. I have been doing this in my Maths lessons, using examples from the board and students working in teams at their desks writing answers on small whiteboards. This builds the skills as well as developing teamwork.

I also invented a class game to practise representing 2-digit numbers using bundles of 10 paddle-pop sticks and loose sticks. I put an interactive hundreds chart on the board. Students took turns in their table groups to make a number, check it with their group and then tap it on the Interactive Whiteboard (thus changing its colour). The class continue to make the unmade numbers until all have been completed. Students found this particularly exciting and got plenty of practice at representing numbers with bundles and singles.

Flanimals

On Tuesday one of my students brought in the book "Flanimals" by Ricky Gervais. She was very excited for me to read it to the class, so we read some during our Library lesson. We had our computer lab lesson straight after library, so students used 2Publish+ to draw their own flanimal and write about it. We put these together in a display folio to send home for students to read with their parents. It was a great opportunity to springboard from one student's interests and allow everyone to experiment with their own creativity.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2010-02-16T21:32:00.001+11:00

10 Sites for Teachers to Add to Their Personal Learning Network

Developing a personal learning network that includes online communities and web 2.0 tools is a great way for teachers to develop and stay connected. There are many different sites that would be valuable to any educator's PLN. Here are 10 sites to explore today.

The Educator's PLN - This personal learning network for educators provides social network information, Twitter information, and listings of blogs, educational sites, tutorial sites, and online videos.

TheApple - Monster created this site to provide a place for teachers to meet and learn. Site offerings include weekly newsletters, a job search board, career articles, education news, a place to find and share lesson plans, videos, and forum.

LearnCentral - This Elluminate site is a social learning network for education. Teachers can use it to find resources, connect with other educators, host virtual meetings, and contribute to the academic community.

TeachStreet - TeachStreet bills itself as a site for people who like to learn, but it is much more than that. This online community makes it easy to find classes and learning materials and also allows teachers to locate and network with students online.

TeacherLingo - This online blog community for educators is a good place for teachers to share their blogs or find new blogs to follow. TeacherLingo also provides discussion forums and a place to share lesson plans and other classroom resources.

TeacherTube - TeacherTube is an online community for teachers who want to share instructional videos. Visitors can watch videos online, view documents, listen to audio, or contribute their own learning materials.

WTT - WTT (We the Teachers) has combined social networking with education resources to create a useful personal learning network for teachers. Site members can share ideas and lesson plans, learn from other teachers, and join groups of educators with shared interests.

Classroom 2.0 - Classroom 2.0 is a Ning network for teachers who want to explore the use of web 2.0 tools in the classroom. The site is a good place to engage in discussions, share resources, and learn about upcoming education events.

Partners In Learning Network - This global community of educators provides a place for teachers to learn, discuss education, find lesson plans, and access free classroom tools. The community includes more than 1.5 million educators in 59 countries.

Edutagger - Created specifically for K-12 educators, this social bookmarking site allows teachers to share links to educational articles and websites.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online degree programs for OnlineDegreePrograms.org.

13th Teaching K-6 Carnival

2010-02-06T11:22:00.007+11:00

Welcome to the February 2010 edition of Teaching K-6 carnival. I apologise for my lateness in producing this month's edition. I have been fighting off a virus this week and have struggled to get much done. In the Southern Hemisphere school has now started for the 2010 school year. We have been busy establishing routines and meeting parents. In the Northern Hemisphere teachers fight on through the cold with the anticipation of the upcoming Spring.

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, why not check out these fun activities...
Char Polanosky presents Valentines Day Math Place Values Worksheet posted at Printables for Kids, saying, "This is a fun math activity for the kids to do while preparing for Valentine's Day."

Rachel Lynette presents Valentine's Day Logic Puzzle posted at Minds in Bloom, saying, "Just a little something for Valentine's Day"

Brain Strain

Jasmine Hall shares a fascinating list of 50 Brain Facts Every Educator Should Know posted at Associate Degree - Facts and Information. For example, did you know that the human brain is 75% water and weighs about 3 pounds?

Swagat lightens the mood with some amusing School humor..... posted at Its all in here. I'm a fan of the analogies!

Gripes and Brags

Find out more about copyright, fair use and pirating from Mathew Needleman in his presentation Steal This Preso (K12Online09) Now Live! posted at Creating Lifelong Learners.

Leah Aharoni shares a parent's perspective on The Danger of Parenting Books posted at Ingathered.

Innovate - Beyond the Slate

Christina presents How to make math fun – and understandable posted at Gadabout Media, saying, "The King of Everything isn't a sit down and just memorize it learner. So when his first grade teacher handed his class 60 pages of homework for winter break, we had to make it fun--and understandable. Now? Subtraction, addition, rounding up, rounding down, greater than less than? No problem. We've got pennies to show us the way!"

Quirky Momma presents Using M&Ms to Graph with your Preschooler posted at quirkymomma.com, saying, "M&Ms and math?!? I wish my algebra teacher thought of this!" She also shares Learning to Read Word Families: ??at? words saying, "We love this early reading curriculum. It is great to supplement schooling!"

Shannon Dodds shares how she brought snow inside for her children to play with in Snow Day! posted at Mommyapolis. Teachers in snowy areas might like to consider this an option for a scientific exploration of snow.

Claudine presents ESL Lesson Plan Ideas for Winter Break posted at Korea-Diva, saying, "Here are some easy activities for teachers who are short on time. I used these lessons during winter break in South Korea, but they can be used at any time!"

TIC presents Download Free SMART board Activities For All Grades posted at Technology In Class, saying, "Looking for prepared lessons for a SMART board? Look no further, here are many of them."

Kevin Heath presents Tips For Teaching Your Child To Read posted at Kevin Heath - More4kids Inc..

Look No Further

Camille Hensley presents Top 50 Global Education Blogs posted at Online University Rankings.

OnlineCollege presents 100 Best Education Blogs of 2009 posted at Associate's Degree.

Harold Gelien presents Top 50 Blogs for e-Learning Tools and Tips posted at Top Online University Reviews.

Angela Martin presents 100 Inspirational Blog Posts for Homeschoolers posted at Associate Degree - Facts and Information.

Herbert Anderson presents 25 Tips for Students & Teachers Using Google Wave posted at Top Online University Reviews.

Rose King presents The Ultimate Google Wave Guide for Students: 100 Tips, Tools, and Tricks posted at Online Degree Programs.org.

Redfire Atkinson presents 5 Free Online Web Apps to Show Off Your Artwork posted at Masters in Art Education.

Aaliyah Williams presents Top 6 iPhone Apps for Teachers posted at Masters in Special Education.

Kaitlyn Cole presents 100 Essential Blog Posts for the First-Year Teacher posted at Online Colleges.org.

Mary Jones presents 10 Great Articles to Teach Your Kids About Strangers posted at Online Degree.

mrrob presents 20 Awesome Web Tools For Teachers & Professors and Five Top Websites for ESL Students posted at Teaching degree online.

Why not submit your post for the next carnival?

The Teaching K-6 Carnival is posted monthly on the 7th. I will be collecting submissions throughout the next month, looking in particular for posts that discuss and exemplify innovative teaching and the integration of technology in the K-6 classroom. I also invite some discussion around education related news articles and a few "brain strains" to keep our minds alert and challenged. Please submit only articles of which you are the author and refrain from using this merely as a sales pitch. For full details, please read my call for submissions.

If you have a relevant post that you would like to submit to the next edition of Teaching K-6 Carnival use our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Friday Fun - 5/2/10

2010-02-02T19:23:00.004+11:00

Wow. What a great week!

This was the first week of the new school year. I met my new kiddies and got back into the swing of doing school. And it was FUN! Over the summer I zoned out completely and enjoyed the bludgy things of life - I even painted my nails! I'd forgotten how much I'm in my element when with my class, so it was unbelievably good to be back at it.

This year I am teaching a Year 1/2 composite class filled with awesome kids. I get to work with both the Year 1 teaching team and the Year 2 teaching team to make sure that my students have access to valuable learning experiences.

Fun this week:

Class Novel
This week the students in Years 1/2 and 2 began reading James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. We hope to read a few of his books throughout the year and we're enjoying this one so far.

Self Portraits
Year 1/2 and 2 students sketched self portraits and then added colour with oil pastels. They used an edicol dye wash for the background. The finished product was fantastic and it was great to see character shining through the style each student used.

Fundamental Motor Skills
We set up four stations to further develop skills in locomotion and throwing, catching, and striking a ball. The Year 1/2 and 2 classes moved through these activities, having an absolute ball and developing coordination at the same time.

Class Names
The Year 1/2 and 2 classes have selected class names relating to life in the ocean. We have the Super Sharks, the Fantastic Fish, the Stunning Seahorses and the Terrific Turtles (that's my class). We did some research on our animals and then did a relevant art activity. My class made origami turtles using the following video from eHow:

How to Make an Origami Turtle -- powered by eHow.com

Friday Fun
We set up a variety of activities in the Year 1/2 and 2 classrooms and students chose which activities they wanted to try. One classroom was set up with construction equipment including Mobilo, Lego and Gears. Another was set up for creative play with puppets, dress-ups, and a variety of arty crafty activities. And mine was set up with a collection of different types of rocks, magnifying glasses, books about rocks and minerals and mini "science notebooks". We hope to offer a similar variety each week to allow students to explore, learn and play.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2010-01-12T09:26:00.003+11:00

This Week's Tip: Livemocha

Julie Lindsay shared this link in her Across My Desk (Weekly), so I thought I'd check it out for myself...and now I'm hooked! Livemocha is a social network for learning languages. It makes so much sense that I wonder why it has taken us (well, me) so long to get to this point.

I've found myself being drawn to language learning at various points throughout my life so far. At high school I learnt bits of German and then a few years of Japanese. In Year 12 I learnt some Russian in preparation for some voluntary work in a Russian Summer Camp. While teaching at a school with Spanish as a LOTE (Language Other Than English) I did a basic course in Beginning Spanish. A couple of years ago, I did further study of Spanish at my local Technical College. And, yet again, I'm drawn to learning for two main reasons:

1. I'd like to be able to travel to Japan and REALLY experience it.
2. Should I ever have a child, I'd like to be able to bring them up bilingual.

So how does Livemocha work?
After registering for an account (I chose the free version and so far it is meeting my needs) I selected the course/s I wanted to work on and began my first lesson. The lesson content is the same for each language, just with different vocabulary (obviously!) The first part of each lesson involves seeing images, listening to the spoken language and seeing the written text (translation is available). At the end of this part you can choose to make a flashcard set from the vocabulary. The second part is a review quiz covering the content just seen. The third part is a written task to apply the vocabulary learnt. This is then submitted to the network (and this is the best part) for a native speaker to review for you! The fourth part is a spoken task, recorded with your computer's microphone, again submitted for review. Whenever you submit a task, you are invited to review someone else's task. You get Mocha points for completing lessons and also for reviewing the work of others.

Why I love it
The way I see it, this is collaboration at its best. We are all teaching AND learning at the same time. I need others to support me with Japanese and Spanish, others need me to support them with English. I understand the struggles of others as I struggle too. Helping others is easy, but the help of others is invaluable. It makes so much sense!

The not so good bits
Sometimes the vocabulary is inconsistent across the different parts of the lessons. For example, in my first Japanese lesson, there were new characters in the speaking part that weren't introduced in the vocabulary lesson.
Involvement can become time-consuming. I find that a lesson takes about half an hour from start to finish, and then on top of that I end up doing quite a bit of reviewing others' work. This hasn't been a problem while I'm on holidays, but once work starts back, I'm not sure how it will go.
Some of the written tasks involve divulging information about upcoming holidays, directions to your house etc. I am not comfortable providing this online to strangers, so change the task in order to protect myself. I'm also cautious of how this may be used by people to make connections beyond the language learning arena as I've already had a message from someone (not a regular user of Livemocha) suggesting we meet up.

How could you use this?
If you would like to learn a language this is a great way to do it, particularly if you have some prior knowledge of the language. I wouldn't suggest using this with students given my objections regarding personal safety/privacy.

12th Teaching K-6 Carnival

2010-01-07T00:01:00.001+11:00

Welcome to the January 2010 edition of the Teaching K-6 Carnival. This edition marks the start of the second year of this carnival. As we head into 2010 we look forward to another year of learning filled with inspiration, collaboration, and challenges.

Brain Strain

Allison Johanson presents a great read for those teachers on vacation who are looking for ways to keep their minds active. You may also find some useful ideas for the classroom in her 55 Tips to Instantly Make Your Brain Stronger and Faster posted at Masters in Health Informatics.

Nightwalker explains Content-Based Instruction – A Cognitive Approach in his post at My English Pages. This is a good introduction as a starting point to learning and applying content-based instruction.

Gripes and Brags

Mimi shares her passion for children's books and tells us about a close encounter with the author type in Warning: People In Mirror May Not Be As Fabulous As They Appear posted at It's Not All Flowers and Sausages. If you haven't discovered her blog yet, don't hold off any longer - it's a winner.

In the News

Keira presents Why Should Kids Read Newspapers? posted at Literature Young Adult Fiction, saying, "Reading the newspaper is a great way to encourage reading habits and teach skills."

Innovate - Beyond the Slate

Rachel Lynette of Minds in Bloom gives us a great list of ideas to help us Get out of that Rut! These suggestions help to shake things up in the classroom to prevent boredom setting in.

Tom DeRosa presents Use a Deck of Cards to Set Your Child Up For Future Math Success posted at I Want to Teach Forever. These simple suggestions help students to develop skills with sorting and counting and pave the way for more difficult concepts.

MG presents ideas on Teaching our kids to save. posted at Personalize Baby. Why not use this suggestion to inspire an art project to make personalised piggy banks that students can fill at home?

