Category Archives: 2.1 Curriculum

Outdoor Learning

I am a huge fan of outdoor learning! I think my passion has mostly stemmed from my experiences working in a nature nursery, where I saw many of the benefits of the outdoor environment for my children. Unfortunately, I see much less outdoor learning taking place in school.

So, what is outdoor learning? Well the Institute for Outdoor Learning put it perfectly in their description:

Outdoor Learning as a purposeful and planned experience in the outdoors. It’s a broad term that includes discovery, experimentation, learning about and connecting to the natural world, and engaging in outdoor sports and adventure activities.

Image from Pixabay.com

To expand on this, I see outdoor learning as making the most of natural surroundings and resources, it is certainly NOT picking up your worksheets/ puzzles from indoors and taking them out into the garden! Sadly, this is something hat I have seen all too often, from well-meaning practitioners who are not sure about what outdoor learning really is. That’s not to say that there’s no value in taking your indoor learning activities outside – if it’s a nice day and the children will benefit from getting out of the classroom, I completely agree with picking up your books or whatnot and making the most of the sunshine, but it’s important to recognise the difference between this (learning outdoors) to actual outdoor learning.

That brings me to another bugbear of mine – those teachers or practitioners that refuse to take children outdoors if it’s a bit rainy, a bit cold, or a bit muddy! My favourite saying is “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing!” (a quote which has been attributed to various different authors). This aversion to taking children outdoors appears to be quite common at this time of year, and I wrote a little about it on my Early Years blog – “Now that the weather’s turning cold”. On the other hand though, health and safety must be a concern. At the nursery where I used to work, the one type of weather that would keep us indoors was high winds, due to the numerous trees around us and the danger of falling branches. Other than that, rain or shine, we were outdoors!

Health and safety is an important consideration when taking learning outside of the classroom. Firstly, ratios must be adhered to. The NSPCC provides the following recommendations for adult: child ratios within the school grounds:

  • 4 – 8 years
    1 adult to 6 children
  • 9 – 12 years
    1 adult to 8 children
  • 13 – 18 years
    1 adult to 10 children

And the Scottish Government state that during excursions with children and young people under the age of 18, the ratios should be:

  • 1 adult to 15-20 group members for excursions where the element of risk to be encountered is similar to that normally encountered in daily life, e.g. excursions to sites of historic interest, most field work, local walks etc

Additionally, the requirements of any children with additional support needs, the general behaviour of a class, and the perceived level of risk of the activity must also be carefully considered when taking children away from school premises. For safeguarding purposes, it is also recommended that there are always 2 adults present.

Image from Pixabay.com

Before taking children to a site for outdoor learning, a risk assessment should be carried out. This means that the teacher should visit the location and note down any of the potential dangers (including during the travel there and back), and the measures that will be taken to prevent/ reduce these dangers. Within the wonderful book ‘Dirty Teaching’ by Juliet Robertson, it is suggested that risk assessments can also be conducted with the children. This allows them to take ownership of their own safety.

Outdoor learning can provide brilliant opportunities for ‘Risky Play’. This is the type of play that is exciting, pushes boundaries, and has the potential for injury. It is through this type of play that children learn to manage risk, and also learn resilience. While adults can sometimes be anxious about allowing children to engage in this type of play, Play Scotland states that children often associate their risky play with positive emotions such as fun, thrilling, and pride.

In this BBC Radio broadcast  Sian Williams explores resilience and the science behind it. Resilience describes the ability to ‘bounce back’ from difficulties. Some of the points raised in this documentary include:

  • it is important that individuals recognise and appreciate their feelings. Allowing yourself to recognise that you are feeling sad or scared can help your brain to recover,
  • it is important that individuals are taught strategies to support them in dealing with future adversities,
  • resilience should be taught from a young age,

 

Image from Pixabay.com

From a personal perspective, I feel that it is important that a teacher has good levels of resilience, as it is a job where we will likely be faced with many challenges and difficulties. A lack of resilience could lead to teachers suffering with mental health issues such as stress and anxiety, and could also cause some to decide to leave the profession all together. This is something that I need to be aware of within myself, as I have suffered with anxiety in the past and I have a habit of taking criticism personally.

With regard to the pupils in my future class, I feel that it is critical that I give the children chances talk about their feelings and emotions in various circumstances. I also agree with allowing children to ‘fail’ or ‘get it wrong’, as this provides opportunities for growth and learning. I am personally against the rise of the ‘everyone gets a medal at sports day’ culture that I have seen in some settings, as I feel that this is not reflective of real life. In the real world, there will be situations where you do not win or succeed. What is important is the way that we deal with this, learn from it, and move on.

 

An Apple for the Teacher

Image from pixabay.com

Recently, in RME sessions, we have been thinking about morals, and the idea of right and wrong – both from religious and non-religious perspectives. While discussing this, I couldn’t help but think of a wonderful lesson that I came across on the internet a while back. In this lesson, a teacher used 2 simple apples to demonstrate the damaging impact of bullying, and more importantly how a person may seem okay on the outside, but may be hurt on the inside.

Image Credit: RELAX KIDS TAMWORTH

 

During the lesson, the teacher took 2 apples. She then proceeded to be ‘unkind’ to one apple – dropping it on the ground and calling it hurtful names. She also encouraged the children to do the same.

Then she turned her attention to the second apple, which she complimented and treated with care.

After the children had passed around both apples, they began to compare the apples. From the outside, both apples looked very similar. But when the teacher cut the apples in half, it was very clear to see that one apple (the one that had been treated with care) was fresh and healthy, while the other was bashed and bruised.

(Lesson explanation summarised from THIS ARTICLE by the telegraph)

 

What a powerful way to explain this concept to children! I love the fact that the children were involved in the actions of being kind or unkind. I also really like how the results are tangible and obvious, to allow the children to really think about what has happened. This would allow the teacher to lead some brilliant discussions about what happens to us when someone is unkind.

 

 

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Morals and Stories

Vintage, Book Illustration, Literature, Shakespeare
Image from Pixabay.com

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I love stories! I’ve always got at least 2 books sitting on my bedside table, and when I’m working in nursery, story time is among my favourite times of day. It’s a chance to calm down, relax, and lose yourself in another world.

During this afternoon’s RME input, we discussed how various story books could be used to explore children’s moral development. These stories could be religious (such as parables from the Bible, or stories any of the other religious texts), or can be non-religious (such as traditional fairy tales or other children’s books).

In this post, I have chosen a story which I feel could be used with a class to explore moral actions.

The story I have chosen is:

The Smartest Giant In Town (Julia Donaldson). This story would be appropriate for children at the younger stages of Primary school.

