Surf to Turf Belfast

This year I have organised an event called the Surf to Turf. The children have been busy training over the last 6 weeks. Early morning bootcamps (7am-8am) with the support of the NZ Institute of Sport. Belfast Community Network have been providing beautiful breakfasts for the students. Next Wednesday is the actual event which involves the children running 5.1km, undergoing some physical challenges and then the finale being the kids pulling a fire engine up the Belfast Rugby Club driveway. Looking forward to seeing the children's successes next week! 

Google Certified Educator- Level One

 Super excited that I was able to achieve my Google Certified Educator, Level One. It's great as now I can join my Syndicate Team with the Certification. Thanks to Manaiakalani for supporting us with the DFI and also giving us the skills required to be able to sit this exam.

Google Certified Educator Exam and DFI Day 9

Today for me was all about sitting the Google Certified Educator Exam and hopefully joining my colleagues in the Year 7/8 team at my school with this achievement.

If you would like to know more about becoming a Google Certified Educator, check out this link here.

I must say that some of the parts on the exam I flew through and there were a couple of questions where I did have a wee bit of a panic. I marked them for review and then at the end was able to go back and complete them. I think it was more of a panic around running out of time that made me feel like I couldn't answer the question, opposed to not being able to answer it.

Being on the online DFI has been an amazing experience for me for a number of reasons:

* I was able to connect with a wider range of facilitators and gain useful learning and expertise from each of them

* I was able to connect with other teachers and see what they are doing in their classrooms and with their learners

* I have further developed my toolkit with useful tools, tips and smarter ways of doing things

* I have the rewindable learning material that was shared on the agenda's, that I can go back to at any stage and revise what was taught, and reflect and adapt my practice

Where to next?

For me I want to continue to share the things I have learnt with staff and students at my school and in my interactions with others. I want to look further into becoming a Hapara Champion Educator and to look at other opportunities where I can lead and develop as an educator and a person.

Thank you to Manaiakalani for the support you have provided over the course of the nine week DFI and a special thank you to Venessa who has been so amazing to work with. You have been supportive, knowledgeable and an empathetic ear and it has been fantastic. Thank you!

Code, Computational Thinking and Micro bits- DFI Day 8

Great day exploring and learning and grateful to be able to have this time to have a play and learn. So many applications for the classroom and for my code club back at school. Thanks Manaiakalani. 

Today was a great opportunity to be able to have a play around with Code. I was able to give a Minecraft code project a go through Hour of Code. What a fantastic and easy way to teach the students code. Great step by step instructions to guide you in bite sized steps. You are able to follow the steps and then problem solve to figure out where your code is taking you wrong.

Here is the link to my Mine craft Code project that I tried first in Hour to Code. I even got a nice wee personalised Certificate as evidence of my work.

I also had my first wee look at the Microbit. Very exciting that you can utilise Scratch and this site to help you to create your own projects. I am very excited by this and will definitely be looking into this further. Here is the microbit project that I created with the simple heads / tails coin flick.    

Children will see flashing images and some sounds, before they are needing to have made their heads or tails decision. Heads being the skull and tails being the umbrella. Have a play and see what you think. Push 'A' to make it start.

But for now it is time to revise and sign up to do the Google Exam..... wish me luck!

Explain Everything- DFI Day 7

I am not totally sure where the last seven weeks have gone but am definitely buzzing with possibilities after today! It is fantastic that you can access Explain Everything without having a subscription, however it does have some limitations. This is definitely something that would be amazing for the school to have.

Today we took a look at being Cybersmart and what that means for our learners, whanau and teachers. I took one of the ten Manaiakalani Cybersmart categories and created this Explain Everything, focussing on 'Smart Parents'. I created this task so that learners could teach their Whanau how to access their blog and also be able to provide Positive, Thoughtful, Helpful feedback.

As I didn't have Explain Everything, I was unable to insert links, so some of the boxes look a little bit untidy......but you can get the idea.