At A Reader's Community, M Dahms presents an answer to the question What is Reader's Workshop? Here you can find all you need to get started and keep going with Reader's Workshops.

Elementaryhistoryteacher presents Bespoken Blacksmiths posted at History Is Elementary. This post helps us to think more about the importance of teaching subject specific vocabulary, and also helps us to understand the context of blacksmithing.

Vera Lang presents How to Knit Christmas Tree Ornaments posted at Fine Craft Guild .com. While a little late for this year, these may come in handy for 2010. "These little Christmas tree ornaments are so easy that kids could make them as presents for their family home. Great seasonal projects. Free patterns, illustrations and craft tips provides."

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Building My Leadership Capacity

2009-12-30T10:40:00.003+11:00

At the onset of 2009 I decided I wanted to build my leadership capacity. I had grown comfortable with teaching and wanted a new challenge. So, while I love teaching, I thought I would begin to explore the next level up. I told members of my school's executive team about my interest, and they found me some things I could begin working on to enhance my leadership skills. I also began a Graduate Certificate in Educational Leadership, which I hope to turn into a Masters at a later point in time. To begin with, it was like learning a new language - all the educational leadership theory was new to me. I'd never realised how much was involved!

Things really started making sense to me when I "won" (by default!) a temporary position acting in higher duties. Initially it was supposed to be for 4 weeks, but due to changing circumstances, it continued for two terms. What an opportunity! I was so excited by the new challenges and ran on nervous energy for a good few weeks. I set out to do whatever was required, take every opportunity, even if I'd never done it before. And let me tell you, I experienced a GREAT deal of first times. I hate first times. They were mostly successful, but they just take so much out of you. On the flip side, they DO make second times much easier!

At the end of the first term, I was still chomping at the bit - keen for more, so was very glad to have it extended further. I was developing my systems, becoming more confident, finding my own ways to contribute to the executive team. When I arrived at work on my 'exec day' I wrote myself a 'to-do' list and worked my way through it. As much as possible I tried to stay a little ahead of myself so that should anything unexpected arise I wouldn't find myself drowning.

Big Picture Perspective
One of the things I really loved about the experience was that it gave me a much better understanding of the 'big picture'. Most of the time I have an excellent understanding of what I am doing in my classroom and a considerable knowledge of what is going on across my year level. In terms of the rest of the school, or my school system, I only find things out as they become important to what I'm doing in the classroom. In the exec role, however, I gained a much better understanding of how everything ties together. I came to understand a lot more of the 'why' behind what we do and how the school runs.

Problem Solving
I loved the opportunities I had to sit down and discuss the big issues with members of the exec team. In particular, I enjoyed popping in on my acting Deputy Principal, who was also doing the Grad Cert, to share ideas and talk through some of the things we were working through. She was a great support to me, giving me guidance as I took my baby steps in leadership. I also enjoyed chatting with the other acting School Leader C (that was my role) about the things we were learning and how we were tackling things. I learnt a lot from watching her approach to things and can see some areas for my personal growth.

Connecting with Teachers
I also enjoyed getting to know teachers across the school. The nature of my varied roles this year meant that I ended up rubbing shoulders with every teacher in some capacity. I would like to build this further during future opportunities, because I didn't feel like I did this as well as I would like. I would like to support my teachers more and take time to check-in with them on how things are going.

Supervising?
One of my pet peeves this time was that it wasn't clear from the outset which teachers I would be writing supervisory reports for. I was given one teacher at the start of my time - for whom I feel I did a thorough job because I was aware of my responsibilities. But then another popped up about a week before the report was due, and then another at the end of the next term. The result of this was that I was writing reports for teachers I didn't actually have the opportunity to mentor or support. As I said, it was a pet peeve not a major issue of contention. I was able to write the reports based on informal observations and discussions I'd had with the teachers, but I just didn't feel I was providing them with the best learning opportunity that I could have provided.

Projects
I was a bit disappointed with how things went in terms of the projects that I was working on. I think that I may need to develop some assertiveness to ensure that my visions don't get steamrolled by others. There were also times when I felt that things may have gone a little off track. I'm still trying to determine the proper pace for introducing things - again coming back to assertiveness - in order to get the ball rolling, gain the momentum and interest of staff, but without overwhelming people.

My two big projects were the Enrichment Committee and Microsoft Peer Coaching (to include the introduction of laptop computers in Year 5/6). On the Enrichment Committee we did a lot of talking, planning and data collection. We didn't get to have a PD session for staff until Term 4, Week 8 - which at that point felt almost pointless. On the positive side, it sounds like the staff are all on board with the sort of thinking we're working through and are keen to get something started in 2010. I will probably work on some things during the holidays to springboard us into the new year.

As far as the Peer Coaching went, the laptops didn't arrive until the end of the year, and despite chasing it quite consistently, I wonder whether it would have made a difference if I'd gone up the ranks harder and faster. In terms of coaching teachers, I did bits where possible, but don't feel I really gave it enough attention. Most teachers were feeling overwhelmed trying to fit everything in as it was without adding additional pressure to integrate technology more. This is something I would like to continue to build further in 2010 regardless of whether I am on the executive team or not.

Reading and Editing Reports
Reading and Editing reports was a challenge, and possibly the closest I came to failing at something in my exec role. I had the stupid idea to 'track changes' in Word, and it proved difficult for some teachers to work with, and then also difficult when it came to printing. I also had some teachers argue for the wording that they had used rather than accepting my recommended changes, and I wasn't blunt enough to tell them that the words they used made them sound arrogant and judgemental. This wasn't in a lot of reports, but it did make me wonder who is SUPPOSED to have the final say when it comes to wording. Should I have been more assertive, or is it essentially up to the teacher to determine their choice of wording?

Extra bits
There were also lots of extra things that came into the role. I got to do quite a bit of data analysis looking at our NAPLAN results, ICAS results and School Satisfaction Surveys. This helped me to develop that big picture perspective and to consider the future direction of the school.
For the last few weeks I took charge of organising relief teachers (not too bad at this time of year).
I ran a few meetings and workshops for staff or parents on various things and became less nervous with this.
I did a little behaviour management - sorting out issues between students, and sometimes between students and teachers. I was quite happy with the approach I took to this - which while at times lengthy, seemed to help students to really resolve the issues.

All in all it was a great experience, but by the end of the school year, I was feeling drained. In hindsight, I wonder if it was the reports that broke my spirit, as I didn't seem to have the same energy or enthusiasm past that point. I'll learn from my mistakes this time and be better prepared next time. And maybe I'll just have to accept that this is one of the tougher parts of the job, and that I won't always please everyone!

So, what's ahead? I'm going to sit tight in my own school a little longer and continue to take up any leadership opportunities that come my way. At this stage that means more Microsoft Peer Coaching, more sitting on the School Board, more Enrichment, and contributing to the validation process through the School Improvement Cycle. There's enough there for this year even without the official title of School Leader C!

The Year That Was - 2010

2009-12-29T09:40:00.006+11:00

I've been doing lots of thinking about the year that I've had and the many things that filled it. It was possibly the most productive year I've ever had, but I don't feel I had time to really live and enjoy it. Here's what happened...

January - Enjoyed the holidays and joined the Twitter 365 Project group with Flickr. Unfortunately I couldn't keep it up for long once school started back! Started Tech Tips Tuesday and The Teaching K-6 Blog Carnival. Camped a night with my sister at the coast. Did lots of coast trips with my hubby and dog to put more kilometers on the car for our car lease!

February - Started school again, back where I feel challenged and inspired, and began teaching Year 4. Started a unit of work on the book Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda. Joined the School Board as a teacher representative. Organised Harmony Day Assembly.

March - Started my Graduate Certificate in Educational Leadership. Began mentoring an intern teacher.

April - Presented at the Edna Mini-conference. Went to my Nana's 90th Birthday in Gosford. Began using the Flip Mino and Blue Snowball microphone in the classroom. Began weeding on the Ridge.

May - Went to Sunshine Coast for Microsoft Innovative Schools Conference - presented during the unconference. Started an Integrated Inquiry unit of work on Australian History and a Literacy unit on the book New Gold Mountain by Christopher W. Cheong. Year 4 Camp to Warrumbui.

June - Prepared nomination for my school in the Excellence in Teaching Awards. Year 4 students performed Fairytale plays and Fife and Drum music for their parents. Went to Gosford with my Mum to visit my grandmother.

July - Began a higher duties role in my school which continued until the end of the year - this involved less time on class and more time working on school projects and planning/managing/mentoring etc. Began training in Microsoft Peer Coaching. Ordered and kept chasing laptops for the school (which didn't actually arrive until late November!) Year 4 visited the Ridge for more weeding and made the local paper.

August - Ran in the City to Surf road race in Sydney. Went to Pink's concert. Had my first go at geocaching. Presented at ATESOL workshop. Started Integrated Inquiry unit of work on Textiles and Design. Experimented with Cooperative Reading Groups in Literacy. The Showboating Showoffs began to learn creative dance which they later performed in an assembly.

September - Had an article published in EQ Australia. Worked on ABC 3 Promos using claymation and other video production. Year 4 excursion to the CSIRO. My class attempted geocaching for the first time. Returned to New York City for a couple of weeks holiday - enjoyed all the favourites yet again and caught up with friends. Ran in the New York Fifth Avenue Mile race.

October - Began an Integrated Inquiry unit of work on Space. Struggled through the rest of my uni studies. Trained our school's team for the GATEWAYS challenge. Bought Guitar Hero for XBOX 360 - great stress relief at the end of the day!

November - Collected and sorted data about enrichment programs at my school and presented these to staff and also to principals from my district. Year 4 excursion to Questacon. Went to a friend's wedding in Sydney.

December - My youngest brother got married. We drove to Melbourne to pick up an old fashioned bathtub to hold drinks for Christmas. Struggled through the last few weeks of school. My class did another geocaching adventure on the Ridge and helped our department's Learning Technology Support Officers to create a video about geocaching. Cleaned and cooked for Christmas lunch at our place.

I considered putting in links so that you could read more about these things, but realised that that would make for a lot of hyperlinks and would be annoying to read. Instead, if there's something you want to know more about, you can probably find it in the archived items for that month, or if it's a unit of work - in my Units of Work section.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-28T17:46:00.002+11:00

I haven't been around in the blogosphere so much over the past few weeks. And I've felt a little guilty, but must say, I've enjoyed the break. I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and thank you for your support during the year. It has been fun to share my ideas with you and to learn from your ideas and suggestions as well.

It has been a crazy, busy year for me. I think I ended up taking on a lot more than I initially intended. A number of times along the way, I said to myself, that I could only get through it all if I managed to stay healthy. And, stay healthy I did.

I think the last couple of weeks of school were tough emotionally and I struggled to keep it together until the end. I got to the end of each day and just felt drained. I found myself wondering why I had slogged away so hard through the year. One of my old youth group leaders (only 5 years older than me) died of a heart attack, which stopped me in my tracks a bit and made me question the direction of my life. I hate goodbyes and found myself wishing I'd had more time with my class. And then there was all the packing up and cleaning of the classroom. Ugh. So, at the end of all that, I needed a break and didn't have the emotional energy for blogging.

After the first weekend of holiday, I was already feeling SO much better. I read through some old high school diaries to reconnect with the me that was, and actually discovered I'm pretty happy with the me that is! It's strange how we only remember the good stuff from our past. The diary fixed that and reminded me of all the issues I had as a boy-crazy, nasty Year 9 student; and then later as a confused and frustrated Year 11 student uncertain of the future and desperate for answers. I must say (and it's embarrassing to admit it) I was quite hooked and couldn't put the books down DESPITE the fact that I already knew how things ended! I have about 15 of them still to go, but am avoiding them for the same reasons I avoid too much Twitter! I was reminded how lucky I am to have my husband and the life I have. I was also reminded that I've never really had things 'all worked out' and that I've always had my fair share of crazy ideas.

So anyway, I hope to be writing a little more frequently now that I'm having a bit of a break from normal work, but I'm trying to make the most of some time to relax and do other things I love as well - bike riding, painting, cooking, and reading. Looking forward to it!

Hope you enjoy any holidays that come your way at this time of year.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-12-08T00:01:00.002+11:00

This Week's Tip: Photo Fun
For some quick fun with photo effects, Photo Funia is the place to be. It's very easy to use and the kids LOVE it! Why not create a moon scene display board and get your students to put themselves in a spacesuit? Students can put their face on money, or wanted posters and see themselves as Jedi masters. I got a bit carried away with this, making myself a cupid, Mona Lisa, Marilyn Monroe and body builder. My students said: "Mrs Ryder, you seem to be having too much fun with this!"

Preparation:
Take a photo of all of your students in good light and save these to a location that is easy for students to access. (Files need to be less than 8MB). Ensure that the website is not blocked in your school.

Lesson:

Students go to the website: http://photofunia.com/effects/
They select the desired effect.
THEY SELECT NOT TO HAVE THEIR PHOTO ADDED TO THE FACES SECTION OF THE WEBSITE (Some effects say this will not happen, others require students to tick the box).
They choose the image they would like to upload and wait for their picture to be created.
They then choose to save the image to an appropriate location (their folder).
Students can then print the image from this folder or use the file in other multimedia products

SO MUCH FUN!!

Update: Please be warned that from time to time, inappropriate scenes may be included in the effects. Use at your own discretion.

11th Teaching K-6 Carnival

2009-12-07T06:40:00.006+11:00

Welcome to the December edition of Teaching K-6 carnival. With Christmas just around the corner, teachers in Australia and New Zealand are getting more than their fair share of the silly season. Finishing the school year is tiring business - with Christmas concerts, graduation ceremonies, reports, Christmas crafts and the hustle-bustle to finish everything off in time. The summer heat doesn't help either as tired children feel tension in the friendships that have been so strong throughout the year.
There haven't been an overwhelming number of relevant posts this month, so enjoy this small sampling of delights. As you 'unwrap' this month's offerings, I hope you find some goodies to motivate and inspire.