In this story, George the Giant is fed up of looking scruffy, and treats himself to some smart new clothes. Feeling pleased, he begins his trip home where he happens upon various characters who are in need of help. George is a kind Giant, and happily helps his friends, in ways that just happen to involve his nice new items of clothing! In the end, he has given up all of his new clothes, and ends up wearing his old scruffy robe again. Then, when George finally arrives home, all of the friends that he helped are there to thank him and give him a present.

What I took from the story:

  • George is willing to make sacrifices to do what he thinks is right – even giving up his brand new clothes that gave him so much happiness.
  • By helping others, George is able to spread his happiness around, and in the end, discovers an even greater happiness with his friends.

 

If using this story in the classroom, I would use a ‘reading the text’ approach where we interpret the text and think about the meaning.  I would stop at regular intervals to encourage the children to talk about what the characters may be feeling. After reading, I would encourage the children to think about a time when someone was kind to them, or when they were kind to someone else.

The idea of kindness and helping others is one that is also covered in religious texts (such as ‘The Good Samaritan), and it would be interesting to make some comparisons.

 

I think that a lesson like this could cover the following E’s and O’s:

I am developing an increasing awareness and understanding of my own beliefs and I put them into action in positive ways. RME 1-08a / RME 2-08a / RME 3-08a / RME 4-08a

I can show my understanding of values such as caring, sharing, fairness, equality and love. RME 1-09b

 

 

A Couple of Highlights from Placement Week 2

This week has been another brilliant whirlwind!

One of the highlights was having the opportunity to watch and be a part of the Spring Concert on Wednesday evening. It was really great to see the talent and hard work of these young people as the various groups played a range of music – from classical pieces to contemporary pop.

Although I only played a very minor role (re-arranging chairs between sets – and doing it rather badly if I’m honest), I enjoyed being a part of the event.

 

During the week I have continued to be involved in Kodaly, African drumming, Samba band, Orchestra, Brass band, and Wind band. I have also been thinking about how I could use some of the methods and resources from these sessions in my own teaching. One activity which I particularly liked involved the written notation for rhythms (stick notation).

These notations can look like this (please excuse my poorly imitated versions):

 

 

or

 

 

In this activity, children were asked to play the rhythm on the flashcard, being careful not to play the rhythm of “don’t play this one back” (a familiar game). This involved the skills of reading and identifying the rhythms, as well as being able to play them.

After observing this lesson, I began thinking about the connections between music and maths. Musicians use maths all of the time when counting beats in a bar, and working out how long a note lasts for e.g. a minim or crotchet.

One possible activity on this topic could be to use the rhythm patterns (as shown above), and allowing the children to choose which rhythms they would use to fit into a bar. Bars could be varied in length, but would probably start with 4 beats.

For example, the children could create something like this:

This pattern would sound like this (played on my clarinet using just one repeated note):

An extension of this would be to create something more complicated also using semibreves, quavers and rests.

This activity can be seen on the following video (from around 0:04:30):

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-music-through-clapping

This activity could be extended as the children add the note heads to their rhythms, creating their own melodies.

Image from pixabay.com

Another way which music notation makes meaningful connections with maths is through fractions and times tables, i.e. if there are 4 beats in the bar, how can it be divided? How many lots of “tea” would fit or how many “coffee”s? I think that it’s important to apply maths in as many different ways as possible, so that children can grasp and understand it. Using music can help to add an element of fun to this learning (and maybe avoid the dreaded worksheets!)

What a Week!

I can’t believe that’s my first week of placement over already! What a brilliant week it has been!

Here are some of the experiences that I have been involved in:

Kodaly

During the Kodaly sessions, I saw p1 children learning about the foundation elements of music, including rhythm, pitch, and tempo. This learning happens in a fun, active, and play based way, which reminds me of the circle games that I might use with my pre-school children at nursery. An example of this was when children were learning about tempo: they made 2 trains (standing in a line with their hands on the person-in-front’s shoulders), with one being the fast train, and one being the slow train. As they moved around the room, each train had a chant:

 

Image from pixabay.com

Engine, engine, coloured green,

The fastest train I’ve ever seen!

Or

Engine, engine, coloured black

going slowly down the track!

The children were also required to use the additional skill of walking their feet in time to the beat of their chant. This helped them to recognise that the tempo of their chant related to the speed that they were moving.

I feel that I can definitely bring this style of learning into my own teaching and look forward to using this in my Early Years placement.

African Drumming

An African Drum

These sessions allowed children to learn and practise different rhythms and patterns. They did this through call-and-response, a ‘Simon says’ type game, and drumming along to backing tracks.

I loved how these activities seemed so simple, however involved many different skills; listening, remembering, motor skills, and creating different sounds using the parts of the drum. Children had also learned about the history of these drums, speaking about where they were from and what they would have been used for in the past.

Ukulele

Children learned a few simple chords which allowed them to play along with some songs. They practised the fingering for these chords and looked at how to strum these in time with the song (which is linked to reading music). These lessons were also linked with learning that was taking place outside of music lessons, for example, some children had been learning about fairy tales and folklore, and therefore were learning the songs: 3 Billy Goats Gruff, and The Ugly Duckling.

I was very impressed at how well the children were able to create the chords (placing their fingers in the correct places on the strings and frets) and strum in time to the songs! Many children even managed to read the words and sing along at the same time. This activity is helping them to develop many skills, including those used in sight reading music.

Orchestra and Wind Band

My clarinet

I was a bit nervous about these classes, as I was asked to bring my clarinet along and play with the children. While I CAN play, I’ve never been hugely confident in my ability, so this pushed me out of my comfort zone. That being said, I’m really glad that I did, because having my instrument allowed me to make a connection with some pupils (fellow clarinet players) and I feel that it helped children to respect me as someone who ‘knows what they’re talking about’.

In these lessons, pupils were practising their fingering and formation of notes, as well as timing and being able to listen to those around them. One way which they did this was through a ‘Hocket‘ style activity, where children were split into 5 groups (of mixed instruments) and given one note each. The conductor would then point to the groups, indicating that it was their turn to play. In this way, the children could play some simple tunes (e.g. Mary had a little lamb), and some even had the chance to be the conductor and create their own tunes by pointing to the different groups.

This was such a simple activity, but was great fun. It also allowed the children to practise a note that they may not be confident with, without the added problem of changing between notes. I can see how this activity could be used in a future music lesson, as it could be used with any instruments – from chime bars, to xylophones, to recorders…

Rock Band

Image from pixabay.com

Rock Band is a fantastic project that I saw taking place with 2 p6 classes. It involved children learning instruments that may be used a band, such as guitars (electric, acoustic, and bass), drums, keyboards, and their singing voices. They had been learning music from different decades, starting with Elvis’ ‘Hound Dog’, then The Beatles ‘Love me do’, and now moving on to Bob Marley ‘3 Little Birds’.

