Moving on...

So I finished my ten week maternity cover in Year 1, with relief due to a tricky group of kids, but could celebrate my wins as their teacher for a short period. I had a lot to keep me busy in the absence of work until the end of the school year in June, namely, packing up our apartment and our life after 5 years in Shanghai.

After enjoying the summer holidays, in wintry Australia, we are now settling in to our new home in Düsseldorf, Germany.  All going well so far and the kids were due to start school tomorrow leaving me to finalise the house set up... but last Friday, I have accepted a job teaching Grade 3 at their school...

So Hi Ho, Hi Ho - it's off to school we all go in the morning!!

I'm still here...

It's been a busy school year.  I've done loads of supply, mostly in Reception through to Year 2, but a few occasional days in Years 6 and 4.

I'm now three weeks into a ten week maternity cover, teaching Year 1.  That three weeks has been crazy so far - we've celebrated 100 days of Year 1 (on my 3rd day) and we've had Book Week.  I'm getting to know all my kids and and their parents and settling into working every day, and planning and preparing it all!

How can it be the end of Term 1?

Wow!  What a rollercoaster ride... This term has been so busy, and seems to have been so long. And during the term, I think I've averaged 2 days supply a week - sometimes more!  I am a bit sad to have neglected this blog for so long though, as I've had some great experiences that I should have shared!

Some of my highlights:
I did a week covering a Year 2 class, and the teacher left planning well set out and appearing to be organised.  But one of the handouts he wanted the class to complete had some how been photocopied in reverse.  Hilarious - I showed it to one of the children in my maths class and he peered at it, and said that it was too small for him to read, so I pointed to one word and just said, try to read that and he then said 'Oh, it's upside down'.  So I told him to turn the page around - the confusion on his little face was priceless.

Then there was one day in Reception, and in doing a counting exercise we were making 'Witches Brew' and adding in a certain number or measurement of various items like leaves, sticks, mud and a teaspoon of glitter - only to have the child measuring the glitter spill the whole jar onto my shoe... I still sprinkle sparkles when I wear those shoes!

I've had teeth fall out on my watch... they were wobbly, and so not completely unexpected.

I have helped compile test papers, which for some reason had to be set and sat that day, in response to a complaint about setting the maths class.

Lunch duties and reminding children not to share food or bring in peanuts is an ongoing task.

Covering a Reception class and taking them up to the 'big school' to watch the KS1 Christmas Show dress rehearsal was fun, and super exciting for me as my own daughter had a speaking part and my class and I were sitting directly in front of her!

With a particularly fidgety Year 2 class after lunch one day, I got them all to stand up and I sang the Wiggles song 'Shake your sillies out' and then got them to sing 'Heads and Shoulders Knees and Toes' faster and faster, only to have one darling little boy get all upset because I was making them sing Nursery songs, while the rest of the class were laughing and actually getting their sillies out!

Working in a number of classes during UN Week meant that suddenly I learned a lot of useful information about Greenland, New Zealand, Wales and Egypt.  The children are happy to share the most amazing facts that they pick up and retain!


But the absolute highlight of my term, was when Santa's Helper was ill... and I was the official photographer taking photos of each class in Santa's Sleigh with Santa.  My new found status as Santa's friend, with his mobile number has definitely improved behaviour over the last two weeks (in class and with my own two kids).

Jumping around the school from Reception to Year 6, poses challenges sometimes... but using appropriate strategies across all age groups sometimes reminds big kids that they were little not that long ago, and shows little kids the expected behaviours for as they grow up.

Summer is here...

Over the last few months, I have worked so many mornings I have lost track.  My little boy has only been in kindergarten for 3 hours each day, and in early March our housekeeper resigned, so I have needed to be home to take care of him after school finished.  The school I do most of my supply work at has been very supportive, and been happy to have me in for cover in the mornings only, coinciding with his hours.

Anyway, finally a long term has drawn to a close, and we are off soon on summer adventures.  I will be back doing more supply in the next school year, and already have some days lined up!  And my little one will be in school all day, so no more half days for me!!

I wish you all a happy and safe holiday.

Year 6 - back to my old stomping ground

One of my colleagues from the last school year went on a training course for a week... and I was so delighted to step in and cover for her all week... she left me some magnificent planning, and I was able to pull out some of my 'old' work from last year and reuse.  And I could revisit the school and catch up with some other colleagues and get to know a new group of Year 6s well, as I was with them all week.

Here's a copy of the summary of my week, which I sent in an email:

Dear R-,

Hope you had a good trip and enjoyed the training course as well.  And more importantly hope you managed to catch up with a few family and friends.

Thank you for your fabulously organised planning that you left for me… made my week super easy!!  But I didn’t get through anywhere near it all, especially in numeracy!!  The kids were lovely, and I enjoyed getting to know them.

NUMERACY:

Marked the homework which was handed in on Monday, but due to the issues with Moodle and handing out worksheets later in the week, did not mark any homework set during the week.

