Classroom jobs

This weekend I spruced up my classroom jobs. I've made them more fun.
If you can think of alternative names or some more to add to the collection. Please... let me know :)

Good morning?!?!

Every morning when I mark the roll I greet each child individually by saying 'good morning / hello' in a different language.
Usually I just choose one of the top off my head or the children suggest one.

Tonight I made up some laminated cards with different greetings from all over the world on them, and I'm going to put them in a box and pick them out randomly.

It's kind of fun the kids enjoy it.

I'm also thinking we could make some up. Our own unique greetings!!!

Nei ho - Chinese (Cantonese) pronounced Nay-ho
Bongu - Maltese
Konnichi wa - Japanese - pronounced kon-ni-chi-wa
Yia sou - Greek - pronounced yah-soo
Shalom - Hebrew - means hello, goodbye and peace!
Kia ora - Maori
Buon Giorno - Italian - pronounced bwohn geeornoh
Guten tag - German
G'day - Aussie!
Aloha - Hawaiian
Yaama - Indigenous Australian (Kamilaroi people)
Bonjour - French
Buenos dias - Spanish
Yia sou - Greek - pronounced yah-soo

Classroom set-up.

Yup this is some dry boring stuff.
I remember the lessons we did at uni on classroom organisation. Rows, horseshoe, groups... and the different reasons why blah blah blah. This is just revising that... and my thinking behind it.

When I first went to the classroom I changed the tables to groups. It didn't work I had no clue about who I was sitting with whom the dynamics were a disaster. I changed back to rows. The disaster of the initial group set up made me afraid of going back, until my mentor and fantastic teacher to boot Mrs M gave me some suggestions.

One of those being 'Table points'.

The tables are in groups there are 4 of them. This term we have 'The west Tigers'... 'The Big Fat Pigs shortened to the B.F.P's'... 'The Diamonds'... and 'The Spider Pigs'. The theory is to spread out the 'troublesome' children so they are amongst the children who know how to behave appropriately, you know kind of using peer pressure to get those kids to behave. The tables each gave themselves their name and throughout the day the tables are rewarded for various wonderful things such as tidiness, working sensibly, listening and being cooperative, and sometimes even something simple I observe such as sharing. At the end of the day the winning table is rewarded with a treat and at the end of the week the winning table receives a reward, 20 minutes free time.

I love this set up much more than the rows. However I had to have that background knowledge to implement it more effectively.

I've had more to think about this term and have made a few more changes. I moved my desk. Something simple I know but I love this simple change.

The space of the classroom: The entrance to the room is via a long corridoor... leading down carpetted steps. The children sit on the steps for roll marking, whole class discussions, chapter reading etc... on the opposite side of the room there is also glass doors leading out into an amphitheatre. My desk used to be stuck in a corner next to the store room.

Firstly, let me say that a teacher RARELY sits at their desk. But you can bet when they do someone will come to the door!!! I could not see the goings on in the corridor, nor if anyone came to the door.

I've moved my desk so I have a view of everything. I can see the corridor, if someone comes to either door, and the whole room. I also made use of having a bookcase close by which has all my programming folders in it, the top of the book case is where all marking is placed, I can simply reach around and grab it if I have a spare moment.
This keeps my desk tidy and yes, I may be one of the more unorganised people of the world... and being a teacher I am surrounded by those super organised people... it's really rather freaky LOL. But I like tidiness... I also found I had more space... the table groups have much more space between them so I can walk around the room much easier.

Yea it's boring, but it's something we don't really think about until we're there. At least I didn't.
Change the room to your liking, work with the space... work it, work it, work it!!! hehe. I've also started to add my own personal touch of cuteness with some cute little animal cushions. We have a penguin, a koala, a pink poodle and a bumble bee!!! The chilren use these during reading groups when they read to me, during D.E.A.R (drop everything and read)... and hey they don't think it's daggy like I was afraid they might :)

Dating in year 2!

Migraines.
Oh bugger!!! I went to bed with one last night. Spent today in a dark room in silence sleeping... my head still hurts. What a horrible horrible thing to have. I get them rarely luckily.

Happier news.

The same girl who was eager about the maths lesson had some happy news to share yesterday.
After a sports lesson with Mr.T she came to me and said very cheerily 'I had the BEST 3 minutes of my life today!'

Wow. That's quite a statement you're wondering what she did right? I was too.