                                                                            Today's take aways from the DFI were:

* I would like to delve deeper into Hapara Workspaces and have a look at how these might look. * The 'Digital Dig' is a great resource and way to expose our learners to some of the things they need to know in order to use the Chromebook effectively. There were many things I learnt how to do on the Chromebook that I didn't know how to do prior to today. It is very beneficial to take the time as a techer to get to know the ins and outs of the Chromebook. * I learnt about the blog list gadget and also the link list gadget. These are things I need to set up on my class blog. * I came across this link here, to a parents ultimate guide to certain popular trends. I am going to take a further look into this later as it is relevant to some of my learners at the moment. * This link here is also great for students and Whanau to be learning more from home.

Taking my learning into the classroom

My class have been learning about Statistics for Maths, so I taught them how to use Google Sheets and how you can create graphs using this data. Prior to doing this activity with the children, only one child had ever used Google Sheets.

I replicated what I did in the Digital Fluency Intensive with my class and they have created some pleasing blog post analysis'. It was interesting getting them to think about the why. Why is it that you did lots of blog posts here, but didn't there? What is your average number of blog posts last year, compared to this year? What do you think your next steps are? Why?

As you can see they did a pretty good job. 

What's in a Site? DFI- Day 6

The greatest learning I think that we can have as educators, is to learn from one another. Whether that be by looking at something someone has created, watching a video (tutorial), talking in person, or reading instructions. The list can go on.....

Today was really beneficial to me as I was able to look at a range of different Learning Sites to see what was visually appealing and also to see what works functionally.

After looking at our Collaborative Site, it was clear to me that I would need to work on a few things:

1) I needed to make all of my content visible. There were a few things that others were not able to see as I hadn't set those visibility settings right back at the Google Drive level.

2) I learnt that you could put a twitter feed up on your site, so have done this so that the children will be able to see things that are happening in the Te Ara Tuhura Cluster (in live time).

3) I set up Google Analytics, so now I need to go and look at how I can put this onto my Site / Blog as well.

4) I wanted to create some buttons for our Site to make it a little more appealing to the students as well.

How blessed are we to have this time to have a look at these things and to be able to put some things into action!

Here is our Collaborative Site- check it out here. Please feel free to comment with other suggestions that we could do to make our Site even better!

DFI Day 6

Some of my key learning's / take away's from today are:

* To make a connection, we need both parties to share- communication is the key. If there is no backwards and forwards then how can we make a connection?

* I learnt that Google Plus has become 'Currents'

* I picked up on a few tools that I want to look into a little further (after looking at other's learning sites)- Visuwords, creating a Padlet with learning activities on it, Slidesmania, Spell Zone

* I want to look further into Hapara Workspace's and look at some of the resources that my bubble group facilitator Venessa shared with me

* I want to add a photo album to our Collaborative Site, as well as a Whanau Page

* I learnt more about dealing with SPAM on Blogger

* I want to look more into Student Dashboard

It has been another great day full of idea sharing, collaboration and reflection.

Collaborate with Sites- DFI Day 5

It is always interesting being in the 'student chair' and experiencing what our learners experience in our classrooms. The task alone of finding resources and texts that we could use on our Multi-Modal Site, led me on a warren of discovery. I found myself getting distracted and going off on a number of different tangents. I found myself being pulled in a number of different directions and couldn't decide where I wanted to go with my Site.

This highlighted for me the planning part that is so very important, when designing learning tasks for our students. Having a broad topic such as 'Lest We Forget' was great, but I needed to narrow down where I wanted to go and what reading skills I specifically wanted to teach through this unit of work.

But as we know there is more than one path to get to the destination and the learning that took place along the way was beneficial.

So here is my Multi-Modal Site that I created. I definitely need to go back and adapt/ add to this, but for the purpose of being able to create a site easily and for having a go at finding texts that appeal and engage both behaviorally and cognitively, I think I am on track.

The texts selected have all the elements of having a main text, scaffolding text, complementary text and of course a challenging text. In relation to UDL, there needs to be more work put into this site, but this is a start.

