Saying sorry

I just wanted to tell you about the sweetest thing that happened in my class today which almost brought me to tears.

Recently, a lot of the girls in my class have been becoming quite competitive and haven't been speaking very nicely to (or about!) each other. I have been really saddened by this (they're so little still!) so I decided to try to nip it in the bud today by having a whole class discussion about how we speak to each other and how we want to be speaking words that build up others rather than bringing them down. I told the class that this was mostly for the girls (because they were the ones who I've been hearing the stories about) but it is good for us all to think about how we use our words as one of our class rules is to 'be nice to others'.

During this discussion a particular boy in my class started looking really sad, staring at the floor, downcast. As the discussion was coming to a close he put his hand up. Wondering what he could be asking (seeing as he hadn't done anything wrong as far as I knew) I motioned him to speak. He said, "Mrs Beasley, can I say sorry to everyone?" (I nodded) he then proceeded to look every student in my class in the eye naming them and apologising, almost in tears. The whole class was silent as he did this, most of them not really understanding why.

It was such a special, thoughtful moment that it caused tears to well up in my eyes! One of the students asked afterwards, "Why did he say sorry? He hasn't done anything wrong?" the boy replied that he could remember times where he had hurt each person and he wanted to apologise. So so beautiful!

I hope you are as touched by this sweet boy as I was.

Mountains Artwork

As we are learning about Wet and Dry environments in HSIE I have been trying to link in a lot of the other Key Learning Areas to what we are doing.

Yesterday we learnt about what a 'mountain range' is and thought about the features of alpine environments. As a mountain range is a series of mountains it was a really good base to create a class artwork displaying what we know!

Here are the steps to creating a fabulous mountain range!

First, I got students to draw a dot for the tip of the mountain in the middle of the top edge of their page.

Then student drew a grid on their mountain (you could use this as a start to a discussion about how humans have impacted the environment)

Next, have students fill in their grid using oil pastels (they are nice and bright but can be used for smaller areas!)

Once students have filled in their grid they can use a black oil pastel to draw over the lines and snow and then cut out!

Makes an awesome mountain range! 

Literacy Groups

Literacy groups are one of my favourite activities to do with my class. I test children regularly on their reading using running records (which test both word recognition and comprehension) and then put them into like ability groups.

We have literacy groups 3 times a week and students read a book together and then finish with an activity. I thought I would post about the activity one group completed today as it was a bit of an 'a-ha' moment for a girl in my class. She is Korean and is only just learning how to speak English, she really enjoyed the activity below though as she could use prompts from her book but produce work at a similar level as the other students. Basically they have to use the lego letters to make words from their books setting them out like they are an on an imaginary crossword.

Here is a snapshot of her 'imaginary crossword' word work!

Marble Jars - Behaviour management

There are some things that I have tried this year with my class in terms of positive behaviour management routines which have worked really well so I thought it was about time to share them!

I have my tables organised into table groups with each table group linked to the topic we are studying in HSIE (Humans Society in it's Environment). Because we are learning about Wet and Dry environments this term my tables are: Alpine, Desert, Bushland and Ocean. Each table group has a jar with a picture of their environment on it. I give tables marbles to put in their jar as a reward for a variety of behaviours - improvement, listening. tidiness, working well, sharing, being helpful etc. At the end of each week we count up the marbles for each table and the table with the most gets a prize from me!

The kids really love it, and get SO excited every Friday when it's time to count the marbles. It's also really good for them to learn how their behaviour impacts those around them and how to work as a team. Not very expensive either! I just got some plastic jars from the $2 shop and a packet of about 100 marbles from there as well.

Bushland table's marble jar!

2011 WISE Summit

I was really inspired by this presentation given by Mrs. Kelly Wood (née Steeples). She was the 2010 national winner of the SSAT award for Outstanding New Teacher of the Year in the UK and has some really valuable, practical advice for teachers.

The things that particularly struck me are below:

• Ownership – giving it over to the children exceed expectations
• Understanding your pupils – building relationships, sparking their interests
• Innovation – teaching innovatively and allowing the children to be innovative
• Time management – work/life balance, time in opportunities, balance of being collaborative
• Sense of humour – laughing along, experiences
• Finding teachers who choose to be great
• Target setting – ensure targets maximise the learning, how to set good targets
• Teacher toolbox with alternative approaches
• Awe and wonder – inspiring children and allowing them to have wow moments
• Using media – enhances the learning and the teaching
• High expectations – steel hand in a velvet glove
• Be dynamic and inspirational – finding activities to allow the children to do something different
• Parental involvement – inspire mornings
• Fostering talents

Take a look!!

Dobbing vs Telling

For a lot of this year I have been trying to teach my class things that are really important to tell me and things that are not. For a while my class became King and Queen dobbers with so little as a 'wrong look' deserving my attention... until now!

This term I have introduced the poster below to try to teach my kids the difference between dobbing (tattling) and telling. Basically what is important to tell me and what isn't. So far this has worked a treat! Kids are really getting on board and even thinking about what they are about to tell me before they do (ahhhhmazzzing!)

Definitely recommend something similar if you have issues with dobbers!

Underwater Sihouettes

This term we are learning about wet and dry environments in HSIE. After being inspired by the Bees Knees cousin we created the artworks below.

We learnt what a silhouette is and I gave students free range to create their own silhouette of an underwater animal in a wet environment. Needless to say, I was totally amazed by their creativity! We had sharks, hammerhead sharks, jellyfish, sea turtles, starfish, sea horses and more!

This was also a great lesson for learning about perspective as the artwork is looking up into the sun from underneath the sea creatures.

Have a look at the Bees Knees Cousin for a full description of the artwork!