During a previous week, the classes had been videoed, allowing them to review their work and decide on 2 stars and a wish. The children were told that they would be making more videos so that they could set up their own ‘Rock School’ Youtube channel. This sparked a lot of excitement, and the children could hardly wait to start designing their channel logo.

I was really impressed with how enthusiastic and engaged the children were with this project. I think this this is partly because the children were given a choice in which instruments that they wanted to learn (which had led to some beginning formal music tuition in their chosen instrument). I also feel that these children were enjoying learning songs that they could recognise, rather than classical music, or music simply designed for learning.

I would love to be involved in a project like this in my future teaching career, however I would need the support of another teacher (or teachers) who had some musical ability in the keyboard and the drums as my own musical knowledge doesn’t stretch that far.

Aspire Dance

On Thursday, I saw 2 classes as they ran through their final rehearsals for their big show on Saturday – The Rite of Spring, which is taking place at the Caird Hall. These dances had themes connected with nature (the sun and global warming, and trees and deforestation). Every child had a part to play, with some taking on solos and more complex routines. Not being a dancer myself, it was great to see the variety of simple movements, and how these came together to create a lovely complete dance. I was also interested to see how the children’s own ideas were incorporated into the dance, giving them some ownership and pride over their work.

The dance teacher had a great rapport with the children, oozing enthusiasm and praise and I feel that this inspired the children to work harder as they wanted to impress him. He was also willing to dance along with the children – filling in for any who were absent, or just demonstrating new movements. This reminded me of the importance of putting my own self-consciousness to one side and being willing to get involved in the learning, as this can support the children.

I was hoping to attend the show this evening, but unfortunately will not be able to make it. However, from what I saw at the rehearsals, I know that it will be a wonderful event!

 

Oh, and I was also involved in the opening ceremony of the brand new Sidlaw View Primary School! The children put on a fantastic musical performance and it was wonderful to see such a range of talents.

As you can see, this week has been very busy!

I’ve had the chance to see lots of different aspects of the Aspire project, and work with many different children from p1 to p6, in a variety of different schools. This is a completely new way of working for me, and brings some challenges. One of these challenges is that it is difficult to get to know the children very well, especially as a music session may last for as little as 40 minutes, and that may be the only time during the week that I worked with a class. Despite this challenge I was impressed at the way that the Aspire teachers interacted with the pupils and had built positive relationships. This is something that I will continue to work on as my placement continues and hopefully my timetable will not change very much, meaning that I will be working with the same classes from week to week.

This week, I have also had the chance to speak to some of the teachers in the different schools. All teachers that I spoke to seem to have a positive view of the Aspire music project, and of the experiences that are offered to the children. One teacher reinforced the idea that many teachers do not feel confident to teach music (as discussed in my previous post) and stated that she was very pleased that the children had the opportunity to learn with the Aspire team who had the specialist knowledge that she did not.

 

Next Week

Image from pixabay.com

Next week I hope to take on an even more active role in all of the music sessions. Now that I have an understanding of what goes on in each of the different lessons, I hope that I can help through team-teaching and acting as a support teacher for children who are struggling. I hope to also have the opportunity to lead some sessions, particularly the Kodaly classes.

I will also speak to the Aspire teachers about how they plan their lessons and links to the curriculum. I am interested in how the learning that takes place in these sessions could be linked into cross curricular learning, and how it can support other areas of the Curriculum for Excellence. I would also like to find out how (if?) the Aspire teachers record and assess the learning that takes place in their sessions.

Music for Learning

As I prepare for the beginning of my Learning from Life placement (tomorrow!) I’ve been doing some reading about music education and the value and impact it can have on children.

There have been many studies which have investigated the benefits of music education. Standley (2008) and Hallam (2010) report that well planned music activities can improve children’s language and reading skills, and Roden et al. (2012) found that musical experience can aid memory skills.

These studies appear within a wealth of other research. Here are 2 TED Talks which consider the impact of music on brain development:

 

I particularly enjoyed this TEDx Talk, where Richard Gill discusses the value of music education:

The key points that I took from this talk include:

  • Music education should be introduced with our young children;
  • This can take the form of  listening, focusing, and imitation, e.g. nursery rhymes;
  • Music is not prescriptive, instead it evokes, suggests, and implies;
  • Allows children to access a different way of thinking to the other curricular subjects;
  • The act of singing can have links with the development of literacy;
  • Music is worth teaching for it’s own sake;
  • Every child should have access to properly taught music education, from a properly taught teacher.
Image from pixabay.com

The last point interested me, as I have also recently read an article which explores how trainee teachers feel about teaching music. This study was conducted in England, however I feel that the findings will also apply within Scotland. Hallam et al. (2009)  agree that children have the right to a high quality music education, however the research shows that many trainee teachers and NQT’s feel unequipped and unable to teach this subject effectively.

The study showed that teachers who were able to play one or two instruments were more confident in teaching music, however this was a smaller percentage, meaning that in many classes and schools, music education is being neglected. Among other suggestions of more training and CPD for teachers in this curricular area, it was proposed that the use of specialist teachers, whether working independently or alongside the class teacher, could have a positive impact. Relating back to what Richard Gill said above; children should be provided with their music education from a properly taught teacher.

Image from pixabay.com

I have not yet decided whether this ‘properly taught teacher’ needs to be a specialist, or whether it can simply be a primary teacher who embraces music in the same way as any other curricular area. There are many of us on my course who would admit that we are less confident teaching maths, science, ICT… however we wouldn’t dream of avoiding these subjects! Instead, we must recognise that it’s our responsibility to continually develop our own professional knowledge and skills.

 

I hope that my Learning from Life placement will allow me to develop my own confidence and skills in teaching music. Despite being able to play 2 instruments, I currently lack confidence in this subject,  perhaps because I am not fluent at reading musical notation. My visit day has already helped me to feel slightly more confident as I was able to see the level at which the children were working, and how this was linked with the ‘figurenotes’ approach. During my placement, I will have the opportunity to work with a variety of music specialists, where I can observe and learn some of their techniques and teaching methods. While working with the children, I will also be able to practice working with sheet music and notation. I hope that this will improve my ability to teach my future classes, allowing them to benefit from the highest quality of music education that I can offer. I also hope that my musical experience may allow me to support other students and even teachers who lack confidence in this area.

 

Image from pixabay.com

“I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning” – Plato

References:

Hallam, S., Burnard, P., Robertson, A., Saleh, C., Davies, V., Rogers, L., and Kokatsaki, D. (2009) ‘Trainee primary-school teachers’ perceptions of their effectiveness in teaching music’ in Music Education Research, 11(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14613800902924508

Hallam, S. (2010) ‘The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people’ in International Journal of Music Education, 28(3). DOI: 10.1177/0255761410370658

 Roden, I., Kreutz, G. and Bongard, S. (2012) ‘Effects of a school-based instrumental music program on verbal and visual memory in primary school children: a longitudinal study’ in Frontiers in Psychology, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00572

Standley J. (2008) ‘Does Music Instruction Help Children Learn to Read?’ in Applications of Research in Music Education, 27(1). DOI: 10.1177/8755123308322270

Pedagoo Perth

Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to attend PedagooPerth – an event where teachers and education professionals from around the area come together and take part in learning conversations.