Gripes and Brags

This month Sonja Stewart shares her frustrations about the state of education in US schools. In Where Have All the Students Gone? posted at Parenting Squad she wonders how her child is going to receive a world class education with only 15 days at school during the month of November. She questions the usefulness of half-days and their impact on student learning. Why not pop by and share your thoughts on the issue?

Following on from this, Edwin Choi presents Elementary School in Seventeen Easy Steps posted at K12 Directory of Schools Blog. These tips may be useful considerations for parents when determining the best place for their child's education. It always helps to know the philosophy of your child's school and what the school offers. This list may also help schools to identify those issues of greatest concern to parents. Edwin Choi also shares her list of The Top Ten Books for Preschoolers. These all time favourites would make great Christmas prizes or presents. Alternatively, they could be purchased for a fresh new library set at the start of 2010.

Wendy Piersall at Classroom Jr. shares free Christmas Math Worksheets saying, "These were a huge hit last year, so I wanted to share them with your readers early this year!"

Brain Strain

Tracy Rosen shares her thoughts from Alfie Kohn's QPAT speech in her post On de-rubricizing at Leading From The Heart. She questions our use of rubrics and goes so far as to call them 'creativity killers'. Rather than limiting students to a set of boxes in which they find a place to sit, she encourages us to lose the rubrics, but raise the bar.

Innovate - Beyond The Slate

In his post at Open Educator, Graham Wegner considers the term Digital Transition to describe the current state of his school - somewhere between a traditional paper based, non-digital classroom and the always on, 1:1 connected environment. Read his blog and consider your own situation and your progression within the 'digital transition'.

At NZ ICT Edublabberings you will find the must-read post from Rachel Boyd, For Kids, By Kids: Nelson Kids' ICT Expo. Here she shares the story (and videos) of the amazing things her 6-7 year old students are doing with ICT. Not only have they developed skills in the use of ICT, but they have also taken the initiative to share their knowledge with others. This a very inspiring post demonstrating what can be achieved with the right encouragement and opportunities.

Look No Further

Ferrari Dude presents Top 50 Bloggers to Help You Study, Focus and Learn Better posted at Best Online Universities.com.

Support this Carnival

If you enjoyed this edition of the carnival, you can support its continuation by sharing it with others. Link to us, add us to a tweet, stumble or digg us. Thanks!

Technorati tags: teaching k-6 carnival, blog carnival.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-12-01T00:01:00.000+11:00

This Week's Tip - Look after your stuff!

I have been teaching for two weeks without my Smart Board. Why? Well... I failed on the basics of using technology in the classroom. My data projector was mounted under a skylight, which (it turns out) had been collecting and dumping leaves and dust down onto the projector. Some of this clutter burned its way into the optics of my data projector and the resulting image was a great big purple smear on one side of my Smart Board. I tried to use it like that for a couple of days, but it kinda got in the way!! So... my data projector was taken down and delivered (by us, to save on costs) to the repairman. Unfortunately, his estimate to fix it was $1000. We don't have that sort of money sitting around, so I think the job's on hold at the moment. And I'm feeling REALLY guilty for not having noticed that mess was falling down from the skylight.

So, this week's tip: If you're lucky enough to have an Interactive Whiteboard, treat your data projector with the utmost of respect.

As for me, there's only three more weeks to go for this year, so I'll try to live without the Smart Board. I'll borrow my teaching partner's space if I really need to use the Smart Board and go back to marker on a whiteboard for the rest!

Friday Fun - 27/11/09

2009-11-28T10:40:00.003+11:00

You can imagine my relief to have come to the end of writing reports this week. I'm not sure why I find it such a challenge. I guess because I want to get each comment "right". I have enjoyed teaching all of my students and value each one of them as individuals, and it can be difficult to communicate that in a report. There are set protocols for how these should look, and I find myself spending about half an hour per child, per report.

I'm very aware that the year is drawing to an end, and am trying to make the most of all the last moments.

Fun This Week

Spelling
Through all the assessment and report writing, I discovered that some of my students have 'forgotten' some of the spelling patterns they 'knew' earlier in the year. I started to think more about this, and wondered whether it might be that they have just been guessing the correct spelling patterns each time, coming up with the right one sometimes, but not other times. I felt the need for more explicit instruction about base words, and how to correctly add prefixes and suffixes.
As a result, this week I provided a base word and together we made adaptations using a range of prefixes and suffixes. We considered how the base word changed as these additions were made. I'm going to continue this for the rest of the term in an attempt to help students make these connections in their spelling. I am hoping that students will begin to think more about the base words as they write, using this information to assist with spelling rather than relying on 'sounding out' alone.

Cricket
On Thursday we had a Cricket Clinic at the school. Students participated in some games and drills to practise cricket skills such as striking a ball, throwing and catching. They had a lot of fun and enjoyed the 'prizes' we were given to share out.

Kindergarten Buddies
On Friday I invited students from Kindergarten to come and join my class as their teacher was providing orientation to Preschoolers who will be Kindergarten students next year.
I set up a range of activities and put students in buddy groups. They rotated through the activities, spending about 10 minutes at each. The Year 4 students did a marvelous job of being caring tutors and the Kindies had a ball meeting one of the big kids and trying out some new activities with support.
Activities included:
Writing in Microsoft Word and adding Clipart

Adding to a theme poster - jungle, theme park or underwater world

Maths games

Looking at fibres through a microscope

Reading together

Art
This week we made star advent calendars to count down the days until Christmas. The star was a geometrical pattern and we made colourful links - one for each of the days until Christmas. Children take off one link each day as they count down to Christmas.

For more fun from the past two weeks, remember to check out Space Spectacular #4.

Space Spectacular #4

2009-11-28T07:02:00.008+11:00

Week 6 and 7 - Finding Out, Sorting Out, Making Conclusions, Going Further

The activities in these weeks were designed to provide opportunities for students to find out about space and sort their ideas in a range of forms. Students took a test to demonstrate the conclusions they had made from their learning. We then had an excursion to Questacon for students to take their learning further and explore other scientific concepts through hands on exhibits and shows.

Science

Gravity
One of the focus questions for our unit this term is: What is gravity and how does the force of it pull things on or above the Earth's surface towards it?In preparation, I took the text from Ask an Astronomer for KIDS! and spread out the key ideas on a worksheet:

What Is Gravity

View more documents from pennyryder.

As we discussed each key idea, students drew a picture to illustrate the concept. I found that this was a helpful way to unpack the ideas. I particularly liked the last point and showed students these photos from when I stood on the special scales in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

We also read and discussed this simple explanation.
We then made artificial satellites as explained in this NASA activity. The gravity of the larger clump of plasticine balances out with the centrifugal force of the smaller clump of plasticine, keeping it 'orbiting'. I'm not sure that this is the best way to describe how orbits work, but it was fun to do anyway! You can see a video of the result below:

Earth's Atmosphere
Jonathan, my teaching partner, crafted the following lesson using this lesson plan found online. In teams of four, students drew the Earth and then added the atmospheric layers using a scale of 1mm=2km. We used this website for further information and also watched this animation to see it all in motion. The only change I would make is that I would make sure the Earth is to scale next time as well, by checking out the diameter of the earth and using a compass to draw it. (I just found this animation that would be helpful as well - too late for us this time, but may help others).

Guest Speaker
"Commander Cooper" (AKA Captain Lister) came to talk to us about his experiences with Space travel. We actually combined two grades - the Year 1s who are learning about transport and the Year 4s who are learning about Space. Yet again, Commander Cooper did an awesome job of engaging students with costumes, photos, videos, student participation and valuable, kid-friendly information about Space travel. Thank you Commander Cooper!

Making Conclusions - Taking the Test
I created this test to determine whether students had achieved the key learning outcomes for the unit of work. I asked them to give as much detail as possible and not just take short-cuts with their answers. I was impressed by how much students demonstrated in their responses and was also surprised when some students asked for a spare copy so they could do it again at lunch, just for fun! As you can see, the test ties very closely to the activities we did throughout the unit.

Space Test

View more documents from pennyryder.

Going Further - Excursion to Questacon
I've found no better place to take students to experience science on a large scale, than Questacon. It is fun, kid-friendly and brings science to life. Rather than post all the photos separately, I've added a slide show here for you to see.

Integrating with Literacy

Journey to the Moon
Jonathan crafted and taught this lesson. He began with astronaut training, briefing students on some key information about the Moon. They then buckled in as Jonathan used Celestia to take them to the Moon. As they got close, their lunar module experienced difficulty and crash-landed on the surface of the moon. Students worked in small groups, to prioritise a list of items they would need as they travelled toward a space station for support. I found a similar lesson plan here. Students then reported back to the group giving justifications for their choices. This was a very engaging activity and provided students with opportunities to use language to discuss the problem in small groups and also to share their ideas with the whole class.

Descriptive Writing
This activity is similar to one we did about spiders earlier in the year. We looked at some photos of nebulae and created a list of words that could be used to describe them. Students then played with the words (and their own adjectives) to create descriptive pieces of writing. Some had a poetic structure and others were descriptive paragraphs. My plan is for students to type these up and display them with their Nebula Watercolour Paintings from Week 4.

Evaluating Explanations
Earlier in the term students wrote explanations of the life cycle of a star. This week I displayed their posters around the room and gave students mini post-it notes on which to write constructive feedback (one + and one - ) for each other and attach to the posters. I asked that they ensure every poster had some feedback. They continued with this process of reading and providing feedback for about 10 minutes, collecting additional post-it notes as necessary. At the end of the 10 minutes, students collected their own poster and made a circle sitting on the floor. We went around the circle with each student sharing the feedback they received and what they had learnt about themselves as a writer and the process of writing an explanation. It was a great way for students to reflect on their work and learning and to consider areas for improvement in the future.

Reading with Expression and Comprehension
We have had a strong focus on writing during Literacy this term, so I wanted students to have an opportunity to practise some reading as well. Some of the students in my group have become a little lazy with their reading: not self-correcting when reading aloud, and not focusing on what they are comprehending. I decided to address that with some reading aloud about space.
We only had 7 copies of a book called "Life in Space" which provides explanations about elements of space travel, so I grouped students to read together.
Each person was given a topic to master. They needed to be able to read it fluently with expression and to have full comprehension of what it is explaining. Students took turns to read aloud to their group, who then provided feedback on their expression/volume etc.
Next week students will 'perform' their reading to a larger group and explain their topic and/or any diagrams on the page.

If you enjoyed this post, why not check out previous posts in the Space Spectacular Series.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-11-24T00:01:00.000+11:00

This Week's Tip - Experience the World Without Leaving the Classroom

Today I would like to share with you another great resource for educational videos and photographs. Explore has three main goals:

to champion the selfless acts of others
to create a portal into the soul of humanity, and
to inspire lifelong learning

The videos are short and captivating. They shed light on life beyond the classroom walls and explore the experiences of people around the world. These snapshots spark interest and lead to further questions about the world and its people.

The resources on this site are categorised both by topic and by country, making it easy to filter for the materials you need. As long as they're not blocked at my school, I can see myself using these with students during those transition periods while I wait for students to pack up and come to the floor for the next activity.

They would also fit nicely into units of work on culture, animals, the environment, and music.

Tech Tips Tuesday - 15 Free Tech Tools for the Classroom

2009-11-17T00:01:00.000+11:00

Today I share with you a guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online classes for OnlineClasses.org. You may have also enjoyed Karen's previous guest post: 20 Free Learning Technology Resources.

15 Free Tech Tools for the Classroom

Tech tools don't have to put a strain on your district's budgets. There are plenty of free tech tools that can be found online. Many of these tools were designed specifically for the classroom or for educators who want to enhance their lessons. Here are 15 free tech tools to try throughout the school year.

Edmodo - Designed specifically for the classroom, Edmodo provides a private platform for students and teachers to communicate online. Some of the things that can be shared through Edmodo include grades, assignments, polls, files, links, and class calendars.

Engrade - Engrade is a free classroom community for teachers who want to communicate privately and safely with students and parents online. Teachers can post assignments, grades, event reminders, progress reports, and more.

Empressr - Empressr is a web-based rich media presentation tool that can be used in the classroom to present lesson plans. The tool is easy to work with and allows everything from text and images to audio and video.

Eduslide - Eduslide makes it easy to create and deliver your own lessons, tutorials, and elearning modules online. You can also use this site to create your own websites for the classroom.

Web-Chops - Web-Chops is a great way to share specific parts of the web with your students. The site allows you to clip parts of the web--text, images, videos, etc.--and place them on one easy-to-navigate page.

Mikogo - Mikogo is an amazing tech tool for the classroom. It works across multiple platforms and can be used for multiple purposes. Mikogo is ideal for desktop sharing, web conferencing, online meetings, and remote support.

Anki - Anki is an intelligent flashcard program that works on a spaced repetition system. You can use it to create and share decks of flashcards with your students in the classroom. Flashcards can contain text, images, and audio.

Popling - This desktop application also works well for creating flashcards that can be displayed on a computer at scheduled intervals. Popling is most often used by language learners, but works just as well for students of other subjects.

Class Marker - ClassMarker is a testing website that allows users to create free quizzes and tests that can be taken online. The site creates professional-looking quizzes and tests and marks them when students are finished so that you don't have to.

FreeRice - FreeRice is a unique web program that allows older students to practice their vocabulary and participate in a charitable cause at the same time. For every answer students get correct, 10 grains of rice are donated to the UN World Food Program.

The Stacks - This scholastic site is a fun place for young readers to connect with each other and explore books and authors. The Stacks also offers games, videos, daily polls, and other interactive materials to engage students in literature.