DFI Day 5 was full of learning again and some of the things that I will take away from today are:

* I need to have a go at the DFI Google Sites Challenge, so that I am prepared for the Google Exam.

* When creating a Learning Site, it's important to limit the links.

* Hapara has a Parent Portal! Wow, I need to look into this more as I feel this would be a game changer for some of our families.

* I learnt that in Teacher Dashboard, under the 'sharing' tab, that if there is work in this folder, then the children have not put this work into a Google Drive Folder. This is something I need to chase up on Monday!

* I was able to look at buttons and how I can use Google Drawing to create interesting buttons on my Site.

 I am feeling so blessed at the moment to be able to be part of the DFI and to be learning alongside others who too, are wanting to provide the very best learning opportunities for their students. But for now, my head hurts from thinking, so I must sign off.

I would love to see any other Multi Modal Reading Sites that others have created. Please feel free to share below in the comment section. 

Nga mihi nui, Amber

Blog Post Frequency Analysis- DFI Day 4

 

 

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge Mele from Panmure Bridge School in Auckland, for her inspiring post on analysing your blog post data. You can find a link to her original post here. 

As you can see from my data, I have a lot less data to share when it comes to blog posts. This has really highlighted for me that I need to continue to build my blogging frequency.

DFI Day 4- Dealing with Data

So today's DFI session didn't go quite as planned. I take a glance up, as I was about to learn more about Google My Maps (something I have never previously encountered) and my poor wee kitten is frothing at the mouth! This is my very first cat that I have owned, so must admit, I did freak out quite a lot. I headed straight to the vet and one injection later, he seems to be a lot more settled. Thanks to rewindable learning, I will be able to catch up on that learning later in the week!

There are a number of takeaways for me from today:

* I have learnt more about Google Forms and feel like I have a greater handle on using them. It was fun to see that you can specify what information you want to collect and in what format (Google Drawing, Image, Audio, etc). I liked too that you can import questions from previous forms into the form you are currently making. A cool thing too is that you can shuffle the question order for students so that those with shifty eyes can't copy off others.

* Google Sheets- well I must admit that when you say "Google Sheets", my heart tends to race and I need to sit down! I have learnt a lot about sheets and smarter ways to create and utilise information within them. I learnt about conditional formatting and filters and can really see how useful these features will be when collecting and analysing data. Must I say it..... but it can even be fun! The cool thing is that you can also use the 'explore tool' to search up anything you are unsure of doing.

* I learnt how to create a 'sparkline' in Google Sheets and am going to taker this new learning back to my school to show the teachers and children.

* I also learnt how to insert a link into my blog comment. Another fantastic thing to show teachers and students back at school. Just insert this link here into your blog comment: 

<a href="insert URL here">Insert display text here</a>

Then copy the URL of the link into the space where it tells you to!

So I am very much looking forward to consolidating some of my learning and trying out some of these new tools. As always, a real pleasure to be a part of the Manaiakalani DFI.

My Town....Maths for Real! (DFI Day 3)

What I love about the DFI is that I get to create new things and learn new skills (personally), but can also can envisage how these new skills and tools can be used in the classroom to support my learners.

I have always found that Maths is the one area that I stumble on when it comes to designing learning tasks. So I was very grateful to attend Latham's Workshop Bubble, focusing on Using Google Slides to support Maths. 

Here is a simple but very effective task focusing on Geometry and creating your own town. 

The task meant that the student learnt more about using slides to create, but also consolidates what they know about Mathematical terms such as perpendicular, equilateral, etc. It definitely has the elements of problem solving too!

Engaging? Yes indeed. I could quite easily go back and continue to add to this and most possibly will!

So what were my main takeaways from today?

* Hapara- you can physically drag the priority students to the top of your group so that you can see them instantly!

* You Tube- I learnt how to set up my own You Tube Channel and make sure the settings were appropriate. I learnt that you can embed entire playlists too.

* SISOMO- Sight, Sound and Motion- I need to reflect on some of the tasks that I am setting for my students and check that they include these elements.