She said 'Mr.T let us go in the sports shed we went through the balls, hoops, nets EVERYTHING!' with a HUGE grin from ear to ear. It made me smile it's the simple things that kids appreciate :)

More news...
I was on playground duty yesterday at lunchtime. A girl I have gotten to know a little approached me all flustered saying over and over 'I need your help, I need your help...'
I asked her to calm down and tell me what was wrong.
She said 'what do you do about boy troubles?' ....

UHHHHH! Now I'm the one that needs help....

Oh crap, this girl is in year 5...

She expands. She says there is a boy she has a crush on. They used to date back in year 2 but now she's been single for 3 years....
Say what! Mmmmm, at this stage I am distracted by a shiny sparkly thing... ooohhh look at the leaves in the trees all... yea just look at them...
How very awkward.

Hmmm, I look at the young lady in question and tell her 'girl, you're a baby. You can worry about boys when you're older, like in your twenties!'

She looks straight back at me and says 'oh no I am grown up, I'm in year 5'.....

Oh my god.

I could only shake my head at her and scrunch my face up. I told her it was nonsense and she was a little girl and should enjoy being one. She could only laugh at me. I feel like an old fuddy duddy....

*sigh*

That poor girl. Even if she were in her twenties choosing me for love advice was her first mistake!

Pick me Pick me!!!

Every teacher wants eager students in their class...
Today made me smile... perhaps the eagerness was too much.

There is a girl in my class, and she reminds me of myself in many ways.

She's sarcastic, she wants to join the army when she grows up (I wanted to join the army when I was a little tacker), she's well behaved (tee-hee), kind of shy but happy to mix with anyone from the class. Let's just say if the class were full of little Janies (not her real name) my classroom would be a muchly happy place... lol.

This is what happened today.

In a box I had some MAB blocks making a four digit number. The children had to raise their hand and guess the number, I would reply with a higher or lower... continue until someone guessed the correct number.

Janie... listening intently had noticed that someone had actually said a number I had already said higher too... and in fact if they had been listening they would have been able to figure out what the number was! Janie... bouncing up and down on her seat arm flailing in the air eyes popping out of her head and a big smile to boot!....

I was trying hard not to laugh actually... I digress.....

The effort to stop laughing was put to an end when she couldn't stand it any longer and called out 'pick me I know the bloody answer!' ..... oh god!

You'd laugh too right?!?!

Our best mate Maggie!

Another idea I took from Megan's seminar... 'A classroom friend'.
Megan also spoke of letting the children get to know you as a person. This struck me as I have always been very careful to keep my private life very separate. And of course that will always be the case there are some things that I won't share. However, it did make me think... these are the people I spend most of my time with it made no sense to keep myself so private.

I integrated these 2 concepts.

I have created a 'classroom friend' based on my childhood pet, a dog named Maggie.
I introduced Maggie to the class. Inside her book is a simple story about her...

When I was a little girl I had a dog named Maggie. She was a cocker spaniel and looked alot like the toy dog accompanying this book.

She was my best friend. Sometimes... on very cold nights she'd sleep at the end of my bed. She'd wake me in the morning with her smelly dog breath.

Her favourite game was fetch the stick and she loved to chew on the lamb roast shank on Sunday's after lunch.

It then explained that Maggie would be a guest in the children's homes and the children would share what Maggie did in the book. I also integrated this with a unit we are doing in C.O.G.S this term and suggested that the children focus on any machines Maggie comes across whilst on her visit.

I have to admit I was hesitant... I was worried the children would think it a little 'childish'... however I thought it was cute and wanted to try it... project more of 'myself' and what I like so to speak. And hey guess what... they loved it. I have children begging me asking when it's their turn to take Maggie home.

Just think about how the children are going to learn about each other as well. I think this goes really well with the 'values' education we are also teaching... values such as acceptance!

So there ya go... another simple idea and cheap as chips with no huge preparation time (The toy cost $10, scrap book $2.50).

And also a lovely addition to the class :)

The Dimple Files!

Whilst at Megan's seminar in Sydney last week Megan spoke of a positive reinforcement method she used in the classroom called a 'smile' book. In her example she called it 'The Pool Room' ... People who have seen the movie 'The Castle' will understand that reference. Basically, if she saw something that was great and 'smile' worthy she would say 'that's going straight to the pool room!' which was a scrap book containing all these precious moments.

I've adapted that concept a little bit.

In my classroom, if a child does something that makes me smile I will say to them something like 'LOOK at what you have made Miss K do' (whilst pointing at my dimple and smiling)... 'you made the dimple come out that's fantastic!' So I made the same scrapbook concept and called it 'The Dimple Files'

Inside it says...

