Welcome to Our Space!!!

Firstly, I must admit that this post is well overdue. Secondly, I have moved from Infant Two and I am currently teaching Standard Three/Grade Four.

For this academic year, I decided on a Space Theme for my classroom. While, this theme is not related to any content material being taught I felt that knowing about the Solar System and the Universe was important to my students’ world knowledge. We are engaging in many activities on a daily basis to support their experience.

For instance:

·        I am able to read during our morning Read Aloud a variety of narrative and informational text about the solar system, planets, earth etc.

·        They have learned a poem about the planets.

·        We have taken part in the International Literacy Day Theme/Activity- “Lift off to Literacy”

 

I personally love this theme because, to begin each lesson I am able to gain the focus of my students by saying, "Let's blast off to ................". My students quickly settle themselves and are ready to learn.

 

Welcome to My Class!!

To create the sun and the planets, I hand painted Chinese lanterns.



A view of my Standard Three classroom with planets.



Students enjoy looking at the planets which hang above.

The astronaut I purchased!!

Here's the astronaut!!!

 

Focus Walls in my Classroom.

The Mathematics Wall which displays charts with content taught.

 

Mathematics Wall!!

'Lift off to Literacy''- I wanted to display out pledge to take part in the activity.

The Word Wall also called "Our Word Galaxy".

Our Writing Wall. On this wall, anchor charts about writing concepts will be displayed as well as students' writing.

 

Other Areas!!!

Our library area, which consists of a bookshelf. Students visit this area when they have completed their work. I am really trying to source a couch to add to this area.

A view of my desk and cupboard.

On the east of the classroom the Classroom Job chart is displayed, along with some Social Studies charts.

A view of my classroom from my desk.

To the front of the classroom is a little area, students can visit to read what Science content  is being displayed to reinforce and expand their knowledge.

 

Creating a stimulating and creative learning environment is a main tenet in my teaching philosophy. My students do enjoy learning and growing in our classroom environment.

 

 

 

Hope you are Inspired!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Mathematics Alive!!

Hi, tonight I am posting some pictures of my students work and my students engaged in Mathematics activities. When doing a lesson, I ensure that students get involve with hands-on learning experiences. These experiences generally help students to understand concepts taught. Furthermore, these meaningful experiences will provide students with the required previous knowledge they will need as they continue through other classes.

Number Concepts

This week I introduced my students to the number 14. We looked at what the numeral looked like and its word name. We counted to fourteen, and made sets with fourteen.

On my Mathematics Bulletin Board I wanted to create a visual representation of the number fourteen with the help of my students. So when we started our Social Studies unit “Our Community” and started to explore urban and rural communities, I realize that we could create a mural with an urban community.

Students were given cut-outs of tall buildings and pieces of paper. They were told that they had to put fourteen windows on their building. They enjoyed cutting and sticking the windows. After they handed up their pieces, I took them home and put the mural together.

 Addition on the Number Line

(This activity was done last term.)

Here is one student as he moves along the Number Line.

Materials

1.    For this activity, I printed each of the numerals 0- 12 on colourful letter size paper. Then I laminated each sheet.

2.   I prepared a series of addition problems on index cards.

At the start of the activity, I reviewed the important points for adding on the number line.

For example:

·        You must always start at 0.

·        As you jump along the number line, you need to count as your jump.

Students were chosen randomly to do the activity.

Activity

First, they came to me and randomly selected an index card with an addition number sentence.

Second they went to the number line and stood by the zero numeral (0).

Thirdly, they called out their addition number sentence and started to jump along the number line.

Lastly, they told their classmates which number they landed on.



They are totally having fun!!!

Picture Graph

Whenever I have to introduce, the concept of representing data visually through graphs I love to read Eric Carle’s ; The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Students get the opportunity to stick pictures of the fruits the caterpillar ate on the picture graph.

In the initial lesson I introduce facts such as:

·        the picture chart must have a title

·        pictures should be the same size

·        spacing must be equal on the picture graph.

We spend time interpreting and analysing the data.

Pictograph

Students then move to creating pictographs. Here we use real world examples so that students can relate the experience to their lives.

In the pictures below students are creating a pictograph to show the 'School House Colour' they belong to.

Repeated Addition Stories

 (This was done with my previous class. I can't wait to do it with my students soon.)

I saw this strategy on the Pinterest and did it with my students.

Students represent addition stories visually to solve the problems.

Students enjoyed the activity and were happy to display their work.

Hope You are Inspired!!!!

Raise Up Your Voices

      Hello everyone, last term was an extremely busy term with all the training workshops and other school activities. However, while I have not been blogging as regularly as I would like, I have been compiling the various activities my students and I participated in to share with you soon.

      One of the main events at our school last term was the "Raise Up Your Voices" literacy event. This event took place on Universal Children's Day- 20th November, 2013.

The 'Raise Up Your Voices" banner-an appropriate theme for our Literacy Day focus on Fluency>

 

During the term the administration and staff wanted to focus on 'Fluency Development' at all levels in the school. Teachers worked with their students in re-inforcing the important components of fluency- automacity and prosody.

For the literacy day event, my Second Year students were going to demonstrate their improved fluency in reading a text very familiar to them and one they enjoyed- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle .

In the weeks preceding the event I modelled the fluent reading of text for my students. After selecting the text, we focused on recognizing tricky words. Then students had multiple opportunities to read the text in small groups and as a class.


To make our presentation a great one for the event, I gave students chart size pictures of the various things the caterpillar ate and oh boy did they have fun painting them.



A student painting the swiss cheese the caterpillar ate on Saturday.



A student painting the ice- cream cone the caterpillar ate.

Here are other students painting some fruits the caterpillar ate.

Students painting a slice of salami and a piece of cherry pie.

Here are some finished pieces!!!

I was extremely proud of my students. They made a great effort to capture the details of the text.

My students truly enjoyed their opportunity to be a part of this experience.

A video of the presentation can be viewed on my facebook timeline.

When next I do this presentation with another group of students I intend to put a Trinidadian twist to it. That is, the fruits and other food items will all be local fruits found in Trinidad such as mangoes, pommerac, tamarind, paw paw balls, sugar cake, guava cheese just to name a few.


Hope You Are Inspired!!!!