2017-03-01-16-59-09

I joined in with 3 conversations:

  1. The wonderful world of lego – how lego can be used to develop a range of skills in primary children.
  2. How can we develop education outdoors within our community?
  3. Music in the primary classroom.

I chose these conversations because:

a) I’ve always been a lover of lego and I was looking for ideas as to how I can bring that fun and engaging resource into my lessons at school,

b) Outdoor learning is one of my big passions and I was interested to see how it can be implemented effectively within a primary school,

c) My next university placement (‘learning from life’) is music based, and I was hoping to gain some ideas and inspiration for this.

 

 

 

This post is from my personal blog. To read in full, please visit: https://laughterandlearningblog.wordpress.com/

Playing with Patterns

Image from morguefile.com
Image from morguefile.com

Pattern is an area of maths that lends itself to all kinds of fun and engaging activities, especially in the Early Years. I was asked to think of some experiences which I could provide to a p1 class which would help to develop their understanding of pattern,  including visual, auditory, and physical pattern.

I decided on one overall experience which would encompass various different activities on the theme of pattern. That experience happens to be one of my all time favourites: going on a nature walk! In my opinion there is no learning that can’t take place in the great outdoors.

Visual Patterns

nature-braceletsDuring the nature walk, I would have children select items which they could arrange into a pattern (we would obviously need to look at some examples of visual patterns before this). The children would have the freedom to decide on the items that they choose, thinking about size, shape, and/or colour.

I would encourage them to talk about their pattern and make connections to the ones that we had seen before. This activity could include all sorts of mathematical language, such as positional language, the language of sequence, size, and shape. I could also extend the learning by having the children to attempt to imitate a pattern and predict what might be coming next.

Physical Patterns

The next activity which I would include on my walk, is a follow-the-leader style action game. The children would need to work in groups for this activity, rather than walking in one long line. In this game, the first child performs an action which all children must copy. Then the next child performs a new action, so all children must perform action 1 and 2 (and keep repeating them over and over). This continues until a few children have added a new action, creating a pattern of movements.

The mathematical language which would be involved in this activity could be “1st, 2nd, 3rd”. It could also be used when describing an action, for example “BIG swings of your arms” or “Tiny taps of your toes”. As an extension we would look (and have a go at) at some child-friendly dance routines (perhaps to pop music or something which engages the children’s interest) and notice any repetitions and patterns.

Auditory Patterns

While walking, I would lead the children in a fun chant or song.

An example of this is a chant that we used when I was a member of the Girl Guides. It goes like this:

Image from morguefile.com
Image from morguefile.com

Everywhere we go! (Everywhere we go)
People always ask us (People always ask us)
Who we are (who we are)
Where we come from (where we come from)
So we tell them (So we tell them)
We’re from …name your school/setting… (we’re from…)
And if they cannot hear us (And if they cannot hear us)
We shout a little louder (we shout a little louder)

Repeat from beginning

Taken from www.ultimatecampresource.com/

This is a fun example of a pattern as it uses repetition and rhythm. We could continue by looking at other songs and noticing if there are any patterns involved (which there probably will be, for example verse, chorus, verse, chorus…).

 

There are, of course, many many more opportunities for learning associated with pattern which I could involve in my nature walk. This activity has helped me to think about some of the ways that I can bring mathematical learning into activities which I would perhaps not associate directly with maths.

We’re going on a maths hunt

The picture book that I have chosen to use for this task is ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt‘ by Michael Rosen. I chose this book because it’s one of my favourites, and one which (in my experience) never fails to capture children’s imagination.

I have used this story to explore language, and for various dramatic and creative play experiences, but I have never before taken a particular focus on the mathematical element. That being said, it is obvious that there is plenty of mathematical language and concepts throughout. Here are some of the ones that I spotted:

  • language of measurement and size: “we’re going to catch a BIG one” and “long, wavy grass”
  • positional language – over/ under/ through
  • counting – “one shiny, wet nose, 2 big furry ears…”
  • rhythm and repetition

If I were to use this story with my class, there are various activities which I may use to focus in on some of these concepts. I would always begin by reading the story with my class. I love the actions which Michael Rosen uses in his reading and would use the same, or my own variation of these to engage the children.

I have chosen 2 mathematical concepts to explore further: measurement and counting.

Measurement

To continue with the concept of measurement and size, I would encourage the children to explore tape-measures, rulers, measuring sticks and even non conventional measurement resources like lego blocks. I would then provide opportunities for the children to begin to sort items that they had measured into groups of big/ medium/ small etc. I would model and encourage the different words and language which can be used to describe these measurements: large, tiny, huge, little…

Another fun activity could be to have the children arrange themselves in a long line from biggest to smallest or visa versa. This activity could be done as a transition (for example when lining up for lunch) and would help to secure the children’s understanding.

Counting

163568_460302010707036_766482142_nOne way to continue learning about counting and labelling, in the way that the story does, could be to use the same method to describe something else. I would provide playdough with a variety of materials such as googly eyes, straws, sequins, string, etc and allow the children to create their own creature. I would encourage them to make their creature as weird and wacky as they liked, because when they are finished I would ask them to describe it to their friend. This activity could be linked to learning about description, or could simply be about how many eyes/ ears/ noses etc that their creature has.

Nursery Rhymes and Maths

During our first maths input, I was reminded of the importance of nursery rhymes and songs in children’s development. Not only do these songs include language skills such as rhyme or alliteration, but they also include many mathematical elements.

An example of this is the nursery rhyme: 5 currant buns.

5 currant buns in a baker’s shop,

Round and fat with a cherry on the top,

along came <insert name> with a penny one day,

They bought a currant bun and they took it right away,

Yum yum! Yum yum!

 

As you can see (excuse the rather awkward video…) – the actions help the cement the meaning and add understanding to some of the mathematical words as well (such as ’round’ and ‘on the top’).

 

This song involves the various skills of counting back (5, 4, 3, 2, 1),

I have explored numbers, understanding that they represent quantities, and I can use them to count, create sequences and describe order. MNU 0-02a

This can be extended to also include simple subtraction (we had 5 currant buns, one has been taken away. How many are left?)