* Google Draw- I didn't realise that you could simply drag the Google Draw Canvas to make it bigger or smaller. I also want to try using the crop tool to crop an image into a certain shape.

I enjoyed using Google Draw to create my own personalised 'All About Me', to put alongside my blog in the Gadget Area. You will see it to the top right of my blog. 

So, in summary: 

We can create to learn, create to share, learn to create, learn to share.....

It is not a linear process at all and we can jump in and out of each of the LEARN, CREATE, SHARE stages throughout the whole learning process.

A fantastic day once again and very much looking forward to Day 4.

Video Feedback on Blogpost- DFI Day 2

Create Task

Today's 'Create task' involved delving into a student's blog post and discussing what the teaching design was behind the post. We also needed to discuss what the learner's response was to the task and also to look at who commented on the blog post and how this contributed to the learning experience.

Here is my korero with Alicia Langton from Tamaki Primary School, about Lily's blog post (from Grey Main School.

Please jump on and comment on Lily's blog post as she has done a wonderful job! You can find her blog post

DFI Day 2

It is always fantastic revising the pedagogy of Learn, Create, Share and in particular 'Learn' today.

Today's DFI has cemented and highlighted a number of things for both me in my teaching and learning journey, but also for the students in my class. 

* Quality Teaching is at the core of everything!

* Learn is about 'accessing and engaging with existing knowledge'- so like today with our create task, we engaged with the knowledge we were given (how to use Google Meet to record, create calendar invites for Meet, Embedding our Videos onto our blog, etc),  to give feedback on a students blog post. All the while, reflecting on the effectiveness on blog posts and looking at how comments are an important part of the process. Comments enrich the learning and has scope for the learner to feel empowered and valued.

* We discussed the Higher Leverage Practices (HLP) and it sparked a thought regarding the children in my class and how I really do need to get them talking! (Talk moves here we come)

* Google Keep- is such an amazing tool at our finger tips! I do currently use this however it is underutilised. I have now shared our grocery list with my partner. I am going to use the grab text feature to be able to work with pieces of text. I can move notes from PD sessions and then copy it all to Google Docs. I can even make a voice memo to myself! The feature of setting reminders when you are in the vicinity (location setting) is also very valuable.

* I have learnt about organising my Gmail account and will go back to class and teach the children how to create folders in their Gmail so they can organise and keep their important emails.

* I can share documents from my drive in a Calendar invite, so no more sharing multiple emails to my Pedagogy Focus Group.

* Toby Mini is a fantastic extension and I have now created a collection that has all my students emails on it. I can imagine this being very handy for the EOY processes (sharing of blog links with next years teachers and then inviting them to their new student's blogs).

Here is the collection I created today with the links to my students blogs.

I think too, that it is really important to continually go back and revise this new learning, as I realised that there were a couple of things discussed today that I had forgotten about. A combination of old age and highlighting the need to have multiple opportunities to practice a new skill!

Once again a very thought provoking and empowering day. Loving the new skills and confidence that comes with being able to do things that you couldn't do previously. So for me, Learn was a definite winner on the day!

Digital Fluency Guru.......I think not!

Digital Fluency Intensive- Day One

In the beginning of our School Manaiakalani Journey, teachers would look to me for support and help to do things smarter, faster and more effectively (as I was one of the first teachers to have an in class Manaiakalani Facilitator working with me at my Kura). 

Everything prior to that point was learnt by 'Googling' what to do, or self taught. I was very blessed to work with Mark Maddren who taught me so much, however I definitely had the glaze over look (often) when I wasn't sure how to do something. Time was limited and the focus was mainly at the children's level. I was often going home to search 'the net' so that I could find out more.

Today's DFI session has confirmed to me the journey that we are on with Manaiakalani. How very lucky we are to be a part of Manaiakalani, especially with the support we receive as teaching professionals and also for our students, whanau and communities. 

The Manaiakalani kaupapa is successful because of the vision, the people, networking, research and resourcing. But not only this, it's effective classroom practice.

