Managing self

This "job tree" is a resource that I've noticed has really contributed to the key competency of 'Managing Self' in my AT's classroom.  Students are assigned tasks for the week and these are clearly displayed on the tree.  At the start of the week the owls fly down the tree and the tasks are rotated.  I have noticed the effect of having such a visually appealing and clear resource to keep track of these tasks - if the students are unsure about what to do during, say, packing up time, they will refer to the tree and see what job they are meant to be doing.  The pride that they take in doing these tasks is evident and it seems like a very effective way to reinforce the key competency of managing self.

GTS 1 C - Graduating teachers have knowledge of the relevant curriculum documents of Aotearoa New Zealand

Formative assessment strategies

https://www.teachersolutions.com.au/resources/learning-strategies/formative-assessment

Modelling bottles

We have been making some art to put on fundraising calendars this week and used it as an opportunity to teach the children about shading and the colour wheel.  The children have been drawing bottles and practising shading them according to a light source, drawing the sun in one corner of the page to remind them where the light is coming from.  

After some practice they set out a composition with four bottles and planned a background.  

We wanted them to use colours that were next to each other on the colour wheel, so showed them examples of the colour wheel and modelled painting colours that were next to each other on a grid.  

This was my model, quickly drawn up before school and at morning tea

Here are today's artworks drying, showing the grid and the compositions in progress.  

I found this exercise very interesting as it really showed the power of modelling in showing children what is expected - they responded so well to seeing artworks their teachers had created and it seemed to work so much better than just giving the instructions verbally.

Here are some of the finished artworks, displayed on the window.

GTS 2:  Graduating Teachers know about learners and how they learn.
2A: Graduating teachers have knowledge of a range of relevant theories and research about pedagogy, human development and learning.

Matariki stars

This is a star display I made with children at Parnell Library for Matariki.  Sitting and doing a craft activity like this with children was a good opportunity to talk about the significance of Matariki, and what people do to celebrate it.

Children's activities at Parnell Library

Here are a couple of activities I've done to engage children through Auckland Libraries - dancing with a starry cloth at a preschool storytime and dressing up as a pirate for the Tall Ships festival...

Glow in the dark

Another Matariki activity I organised for the school holidays at the Parnell Library was a special glow in the dark room.  We covered up our storeroom in black paper to keep the light out and borrowed a blacklight to make some glow in the dark fun.  Children tried out drawing with different luminescent liquids such as liquid laundry detergent and tonic water (the quinine in the tonic water makes it glow blue) and different colours of highlighter.  I also gave them some different coloured glowsticks to take into the darkroom. This was an excellent activity for generating and testing ideas, and making predictions. Linking to the idea that Science involves "generating and testing ideas, gathering evidence – including by making observations, carrying out investigations and modelling, and communicating and debating with others – in order to develop scientific knowledge" (NZC, 2007), I asked the children to make predictions about what the different materials would look like under the blacklight, and to test their predictions.

 Liquid laundry detergent under the blacklight

Next, Theo, Anh and Otis were off to see what their glowsticks looked like in the dark at the movies!

Matariki singalong

 Here are some photos of a Matariki singalong I organised as part of the school holiday programme we ran at Parnell Library in July.  We did some waiata, including the song from the book Matariki by Sharon Holt and Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in te reo.  We then did some planting, sowing some beetroot seeds as a new beginning for the Maori new year.

GTS 6 - Graduating Teachers develop positive relationships with learners and the members of learning communities. E. Graduating teachers demonstrate respect for te reo Māori me ngā tikanga-ā-iwi in their practice

Manu Aute

These are some Matariki kites I did with children as part of my work at the Parnell Library.  I created a template and then used that as a basis for a drawing competition (decorate your own Matariki kite), a workshop in which children decorated carboard versions of the kites and attached feathers to them, and a display for the library.  I modelled decorating the kite and it was interesting to see children using some of the elements of my model in their designs.  We used the kite-making as a way of starting conversations about what we do at Matariki - make goals, remember important people in our lives, do planting, look at the stars...

The kites all decorated with feathers

The Matariki kite template I drew

I loved seeing the variety in the way the children have decorated their kites, and they have loved being able to point out their kites in the display to their friends and families.