I use practical materials and can ‘count on and back’ to help me to understand addition and subtraction, recording my ideas and solutions in different ways. MNU 0-03a

In describing the buns, the language of shape is used (round)

I enjoy investigating objects and shapes and can sort, describe and be creative with them. MTH 0-16a

as well as positional language (on the top).

In movement, games, and using technology I can use simple directions and describe positions. MTH 0-17a

I have heard variations on the song, with the words “big and round” in place of “round and fat”. The explanation of this was because “fat” is an offensive word, which I find ludicrous (a topic for a later blog perhaps), however the new lyrics would include a further mathematical word (big).

Finally, there is the introduction of money and how it is exchanged for goods.

I am developing my awareness of how money is used and can recognise and use a range of coins. MNU 0-09a

 

It’s clear that this song, as with many nursery rhymes, is packed full of maths. As a teacher, I hope to be able to use songs and rhymes to not only introduce concepts in a non-frightening way, but also to practice and engage with some of the more tricky outcomes.

I have already experimented with doing this while working in nurseries. While covering a wide topic area of ‘toys’, I changed the lyrics of this song to be about toys in a toy shop. Rather than each toy costing a penny, as in the traditional song, we gave each person a price tag (5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1). When a child was chosen to select the toy which they would like to buy, they were also required to choose the correct coin from the pot. I differentiated by having some price tags with a picture of the coin on them so that the child could match the shape and look of the coin, and some price tags simply having the price written e.g. 20p.

I had to make a bad science joke because all the good ones Argon

What is science all about? That’s a big question! Science is all around us and allows us to gain a better understanding of our world. This understanding involves questioning our assumptions and ‘everyday’ explanations, while modifying our ideas based on scientific investigation.

And that brings me to the topic of today’s post – investigation! During our input, we were encouraged to carry out our own mini investigation, using structured support materials (investigation frames) to aid us in our thinking and recording.

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The frames asked questions to ensure that we considers our variables and control methods. I felt that they also encouraged us to work as a group – talking about what should be added to each sheet.

My group agreed that the frames were helpful as they organized our thoughts in the basic form of a ‘proper’ scientific report. Report writing can be a tricky skill, but it is one which students will need as they progress through their education.

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image from morguefile.com

I can see how the scientific investigation frames could be used in my own classroom, using scaffolding to support the children. First, to introduce the process of recording and reporting to my pupils, I would model the process with the whole class, allowing them to suggest the ideas for the sheets, conduct their experiments in groups, and then share the results together. I hope that this would build the children’s confidence and allow them to begin to grasp the key elements of a scientific investigation.

I would then use the frames in an ‘I do- you do’ fashion where I continue to model the process (perhaps with a generic example) but complete the sheets one by one, following each with a chance for the children to discuss and complete their own sheets.

Finally I would provide opportunities for the children to use the investigation frames with limited instruction from myself.

 

image from morguefile.com
image from morguefile.com

When thinking about my own teaching of science, I found it interesting to learn about the Constructivist approach.  This approach involves identifying currently held ideas, discovering any misconceptions, challenging these, and finally reformulating our thinking. Now, I understand that on the face of it, this seems a little dry, but stay with me because it also has the possibility to be linked with stimulating and engaging lessons! As with so much learning, the interest comes as a teacher uses an idea or misconception which is relevant to the children (for example questioning something that happens in a movie, or using a practical experiment/ demonstration, or going on an outing…)

Science is a critical part of the primary classroom and curriculum for excellence. Despite this, PISA scores find the UK well below those top performing countries (OECD, 2015). It is therefore essential that future (and current) teachers aim to improve the delivery of science lessons to pupils – providing them with the skills and knowledge in a meaningful way.

 

Reference

http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisa-2015-results-in-focus.pdf

Quelle est le date ton anniversair

This song pretty much sums up my memory of learning a modern foreign language (MFL) at primary school. We learned it until we were blue in the face, and then sang it in an assembly to the rest of the school. I’m sure we did learn a few other basics (Bonjour, ca va, au revoir) but it is interesting to note that this learning didn’t take place until I was in year 6 (in England – the final year of Primary) and was taught by a specialist teacher.

Image from morguefile.com
Image from morguefile.com

Of course, it’s been a long time since I was at primary school (oof that makes me feel old) and approaches to education are ever changing. In Scotland, there is now the 1 + 2 approach which aims to ensure that children have the opportunity to learn a modern language from p1 (Education Scotland, Undated). This is slightly different in England, where languages are required to be taught in key stages 2-3 (ages 7-14) (Long and Bolton, 2016). The reason for beginning language studies at these earlier ages may be due to research which suggests that:

 

…an early start can result in early achievements such as improved communication skills, positive attitudes towards languages and cultures and heightened metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness… (Kirsch, 2012)

Primary teachers are expected to deliver lessons on modern languages, just as they are for all other areas of the curriculum. That being said, during my time on placement as well as the time I spent volunteering in a p2 class, I saw very little teaching in this area. This may be in part, because entry to teacher training degrees does not require a modern language qualification, and many people have not used those skills since they left school themselves. Not that I suggesting that I believe that candidates SHOULD have a higher modern language qualification (as that would mean rejecting many who could go on to be amazing teachers).

But for those of us that are perhaps a bit rusty/ lacking in confidence, we must work extra hard to undertake our own professional learning and development in order to provide the highest quality education to the children.

In order to support us in this professional development, the university is providing some MFL workshops. I am attending the French and Spanish workshops as I have studied French in the past (previously mentioned primary school and then a disastrous attempt at secondary school) and hope that this will give me a starting point to build upon.

Our first workshop session began with this video:

This grabbed my attention and immediately took me back to my time in nursery, where the children loved this song (the English version) and there were times when it was played on repeat. I really like the idea of using this as an attention grabber/ lesson starter as it is fun and a bit silly, and likely to get the children talking. They may also be able to make connections if they have heard the English version.

Throughout the workshop, Carrie demonstrated and had us participate in various active learning strategies. One of these was to watch and then repeat an action and french word (for example, Carrie would wave her hand while saying ‘Bonjour’ and then the class was expected to do the same). I felt that this activity was effective as there was lots of repetition, and the action added meaning to the word. The act of responding as a whole class, or even in table groups removed the fear of ‘getting it wrong’ and encouraged everyone to participate. There were also ways that this activity could be extended such as adding a ‘Simon Says’ competitive element.

At the end of the session, we were asked to devise an activity to reinforce talking and listening skills.

A simple activity which I feel I could use to develop these skills is to bring some simple instructional language into PE.

Image from pixabay.com

Stop/ Arrêtez

Go/ Aller

Left/ à gauche

Right/ à droite

Red/Rouge,   Yellow/Jaune,    Green/Vert  (Traffic Lights)

March/ Marchez

Jump/ Sautez

The teacher would likely begin by being the instructor, but children could also have turns to call out the words; reinforcing speaking skills. To check comprehension, the teacher could have the children shout out the meaning as they do the action. Once the children become confident, the teacher could also swap between giving the instruction in French or in English.

