Year 2 Final Professional Placement (FPP) at Didsbury Road, April-June 2013I spent FPP with a Year 2 class at Didsbury Road, (the same school we spent with Year 1 for Phonics training).
The topic for the first half term was Animal Assortment and the children created amazing poems and artwork on nocturnal animals, non chronological reports on jungle animals and news reports on polar animals. ICT lessons: The children used Purple Mash which they accessed on their school VLE. They used 2go to program a device and follow directions. They used 2investigate to ‘sort, group, arrange’ the data and answer set questions. |
Class Bat Kenning
A night-flyer A cave-dweller An insect snatcher An upside down sleeper An echo-locator |
On a moonlit night when the stars come out,
There are nocturnal animals all about. Whoo, whoo, what do I see? A wise old owl looking at me. Meow, meow, what do I see? A big black cat is looking at me. Eee, eee, eee, what do I see? A little bat just looking at me. Ribit, ribit, what do I see? A big green tree frog looking at me. Squeak, squeak, squeak, what do I see? A garden dormouse looking at me. |
Class Owl Kenning
A night-flyer A tree-dweller A mouse-snatcher A head-turner A wise-thinker |
Reception EYFS Placement at Warren Wood, March 2013I spent my Foundation Stage Placement with the Reception class at Warren Wood. The class had two computers permanently logged on to 'Education City' for the children to use during continuous provision. They were always manned and a good opportunity to develop motor skills, as well as helping them follow instructions and make choices.
The children were also encouraged to use the whiteboard during numeracy teaching to write their answer on the board. |
Year 3 Literacy Placement at Chorlton Park, February 2013
I attended a two week Literacy Pathway Placement with Year 3 at Chorlton Park, where there was a huge focus on guided reading and on improving writing skills. The school build up reading skills progressively, from phonic word building through to independent research activities. Children are encouraged to read at home and borrow books from the well-stocked library. The ‘Have you got the reading habit?’ campaign got even the most reluctant readers excited about books with poetry competitions and performances and other fun events.
This was one of the first schools to start blogging. The pupils in Year 5 and 6 have ipads and are able to log in to the blog for their year group and post pictures, texts and videos. The children are motivated by the number of hits and responses they receive from around the globe. The Times newspaper published the top 100 influential educational blogs in the nation and Chorlton Park came 89th.
This was one of the first schools to start blogging. The pupils in Year 5 and 6 have ipads and are able to log in to the blog for their year group and post pictures, texts and videos. The children are motivated by the number of hits and responses they receive from around the globe. The Times newspaper published the top 100 influential educational blogs in the nation and Chorlton Park came 89th.
Year 4 Guided Professional Placement (GPP) at Prestbury, October - December 2012
I spent 8 weeks in Prestbury with Year 4. Due to the number of laptops and computers available, the children worked in pairs during ICT lessons, however it has been argued that computer-based activities actually promote collaborative work more than any other classroom activities.
ICT Lessons
This term the children were working with the package Serif DrawPlus 7.0.
Week 1: The children were introduced to Serif Draw and experimented with shapes and the fill tool.
Week 2: Linked in with their topic on Ancient Greece, the children had to design a mythical creature using Serif Draw and colour it in (using the shapes and the fill tool they had experimented with the previous week). They then created this creature in DT.
Week 3: They added another 'layer' to create a background for the creature and used 'order' to send to the back. This was to allow them to make changes without affecting the creature.
ICT Lessons
This term the children were working with the package Serif DrawPlus 7.0.
Week 1: The children were introduced to Serif Draw and experimented with shapes and the fill tool.
Week 2: Linked in with their topic on Ancient Greece, the children had to design a mythical creature using Serif Draw and colour it in (using the shapes and the fill tool they had experimented with the previous week). They then created this creature in DT.
Week 3: They added another 'layer' to create a background for the creature and used 'order' to send to the back. This was to allow them to make changes without affecting the creature.
Week 4: As part of the RE lesson on guiding lights, the children drew a candle and used the 'roughen' tool for the flame and also created shadows using the transparent tool.
Week 5: The children began work on their Christmas card design and created a background from
one of four examples.
Week 6: They added a second layer to their Christmas card, added the images and wrote a message using the text tool.
Week 7: They used Word to create the insert for their Christmas card; changed the font style,
the size and colour; then added a clip-art picture.
The children were taught a selection of tools and then successfully applied these tools to create the final piece. They were enthusiastic to learn and enjoyed helping each other.
Week 5: The children began work on their Christmas card design and created a background from
one of four examples.
Week 6: They added a second layer to their Christmas card, added the images and wrote a message using the text tool.
Week 7: They used Word to create the insert for their Christmas card; changed the font style,
the size and colour; then added a clip-art picture.
The children were taught a selection of tools and then successfully applied these tools to create the final piece. They were enthusiastic to learn and enjoyed helping each other.
Whiteboard
The school use the Promethean whiteboard. For literacy I used Activprimary 3 by Promethean to create my flipcharts and found them easy to design and use. For numeracy I used the Abacus package and RM Easiteach.
RM Maths
RM Maths is an integrated learning resource that is used throughout the school and in the classroom there were 4 computers permanently logged on to RM Maths for the children to use ideally three times per week.
The school use the Promethean whiteboard. For literacy I used Activprimary 3 by Promethean to create my flipcharts and found them easy to design and use. For numeracy I used the Abacus package and RM Easiteach.
RM Maths
RM Maths is an integrated learning resource that is used throughout the school and in the classroom there were 4 computers permanently logged on to RM Maths for the children to use ideally three times per week.
Year 1 Phonics placement
After a series of Phonics training at university, I spent four sessions in Year 1 at Didsbury Road Primary School. I taught Phonics to a group of seven students and used a variety of resources including the pirate's treasure chest with real and pseudo words, Splat and created a fishing game where they had to put the words into the correct ponds.
I also worked with the same low ability reader over four weeks listening to him read and using a variety of strategies to assist his reading and comprehension over that time.
Other placements and school observations
Science
We had the opportunity to observe a number of science lessons including an elicitation on light with KS1 at Plymouth Grove, an observation at Mauldeth Road of a KS2 lesson on seed dispersal and an observation at Claremont Primary School on circuits.
In each case we were able to see inspiring teaching and great enthusiasm for the subject. The children enjoyed the practical nature of the lessons and I could easily see the differentiation for different ability levels.
We had the opportunity to observe a number of science lessons including an elicitation on light with KS1 at Plymouth Grove, an observation at Mauldeth Road of a KS2 lesson on seed dispersal and an observation at Claremont Primary School on circuits.
In each case we were able to see inspiring teaching and great enthusiasm for the subject. The children enjoyed the practical nature of the lessons and I could easily see the differentiation for different ability levels.
Other
We visited Plymouth Grove for a lesson on Community Cohesion and listened to the Head speak about the importance of 'Building Learning Power' and giving the pupils the skills for a world where many of the jobs of the future have not yet been created.
We visited Marland Hill to observe a Dream Assembly and listened to the Head discuss creative circle time lessons.
We visited Plymouth Grove for a lesson on Community Cohesion and listened to the Head speak about the importance of 'Building Learning Power' and giving the pupils the skills for a world where many of the jobs of the future have not yet been created.
We visited Marland Hill to observe a Dream Assembly and listened to the Head discuss creative circle time lessons.