So what did I learn today that will support my confidence, capability and workflow as a professional?

Today I learnt many things that will help me in my work:

* I learnt how to make separate profiles rather than adding in many different Google accounts. I made the massive mistake of having a number of different personal and professional accounts open and then created blogs! Let's just say that it was a nightmare to sort it all out and I had to keep signing in and out of Google accounts trying to sort it out!

* I learnt about the benefits of having Google Groups and the differences between 'Groups' and 'Contacts'.

* I had time to organise my Google Drive and learnt tips on how to do this more effectively (changing folder colours, giving the folders numbers so they pop up to the top)

* Things that I need to teach the kids- folder permissions, naming your docs- initials and then the document name, no underlining in titles (ooops), making headings and table of contents, hyperlinking, using the explore tool, etc

* Using a Google Doc to create an info graphic (I didn't even think this was possible!)

Speaking of info graphics.....check out my creation here:

It's funny because we only know what we know, until our eyes are opened and until we are challenged and taught other ways of doing things. 

Thank you Manaiakalani for supporting me in my Professional Learning Journey and I'm sorry, for being one of those teachers who have been teaching things the wrong (least effective ways)!

I am feeling confident that I have learnt lots of new things and now is my job to retrain and rethink the ways that I do things and do things smarter!

Personally, I am just looking forward to being able to move between profiles and not having to log in and out again! 

I am very much looking forward to the DFI Day 2. 

Critical Literacy

With reading being a focus for us this year and trying to accelerate students in this area, I attended a Critical Literacy Webinar last night.

It was great to hear from a range of 'experts' in the area of Critical Literacy and to be able to ask questions and share ideas / resources.

Some of the key things that I took away from the webinar were:

What is Critical Literacy?

* The Four Roles of the Reader-

Dr Mike Paki spoke about Critical Literacy in it's simplest from as:

(Listening to the voices that are heard within the text, but also listening to the voices that are unheard) 

Children need to think after reading a text- What might be true? 

How and Why a text is shaped and by who? 

It was also discussed that texts can be highlighted at times of crisis or conflict, so we need to look at who the text represents. Does it represent my view? Who's view does it represent?

There are often multiple ways of knowing something and also multiple ways of showing something in a text. 

So Why and How is Critical Literacy Important?

It was discussed that language and texts carry the 'world view' or arongo of the person who wrote it. Therefore texts can carry bias/ unbias, and certain perspectives/ positions.

So it is important to ask yourself and of your students:

" What do you know about this text/ korero?"

"What do you think about yourself when you read these things?"

" Are you in this story." "Does it tell the same story as yours?"

There is a flood of information coming our kids way. So we need to help them to make sense of the text, look at different perspectives and to not take everything they read as 'truth'.

We need to support our students to have 'power over texts' and not to let texts have power over us.

It's all about understanding ourselves and others and knowing our identity.

How do we teach Critical Literacy?

* We need to teach it explicitly and share the intentions with the kids. We need to know our bias as we teach a text, Look at our adjectives and inflection in our voice. Think about our position as a teacher before teaching it.

* Think about text selection- give multiple readings that hold different positions.

* Questioning- does my questioning foster inclusion, exclusion?

* Dialogue- We need to allow for student talk and not just teacher talk. Do lots of think, peer, share and small group work.

* Acknowledge your bias to the students, humanise it! "My view is......" "What is your view?" "You need to create your own meaning of this."

* Don't be too scared to let the kids go off in other directions.

Other things to look into following the webinar:

'Planting Seeds' by Susan Sandretto

Talk Moves- Maths (to encourage lots of talk in the classroom).

Encourage students to have a go at ideas........not at the people with the ideas. It's about the Kaupapa (work), not people.

Reluctant students can share their ideas down on paper to encourage participation.

Check out the Opposing Viewpoints Database through EPIC- they have good articles from different perspectives.

www.nzcer.org.nz/criticalmultiliteracies

https//www.theperspective.com  (Has two different stories about different topics)

Look into the 'switching strategy'- how we can change the meaning/ mood of texts by adapting/ changing colours / images etc.