Monday – as requested corrected the work from LP47 in their MEP books, but with discussion determined that the children had not completed the same number of questions, so gave them some time to finish the outstanding work.  Spent about 10 mins working out Q3 d) ¾ of ¾km.  So did not start lesson 48. 

Tuesday – LP48 suggested using some resources, that I couldn’t find easily – measuring jug, etc so opted to skip to LP49 – Area/Perimeter – focus on Length and Width.  Started with the factorisation exercise, and took more than the recommended time on this.  Moved onto the perimeter and area of a cuboid, but I found that with this, the exercise took the rest of the lesson.  They drew out cuboid nets and then worked on calculating the area and perimeter.  Had to remind many that perimeter was around the edge only, as lots measured each side of their cuboid net.

I drew a cuboid shape on the board and asked them to follow on and calculate the area and perimeter using the dimensions I provided. 

Wednesday – continued with solving the area/perimeter for my cuboid net, and then solved together on board.

Still on LP49 – then solved Activity 3.  Most worked this out quite efficiently, the size of the cupboard and table were kind of easy.  Continued with Activity 4.

Thursday – discussed reading questions and providing answers for what was asked.  This was because many children calculated the area of objects, rather than just providing the length and width as requested.  They spent quite a lot of time working out all the parts to the question in Activity 4.  Needed to go into quite a lot of detail about scale.

Friday – completed exercises 5 and 6. Talked about this scale too, how actually much smaller than drawn object.  Compared with Activity 6 which was to scale.  Although the copies of these MEP books seem to be smaller than the actual as most measurements came to 1mm less than the answers provided.

LITERACY:

Monday – Looked at the website suggested, and at the handouts provided. Children made lists of the language used on scrap paper, and we discussed.  Most didn’t seem familiar with this kind of task, and we talked about advertising, persuasion, writing in different tenses and which person.  Many didn’t read and comprehend the Shanghi Acrobat troupe, because it took about 10 mins of discussion for them to realise that it wasn’t in Shanghai!!

Tuesday – used the laptops and in pairs/threes they worked through the China Travel Guide website. Wrote in books about the language in a particular Shanghai attraction. Many children tried to rewrite the text rather than think about structure and language used.

Wednesday – I asked them to write a short tourist guide type article on various locations around the school – for example the swimming pool, the theatre, library, etc.  This is in their books.  We discussed what was important and how it should be structured and ordered. (e.g. at the swimming pool is the length of the pool and times it is open more important that the fact that there are also toilets there.)  We had some read theirs out in class and then we discussed each one as a group.

Thursday – printed out the Jade Temple information and we read it independently first, and then together.  Analysed each paragraph.

Friday – spelling test.  Was going to do auto/tele words, and then there was a disagreement that it should be the ex words… so ended up giving them a 20 word random spelling test.  Nobody got more than 15 right, but there were some tricky words in there!  The list in on a pile on your desk.

ERIC –

Finished chapter 1 of Kensukes Kingdom.  Asked questions at the end of each page and read as a class.  Hard to get them to follow along!

ART –

They did the two smaller canvasses and were really happy with the way they turned out.  L- suggested that you just auction those and don’t worry about doing the big one???

SCIENCE –

None of the torches in the resource box worked, so did everything quite theoretically in both sessions.  They worked on a concept map in the first session, some were really good, and had good ideas.  They listed light sources / not light sources of objects in the class room.  And analysed the drawing provided. 

In the second session, I used a SmartBoard preso I made last year, and then they drew in their books shadow depending on position of the sun.

TOPIC –

Talked about climate / weather and greenhouse effect.  Didn’t talk about Kyoto Protocol, and didn’t start the letters.

ASSEMBLY PRACTICE –

Worked on their song and some choreography.  There is a list of suggested props which M-, A- and S-worked on (they sat and giggled throughout the rehearsal without contributing, or wanting bigger parts).  We had an extra session because music was cancelled on Thursday.

I had a lovely week with your guys, on Friday we had an author, Jan Latta, come and talk about her experiences.  Great group of kids, and really enjoyed getting to know them.

If you have any questions, let me know!!

Cheers

I did the unthinkable...

A couple of weeks ago, my son had a fever. He couldn't go to school. He felt miserable.

I was booked in to cover a Year 1 class.  I had to ring and cancel in the morning.  I felt so guilty, I knew there were a number of teachers sick.

Well in advance I had been booked in to cover two days (Monday and Tuesday) in one classroom the following week.  All the planning had been sent to me.

The Sunday before my daughter got the fever. She couldn't go to school.  I couldn't leave her either. I had to cancel that too.  I continued to feel guilty.  But this is why I'm a supply teacher and not a full time teacher... my family has to come first.

No such luck

No rest day for me today... at 6.45am a text came through asking if I could work today... I debated it, and then while I was making my daughter's lunch, found enough for me to have for lunch too, so said OK.

It was back to Nursery - big jump again from Year 6, right back down to the little kids.

Played all morning with letters, threading games and reading stories.  Took them out for a half hour play on the Pirate Ship, and then Mandarin.  More of the same after rest time this afternoon.

Good day in all!!  Please let me have my rest day tomorrow!!