 

The workshop helped me to recognise that there are some big gaps in my knowledge. In order to continue to develop my own modern language skills I have begun using the website Duolingo. This teaches through various methods such as:

  • matching the picture and the meaning,
  • listening to words and phrases in the modern language and translating them into English,
  • And opportunities to test pronunciation using your computer’s microphone.

I don’t think that I will ever become a fantastically fluent French speaker, however I aim to learn enough to allow me to be confident when providing examples or modelling pronunciation to my class.

 

References

Kirch, C. (2012) Teaching Foreign Languages in the Primary School. London: Continuum. p4

Education Scotland (Undated) About the 1+2 Approach.

Long, R. and Bolton, P. Language Teaching in Schools (England) Briefing Paper. 

 

Beautiful Books!

I love a good story! Whether it’s in a book, a TV show, a movie or even a friend telling me about their weekend – stories are what keep me interested. How boring life would be if we just told each other the straight facts.

Over the last couple of weeks, our lectures and workshops have involved looking at all kinds of children’s literature, and thinking about how we might use these to support children’s language development (talking and listening, reading and writing.) Continuing with this, I have decided to look at a picture book in more depth and explore some of the ways that I might use it within the classroom.

The book I have chosen is: “I’m the Best” by Lucy Cousins

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As you may be able to tell – this book is aimed at younger children (early years or early primary.) It is very eye catching and appealing as it uses bright colours and bold illustrations as well as simple text which describes what is happening in each picture.

Before reading the book, I would spend some time with the children, talking about the front cover – identifying the key features such as the title and the author. I would also ask them if they could guess what the story is going to be about, supporting them in looking for the clues. I may also ask the children to think of things that they are ‘the best’ at.

After that, it’s time to begin reading. This story is about Dog and his friends. Dog is good at identifying the things that he can do well, but he continually boasts that he is ‘the best’!

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While reading, I would encourage the children to join in with the repeated phrases (“I won. I’m the best.”) I would also ask the children to look at the expressions on the faces of the characters and think about how they might be feeling. Why do they think that they are feeling that way? Do they think that Dog is being a good friend?

As a reader, I would ensure to use intonation and expression in my voice to exaggerate and emphasise the meaning behind the text.

At the half way point in the book, the story changes. The other animals decide to show the dog that he isn’t the best at everything and that they are the best at certain things. Before moving on to this second half of the story I would ask the children to predict what they think might happen next. Doing this can support children’s logical reasoning skills. It may also help them to think about what they may do in that situation.

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As we continue, I would again ask the children to think about how the characters are feeling. What has changed from before?

Don’t worry – the book has a happy ending! Dog is feeling sad that he isn’t the best at all of the things that he thought he was, but his friends reassure him that he is the best at being their friend and they point out the things that make Dog special.

Feelings and the language of emotions can be difficult for children to master, which is one of the reasons why I really like this book. It is obvious how the character is feeling (through the illustration) and at the turning point in the middle of the book, the characters express that they are feeling sad. The conversations between the children and the teacher, as they read this story could also help to develop the children’s vocabulary and language skills in this area. Learning the language of feelings can help children to manage their emotions, or approach someone if they are needing support. These are critical life skills.

I feel that this book would also be a great starting point for discussion about how everyone is different and special in their own ways. This could link into activities to do with the Growth Mindset (Dweck 2012.) The children could be asked to identify something that they believe they are good at, and something that they would like to improve.

Another direction would be to use this book to support learning about social skills and how to be a good friend to others. A lovely activity (which I have seen on Pinterest) could be to encourage the children to write down/ say something about another person that they do well.

 

image from morguefile.com
image from morguefile.com

Following story time, I would provide opportunities for the children to explore and extend the story by themselves. I would create a ‘story table’ with puppets or props from the story so that the children can role play or play out the story in a small world setting. I would also display some of the pictures from the book in the art/ creative area so that the children may be inspired to create their own illustrations. A ‘word wall’ could also be created to display the new vocalbulary that children have learned. These new words may not necessarily come straight out of the book (as it uses fairly simple language) but also from the discussions that have arisen.

I would ensure that the story book was readily available for the children in the reading area and I would also re-visit the story multiple times, so that the children become familiar with it and can begin to think of new questions or comments.

 

 

image from morguefile.com
image from morguefile.com

One of the key points that I’ve picked up from our Language lectures is that it is absolutely VITAL to instil a love of reading into our children and to continue to nurture this as the children grow and develop. I am a keen reader at home and I have always loved story times in nurseries. I hope to bring this love into my teaching with primary school children.

 

It is at story time that the teacher’s enthusiasm for books is transmitted regularly to children.         – Ann Browne (1996)

During my teaching placement I was able to see how much the children enjoyed and responded to the class novel, however this was just ‘fitted in’ when there was a free 10 minutes. As a teacher, I hope to be able to devote appropriate time and space to stories – showing my children how much I value reading and a good book.

What do I really know about religion?

I’m a little embarrassed to admit… not as much as I should!

Following an RME input, we were set the task of writing down our previous knowledge about the main world religions with an aim to identifying any gaps in our understanding.

Image from morguefile.com

There are 6 major religions around the world. These are:

  • Christianity (2.1 billion)
  • Judaism (14 million)
  • Islam (1.3 billion)
  • Hinduism (900 million)
  • Buddhism (376 million)
  • Sikhism (23 million)

(numbers taken from google.com, accessed 07/02/16)

My partner on this task and I were both brought up in Christian households, therefore the ‘Christianity’ column was fairly easy to fill. We did recognise, however, that a lot of our knowledge may not have come from school, but rather through Sunday school, Church, or family.

Image from morguefile.com

We then began to jot down anything we knew about the other 5 religions, quickly realising that there were plenty of gaps. While we knew of certain names, events or practices, we often struggled to place them under the correct heading. One of the main examples of this is ‘Ramadan’ which we ended up writing in between some of the headings.

 

Image from morguefile.com

 

As we wrote our notes, we both found that snippets of information that we had learned at school (or elsewhere) came back to us, for example, I can remember being taught the story of Rama and Sita at Divali time.

 

Here is our first attempt:

RME

As you can see, we had some knowledge of many world religions. However if asked to elaborate on the names or stories; we would struggle!

We then conducted some reading and research into the main figures and ideas of the religions. Particularly the ones that we were less confident about.

RME2

 

I found this to be a really useful exercise as, not only did it highlight the areas which I will need to do some extra work, but it also made me think about some of my preconceptions.

Image from morguefile.com

It is essential that teachers has a deep understanding of religion and can address any prejudices or misconceptions. I touched on this in my previous post following the Paris attacks in November of last year (read the post here.)