If we can't see our voice in a text, why not?

If not, let's get our voice out there!

MY VOICE MATTERS!

Covid-19, Our bubbles

A great way to check in with students and have conversations about what it was like during lockdown.  

Belfast School Lockdown Dance #2

Just because we can.....here is our Staff Lockdown Dance #2.
https://youtu.be/5bpN3RUKiGQ

Just a wee something to keep spirits high and to bring Staff together when we can't physically be!
Enjoy!

Lock down and Remote Learning

Wednesday 23rd March, 2020, will be a day that we won't forget and the subsequent weeks that were to follow. I thought I would take a moment to share some of my learnings, thoughts and happenings as a teacher and mum.

Relationships: We all know how important relationships are and this once again has come to the forefront during this period of home lock down. I miss the children in my class and being able to connect with them in real life. To share discussions with them about their days and learning. I miss watching the children have that 'a-ha' moment and sharing their personalities and passions during class.
I was super excited to connect with the children again on our first Google Meet, sharing stories and happenings after the first couple of weeks holiday and lock down. To share what life has been like in our new circumstances. The children were excited too as most of the class were online and ready to catch up. The Year 7-8 senior teachers made the decision to meet daily with their classes and I have very much enjoyed this time of connecting, celebrating and sharing. The turn out for class meets have remained steady and it has been pleasing to see just how many are logging on and engaging.
Those that have not been able to get on to connect had difficulties with accessing devices- which was pretty quickly resolved, with some school devices being sent out to families in need. Competition in certain activities have definitely engaged and encouraged the children to participate and do more.

Mumming: (Yes I know that is not a real word) Being a Mum to my daughter as well as my partners two children also adds in another dynamic. Three kids aged 9, 8 and 7 years. Being responsible for their care as well as their learning has added in some challenges and also benefits. My daughter (aged 8 years) is very engaged in learning and has always been inquisitive and independent from since when she could be. She has a natural willingness to learn more, know more and do more. She has excelled in being able to access her learning via See Saw and completes tasks independently of me being in the room. She has definitely benefited from me signing her up to the Summer Learning Journey over the Summer, as this highlighted how little she was able to use ICT to learn, create and share. We spent a lot of time over summer learning how to use her blog, create slideshows, do screencastify, etc and I am very happy that I invested this time now!
The 9 year old boy is less interested in learning and is inundated in tasks from his school to complete and I can see him disengaging with every task that comes our way (as am I). I wish I could throw away what they are doing and do what I want to do with him, as then I feel we could engage him more. This has highlighted for me that the expectations that teachers have on the children need to be manageable, and that less is more. It also shows that learning needs to be relevant and meaningful, otherwise it becomes a chore! He is the guru at getting distracted and I can often see him opening up 1000 tabs, sending messages to others and doing anything else but the tasks given.
The 7 year old is wanting to learn, but struggles with:
(1) Being online and utilising the tools needed to complete the tasks
(2) Reading the instructions and knowing what it is that she needs to be doing
But half the battle is won as she is interested and engaged! She is able to be helped by my daughter and myself, so its easy.

Quality Time and Exercising: After the work is done and the chores are too, it is just so great to be able to connect with our bubble family. Spending time playing card games, baking, building huts and taking bike rides and walks around our community. That I can sit and be doing a Google Meet and also be spending time with my daughter and family is a real blessing.
On one of our recent walks we came across a few kittens that had obviously been abandoned and left in the tussocks on the new overpass they are building. I tried to get them to come to me but they were too scared. On our walk home I decided that I would go back and try to get them. I put some of our dog's wet food down and within 30 seconds I had captured the black one with my partners fishing net. The other two scarpered and I just couldn't manage to get the other two. I returned home and my partner then went out to get the remaining two. He successfully got them and then I proceeded to feed and clean them. They had obviously not had water for some time as they weren't sure what it was and the way one jumped back showed they were very hesitant.
My goal the next day was to nurture and care for them until I could re home two of them (which I did). The other one was to be a birthday present to myself! Pacey has fitted in well and is a regular attendee at our Class Meets! Before we knew it we were having 'Bring a Pet to Meet mornings'!