International Children's Digital Library - This multicultural digital library provides award-winning books in multiple languages. After reading a book, students can expand upon the stories, create games, participate in scavenger hunts, and much more.

Shmoop - Shmoop offers study guides and unique web-based teacher resources that are perfect for the classroom. Covered topics include literature, poetry, U.S. history, and civics.

Topmarks - This UK site provides a wide range of interactive whiteboard resources on nearly every K-12 topic imaginable.

Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Metropolitan Museum of Art provides interactive virtual tours that give students an inside look at the museums permanent exhibits. Other site features include a timeline of art history and a collections database.

The Blogger Behind this Blog #7

2009-11-15T08:31:00.007+11:00

I know you've all been dying to hear about my trip to New York City, and I've been dying to tell you about it. It was really very depressing to arrive back home and have to jump straight into work again, so it's nice to have a few minutes this morning to reminisce and share my experiences with you.

Background

For those of you who don't know my background with New York, I'll give it to you quickly here. In 2005 my husband and I did a whirlwind 17 day tour of the US including LA, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Orlando (Kennedy Space Center and Disney), and New York City. During our four days in New York City, my husband said "We should come and live here for a year!" I agreed, thinking he would probably forget about it when we got home. No such luck! In fact, his interest only grew stronger.

So, I looked into it and finally managed to get a job etc lined up. We packed up everything, sold our house and moved to New York City with the thought that we might end up making it permanent. We did, however, have a safety net - we both took a year's leave from our jobs so that we could return if things didn't work out. (You can read more about our experience at my New York blog.)

It wasn't so much that things didn't work out. In fact, we were loving our lives in New York. But when we weighed up all the elements, we felt that we had greater security in the long term back in Australia - superannuation, secure jobs, health care, etc. So we did the 'sensible thing' - we came back, bought a new home, returned to our jobs and...missed New York! In 2008 we returned for a month holiday during the summer, and then this year we went for another 17 days in late September/early October. This time my husband's mum, sister and her partner came along.

We just can't stay away!

Highlights from this trip:

As I was very busy in the lead-up to the trip, my wonderful husband took responsibility for most (all) of the planning. He managed to line up a number of tickets to sporting events. This was a real highlight for me because spectator sport is so exciting in the US. There's always such a great atmosphere with lots of tradition. I also like to do the whole food thing while watching the sport!

We went to the new Yankee Stadium for a Yankees vs Red Sox game. It got rained out and was postponed for an hour or so, but was a great game and well worth the wait.

We went to Michie Stadium to watch Army play Tulane in College Football. (Again a little rain, but not game-stopping)

Also on the same day as the football, we raced back to NYC for the first ice-hockey game of the season for the Rangers.

Another highlight was the Statue of Liberty. The crown has been closed to the public every time I'd visited, up until this time. We booked crown tickets well in advance and I enjoyed exploring this extra aspect. I'm always captivated by the beauty of Lady Liberty.

I really enjoyed catching up with friends and just generally hanging out with them. It was great to see our friends' kid who was a teeny-tiny baby on our last visit. So...it's not impossible to do babies in NYC...hmmm!

Another of my favourites was the view from our apartment - again, thanks to my husband. We were on the 31st floor in a mid-town apartment. Throughout the night I would stir and look out the window at 'my city'. As you can see, it was truly beautiful.

I also had the privilege of doing a school tour of Collegiate College. This counted as a highlight for me because it reminded me of the things I love about teaching in New York. I taught the boys a song "Waddly Archer" and met teachers and IT specialists.

We went to Sofia's to watch Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks play their 1920's style music. They were great as always and there were plenty of dancers to watch as well.

And, of course, I loved just being back - the smells, the air, the sights, the sounds, the tastes, the people.

Friday Fun - 14/11/09

2009-11-14T12:52:00.005+11:00

Yet again I'm catching up on two week's worth of activity. I was away at a wedding last weekend and so didn't get a chance to post. Our learning continues to be very heavily focused on Space, so be sure to check out the Space Spectacular posts.

Fun this Week

Spelling
I realised that students were making many mistakes with homophones in their writing, so last week our Spelling lists focused on homophones. We discussed some homophones together and then used the BBC Homophones quiz to practise some examples. Students voted for their answer using a show of 1, 2 or 3 fingers. This allowed me to see the students who needed extra support. I introduced students to the Confusing Words website which can be used when students are uncertain which word to use. Students then brainstormed all the homophones they could think of and circled the ones they find most difficult to remember. I used the circled words to create Spelling lists for the students for the week.

Maths
We have been learning about 3D shapes as well as reviewing previously taught concepts. I found some really useful resources through both Mathletics (subscription based program) and Smart Kiddies (free but need to register) to support students with developing these concepts. Smart Kiddies had some great worksheets that I could print out, while the new concept search in Mathletics offered step-by-step instructions for how to draw cubes, cones and cylinders. I also used one of the interactive games from Smart Kiddies for students to sort 3D shapes as prisms, pyramids or neither.

Sport
We have had students out of class over the past two weeks playing cricket for school teams. They had a lot of fun doing so and came back to school hot and exhausted at the end of the day!

Music
Students have been learning a new song to perform for our next assembly and have been experimenting with pairing their voices and instruments to get the right rhythm. They are becoming very skilled at this and the song sounds amazing when they put it all together.
We are also preparing for our "Best Of 2009" concert where we will be performing "Rak Niwili" and "The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas".

Space Spectacular #3

2009-11-14T10:17:00.008+11:00

Week 4 and 5 - More Finding Out and Sorting Out

The activities in these weeks were designed to provide opportunities for students to find out about space and sort their ideas in a range of forms. Students typically "found out" through books, videos, websites, songs and experiments. They "sorted out" using writing, diagrams, reports and art.

Science
One of the focus questions for this unit is: "What are the relationships between distance and apparent size of objects to an observer?" My first thought was, "Huh?" closely followed by "Hmmmm." The models we made in weeks 2 and 3 touched on this but didn't really EXPLAIN anything or help students to make these deductions. I found an explanation of Emmert's Law on Wikipedia, but it was still too confusing for Year 4 students to really grasp. Somewhere along the way I thought about the funny photos you can take that play with this concept. Like this one by Andy Hay:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyhay/ / CC BY 2.0

I found a bunch of these at 100+ Funny Photos Taken At Unusual Angles and pulled out some appropriate ones to use with my class. (WARNING: Some are inappropriate, so do not use this site uncensored with your students.)
We looked at these at the start of the lesson and discussed the concept about apparent size and distance. I compared this to the apparent sizes of the sun and moon from Earth. I then gave students two different sized balls which they took outside and had to space apart in such a way that they looked the same size when viewed through the camera. Students then glued these pictures into their books and wrote an explanation of what they did and what they learnt. Those who finished early had time to create their own funny photos using their creativity.

Integrating with Literacy

Writing an Information Report

We needed to assess students' writing in preparation for end of year progress reports, so we decided to have students research and write about the sun. Information was provided through:

a double-page spread from a book about space (including a diagram)
this NASA diagram of the sun
this Space School video on the sun
and the following 'music video'

Students took notes while we explored these together. We watched the videos twice each and I demonstrated how I would take notes and add to them during the second viewing. Students then had the rest of the session to begin sorting through their notes to determine which ideas could be grouped together and to consider paragraph headings.
In the following session students began writing their report and drawing a diagram. In our next session students will review their work. You can see a copy of the Assessment Booklet below:

An Information Report About The Sun

View more documents from pennyryder.

Integrating with Art

Nebula Watercolour Paintings

Having just explored the lifecycle of a star together, I showed students some photographic images of nebulas and super novas. We discussed the range of colours and the shapes and lines that were used. We then looked at these watercolour paintings by Ken Bandaruk. I gave students a large sheet of paper and some watercolours and left them to their own creativity to make nebula watercolours of their own. Once the painting was complete, students used a bamboo skewer and some white paint to add a layer of stars. Students who finished early went on to create super nova paintings using crayons and watercolours.

One Point Perspective

Building further on the concept from Emmert's Law, I taught students how to draw with one point perspective using these step-by-step instructions. Now that students have the basics, they are going to take it further, creating scenes of their own.

If you enjoyed this post, why not check out previous posts in the Space Spectacular Series.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-11-10T00:08:00.001+11:00

This Week's Tip: Ten Tips For Starting Out With An Interactive Whiteboard

Earlier this year I thought I might like to contribute to a magazine. Education Quarterly Australia was producing a magazine on the topic "It's a Digital World" so I decided to add my own thoughts. My article "An interactive whiteboard...What next?" appeared in the Spring edition of the magazine. Here I outline 10 tips for getting started and or going further with interactive whiteboards.

Rather than republish that article here, I encourage you to pop by EQA's website where you can also read the other featured article for this edition.

Enjoy!

10th Teaching K-6 Carnival

2009-11-07T00:01:00.001+11:00

Welcome to the November edition of the Teaching K-6 Carnival. I've been vaguely aware of all the posts being submitted this month and it has been great to finally sit down and take a closer look at them. This month I share with you a number of great posts to enjoy. Be sure to check them out and spend a little time looking at other posts of interest from these bloggers.

Brain Strain

Melissa Hedding from Finds For Families shares some thoughts on the importance of teaching moral discipline early in life in her post The Moral Intellect. In her opinion, "Obedience and self-control are the first morals that a child learns".

Nightwalker shares his Tips To Improve Study Skills at My English Pages. These are a range of skills valuable to learn for students of all ages. This may be a useful list to send home with students early in the school year.

Gripes and Brags

As Erin explains, There ARE Some Students Who Struggle, But Do Not Qualify for Special Education. Her post provides information to parents in the US so that they may seek additional support for their child.

Rachel Lynette of Minds in Bloom encourages teachers to Get your Students to Tell their Parents What they Learned Today. This is a great post to use when reflecting with the class and to share with parents to improve the discussion about school and learning.

At Technology In Class TIC calls for student-centered teaching in The Failure of Teacher-Centered Teaching in A Serious Man. Here he shares some lessons that can be learnt from the movie "A Serious Man".

Andy Burtone from Andy and Ann reveals The Best Tricks to Make Your Middle School Students Happy. It's such a great read that I'm not going to give you any clues. GO READ IT!

In the News

The arrival of swine flu instigated a renewed vigor in teaching hygiene and disease prevention. Matthew Paulson wrote about Child Safety: Preparing for Flu Season at American Consumer News and Lorenzo Crocker shared 7 Facts and Myths about Washing Your Hands posted at online lpn to rn programs. In Addition Quirky Momma shares Glitter Germs: Preschooler Learning posted at quirkymomma.com.This is a great activity to help make invisible germs more concrete to your young learners.

Innovate - Beyond the Slate

This month Mathew Needleman from the Open Court Resources.com Blog shares Questions About Independent Work Time and Beginning of the Year Pre-Assessments. These resources are helpful for pre-assessing, planning and teaching in the literacy classroom.

Jim McGuire presents a convincing argument for student blogging with his post: Goals and Benefits of Student Blogging posted at The Reading Workshop. He describes just how engaging the blogging process can be.

Over at got audiobooks? John Mastro shares his experience of The Educational Benefits of Audiobooks and Children’s Learning. Whether at school, home or out an about, anyone can enjoy the luxury of being read to through an audiobook.

Though a little late now, Kakie presents literacy resources to send home for parents and kids in September is National Literacy Month - Free Resources! posted at Bur Bur & Friends: Community Park.

Tom DeRosa presents Ultimate Number Line Game: Number Sense on a Massive Scale posted at I Want to Teach Forever. This is a great resource for helping students to calculate mentally whilst learning kinaesthetically. It looks like a lot of fun too!

My contribution this month is Space Spectacular where you can read about the activities and resources we have used during our unit of work on Space.

Look No Further

Top 10 Education Wonks to Follow on Twitter

100 Blogs Every New Teacher Should Read

100+ Google Tricks That Will Save You Time in School

10 Historical Speeches that Every Student Should Listen To

100 Best Open Source Apps for Educators

Top 10 Free Open Courseware Classes for Special Ed. Teachers

50 Excellent Blogs About Education Reform

100 Free Tools to Tutor Yourself in Anything

If you have a relevant post that you would like to submit to the next edition of teaching k-6 carnival use our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Support this Carnival

If you enjoyed this edition of the carnival, you can support its continuation by sharing it with others. Link to us, add us to a tweet, stumble or digg us. Thanks!

Technorati tags: teaching k-6 carnival, blog carnival.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-11-03T09:01:00.005+11:00

This Week's Tip: Learn More About The Digital Generation

Once again I am trying to catch up with all the items in my Google Reader Account. With 242 items waiting for me, I know it's going to take a while. How did I let it get this bad? A trip to New York and too much to catch up with on return. All my habits have fallen by the wayside. I am a very habitual person, so once the habit is established I am usually pretty good. But, throw a spanner in the works and the whole thing falls apart!

So, this week I read Wesley Fryer's notes on Milton Chen's presentation, “The Digital Generation: Up Close and Personal” from the 21st Century Learning @ the West Lake Expo held Oct 31 – Nov 3, 2009 at Xi Hu, China. I love that I can attend these conferences virtually through the notes recorded by people in my Personal Learning Network (PLN). The presentation was about the Digital Generation Project conducted by the George Lucas Educational Foundation. This is what the site says of the project:

Today's kids are born digital -- born into a media-rich, networked world of infinite possibilities. But their digital lifestyle is about more than just cool gadgets; it's about engagement, self-directed learning, creativity, and empowerment. The Digital Generation Project tells their stories so that educators and parents can understand how kids learn, communicate, and socialize in very different ways than any previous generation.

While I recommend having a browse around all the materials here, some of the highlights for me are:

Here is an example of a youth portrait. This is Dana, a 9 year old in Maryland.

Check it out for yourself!