Following this activity, I will continue to build on my own understanding of the major world religions. I know that my placement class will be focusing on Sikhism at the time that I will be working with them and therefore I plan to concentrate on my understanding of this religion.

Through the wardrobe and into lesson planning

Currently, I am in two minds about lesson planning. Part of me enjoys the creativity of coming up with ideas that will (hopefully) engage and inspire the learners, while the other part finds it very challenging to figure out how these ideas will work in practice. Of course, I realise that this will become easier in time, and also when I am planning for a class of real children, rather than hypothetically which has previously been the case.

With that in mind, I attempted to complete the Language TDT while thinking about the primary 5 class that I will be working with on placement. Our task was to create a lesson plan, based on a children’s book, which would meet the following outcome:

I can:

  • discuss structure, characterisation and/or setting
  • recognise the relevance of the writer’s theme and how this relates to my own and others’ experiences
  • discuss the writer’s style and other features appropriate to genre.

ENG 2-19a

narnia

 

The novel that I chose for this lesson plan is the wonderful: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I decided to plan an introductory lesson, while focusing on just one aspect of the learning outcome – setting.

Within the first chapter of the book, the character of Lucy stumbles into the magical land of Narnia. C.S. Lewis describes her journey through the wardrobe and into another world. My lesson plan involves reading this section and noticing the description given. The children must then use the description to draw their own interpretation of what Narnia may look like. They would then write their own brief description.

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As with my previous attempts at planning, I found the Plenary section to be difficult. When I go into my school placement I will observe how the class teacher finishes her lessons and will try to incorporate some of her methods.

I am looking forward to planning lessons that will be implemented as I feel that putting it into practice will allow me to further grasp how timings and assessment methods work.

Getting rather animated!

During a brilliant ICT input with Sharon Tonner last week, we were shown how to use various pieces of software to teach children about Animation!

My favourite part of the session was to create a ‘Wallace and Gromit’ style, stop motion animation. We were introduced to a piece of software called ZU3D, which (when hooked up to a webcam) allows the user to take the frames of the animation, even adding the ‘onion skin’ effect so that you can see the precious placements of each model and movement.

My partner and I created this short animation:

 Within the curriculum, a similar lesson/ set of lessons could cover the outcomes of:

I explore and experiment with the features and functions of computer technology and I can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts. TCH 2-04a

I can create, capture and manipulate sounds, text and images to communicate experiences, ideas and information in creative and engaging ways. TCH 2-04b

Alongside the ICT skills; children may also develop numerous other skills including;

  • Creative modeling (Working out what kind of models work best for this purpose),
  • Story telling,
  • Team work,
  • and problem solving.
Image from morguefile.com

In order to allow the children enough time to grasp the different elements involved in this project, the learning should take place over a series of lessons. I found it really helpful that Sharon showed us ways in which we could engage the children and make connections between each section of this learning; leading up to the finished product.

 

A teacher may face a variety of challenges when delivering ICT lessons of this type. One challenge may be that the children are over excited distracted when allowed to use the equipment. This issue can be tackled by the teacher spending time explaining their expectations and making clear the rules.

Another challenge could be a lack of resources. There are many schools which do not have the facilities to allow every student in a class to work on a computer simultaneously. This means that the teacher would need to schedule time when groups of children could use the ICT resources.

Image from morguefile.com

Despite the challenges; I can see how these lessons can inspire and stimulate children to learn. I felt very proud of my animation and can imagine that a child would experience similar satisfaction. I also feel that ICT skills are invaluable within the modern world, and fun lessons like these can help children to embrace technology and its many possibilities.

Problematic Problems

As with many people, my personal feelings towards maths are mostly negative. I continually struggle to get past the mental block where I shut down, claiming “I can’t do it!”

Image from morguefile.com

Throughout school my experiences of maths were not overly negative, but neither were they particularly positive. I remember having to memorise times tables (something that I still struggle with to this day), being put on the spot and feeling embarrassed that I couldn’t grasp concepts right away.

Within my family; inability to do maths has become a bit of a running joke. My Dad tells a very amusing story about sitting (or, more accurately; not sitting) his maths O level. While my parents encouraged me to try hard at maths, and helped me with homework and revision, I feel that their own negative impressions of maths fed into my own.

I left school with a C grade at GCSE, and the resolution to avoid maths as much as possible!

This all changed when I decided that I was going to make the move into primary teaching. No longer could I bury my head in the sand, and I realised that maths was an area that would require particular focus and hard work. Returning to maths at college was something of a revelation to me. Things were beginning to fall into place and the “I can’t do it” voice was fading away. This was largely due to the fact that my maths teacher was brilliant. Not only was she very supportive and encouraging, she also took the time to explain each concept clearly and thoroughly. That is the kind of teacher that I want to be.

I was very proud to be able to achieve an A grade (Band 1) at Int 2 maths last year.

Image from morguefile.com

Despite this success; when I think about maths now my initial reaction is still “I can’t do it!”

During this week’s Introductory lecture, we discussed maths anxiety and the very common negative attitudes towards maths. It was pointed out that innumeracy appears to be socially acceptable within the UK. Few people would admit “I just can’t read” in the way that many laugh off their lack of maths ability. This flippant attitude needs to be challenged and changed as maths skills make up a huge part of our lives, from planning our time and schedules, to organising our finances.

Following the lecture, I have begun to read ‘Mathematics Explained for Primary School Teachers’ by Haylock. The first few chapters discuss the negative attitudes towards the subject and the anxieties that student teachers experience as they begin to teach maths to children. It also covers the wider concepts that make up our maths curriculum.

One of the points that stood out to me is that we must allow the children to question, investigate and explore maths. This leads to understanding which is 100 times more valuable than simply learning by rote (following a procedure which may only work on that specific problem.)

Image from morguefile.com

The book has also, already challenged some of my pre-conceived ideas. For example, Haylock writes about equivalents and how they apply to times tables. For example; 7 x 8 is equivalent to 7 x 4 (28), doubled. While I knew this to be the case, it was pushed to the back of my brain because I felt that I should just know that 7 x 8 = 56. In maths, there are many different routes to finding the answer. My internal dialogue of ‘should‘ is unhelpful and may be the cause of some of my anxiety.

In order to build my confidence with maths, I must engage with it on a regular basis. I have been using the Online Maths Assessment tool which is provided through the university, however I find the process of receiving a score to be daunting and off-putting, so am also approaching my maths revision in other ways:

  • I have been using online resources such as BBC Bitesize
  • I have been reading and reviewing my previous maths notes
  • I have ordered the workbook that may be used alongside Haylock’s book, which I will work through in order to deepen my understanding and strengthen any areas of weakness.  