This book is dedicated to all who are in it!!!!
*insert school abbreviation here* 4K 2009.
These people managed to achieve something fantastic which brought a smile to Miss K's dial....
:)

A bit of fun and not a heap of preparation involved.

N.E.D

The children attended a show on Tuesday called NED. Remember back in the day when the Coca Cola yo-yo people used to come and demonstrate their skills??? This is it but adapted to highlight some values.
N = never give up.
E = encourage others.
D = do your best.
It was a great show I enjoyed it and the children did too.

Yesterday we were doing a reflection lesson about the show. I asked the children to think about how they had shown the NED principles for the week just gone.

The answers were very sweet. e.g.'s

N -
I had to learn a very hard song for choir and I never gave up and kept trying.
I have been trying to learn knitting, I tried hard to learn it so my nonna would be proud of me.
E -
I encouraged my little sister to keep trying to learn to ride her new scooter.
I encouraged a friend who was sad to be happy.
D -
I did my best in my homework (I have to add, this is the first time this child has EVER handed in homework... in his whole school career so he tells me!).
I did my best at Jazz ballet dancing.

Oh but this is the best.
E - I encouraged my mum to cook my dinner so I wouldn't be hungry.

I had a good chuckle when I read that one. Ahhh the simplicity of it I can relate.
I'm a single parent of five boys. I work full time. I drive quite a distance to get to and from work every day and I try and leave at the end of each day so I have no work to do when I get home... and when I walk in the door each day after work what do I hear??? 'mum, what's for dinner?' .... oh bugger! Yea sometimes it has been deflating and I get a little cross. Can I get in the door first??? If I don't laugh I'll cry. I don't think I have ever looked at what my children do in this context as encouragement. Perhaps they do :)

Funny moment of the day.
We have a school assembly each day. One of my students has Asperger's and often sits on the edge of the line keeping himself busy playing with objects he can find. I don't mind as long as he's not disturbing other students and he still makes himself a part of the school group i.e. he's not isolating himself. However yesterday he was scraping a piece of bark up and down the side of a bin and the noise was irritating me... so... standing with my feet together I asked him in a firm voice to find a comfy spot with the rest of the class and to sit and listen to the assembly like everyone else was doing.
I can just see his little cogs working now. He had a cheeky little smirk on his face...
Comfy spot you say....
So he sat on my feet!
I was frozen in place I was trying oh so hard not to burst out with laughter.... it was lucky he had his back to me or he'd have seen it!!!

Keep the passion... :)

Ever seen those people... when you look at them you just KNOW they hate their job? It makes me wonder what has happened to them to get to that stage. Where did the passion go? It was there once... wasn't it???

I am totally pumped... I'll explain why.

Yesterday afternoon at around 2.20pm I was down on the oval playing a game of T-Footy with the kids (it's a game with a mixture of T-ball, football and cricket)... when my principal seemed to appear from nowhere with a sheet of paper. The paper had details of a course running the following day... in Sydney. Oh bugger!!! Ummm, well uhh, o.k sure i'll go. I can adapt... What have I got to lose right???

I awoke at 4am and caught the train to beautiful Sydney and attended that course today. I have three words for you.

PASSION.
CONSISTENCY.
POSITIVE.

These words are more for my benefit more than anything and it was hard to narrow it down, as I could add to that list and make a weeks spelling list... hmmm... there's a thought!!!

FIRSTLY...

OMG....

I WAS SOOOOO WRONG!!!!!

I wonder... if I hadn't have gone to that course today how long would it have taken me to realise this. I wonder... if I had never realised this would I too become one of the passionless ones???

Teaching is NOT about SURVIVING. At least not solely! I can see now that an attitude like that sets up a pattern. If all I want to do is 'survive' ... then surely I will do the minimum necessary to get there... this sets me up for failure. There is something else that goes with the surviving... THRIVING! I am very excited that I realised this. Who do I have to thank for this? A very inspiring lady named Megan. Any new teachers you must attend one of her courses if you have the opportunity. Go check it out!

Megan Dredge

I have left the course full of energy, PASSION, inspiration, excitement and a nice positive feeling. Because let me tell you being a beginning teacher is very overwhelming there is so much to figure out. But hey, all teachers have been there and none of them have done it perfectly... mistakes are allowed and even celebrated!

I had to strike while the iron was hot but I will be referring to this day in the future. I have loads of ideas I will be implementing in the classroom :)