The Process from Policy to Practice

2009-11-01T07:07:00.003+11:00

This is a post I made to a discussion forum for my university studies. The question posed was: How do policies shape literacy practices? I share it here now so you can see the process we use in my school.

At my school the flow from policy to practice is evident though at times a lengthy process. The School Improvement Cycle has an important role in this, providing the initial impetus for the development of a new school plan.

School Improvement Cycle
As part of the School Improvement Cycle, we reflect on our effectiveness in meeting our previous school goals. We then consider data from School Satisfaction Surveys, NAPLAN, PIPS and other school assessments and the goals outlined in national and state strategies. We use these to determine areas of need for the new cycle. This information is used to develop a school plan with identified goals in each of the domains.

School Plan
Our school plan outlines our goals for the domains. The goals for Teaching and Learning are then taken and explored further to develop individual plans for Literacy and Numeracy.

Literacy Plan
Our Literacy Plan outlines our beliefs, goals, current practices, priorities and actions for the duration of the new school plan. If necessary, a Literacy Committee is established to support the implementation of the plan. Professional Development is selected to meet the identified needs and is listed in the action plan.

Professional Development
In our current literacy plan, some of our priorities related to the incorporation of First Steps Reading and Writing into our literacy programs. In 2008 Professional Development was provided with First Steps Reading and in 2009 Professional Development was provided with First Steps Writing. All teachers were supplied with a copy of these resources. To support the incorporation of these into literacy programs, we used some of the time in our Professional Learning Teams (PLTs).

Professional Learning Teams
In these teams we reflected on our current practice and considered how we could use First Steps to enhance our teaching. We shared suggestions and looked at samples of formats for programming. Teachers were encouraged to use these when programming for the new term.

Programming
Teaching teams were given a planning day to work together on their programs for the next term. They were encouraged to use First Steps at this time to ensure that they incorporated the new knowledge, skills and techniques in their lessons.

Teaching
Teachers used their programs to teach students. They were asked to collect samples of work for presentation at a Professional Development session outside of the school.

In theory, the process works and policy flows to practice. In reality, it still requires shared vision and the commitment of teachers to bring the change to fruition. Enthusiasm, encouragement, follow-up and time are all essential ingredients in this process.

Space Spectacular #2

2009-10-30T18:58:00.005+11:00

Week 2 and 3 - Finding Out and Sorting Out

The activities in these weeks were designed to provide opportunities for students to find out about space and sort their ideas in a range of forms. Students typically "found out" through books, videos, websites, experiments and guest speakers. They "sorted out" using writing, diagrams, models, reports and art.

Science
Students experimented with different sized meteors - an orange, a golf ball and a marble. They dropped these from a control height to see how meteor size affected crater size. In addition to this, they dropped the items from a greater height to see how speed affected crater size. Students enjoyed this activity immensely and learnt more about craters as a result.

Special Guest
We had a special guest visitor in our classroom this week. Susan was involved with an experiment involving a small rocket which was sent 400km above the Earth's surface and returned about 400km away from the take-off location. She explained the process involved and showed a video of the take off. Students were fascinated!

Integrating with Literacy

The Planets
As we read through two big books about the planets, students created "wonder clouds" on a worksheet. Students considered the questions left unanswered on each page and wrote them in their wonder clouds to revisit at a later point in time. This activity was designed to develop students questioning activities during the reading process.
Students were then provided with a range of books to use for research. They each chose a planet to research and created a mind map to gather information about the planet's appearance, features, location, history & exploration. When they had gathered sufficient information, they began to write a report using the format on Writing Fun. They then edited it (or had ME edit it!) and began working on a final draft to be made into a class book.

Life Cycle of a Star
Students began by taking 10-15 minutes to write down their prediction of the stages that a star goes through during its lifespan. Following this, we talked about the different ways we find out information - written text, diagrams, pictures, videos, podcasts, songs, teacher-talk. We viewed an explanation of a star's lifecycle through this interactive website. We then listed the positives and negatives of this form of gathering information. I then gave students a photocopy of an explanation from a book. They read through the information, and again we listed the positives and negatives.
In the following lesson we watched this video:

Life Cycle of Star - Click here for the funniest movie of the week
As they watched, students recorded the positives and negatives in their books. When the video finished, they compared notes with a partner and then with a group of four. Finally, we looked at this diagram and discussed the effectiveness of a diagram in the absence of any other information.
Students then began work on their own creations to explain the life cycle of a star to someone with no prior knowledge. They referred back to the resources, discussed their thoughts and ideas with others and considered the aspects mentioned in the positives/negatives charts.

Integrating with Art

Plasticine Models
We used this great activity that I found online to make scale models of the Earth, Mars and the Moon. I gave each student a ball of plasticine and asked them to make a model of Earth, Mars and the Moon to show their comparable sizes. Once students had completed their models, I went around the classroom capturing their "before" photo. I then took them through the process outlined in the lesson plan and took their "after" photo. We looked at the relative distance between the Earth and the Moon for these models. In a follow up lesson (after I had time to print the photos!) students glued their before and after shots on a page and wrote about how their thinking changed as a result of the activity. This will go in their student portfolios as an example of their learning this term.
Before:

After:

Space Art
We looked at some examples of space art that were created using spray paint. I didn't have access to this video at the time, but you might find it useful if you were to teach a similar lesson (not so sure about the choice of song!) We considered the shapes and colours used in these paintings and looked at the way that colours merged together. We discussed elements that would be realistic/unrealistic given what we currently know about space (eg. no trees on other planets.) Students were then given a sheet of black paper and oil pastels to create their own space scene.

Friday Fun - 30/10/09

2009-10-30T17:15:00.003+11:00

I know that I skipped last week. Sorry to those of you who were hanging out for an update. I just got really bogged down again with all the things I need to get done. I am so very, almost finished with my Uni studies, and then I'll be ready to concentrate...on reports!

So, that said, this week I will give you a bit of fun from both weeks!

Show-Boating Show-Offs
We have been learning about rhythm patterns and using body percussion and basic percussion instruments. We learnt a Welsh lullaby last week and a simple song called "Jelly on a Plate" this week. Students have been playing ostinato (repeated rhythm patterns) along to the music on the CD.

Decimals
In Maths we have been working with decimals in the form of money and temperature. Students have been learning to round numbers and order them from least to greatest. They have also been exploring decimals using MAB.

Spelling
We have had an extra boost in an attempt to improve students' spelling. We are encouraging students to use dictionaries to check their spelling as they write. We are also using a number of websites to build word knowledge and an understanding of word origins. We found it interesting this week to discover that "astronaut" comes from "astron" meaning star and "nautes" meaning sailor. A great website to use for this is the Online Etymology Dictionary. Students have also been using a few sites to practice their spelling words. The hot favourite at the moment is Spelling City.

Pumpkin Patch
Our school is currently involved in a Pumpkin Growing Competition. This week we planted our seeds in the Sunlight Centre. Each month we will photograph and weigh our pumpkin to see its progress.

Band Performance
We have been lucky enough to have had lots of band performances in recent weeks. We had a Combined Year 5 band concert at our school last week and The Junior Concert Band performance this week. Our very own Fife and Drummers were at a Combined Performance this week as well. So much great music to be enjoyed!

Space
The rest of our exciting lessons have been space related, so you can check them out in Space Spectacular #2.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-10-20T06:17:00.005+11:00

This Week's Tip - Take a Tour Through Space

Last Friday I went to a Professional Development session on the Celestia Software. Celestia is a free program that lets you explore space in 3D (download it here). I find it amazing that someone has been able to create such a great simulation that even shows the movement of objects over time. I enjoyed experimenting with the program and considering how it might be used in the classroom.

I see that it will be useful for showing students the movement of objects in space and demonstrating night and day and the phases of the moon. It will also be useful for students to explore these things for themselves and to capture images and video of the things they explore. It will be useful for helping students to deduct their own information and question things further. As you start out with Celestia, it is really helpful to have this chart of keyboard shortcuts. You can click on it and save it to print out at a larger size.

If, however, students are writing a factual report about a planet, this program doesn't offer much support. Instead students could use the World Book fact sheets at the NASA website. The NASA website contains up-to-date information including the plight of Pluto. This is very useful given that many books still list the "Nine Planets of the Solar System". The NASA website also contains a great bank of resources for teachers and interesting projects for students including (at time of posting):

Enjoy!

Space Spectacular #1

2009-10-17T09:31:00.005+11:00

This post is the first in a series of posts about an Integrated Inquiry Unit about Earth and Beyond.

Week 1 - Tuning In
This week our activities were designed to activate students' prior knowledge about Space and to stimulate questions they would like to investigate. We began with some brainstorming, where students listed words that come to mind about Space. They then worked in small groups to bundle their words into categories. Following this, students wrote questions they would like to know answers to. They chose the best question for their group and shared it with the class. We collected their ideas and will use these for a word wall and to guide our investigations.

Integrating with Literacy
Predicting and Questioning Skills
Prior to reading the big book "Watching The Night Skies" the class formulated three questions they felt would be answered by the text given the title and list of contents. Students wrote the questions and the answers they predicted, leaving space for the answer from the text. We then read the text together, discussing the information we were finding out. After reading, students went back to the questions and wrote the answer from the text.
In the next literacy session, students were given an individual text on Space. They repeated the activity for themselves - choosing a question, writing their answer, and finding the answer in the text.
This activity is useful for helping students to engage with a text and seek out information.

Creative Writing - Description
I told students that they would be doing a piece of creative writing, imagining that they are the first person to step onto the surface of Mars. We began by looking at some photographs of the landscape of Mars and then watched these NASA Vodcasts: Soaring Over Mars and Mars Exposed. While they looked at these things, students jotted down notes on their clipboards. They then returned to their desks to begin writing. I gave an initial prompt sentence which they could use to get them started: I stepped from my space craft and there, stretched before me, was Mars. I walked around while students worked and, with permission, read out their writing to help those struggling to get started. There were some really descriptive passages being formed and many were including details from their notes including the names of some of the places.

Integrating with ICT
Students were given some terms to investigate eg. morning star, evening star, shooting star, the sun comes up, the sun goes down, the sun goes behind a cloud. They needed to use the internet to research the accuracy of these statements. Students used a variety of online resources including wikipedia, google search using 'define:' and yahoo answers. This was a great activity for students to practice using the internet for quick clarification.

Friday Fun - 16/10/09

2009-10-17T08:51:00.003+11:00

This week was the first week of the last term for 2009 and I have to admit that I found it a struggle to get back into the right head-space. During the term break I visited New York City again. I think it is where my heart is most at home. (More about that later). Also while away, I didn't blog or do uni work - it was a true break from work. So, now my brain is out of the habit, and I'm trying to get things rolling again! This term I am continuing in my Acting School Leader C role, which means that I am on the executive team - teaching for some of the week and supervising/managing/leading as well.

Fun This Week

More Pigeon
While in New York City I did some book shopping and picked up "The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog" and my very own stuffed Pigeon. I was very excited to share my new purchases on the first day of term and we enjoyed reading the book together. We had only "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" left to read - which my husband owns, but was apprehensive to share. My literacy class wrote my husband letters to try to persuade him to let us read the book. I gave them some tips on what was preventing him (fingerprints, ripped pages etc) and what he likes (sense of humour, pictures, not too wordy). They wrote some great letters which I took home and shared with my husband. He loved them and sent me off to work with the book the next day. We enjoyed reading "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" and have now completed the Pigeon books to date.

Mass in Maths
This week we looked at mass and where it fits into the big picture of measurement. We looked at photos of some grocery items and sorted them by whether they are labeled in grams, kilograms, millilitres, or litres. We used hefting to order pencil cases from lightest to heaviest and then checked our estimates using a pan balance. Students also worked on mass with the teacher who shares my class this term.

Handwriting
We are now starting each morning with a handwriting session. We scan in a page of handwriting for students to copy in their books. We hope that this will give their writing and presentation a boost. We also hope to be able to give out a few more "pen licences" to students who master cursive writing.

Integrated Inquiry
This term we are investigating Earth and Beyond for our Integrated Inquiry Unit. I will be writing a separate post for this unit so that it is easier for people to access for their own Space lessons. You can read about it here.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-09-29T12:01:00.001+10:00

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of online degrees . Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson83@yahoo.com

Using Web Resources to Make Learning Fun

When you’re a child, learning becomes more interesting only when it’s fun. So as a teacher who is involved in getting young kids to show an interest in education, you’re responsible for making kids smarter even while they enjoy their lessons and can’t get enough of them. Your skills as a teacher come to the fore only when you make learning fun for your young wards. The Internet is a great tool if you’re looking to make learning interactive and get your students involved, and here’s how you can incorporate it into your lessons:

Teach your students online search skills: There is a ton of information on the Internet, but if you don’t know how to search for what you want, none of this information is useful. So teach kids to search for what they’re looking for, and also instruct them on sorting through the huge amounts of data that is returned. If they’re very young, it’s best to get them to the site yourself and ask them to just read and click buttons on local pages. But if they’re above a certain age, knowing how to search for information is a surefire way to get them more involved in the subject.

Help them work out online math problems: It’s a subject that most people detest, simply because they do not understand the basics. Online math quizzes offer easy ways to remember formulae and are also great when it comes to testing your memory and concentration powers, two skills that come in handy when you’re trying to solve math problems. Children learn how to solve problems without the use of pencil and paper, without making mistakes.

Use the web to improve English: There are a plethora of options to learn English on the web. From online dictionaries and thesauruses to sites that allow you to write articles and contribute poetry, you can pretty much go the whole hog when you’re trying to improve your English. Encourage your students to download e-books that are free to read in their spare time and get them to send in their essays and poetry to online competitions.