The impact on teacher anxiety surrounding maths is discussed in this article. It points out that anxieties could mean that teachers spend less time with their pupils working on maths. They may also stick rigidly to rules, and teach by rote, due to lack of deeper understanding. This will almost definitely have a detrimental impact on the pupils’ learning and will likely influence their own opinions of the subject.

I do not think that I will ever be 100% confident in my maths ability; however, if I wish to be a successful teacher, it is vital that I learn to approach the subject with understanding and with a positive frame of mind.

Image from morguefile.com

 

Further Reading:

BBC article “Pride in poor maths culture must be tackled” (Feb, 2011)

YouGov ‘Literacy vs Numeracy – Is one more important than the other?’ (May 2012)

Article: ‘The Causes and Prevention of Maths Anxiety’

STEMwire article: ‘Maths anxiety doesn’t just affect students’ (May, 2013)

It’s science Jim, but not as we know it!

Image from morguefile.com

It’s no secret that science was far from my favourite subject at school. While I can remember exploring imaginary worlds in English and laughing with my friends in PE, my memories of science lessons consist of boring teaching and Bunsen burners that we were told not to touch!

My attitudes towards science changed a little as I moved into my role as an early years educator. I was lucky enough to attend a CPD session, held by the Dundee Science Centre, which aimed to encourage practitioners to embrace science with young children. I vividly remember the session, as it involved plenty of wonderfully easy and stimulating activities which we could take and try for ourselves. I came away from the session feeling inspired and confident that I was going to make science a larger part of my children’s experiences.

Throughout my work with pre-schoolers, I feel that I was able to provide inviting and age appropriate experiences which touched on some scientific concepts and ideas. I am now looking forward to being able to explore these areas in more depth as I begin my work with older children.

Image from morguefile.com

 

This week, I attended my first Science input. As an introductory activity; everyone was asked to prepare a short experiment which we shared with a partner. My chosen experiment was to push sharpened pencils through a plastic bag containing water. Rather than causing a horrible, wet mess on the floor (as you might expect) the bag remains water tight. This is because plastic bags are made of polymers which are long chains of molecules. When the pencil pushes through, it simply separates the chain rather than breaking it.

More about this experiment here

In Science (as with many of the curricular areas,) practical activities are extremely beneficial to learning. While chains of molecules could be a difficult concept for children to grasp; presenting the information as an experiment makes it stimulating and engaging, as well as bringing the information into a real world context.

 

Image from morguefile.com

Following the input, we were set a TDT which involves planning a science lesson.

I have chosen to focus on Space, and am using the current show at the Dundee Science Centre (entitled ‘Destination Space’) as a stimulus.

The Experiences and Outcomes relating to this area are:

Planet Earth (continued)
Early First Second Third Fourth
SpaceLearners develop their understanding of the Earth’s position within the universe while developing a sense of time and scale. They develop their understanding of how our knowledge of the universe has changed over time and explore ideas of future space exploration and the likelihood of life beyond planet Earth. I have experienced the wonder of looking at the vastness of the sky, and can recognise the sun, moon and stars and link them to daily patterns of life.SCN 0-06a By safely observing and recording the sun and moon at various times, I can describe their patterns of movement and changes over time. I can relate these to the length of a day, a month and a year.SCN 1-06a By observing and researching features of our solar system, I can use simple models to communicate my understanding of size, scale, time and relative motion within it.SCN 2-06a By using my knowledge of our solar system and the basic needs of living things, I can produce a reasoned argument on the likelihood of life existing elsewhere in the universe.SCN 3-06a By researching developments used to observe or explore space, I can illustrate how our knowledge of the universe has evolved over time.SCN 4-06a

My SMART Targets:

Specific – I will plan a lesson for a primary 5 class on the topic of space, meeting the criteria for SC2-06a.

Measurable – I will create a 2 A4 page plan

Image from morguefile.com

Achievable – I will use the internet and university resources to gather information. I will discuss ideas with classmates and will visit Dundee Science Centre to find out more about the ‘Destination Space’ event.

Relevant – The recent launch of the British astronaut; Tim Peake, has been in the news and it is likely that pupils may have heard about it.

Time bound – I will complete this plan by the end of my 2 week observation block.

Here are some of my initial Space ideas

I hope that through the planning and hypothetical preparation of this lesson, I will develop my own scientific knowledge in this area. It is also a good opportunity for me to practice the planning process which will be a big part of my future career.

 

 

 

STEM cpd (Part 2)

This evening I attended the second part of the STEM cpd, following on from last week’s visit to the Verdant works.

This time we had the opportunity to try out an activity or learning idea that we might use with a class. I chose to make a loom:

2015-09-24 18.36.24

I was able to try out some of the tools and equipment which may be available to a class, and to experience some of the challenges that children might experience. I found that sawing the notches in my loom was difficult and if I was going to use this activity then I would need to consider alternatives. We also looked at some different joints that could be used. I opted for the simplest method which was to glue the pieces end to end, reinforcing the joint using cardboard triangles. It might be interesting to use this as a learning point with the children and to experiment with which joints are the strongest.

Here are a couple of the other creations from this evening:

2015-09-24 18.35.37 2015-09-24 18.35.50

 

I really loved the miniature bricks and think that this would be a lovely way to explore architecture. This team found that creating the archway was a challenge and noted that they would use a mould or frame in future.

The car lift is made using hydraulics where one large syringe is connected to 3 smaller ones. When the large syringe is squeezed, the water splits into the 3 small ones causing them to lift the car.

 

This cpd gave me lots of ideas and lots of food for thought. It was clear to see how this hands on style of learning could add depth to a subject and help to make it more meaningful. I was proud of my accomplishments and can imagine how satisfied a pupil may feel.

 

Reflecting on STEM cpd

This evening I was fortunate enough to attend a cpd course held at the Verdant Works which encouraged us to explore the possibilities of this setting for STEM based learning and lessons. The course was open to a wide range of teaching professionals including postgrads and high school teachers and so this was a good opportunity to meet and mix with those who have had different experiences to my own.

As part of this course we were invited to explore the museum and exhibitions, as well as the learning areas which can be used if teachers were to bring groups. One of the most interesting features of the visit was the huge steam engine, which I am told will be functioning soon so that visitors can get an understanding of how it worked. There are also wonderful displays of the process of creating Jute – from the plant to the finished product which included demonstrations of real, working machines.

Verdant Works Dundee (Image from www.visitscotland.com)

Although I was excited and interested in what I saw, I found that I was struggling to take this into a STEM mindset and think about how I could plan learning activities and experiences appropriately around this subject matter. I tend to find that I lean towards creative and literary learning ideas and this experienced caused me to realise that I need to strengthen my knowledge of the STEM outcomes. I plan to do some research and reading to this end and this will help me during the second session of this cpd where we plan to carry out some of the possible activities.