Practicum 2010 at Sunnybrae Normal School

During the course of 2010 I have been teaching in Room 2 at Sunnybrae Normal School. This was my final practicum. I have really enjoyed my time here. During the months of July and August I had full control of this Year 1 class.

I established myself as a teacher, developing my planning, teaching and assessment skills.  I planned the entire programme for four weeks- including reading, writing, maths, art and topic.  I prepared lessons that catered for the individual needs of each student, allowing for the diversity within the class.

Through this experience I have successfully planned from Term/ Unit Overviews through to long term planning then weekly planning down to daily lessons plans.  These have been thorough and well executed.

I have grown both as an individual and as a professional. I have a deeper understanding of the role and responsibilities of a teacher.

Paper Hats

In the first week of Term 3 we made newspaper hats. We learnt that we can reuse newspaper in different ways. The children followed instructions and then  decorated their hats making them pirate or princess hats.

SOLO Taxonomy: Define map

Within the first lesson of topic we looked at environments. We decided that an 'environment' is a place where someone or something lives. We matched living things with their environments and then we looked at a child and their environment- children have two environments, these are their school and their home. We did a define map of 'our environment' with the children sharing their ideas.

Area of a Towel

I was unaware that the concept of area would be taught to children at this level. I knew what area was but found it hard to think of a way to introduce it to the children. In my first lesson I used visuals to help the children understand. We talked about the area of a towel, we then compared the area of three towels and ordered them from largest to smallest.

Area of a Hand

After introducing the concept of area to the students we then learnt how to compare the area of two/more shapes. We did this using our hands, we looked at whose hand was bigger/smaller. The children then drew around their hand and decorated it. These are all now displayed within our classroom.

Newspaper People

We started our newspaper people in Week2 of Term 3.

I prepared the body of people before the lesson. The children cut the hair and dressed their people with coloured paper, stickers and crayons. Just like the diverse range of children in Room 2 we had a big range with our newspaper people. The eyes and pom poms were stuck on by the teacher. We presented our news paper people at the junior syndicate assembly and now they are on display in our classroom.

Area of Objects

For Maths Strand we are looking at area. We revisited the concept of area. I brought in a bag full of different leaves , we then compared and ordered the area of the leaves from largest to smallest. The children then were given a leaf, a piece of paper and crayons to rub over the leaf creating an outline of the leaf. This is now displayed on our wall.

Our special visitor- Lamb

During Maori Language Week Mrs Chambers friend brought in their new born lamb.

The children got to pat the lamb and a few were selected to feed the lamb. I then used this as a learning experience and the children wrote a descriptive paragraph on the lamb using adjectives.

Living vs Man-made

For topic we are learning about sustainability within this we are looking at the environment/our environment. Over two afternoons we looked at living/natural things and man made things. The children had to cut out all the living/natural things and man-made things they could find in magazines. The children learnt how to recognise and sort objects into living and man-made things we categorised the living things by saying that living things can ...

• GROW
• EAT
• BREATHE

The Erruption

A child brought in a volcano they had made out of paper mache. We put vinegar, baking soda and red food colouring into the volcano. The children watched the volcano errupt. I then used this shared experience as a starter for our writing. As a class we brainstormed ideas and vocabulary that we could use in our stories. The children drew a volcano. This work is now displayed in the classroom.

Flower Art

I decided we needed to do some art work to make the class colourful, I had seen this flower art done in another class. The children loved making their own flower out of paper towels, I took them home and sprayed them and then the children either drew a vase or stem.

Our School Environment

With constant referring to the word 'environment' every child in the class now knows what environment means and can identify their own environment. In week 4 we looked at our school environment and picked four aspects that were important to us or made our school special.