Let them play educational games: When I was a child, “Where In The World Is Carmen SanDiego” was one of my favorite computer games. Back then, we had only the DOS operating system, so our choices were limited. This game was fun and interesting because it combined mystery and geography. We basically had to chase a thief who flies across the globe based on country and location specific clues that he would leave behind. Educational games help improve subject-specific knowledge and broaden students’ general knowledge as well.

Above all, if your students are on the web with limited or no supervision, you must teach them to use the Internet safely and wisely so that they are protected from con artists and viruses.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-09-22T06:04:00.004+10:00

This Week's Tip - Strengths Spreadsheets

I am in the process of conducting a study about enrichment at my school. We are due to write a school policy statement about how students are identified as being gifted and talented and how they are supported. We believe that all students have strengths that need to be identified and nourished.

For this phase of the study I have been focusing on the students in Year 4 to determine what students' strengths are and whether they are accessing the programs we currently run to develop their skills. The Strengths Analysis has been a very lengthy process and to manage all the data I created a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet has helped me to see the information and sort it in different ways. I can now identify students' areas of strength and see which programs they have accessed in the past year.

While I don't think that all teachers need to do such an in-depth analysis of their students, I DO think that teachers need to determine students' strengths early in the year. While we quickly notice the students who are performing below their peers and put actions in place to assist them, I don't know that we do as good a job on the top end.

It is important to determine students' areas of strength in order to provide them with experiences to extend them throughout the year. This can be done with a simple spreadsheet using data from the previous year:

Put your class list in the first column (with surname first to allow an easy sort by name)
Put students previous grades in additional columns under subject headings
Copy and past the data into additional sheets - one per subject
Select the data on each page (including names) and sort by grades in the subject

If you want to do a more detailed analysis, you could ask students to identify their areas of strength with a quick survey. You could also draw on results from state or national testing.

So then what? Firstly, keep this data in mind as you plan and teach - make sure that you are giving these students opportunities to develop their strengths and interests in class. Then, find out what enrichment/extension programs are available in your school to meet students' needs in these areas and recommend that your students join these programs. If there are no programs, bring it up in a staff meeting and see if anyone has any ideas.

Friday Fun - 18/9/09

2009-09-20T09:25:00.006+10:00

We've almost made it to the end of the term and with holidays just around the corner, we've been madly trying to finish all the things we've started. As a result, there wasn't a lot of new learning taking place, but rather refining and completing. We did, however, have an exciting excursion to the CSIRO Green Machine...

Fun This Week
We joined in one of the great programs offered at the CSIRO. Students learnt some background information about colour and then explored the colours that are used to make a black marker:

They then created T-shirts using permanent markers and ethanol to spread the colours:
The kids had a lot of fun and proudly wore their new creations. Some thought they should be adopted as part of school uniform!

Before we left the CSIRO, our teacher showed us this awesome experiment using ethanol:

We then walked to the Botanic Gardens for lunch on nice green lawn in the shade of big trees. We took a walk through the 'rainforest' and saw some lizards down by the loos, before hopping back on the bus and returning to school.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-09-15T07:09:00.006+10:00

This Week's Tip: Making Animations with Movie Maker

Over the past couple of weeks I have been dabbling with animations with my students. As this is a first time for me, I have been doing a lot of learning alongside the kids. As a result, it's probably been a longer than usual process as we trouble-shoot and work things out together. Today I want to break it down a little so that you can save some time if you give it a try.

WARNING: This explanation assumes some basic knowledge of Windows Movie Maker, and is a starting point for amateur animations.
Creating Characters and Setting

Provide a variety of resources for students to use in creating their characters and setting - playdough, lego, stuffed toys, paper, whiteboards etc.
Have students plan out and rehearse the way they would like to move these objects.

Taking Photos

Explain to students that everything they see in the frame will be in the movie. It sounds basic, but I had a number of photos that included walls, tables, power cords etc - they imagined they could get rid of all this later.
Make sure the camera battery is charged (and recharged) and that you have enough time to take all the shots for the sequence.
Be aware of the light in the room as changes will be evident in the photos.
Use a tripod if possible to limit the movement of the camera.
For a 15-30 second promo we used about 80 photographs, but our movements were a bit jumpy.

Writing Scripts

Support students with finding the words to get their message across most effectively
Encourage them to rehearse their script and time it to see how long it will need to be

Recording Audio

This can be done in Windows Movie Maker as students watch their completed movie in the preview frame. This allows them to time the two as much as possible.
If pushed for time, you can begin recording the script in Audacity prior to movie production in Windows Movie Maker. This also allows students to edit the audio and cut out errors. Export it as a WAV and then you simply import the audio at a later time.

Storing Pictures

Before you start using Movie Maker, it is important to upload photos to a place where you will be able to easily find them and access them throughout the project. DO NOT MOVE THESE FILES ONCE YOU START. If you move the pictures, the program will not be able to find them and they will show up as a red X on your storyboard.

Importing Pictures

If your camera has captured large images (in terms of mb) you will want to resize them so that Movie Maker doesn't strain under the size. I do this in Windows Photo Gallery so that I can resize the whole group at once. (I'm not sure how else you might do a bulk resize. Any suggestions?)
Click on Import Pictures and select the pictures you would like to use.

Moving Pictures onto the storyboard/timeline

BEFORE you begin slotting images onto your storyboard, you will want to change the settings for the length of time these will play. This is a BIG time-saver! If you fail to do this, you will be shortening each picture individually (a HUGE time-waster) 1. Click on Tools/Options, 2. Click on the Advanced tab, 3. Select your desired picture duration and transition duration
To change the length of individual slides, select the Timeline view, click on the image you want to change and drag one of the sides
If students want to have a repeated action, they will need to repeat the action slides (basic I know, but they still needed to be told!)
SAVE, SAVE, SAVE - I can't say it enough - we've had SO many Movie Maker crashes and it is very disheartening if students lose their work because they didn't take a moment to save it regularly.

Editing the Movie

Add in the audio and make sure it is well timed with the animation
Add in any desired titles/effects

Save as a Movie!

Friday Fun - 11/9/09

2009-09-12T10:11:00.007+10:00

Fun This Week

ABC3 Promos
We made more progress with our promos this week and we have two finished and ready to go. Most have the video/pictures recorded and are now manipulating the timings and adding audio with Movie Maker. It's a LOT of hard work to juggle all the stages with sixty students and limited equipment (with batteries running out) and limited time, but I still think we'll get there - with at least half of them!

Learning Journey
Parents came for the learning journey and had the opportunity to see their child's work and find out more about the things they have been learning. It was well attended and the students were very excited to be able to have some special time with their parents.

Alkira Projects
This week we took our tie-dyed material and added felt stick-ons, buttons, pom-poms and fabric flowers as desired. I was impressed to see the creativity of one student who created a caterpillar using a series of pom-poms. These will go on sale at our Alkira Art Show in a couple of weeks.

Circus
For Friday Sport I joined the circus group this week. The kids in this group are exposed to a number of circus skills including juggling, acrobatics, plate spinning and hoola-hoop. I enjoyed practicing juggling - firstly with scarves and then with balls.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-09-08T18:33:00.003+10:00

This Week's Tip: Book Reviews and The Quality Teaching Model

Today I found a great site for teaching English in middle to upper primary and secondary classes. Writing with Writers takes you step by step through the process of writing a book review. Rodman Philbrick shares a book review that he has written that can be used as a model for students' own writing. He then gives a series of writing tips to guide students and reminds them of a few challenges to keep in mind. Philbrick provides some guidelines for revising work upon completion and suggests a site where students can publish the final draft of their book review.

I found this site really useful as everything was explained so clearly and could be displayed on my Interactive Whiteboard for students to return to as they wrote. While my students haven't completed and published it yet, I can see the value of having a real purpose and audience for their writing.

This resource has great potential for implementing two dimensions of the Quality Teaching Model. (For summarised explanation of the elements of QTM click here.) These are the connections that I can readily see, but you may see other connections as well:

Intellectual Quality
Deep Knowledge - This tool can be used to give detailed explanation of how to write a book review.
Deep Understanding - Students demonstrate a deep understanding of the book they read
Problematic Knowledge - Students recognise that people have different opinions about books and come to value the opinions of others
Higher-Order Thinking - Students are involved in analysis and synthesis and evaluation as they reflect on their book and the author's style.
Metalanguage - Philbrick uses language that students can understand and explains terms like 'genre'.
Substantive Communication - Teachers could use Philbrick's example to create discussion about what makes it effective. Discussion could take place in small groups which then share key thoughts with the whole group.

Quality Learning Environment
Explicit Quality Criteria - Philbrick's model and tips provide explicit quality criteria that students can revisit as they write.
High Expectations - The section on reviewing work challenges students to revisit their ideas and improve their initial drafts.
Students' Self-Regulation - The writing task is purposeful and students can continually monitor their own work using the tips.

Ideally, I'd teach this lesson using an Interactive Whiteboard and a classroom full of student computers or laptops. The explanation and discussion could take place with the Whiteboard, and then students could type their reviews in a word processor, referring to the website as they typed. Once completed, the text could be revised and then copy/pasted into the review page. What a great integration of ICT!

9th Teaching K-6 Carnival

2009-09-07T00:01:00.002+10:00

Welcome to the September edition of Teaching K-6 carnival. As readers in the Northern Hemisphere head into the new school year there are many bloggers sharing their advice on how to make the most of this important time of year. For those of us slogging away in third term, there are also a number of lists of useful resources for integrating technology in the classroom. Whether you're heading toward Fall or bounding toward Spring and the warmer weather, I hope you find something beneficial here this month.

Starting the New School Year

Mathew Needleman presents Back to School Week: Resources and shares his thoughts on Back to School Week: It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint posted at Creating Lifelong Learners.This timely reminder encourages us to spend time getting to know our students and looking for the gems of personality that make each person unique. He reminds us that it takes longer than a week to see the depth to the people who make up our classrooms.

Meaghan Montrose presents Study Tips and Learning Strategies for the New School Year and Back to School Tips to be Successful in Class posted at TutorFi.com. You might like to share some of these tips with your students or add them to your class website.

I also came across Back to School Overload by dobrien of Lifelong Learning about managing stress as school starts back. She shares her reflection of the adjustment period when returning to school after the summer break.

Wesley Fryer shared a video in his post Believe in Me at Moving at the Speed of Creativity. This video helps us to think of the big picture and to consider the preferences and futures of the children with whom we work.

Michaele Sommerville presents What This Teacher Thinks About Early Starts to Kindergarten posted at Kindergarten's 3 R's: Respect, Resources and Rants.

Brain Strain

At SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution, Dr David Rabiner writes about experimental research Comparing Working Memory Training & Medication Treatment for ADHD. Results from this study indicate that working memory training yields greater benefits in WM for children with ADHD than are provided by stimulant medication treatment. Furthermore, memory gains following training persist for a significant period.

Gary Andrew focuses on memory this month with his 10 Tips to Improve Your Memory posted at best online graduate degree, as does Justin Ontong with 7 Tips to Improve Your Memory and Study Power posted at phd degree.

In the News

Melissa Hedding presents Kids love Justice posted at Finds For Families. She says that when kids feel safe in the classroom, they're free to learn. She encourages us to use our authority to promote kindness and stop teasing in our classrooms today.

Wesley Fryer of Moving at the Speed of Creativity wrote about the inspiring story of Damon Weaver, student reporter, who achieved his dream of interviewing President Obama.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Republicans Bring "Classiness" To the Classroom posted at Mad Kane's Political Madness. Will Richardson also shares his thoughts on the Obama Speech at Weblogg-ed.

Innovate - Beyond the Slate

Thinking about starting up a dramatic play space in your Early Childhood classroom? This month Kelly Rockey shares 25 Incredible Kid’s Costume Ideas and Resources for Parents posted at Star Costumes Blog. Dressing up is so much fun for kids and with these links you will be able to build your dress-up box, providing new opportunities for imaginative play.

Katie Glennon reminds us to get outdoors and explore learning through real experiences in Using Nature Study to Study all Areas of Science posted at Katie's Homeschool Cottage. Katie points out how you can study science the natural way through nature, including areas of biology, physics, and chemistry, and without a textbook.

I was recently asked about which digital media students should become familiar with in Years K-6. This month Margaret Garcia presents an overwhelming list of 100 Essential Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers posted at Online Degree. She also shares 100 Awesome iPhone Apps to Organize Your School Life posted at Online Bible Colleges.

For those of you wanting to pretty-up your websites or blogs, Alisha Harmann presents Top 50 Web Design Education Blogs posted at Designer City, USA. It looks like you could spend a good day working your way through the links here and picking up tips. In 13 Enlightening Case Studies of Social Media in the Classroom posted at Best Online Universities.com Alisha shares what is happening with social media in a number of schools (predominantly universities, but you may still find ideas that can be translated to a K-6 setting).

Still on the topic of social media, Allison Johanson presents 25 Excellent Social Media Sites for Teachers posted at Top Online University Reviews. She separates sites into those to share with students and those for teachers only. These suggestions are great for connecting with other teachers and students for collaboration and networking.

This month I share Tech Tips Tuesday from my own blog where I give examples of how you can use an Interactive Whiteboard to take the roll and monitor early finishers.

Look No Further

Hannah Watson has some great links to share with parents in 100 Best Websites for Free Homework Help posted at Online Courses.org. You may even find some useful for personalising learning in the classroom.

Barbara Williams presents 25 Surprising Facts About China’s Education System posted at Teaching Tips. This makes for an interesting read, but as with all facts you read online, I recommend checking the sources rather than blindly accepting these representations.

Kakie at Bur Bur & Friends: Community Park shares some books with GREAT ideas to get kids moving in all areas of the curriculum. "Here are some fun ways to incorporate learning different things and physical activity. Early education is the key to promoting a healthy lifestyle. What a way to create memories in your classroom!"

