What progress has been made with my Gold Reading Group!

 During these past few weeks I have had the opportunity of reading with 4 exceptional young students. All four of these young students are now reading at late Gold, early silver.

As I have struggled with attendance issues over the past few weeks with my students, I would have liked to have seen teach child in this group to progress to silver, but sadly this has not been the case. 

My Goal has been to to keep these four individual (or how ever many I have during that day)  engaged,  with their inquisitive little minds running. I have gotten this group to read a wide variety of text types and discuss their features with me and between themselves, which has worked really well. 

From plays (where this group gets to perform in front of others), listening to others read-and being able to comment themselves on what needs improving, reading Fiction/Non fiction and seeing the similarities and differences between the text features, watching informative videos on "whatever" they are learning about ie Tour de France, making items from "whatever" they are reading about-all of this has sustained their interest. Even giving them a print out of a Non fiction article that I have asked them to study with questions to follow (which is a change from a book) -this delivery has been a great success and has given this group an appetite for wanting more.

So if I continue with this group in term 4 I will continue on the same path and keep on engaging my class with entertaining activities.

T3 PENN MOVIE 2022 What is Creativity?

 

Reading Inquiry for 2022

 During the last few days that have just passed, I have come to the realisation that I need to create more exciting "Reading classes" for my Gold group. Their reading needs will be very different to the lower groups I take For example Yellow, and Blue.

I guess my question is "What things can I do to make my children more engaged in my reading classes to bring the very best of them to that 1 hour session each day and therefore attain results" This question is a work in progress for me.

 

PENN Movie T2 2022

 This is what my year 2 class have been learning this term.

PENN Movie T2 2022 Position & Orientation.

 

PENN Movie used as a learning tool.

 This year Room 26 has been fortunate enough to experience the making of our PENN movie. Usually in previous years I have not had the opportunity to  engage in the process of movie making with my class. It has been a great experience filled with lots of learning.

I was able to get one of my year 3's to read a 2minute script. He was the voice of our PENN movie.

It was most interesting to see how his confidence grew over the time that we were making our movie. At first it was seen as a chore for him to stay back 10 minutes after lunch, but then he was offering to, and his reading and fluency got better and better!

This motivated all the other children who wanted to be part of the process in some way. They would want to show their face in the movie and would constantly ask "Am I in it!"

But it wasn't just a great experience for them it was a great experience for me. I have never had the opportunity in the past of "working together" with my class to produce a quality movie about what they are learning inside and outside the classroom. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Inquiry for 2022.

 What an interesting few weeks we have had so far! It has certainly been filled with challenges. In todays staff meeting we talked about those many challenges that we as teachers faced in the classroom. We looked at the disadvantageous of  "mask wearing" The constant looking from the children as they struggled to understand what you were saying. This has an effect on the building of relationships which in turn has an impact on trust.

Wearing a mask certainly seemed to hinder the performance as a teacher. It has had a huge impact on "connectivity" not only with students but also with the wider community. I have been very lucky because I teach Year 2/3, which means wearing a mask is not mandatory when working with my children, but communication with whanau (& the wider community) is more difficult.

We know that this current situation will not be with us indefinitely and it has prompted the question, what future goals do I have for my learners? What did I want my classroom to look like in a "mask off" classroom/environment?

We know that in the near future "connectedness" will certainly be a theme (no matter the year group) that will be at the forefront of every teachers mind. We know that in the classroom it is the teacher who plays such an important role in their learning, social and emotional growth.

This idea or theme of connectedness certainly makes me wonder how as a "teacher" I will be able to foster relations between the children, the community and myself moving forward? This is certainly something I plan on exploring more as the year progresses.