Pacey supervising me while I work!

Pen and Paper
I read somewhere that in years to come, we will look back at this time in History and there will be things that will be amazing to read back on. So I have taken to pen and paper and encouraged my daughter to write with me most days about this moment in time. The time that we got to spend more time together as a family. The time where we exercised more and ate more! The time when all children learned at home and their parents and teachers were their teachers. The time when there was uncertainty around jobs and a regular income. The time when we would walk down the street and quickly change sides if we saw someone coming. The time where we were not allowed to be closer than 2 meters from strangers in the supermarket. The time when toilet rolls were stockpiled and baking powder was almost impossible to get!
I have encouraged my class to record a journal using pen and paper, so that they can then pass this journal on to their families, and on through generations. What a treasure to find a handwritten journal that documents this significant moment in time!

Here is an entry of a diary from a soldier on board His Majesty's New Zealand Transport Tahiti, during a period of pandemic influenza, July 10, 1918, through January 31, 1919. Will our journals be looked back on as this one is now?

Where to now? When we return to school and 'normality' kicks in.......
I think about the benefits that this lock down has achieved and how we can bring some of these good things into what we normally do. I find myself questioning:
How can we slow down and do less better?
How can we make sure that we are not scratching the surface trying to cover everything we do in a day?
How do we structure our day so that there is more independent choice and flexibility within our programmes?
How can I maintain the number of COB's (comment on blogs) I am currently doing on the children's blogs?
How do we keep parents and whanau as engaged and involved in their learning as we are right now, while not placing too much of a burden on them?
How can we incorporate more of the things that children have been doing during lock down at home, into the classroom- baking, building, spending quality time nurturing relationships with one another, etc. Life skills!

Feedback
I received feedback from a couple of parents that are absolutely thriving in this environment and are loving what we are doing.
One said, "I just wanted to pat your back and say thanks for the work you're putting into the distance schooling. ***** is enjoying the daily contact and the early time makes it easy to get him up, fed and dressed.

He and I have agreed on around 2hrs schoolwork a day. Generally maths, reading, spelling and his choice from blog, science, writing etc. He sets a loose timetable for himself each morning and mostly works self directed with the resources you've put up for them.  You probably won't have seen him on maths sites in the past couple of days tho, he and I have been working on adding fractions. He's playing darts a lot (rapid fire basic facts) and we've been watching movies with subtitles on and calling it availll. He's just finished reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.

He's very relaxed and happy and says he enjoys the flexibility of working from home. Thanks for making it such an easy process."

Another said, "The programmes that **** is doing are fantastic. They have videos of the tasks and skills so ****** and myself know what to do, then **** can set off and do the work himself with very little support from myself. I thought this home learning might have been stressful but it has been the complete opposite! For my child with Autism to be able to be so independent is fantastic. Thank you for everything you are doing and for your help at the end of the Google Meets, catching up and answering questions."

So what has worked well for you in your family bubble? What would you like to take back into the classroom once you return? What has been highlighted for you over this time as a parent/ teacher?

Thanks for reading! Amber

Drawing Challenge- Yoda

So this week I set the challenge for my students to draw. They could draw anything that they wanted to, but they were not allowed to sketch. I set this challenge as drawing is something that I want to get better at doing. The children in my class openly laugh with me as I share my embarrassing images!
I have a puppy called Yoda and so I decided to give drawing Yoda (the Star Wars character not puppy) a go.

What do you think..... next step colour?

I can not wait to see what my students darw! And to see their faces once they see my drawing!

All in a Day's Work

The Teachers at Belfast School wanted to brighten up your days.
For your enjoyment........
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxgB4NV7xVo&feature=youtu.be

Did you want to create a lock down dance with you and your family? The challenge is set!