One Family presents List of Elementary School Textbooks – ISBNs, Used and List Prices – Teachers and Home School Editions posted at One Family's Blog. This is a listing of elementary school teacher's and homeschool edition textbooks used in the USA.

Anne Simone presents 100 Terrific Twitter Feeds for Teaching Advice posted at Online Universities.com, 100 Useful Resources for Teachers and Students of Open Source posted at Online School and 50 Eye-Opening Unschooling Blogs posted at Online Best Colleges.com.

Kate Hopkins presents 10 Lessons Every Student Can Learn From Einstein posted at Online College.org and 15 Predictions for the Library of Tomorrow posted at Online Degree Programs.org.

Karen Schweitzer presents 25 Places to Find Free Printables, Worksheets, and Lesson Plans Online at I Want to Teach Forever and 20 Free Learning Technology Resources at Teaching Challenges.

Emma Taylor presents 100 Best Blogs for Teachers of the Future posted at Clear View Education Blog. Teaching Challenges didn't make the cut, but there are a number of my favourites that did, so the list is definately worth checking out. She also presents 100 Most Educational iPhone Apps posted at AccreditedOnlineColleges.org.

Christopher Dawson promotes Variquest in Variquest proves it’s OK to use paper sometimes posted at Education IT.

Why not submit your post for the next carnival?

The Teaching K-6 Carnival is posted monthly on the 7th, however will be on hiatus for the month of October. I will be collecting submissions throughout the next two months, looking in particular for posts that discuss and exemplify innovative teaching and the integration of technology in the K-6 classroom. I also invite some discussion around education related news articles and a few "brain strains" to keep our minds alert and challenged. Please submit only articles of which you are the author and refrain from using this merely as a sales pitch. For full details, please read my call for submissions.

Support this Carnival

If you enjoyed this edition of the carnival, you can support its continuation by sharing it with others. Link to us, add us to a tweet, stumble or digg us. Thanks!

Technorati tags: teaching k-6 carnival, blog carnival.

Friday Fun - 4/9/09

2009-09-05T10:31:00.008+10:00

This week we've done so many great things, but I don't want to get too wordy, so I'm setting myself a challenge: No more than three sentences per item. Hopefully this will help me to use my words wisely!

Fun this week

Change the Viewpoint
In Literacy we read a segment of Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein. As we read we jotted down Erica's feelings and viewpoint as outlined in the text, and considered Alison Ashley's feelings and viewpoint during the same events. Students then repeated this task with a scene from the books they are currently reading for Cooperative Reading Groups.

Dancing with Footsteps
We had a free trial lesson with Footsteps Dance Company to consider their possible use for further dance sessions early next year. Students learnt a Kung Fu Panda dance and absolutely LOVED it! The dance instructor, Rachel, confidently managed the group and taught about 120 students at once - very impressive.

Treasure Seekers
My iPhone alerted me to the fact that there was a geocaching adventure just waiting to happen right near our school. I gathered up my class and let them in on the secret life of geocaching and off we went in search of our treasure. On location (and with the help of some additional hints) we found our prize and traded some school magnets for a balloon to hang in our classroom. (Photo by: JC)

Progress with Promos
Students have now completed the planning phase of their ABC3 Promos and are well underway with making backgrounds, characters and scripts. I'm a little nervous as to how we are going to pull it all together by the 18th September, but hopefully we'll find a way! We plan to dedicate some decent time to the recording side of things next Friday.

Tie-Dying Delights
The students from my home group began their Alkira projects this week with the support of some instructions on KinderArt. Students used rubber bands to create their desired effects and dyed the material up to three colours. Next week we will begin stitching on some additional items to complete our Spring Designs.

Fife and Drum Combined Practice
On Thursday Mr Tucker took the Year 4 Fife and Drum Band to another school for a Combined Band Practice and Performance. They practiced about six songs together and then performed for the students of the host school. It was another great opportunity for our musical talents to be developed and shared.

Maths Coaches
On Thursday I paired up students from Mr Tucker's maths class with students from my maths class and got them to work together on solving some word problems involving money. The coaches really took their roles seriously and gave an appropriate amount of support. They then ordered the prices on some photos of grocery items and rounded the prices to the closest 5c.

Seedlings Sprout
In a few weeks time we will be opening our school's new environment facility - The Sunlight Centre. Students have planted some seedlings that will be on sale at the opening function. It is exciting to watch them grow (but hard to remember to bring them all in at the end of the day!)

Assembly
The Year 4 students hosted this week's assembly and shared their completed homework projects for our Textiles and Design unit. The students from the Fife and Drum band were the presenters and our newly named "Showboating Showoffs" (previously Non-Fife-and-Drummers) performed dances they created themselves. The Year 4 Indonesian Dance group also performed, demonstrating how talented our Year 4s are when it comes to dancing.

Why I run...

2009-09-02T06:54:00.003+10:00

This is just a quick one today. It was an icy cold morning, but I decided I had to run anyway. And so glad I did...

How does running help me as a teacher? It puts me in the right frame of mind as I enter the day.
Sorry for the quality of the photos. They were taken with my iPhone.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-09-01T00:01:00.002+10:00

This Week's Tip: Integrate ICT into Staff PD

Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in expecting teachers to integrate ICT in their teaching, but failing to integrate ICT into staff meetings and staff PD?

Last week I pulled some strings to have the staff meeting in my classroom so that we could use the Smart Board. As part of my Microsoft Peer Coaching role I created some Interactive Whiteboard pages that teachers can use in day-to-day teaching. I also wanted to show teachers how they can access our My Classes Peer Coaching page.

On Wednesday I ran the Junior Professional Learning Team (PLT) meeting in the computer lab. I wanted team members to reflect on their learning from our recent First Steps Writing PD and determine where to take it next. We started with a public pad in EtherPad, where staff could write their comments on what they found beneficial in the PD. I had wanted to use Wall Wisher, but the lab computers didn't have the necessary requirements in web browser.

It was a fun introductory activity, but it wasn't long before discussion got off track! That always happens the first time you introduce something. EtherPad was a great tool to use because I didn't need to sign up for an account or anything. It was ready to go and easy to export to Word when we were finished. My only pointer with it would be to create a custom tiny url for your page so that you can give something easy to people to type into the URL bar.

Teachers then reflected on their current practice when teaching writing and considered how they will implement the ideas from the First Steps Writing PD. They filled out this form that I created. Under the heading "What's Hot?" teachers wrote the things they are currently doing that they are happy with and that tie in with the philosophy of First Steps. Under the heading "What's Not?" teachers wrote the things they are currently doing that they are not happy with or that don't tie in with the philosophy of First Steps. Under the heading "What's Next?" teachers wrote the things they would like to try doing next as they implement First Steps. And in the big arrow, they wrote the steps they need to take in order to do the things in "What's Next?"

Reflective Planning Tool 2009

View more presentations from pennyryder.

When it was time for team members to report back to the group, I used the Random Name Generator tool from Super Teacher Tools. Prior to the session I created a class list with team members' names and then used this list in the session to choose who would contribute their ideas. Teachers seemed to enjoy using this and jotted down the details to use with their own classes.

The session went well and I enjoyed being able to expose teachers to new ICT strategies whilst fulfilling the other requirements of my role as the team leader.

Hunting for Treasure

2009-08-30T18:46:00.006+10:00

Today I finally got around to trying geocaching. I've been hearing about other people in my PLN who have tried this out, and I thought it sounded like a bit of fun.

So what is geocaching? Geocaching is a treasure hunt with a GPS. You are given the location for a hidden cache and some clues to get you started. You head off with your GPS (or in my case, my iPhone) and start searching. The cache may vary, but generally consists of some form of logbook and may have small items you can trade.

To get started, you sign up for an account at www.geocaching.com. I also bought the Groundspeak Geocaching App for my iPhone ($12.99 but very helpful on my hunt). Groundspeak took my location and found some hidden geocache points close by. I followed the arrows, and then as I got closer, had to rely on my eyes and brain a lot more.

I took along my hubby, his mother and our dog. It was an adventure for all of us, and we were very glad to have found the two caches we set out to find.

If you haven't tried it out already, I recommend it as a fun way to spend some time.

Blogger Behind This Blog #7

2009-08-30T09:21:00.004+10:00

A few weeks back we travelled up to Sydney for the City to Surf. For many years I've been meaning to get around to running this race, but for whatever reason, haven't pulled it off. This is a fourteen kilometre road race, beginning in Sydney City and ending at Bondi Beach.

This year I had a training program that I found online and I stuck pretty closely to it. It was a fairly hard training program - with a long run on Sunday, 30 minute run on Monday, intervals on Tuesday and medium run on Wednesday before I finally got to a rest day on Thursday. I found it tough, but always seemed to find the energy when I needed it, and didn't get sick at all, even when running about 50km in a week. (I used to get tired, sick, or sore when I went over 30km in a week). I tried to include some hills or mountain running in the program in preparation for the dreaded "heartbreak hill".

We stayed at a hotel in Sydney and hooked up with some friends who were also running the race. We went out for dinner together to load up on carbs and then hung out for a while at the hotel before crashing for the night.

On race day we met up for a hotel breakfast - something to sustain us but not overfill us - and headed down to the starting line at Hyde Park. There were people EVERYWHERE! With a record 75,000 competitors it was the world's biggest running event. Once in position we did a lot of waiting before we actually got to move anywhere, and even once we started to move, it was quite slow. As it was my first year running, I was in the 'blue' group which is made up of the masses - the slow people and the first timers.

For the first five kilometres I focused on running and weaving. I found that I couldn't go more than about ten strides before having to weave around walkers. I tried to use the footpaths as much as possible, but didn't want to be seen to be cheating either! Please understand - I'm not blaming the walkers, just expressing my frustration as a runner.

The weaving continued for most of the race and I don't feel I ever actually found my pace group. Usually in a race I find a point in time when I'm not overtaking people any more - when I'm with people of a like pace. I was feeling unusually strong throughout the race and was running well. I didn't stop for hydration as it was an opportunity to make greater headway through the crowds. I was listening to my run playlist on my iPod, which always helps to put more speed and power in my pace.

Heartbreak Hill didn't end up being so heartbreaking after all. I ran the whole thing and found it quite a non-event given my prior preparation. There was a great atmosphere with people along the sidelines cheering and runners in crazy costumes. The weather was perfect for running and I found the kilometres were flying by.

As I came to the last stretch along Bondi Beach I felt a tingle go through my body. I was almost there, and all these people were cheering us along. Crossing the finish line was a real let down. I felt almost disappointed. One moment I was running this race, enjoying the music and mood, and caught up in the weaving. The next moment it was all over. We walked through a couple of gates, picked up our medallions and then the weaving through crowds continued as we tried to get to the water stands to rehydrate.

I met up with the others from my group at our meeting point. It took awhile for everyone to find it and none of us were really sure what time we had run due to differences between race start time and our actual time. I had started my stopwatch at the beginning of the race, but was slow to press it at the finish line. I had run it in a good time - good enough to get me into a better starting position for next year. You can see photos of me running and a video of me finishing here.

We decided to cab it back to the hotel as the lines for the free buses were ridiculously long. We showered and ended the experience with a great steak lunch down at Darling Harbour.

Can't wait to do it all again next year, but training for the Canberra Times Fun Run in the meantime.

Friday Fun - 28/8/09

2009-08-28T18:01:00.007+10:00

I want to pause for a moment to brag about the wonderful kids I teach. They are a lovely group of kids with an interest in learning and willingness to focus on a task and get the job done. I am impressed with how self-directed they are and also with how well they cooperate together. For the most part, I can trust them to do the right thing. The teachers who have been taking my classes while I do courses and executive duties tell me that they are delightful to work with.

On Monday I arrived at school to this message:

And this morning I was greeted by a student who had written me a poem.

I feel so spoilt to have the pleasure of working which such great kids.

Fun This Week:

ABC3 Promo
In Australia we are in the process of getting a selection of new free-to-air television channels. One of these will be ABC3, a television channel aimed at programming for children. They are currently calling for primary school students to create promo videos for their channel.
I was recently challenged by the need to create more opportunities for students to write for a real purpose and audience. When I saw this competition, I thought it would be a great opportunity for students to write/create a persuasive text for a real purpose.
This week students from both Year 4 classes formed small groups and began thinking about and planning their approach to this task. They are feeling very motivated by this project and (in my opinion) should be able to create some high quality video promos.
For more information about the competition, visit ABC3 By me.

Listening for the Author's Voice
Last weekend I was reflecting on how I teach my students to write. I was going through the First Steps Writing resources and considering what I'm doing well, what I'm not doing well, and how I want to implement First Steps further in my writing program. One thing I realised I wanted to put greater emphasis on, is the concept of personal voice.
Trent Lorcher at Bright Hub provides some tips on how to explain 'personal voice' to students. I shared this with my students and then we investigated the voice of different authors we know using the following chart:
Students then went on to do their reading for the week and jotted down notes about the voice of their selected author. They discussed this further with their Cooperative Reading Group on Tuesday. The next step is to help children to get a better sense of their own voice.

Bringing Dance to Life
We are going to perform some dances for our assembly next week. The students chose from two themes - 'flight' or 'fireworks'. We explored these themes earlier in the term and students had a chance to create dances in small groups. We are now asking them to fine-tune a dance to share with the whole school. They began practising their dances and we pulled out some scarves for students to use as costumes. It's beginning to look really effective and the kids are keen to perform next week.

Wakakiri
The Year 5/6 students performed in Wakakirri this week and did a really great job. Their dance was spectacular as were their costumes and backdrop. The rest of the school got to watch it on Monday afternoon.

Textiles and Design Homework Projects
Students have been handing in homework projects they created using their textile and design skills. Don't they look great? We plan to share these with the school community at the assembly next Friday.

