Drama and Science

Since moving into Year 6 I have been determined to give the children plenty of opportunities for creativity. This has always been high on the agenda, but with new curriculum and assessments it has become even more important.

These are some of the most successful activities I have carried out so far this year.
Please try them out and feedback. I will endeavour to take photos next time so that I can include them. We were too carried away with what we were doing to remember to take photos!

1) The circulatory system.

I did this with my whole class as I am lucky to have a very small group of 20. With a larger class I would split it as follows:

2 children- lungs. Holding a container with red counters (or similar)

2 children heart- could make a 'bridge'

2 children- body. Holding a container with blue counters (or similar)


Rest of group- blood cells, start off at body with blue counters.

Children process round the body, through the heart, to the lungs where the counter is swapped to show the exchange of gases, back to the heart, round the body where the blood becomes de- oxygenated, back to the heart and so on.

Could have a couple of children beating out a rhythm on drums, or play a suitable tune to keep in time too (I especially like Mr Parr's heart song which you can find  here   or  for lots of others click here )

2) Pollination 

Again this can be done with the whole class or groups. No fancy equipment needed, just some space.

Some children- flowers- they need yellow counters/stickers etc. to act as pollen

Fewer children- bees/butterflies (or bats if you have been looking at a range of pollinators!)

Pollinators move from flower to flower, collecting and depositing the 'pollen' as they travel. This demonstrates how pollination occurs.

3) Electrical circuits

All you need is a group of children and a piece of thick cord long enough for everyone to hold when it is in a loop.

The loop is held gently by all (health and safety not to grip too tight to avoid burns)
One (or more) act as the cell and gently pull the cord to demonstrate the flow of electrons in a circuit. The more cells, the more energy . The fewer cells, the lesser the amount of energy.
The others can demonstrate resistance by holding onto the cord more tightly; this makes it harder to move the cord round the circle. If the cord is cut, the circuit is broken and the energy cannot flow all the way around.

4) Not so much drama as freeze framing . Light

Groups of children use string/wool to show the path of light from source to eye . For example one child acts as light source, string goes to object (child two) and then to observer (child 3) . This can help to show how light travels in one continuous line that is reflected from the object to the eye.
 Other groups can then narrate the path of the light.

Learning in science

I thought I would try something new with my class this year. Well, there are lots of new things: new room, new year, new class, new assessment... the list goes on.

Specifically, I am trying out a 'reporters' book' . The plan is that in each science lesson, one group is responsible for recording the learning that is happening. The group has a camera and the children are not expected to double up on their work, but to record what's been learnt.

Next step maybe to try in other subjects, maths would be my next move.

The point? A record, a revision tool, a discussion point, a way for me to assess understanding .

Will it be useful? Raise standards? Improve understanding? I hope so. Watch this space...

Lesson Observations

This morning I read the latest blog post by The Primary Head (find it here : http://theprimaryhead.com/2014/03/04/judge-me/comment-page-1/#comment-789 )

It was a very interesting piece following on from the recent discussions on twitter regarding lesson observations and to grade or not to grade. 
( Find it here:  http://educationechochamber.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/beyond-lesson-observation-grades-teacher-development-trust/ )

So I thought I would add my thoughts to the mix .

I don't mind being observed, in fact, if I am going to get some helpful feedback to improve my teaching then it's a good thing. Do I need to be given a grade? Not really. What I need is feedback and reflection. 

 An excellent post on this can be found here: 
http://chrismoyse.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/professional-development-at-my-academy-no-lessson-grades-ever/  
 where the school do carry out regular observations (often in pairs) and the feedback is well structured and focuses on development.

I would love to know how schools are able to fund this; I work in a small (6 class) primary and have few opportunities to watch my colleagues teach and to be watched other than the performance management/maths/english monitoring cycles. I'd be more than happy to have a lesson videoed and used as a discussion point (especially if I could have my hair/nails/face done as part of the deal!!- OK, that's probably not going to be part of the process!)

That way would save release time for other staff and the video could be used in a staff meeting to focus on questioning/more able/TA support...the list goes on. 

I would love to hear from schools (particularly primary) who have successfully implemented this. I know that some of my colleagues would balk at the thought of being videoed but it's not going to be put on youtube (!) 

Lesson observations are an integral part of a teachers development. Grading an individual lesson (or worse still just a part of it) does not, in my opinion, do much good for anyone. What teacher does not want to do the best they can to provide the children in their care a stimulating and productive learning environment? Strategies to improve teaching and learning are always welcomed. The day that I wouldn't want that would be the day I leave teaching. I am an experienced teacher and have many opportunities to observe NQTs, trainees and to support staff in my role as an AST. What I would love the opportunity to do more of is to watch examples of excellent teaching from experienced teachers and have time to reflect on the lesson with others. Budget always seems to get in the way of this, but I will continue to strive for this to happen.  

Should I be in the position to make such decisions in the future I would strive to have a model of collaborative observations to allow all staff to observe/be observed and discuss openly where the teaching is most successful and WHY that is. As teachers we constantly model to the children; something we too need for our development.

** I have just read this excellent post http://prawnseyeblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/02/three-steps-to-heaven-or-at-least-making-observations-more-meaningful/  This is exactly the sort of model I would love to be a part of. ** 

The first term as a job share teacher

Well, it is the holiday now (yippeee) and the first term working 3 days a week has come to it's end.
How has it gone?
Amazingly well...I have loved it. I have tried very hard to "get over" the classroom no longer being mine, but "ours" and stopped trying to squeeze a whole week's work into three days.
Of course I still felt shattered at the end of term, but considerably less so, and the whole build up to Christmas was so much more enjoyable having been there less! Early play rehearsals left me not knowing what was going on, but that didn't last long.
Have learnt that trying to split APP is a challenge; next term will do two subjects and my JSP will do the other and we will swap that each term. Found that there are quite a few things that didn't get covered this term...but that we know now exactly what we need to work on next term. In some ways I feel I know the class better at this stage of the year than previously due to the amount of conversations we have had about the children.
It has made me realise that we all, whether we are full time or part time, need to spend a lot more time talking to each other about what we do in our classrooms...staff meetings each week should focus on the teaching and learning rather than bogged down by bureaucratic discussions.
Next term we are going to do some observations of each other teaching with a view to this leading to some coaching... I am really looking forward to this and will write about how it goes.
Do I have any regrets about working part time? No! Salary taken a nose dive but quality of life is so much better. I have found some things harder, for example I run the class blog and have found it difficult to keep the momentum going with the class as my JSP is not a fan of ICT; one of my challenges is to try to change that (!) as well as try to keep my class enthusing about it when I am not there...watch this space.
Still going to the gym, caught up with friends more, been less of a stress head and had great fun taking part in various writing challenges particularly the 100Words one.
http://jfb57.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/5050-word-challenge-week24/

I am going to have  go at that later on today...

I know that I am lucky to be working with a colleague that I have known for years...we are both keen to make job sharing as successful as possible. Communication is key. Would love to hear from both experienced and new job sharers for how they make their partnership successful and continue to develop their roles.
Twitter has been (and continues to be) a wonderful place to share ideas, gain inspiration and support each other. Love it.

Here's to a great 2012...