Place Value and Multiplication Tables
This week we explored place value in Maths and practiced multiplication tables. There were some great interactive websites for this. The Crickweb Maths Teacher Toolkit had some handy place value activities. Woodlands have some great interactive times tables games. My favourite for using on the interactive whiteboard is Hit the Button. We also made our own whiteboard page. Students gave some digits from their phone numbers and I wrote these up on the board. We then ordered these four-digit numbers from smallest to largest, simply by touching and dragging them. You've got to love having an interactive whiteboard!
Students also played with a range of other manipulatives to practice their tables and place value including dice, tables wheels and wind-ups. They rotated through the activities over the week.

Making Movies - Second lesson
Students continued making their movies this week and some finished them, ready to share with parents at our upcoming Learning Journeys. We had a bit of a set-back this week, as many students wanted to include songs, and we needed to find something appropriate that wasn't protected with copyright.
I need to find some Creative Commons songs and collect them together into a common pool that students can select from. That will be one of my jobs this weekend. Any suggestions? I'm also looking for a site that collects "kid safe" songs and won't be blocked by my school.

Senior Sport
In Terms 2 and 3 students in Years 3-6 select a sport to attend on Friday afternoons. Options include things like tennis, indoor soccer, aerobics, circus and ten pin bowling. This term I have been going along to supervise ten pin bowling. The kids love it and are so supportive of one another. It's a great way to end each week.

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-08-25T16:52:00.004+10:00

This Week's Tip - IWB Pages

I've been playing with my Interactive Whiteboard more than usual this week. I designed some pages to give other teachers ideas for how they can use their boards. I'm trying to get teachers to turn their boards on at the start of the day so that they are more likely to continue to use them throughout the day. If you have a Smart Board, you can create similar pages of your own.

This first page is a fun way of marking the roll. I used this one for the teachers' staff meeting, but I use the same idea with my class photo. It is simple to make and the kids love it. When they arrive each day, they choose the face that best fits how they feel, and drag it over their face. I can see at a glance how students are feeling and who is yet to arrive. This is great for creating a class community and learning environment. To start fresh the next day, select the faces with a click and sweep action and delete.

To Make This Page:
Step 1: Scan or upload a class photo
Step 2: Insert photo
Step 3: Use text to add a heading
Step 4: Save emoticons from My Emoticons
Step 5: Insert emoticons and place beneath photo. Right-click on them and choose the "Infinite Clone" option.

For another option, you could make a simple line and students determine their mood on a scale between happy and sad. They write their initials to place themselves.

This page is for students to self-regulate as they are finishing their work. You write in the explicit quality criteria for the dot points and set the timer for the desired time. When students have finished the work they move their photo (not shown) or name across the line and hit the little sound icon (near the balloons) to hear a cheer.

To make this page:
Step 1: Make headings (I used a rectangle shape and then a text box)
Step 2: Divide page with a line
Step 3: Add bullet points (you need to put a space before pressing return/enter in order to keep the dot point)
Step 4: Insert timer and balloons and runner from the gallery (search for 'timer' and 'cheer' and 'race')
Step 5: Insert small photographs of students (100 x 75 pixels) or write/type names in individual text boxes.

Want-tos and Have-tos

2009-08-23T09:13:00.004+10:00

Today I'm feeling torn between the want-tos and the have-tos. Spring is almost here and it has me feeling energised and inspired.

It's another gorgeous day and I want to: go for a bike ride, take photos, paint, garden, write blogs, play with the computer.

Unfortunately I have work I need to catch up on. I have to: do uni work, prepare lessons for the week, and prepare a PD session for Wednesday.

I'm thinking there may be some way of balancing the two. Maybe half an hour of a have-to can be rewarded with ten minutes of a want-to. I'll give it a shot and see if that will leave me feeling satisfied at the end of the day!

Friday Not-so-fun

2009-08-22T08:34:00.005+10:00

I spent Friday curled up on the couch snoozing, sculling down liquids and gobbling down food in an attempt to help my body fight what I assume is swine flu. The doctor said it is a virus and that I am contagious. Given that I had the flu injection earlier this year (which should cover me for most of the known flus they have vaccines for) I expect that it is probably swine flu. The doctor said that they aren't testing everyone for swine flu now, but only those at risk - asthmatics, elderly, pregnant women, and people with a temperature over 38 degrees Celsius.

I've been achy, coughing, and OH SO TIRED! It wasn't all bad though, as I got to enjoy a lazy day while it rained outside my window. I love the rain. And, today (Saturday), I'm actually feeling a lot better. I woke up this morning to find my feet tapping (something they do when they want to go for a run) and as I prepared my usual coffee and porridge, I looked out at the gorgeous day and felt it would be a perfect day for a bike ride. Obviously, I'm not going to put my body through any of that today - I still need to rest a little longer. But it's good to see I'm well on the road to recovery.

So, I spent even less time in the classroom this week and when I was in there, it had it's own little elements of higglety piggletiness.

Fun This Week

Chance and Data
We covered Chance and Data in Maths this week. I taught one lesson on this for my own Maths class and one lesson for Mr Tucker's class. (His relief teacher had to go to her sick child and I was off class for my executive day, so I went back on his class to fill the gap.) We explored ideas around rolling dice, pulling counters from a hat, tossing a coin, and spinning a spinner. Students really enjoyed these activities. For teachers in Australia and New Zealand, there are some great Chance and Data activities available on Scootle that allow students to explore these concepts.

Textiles and Design Projects
This week we introduced students to the next phase of their learning in our Textiles and Design Unit. We told them that they need to create an item that they can sell at school (at a fete, or market day or other). They need to consider the needs of their clientele and design something that they can make in three weeks using easily accessible resources and drawing on the skills they've learnt so far. We talked about the need to create quality items and determine a fair price. We also suggested that students speak to their proposed clientele prior to making their items in order to determine if their is a market for their product. It is exciting to see the ideas that students are coming up with and their enthusiasm in getting started with the process.

Cooperative Reading
I used my iPhone to record students thoughts about our Cooperative Reading Groups. I plan to use this information to make some adaptations. Here is a summary of their thoughts:

Good

You can discuss your books and how you're enjoying them
Learn more about how to write better stories
Small groups with different books and we tell each other about those books
Get to space out the reading time
Have little groups and get to discuss your ideas and can have your own opinions
We share our ideas with people
Learn how to use a roster
Allowed to read a book and do activities to get you more into the book and learn how to write better stories
People are enjoying their books and having fun
After we read we write it all down and the teacher gets to see what we're reading and then we share it with our groups too
Get to experience new authors and how they create characters, settings and plots

Bad

Most of the activities are too short
You get through the writing activities too quickly
Some of the Reading Response Journal sections are too easy
It's hard to know what to write in Reading Response Journal
Reading Response Journal is too repetitive and can get boring
People with large books are having trouble finding the time to do their allocated reading AND the writing tasks.
When there's too much talking it's hard to concentrate

Based on these responses, it seems that students find the discussion time very beneficial, but the Reading Response Journal needs to be re-worked. Perhaps it would be best to have a focus for each week and students write to that focus and share about that focus during their discussion groups. For example, one week might be focused on "interesting words and phrases", another on "descriptive passages", another on "characters", another on "author's style", another on "my perspective" and so on. That would mean there would be less repetition and that students would focus on these areas in greater depth.

The Blogger Behind This Blog #6

2009-08-18T20:45:00.004+10:00

I went to see Pink perform last night. It was fantastic. She puts on a high-energy, exciting performance and changes costume for every song! I think she must have liked dressing up when she was a kid. I've enjoyed Pink's music over the years and have found it very motivating when I go running. Motivation is VERY necessary for running - particularly for long distances.Pink is someone I know I could never be, but who I admire on a different level. I'm fascinated by her. I look at my own life and feel somewhat nerdy and boring. I generally play by the rules and have a 'nice' disposition. I make sensible decisions and have long term goals. In some ways I'm naive and oblivious to the problems of the world. I see Pink representing all that I'm not. She seems to live life on the edge. She's active (VERY active) and writes her own rules. She sees the world with all its problems and doesn't gloss over them. She inspires me to approach the world with a little more grunt from time to time.

By the way, I took this photo with my new camera - cool, huh?

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-08-18T19:58:00.005+10:00

This Week's Tip: Learn Vocabulary the Interactive Way

One of the things that I think has the potential to improve my students' writing further is the development of a more comprehensive vocabulary. I find that ten year olds tend to use a great deal of slang when relating to one another, and this creeps into their writing. Too often the way they write sounds like a conversation with the reader - filled with colloquial terms and slang. I would like for my students to develop their vocabulary through reading and enrich the vocabulary in their own writing.

Today when students met in their Cooperative Reading Groups, they collected a range of interesting or unusual words and phrases from the books they are reading. We then used Visuwords on the Interactive Whiteboard to explore these words further. Groups took turns to offer up a word which we then typed into Visuwords. Visuwords displays a diagram to show related words. It has a key to show whether the grammatical features of words and how they relate. When you move the mouse over a word you see it's definition, and when you double-click on it you see additional related terms. It leads to a great discussion about words and helps students to think more about the meanings of words. I was surprised by how enthusiastic my students were to explore their words. Some stayed on into recess to type theirs in.

For vocabulary development that's fun and engaging and doesn't require a stack of dictionaries, I recommend Visuwords.

Friday Fun - 14/8/09

2009-08-15T16:44:00.005+10:00

Fun This Week

Maths - Volume
This week I held a Circle-Time Maths session to teach Volume. It went as follows:
Check In: My name is... I think volume in Maths is...
Mixer: Show students the definition for 'volume' using the Mathletics Dictionary. Also look at related terms. Students are each given a box and sort themselves in order from smallest volume to largest volume.
Main Activity: In groups of four, students use informal units to compare the volume of their boxes and to check whether they ordered themselves correctly.
Debrief: Discuss student findings from their measurements. What did they find easy/difficult about this task?
Energiser: Beginning with the largest boxes, students add their box to a 'box sculpture' in the middle of the circle. Try to add all boxes without the tower falling.
Check Out: My name is... and one thing I learnt about volume today is...

My Reflections - This lesson didn't go as well as I would have liked. It was difficult for students to measure the volume of the boxes as the units didn't fit nicely, and they all tried to measure their boxes at once which meant there weren't enough resources. It did lead us to a discussion about the value of having formal units and a systematic way of calculating volume. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I only taught my Maths class once this week, and my relief teachers chose to 'leave volume to [me]', I didn't get to explore the whole length x width x breadth idea with them. I'll have to make some time for that next week. We didn't get to the tower building energiser either due to time constraints. I guess it's just one of those lessons that held a lot of promise, but didn't quite make the cut.

Movie Maker
In lab time students had the opportunity to create their own school movies using a bunch of photos and videos that have been captured recently. This week the focus was on using the Movie Maker storyboard to sequence images and add transitions and titles. In our next session I will teach students how to include audio files and alter the length of time their photos are displayed. I was impressed by how quickly students picked up on the skills - some took it even further than I demonstrated. It emphasized two things: how easy Movie Maker is to learn, and how quick digital natives can transfer skills from one program to the next.

Cooperative Reading Groups
Cooperative reading went really well this week. Students are becoming more familiar with the way it works and are focused on the tasks they need to complete. I find it really exciting to see that my students are all working on different tasks and at different paces with minimal assistance from me. I have the enjoyable job of shoulder hovering as they work and giving them tips for how they can stretch their skills further.
Before Tuesday's Group Discussion time I played video snippets from the group I sat in on the week before. This allowed me to give students some more direction in the way these groups should function. I sat in on another group this week and enjoyed hearing students discussing their books and the connections they have with each other, with movies they've seen and also with events in real life.

Puppy
On Friday we had a special visit from the puppy of one of my students. We made a circle on the floor and Bruno (?) went from person to person to 'say hello'. He was very cute and it was nice to watch students interacting with him. Some of the kids worked out that he was more likely to come to them if they tapped the floor and called his name. Others discovered that he liked having his belly scratched. It was just a short visit, but it's always nice to have an animal in the classroom for students to interact with.

Survey
The staff of my school are in the process of defining how we approach student enrichment. Our Enrichment Committee feels that all students have the potential to be gifted and talented in one way or another, and we feel that teachers should work to identify each student's potential and provide opportunities through which students can grow. Part of this involves understanding how students like to be acknowledged for their achievements. We are conducting a survey across the school to gather this information. I created a survey using Tiger Survey and the Year 4 Students completed it in about five minutes during lab time on Friday. (You can see a PDF print version here.) I'm going to get some computers set up for it in Year 3 next week so that students can take their turn at some point during the week. The most popular options in Year 4 were "a class reward - class party/free time etc", and "opportunities to learn about things you're interested in". The least popular was "teacher contacting your parents to let them know what you're good at". Fascinating!

Tech Tips Tuesday

2009-08-11T19:55:00.003+10:00

This Week's Tip: Meet Me at the Corner

This week I discovered another video resource that is free, online, educational and isn't blocked by my school. Meet Me at the Corner provides a collection of video podcasts featuring children exploring the world and its wonders. During each episode a child host serves as a tour guide leading the viewer to sites of interest to children. Each episode comes with follow-up activities and additional resources.

While the creator of this site tells me that it is designed for children in America, I found that the children in my class enjoyed it too. Many of the places visited are in and around New York City (my favourite place in the world) so I derived pleasure from sharing some of these places with my students.

The most recent video was about Homing Pigeons, which tied in nicely with our recent reading of Mo Willems pigeon books. The video makes a great tool for developing prior knowledge before reading the books, or can be used after the books to inspire further research into raising pigeons.

If you have a student who likes to make things with their hands or a reluctant reader who likes pop-up books, I'd recommend watching the video: Robert Sabud & The Pop-Up Book. Robert Sabud explains the process of making a pop-up book and shows us how to make a pop-up card.

I look forward to using this site some more with my students and sharing it with other teachers across the school.