Circle Time

Circle Time

In Week 8 we did our first circle time. This was an activity linked to our Kia Kaha Unit - Anti Bullying. In Room 8 we have looked at encouraging the opposite of bullying by completing a variety of activities that encourage kindness while still learning the impact that bullying can have on a person. 

We had to pass a ball of wool around or across the circle and give a compliment to the person who received the wool. It was encouraged to not pass to a person who we would normally sit or play with. It was wonderful to hear all of the positive and genuine comments that show Room 8's class culture is developing really well. This is something that we will definitely continue to do and do more regularly. 

This circle time activity links well with the Incredible Years training I am doing. On discussion with Adrienne she also encouraged that, as the compliments come easier for all the children, we should include a 'I am proud of myself' statement as well. I realise that expressing pride is difficult for some but it will be a great addition to the circle time and can even start as an optional statement to begin.

Learner Profile - Goal Setting

Putting the Learner Profile to work in our room through goal setting...

As a class we reviewed the four key areas of our Learner Profile to ensure that the way things were written was in a way that we understood. It was important that we all understood what each area was about so that we could choose an area to work on and be able to discuss our goal with others. We needed to also know what we could do to achieve our set goal. Once we had reviewed and glued our own sheet in our books we chose the one we wanted work on and added our names to the display so we could all refer to it. This is something we are going to review regularly and keep working on to ensure we are doing all that we can to achieve our goals.

Term 2 Update:

We updated our goal setting display by adding some positive comments around them. We also added a 'saying' to each of the four areas to help us remember what they meant. For example Confident - Maia was 'Being brave'. We also changed how we chose our goal by having our names as part of the whole area rather than just one specific part as many of the goals within cross over. We choose our goals at the start of the term and revisit and move around if needed throughout the term. We have a copy of the goals in our Inquiry books where we highlight them once we have achieved them.

Culture

Culture

In Room 8 we have spent a lot of time in the first term getting to know each other and learning about the Room 8 families, looking at where we came from and the culture we have within our families. We realise that all families have a culture of their own and that is this something to be celebrated. 

While we were sharing and discussing our own family cultures we discussed how Room 8 could (and does) have it's own culture. As a result of this discussion, we thought about events that happen throughout the year that we might like to celebrate. We chose a few different event and came up with ways to celebrate these within our class.

Extra:

Further to our discussions around families we also looked at our favourite places to visit within New Zealand. We also completed research around where our families came from and displayed both of these in our classroom.

We also made hand prints that we decorated and made into a flower showing us all united and growing together. We put these alongside our class treaty.

Oakura Quality Practice

Oakura Quality Practise

Link to my Oakura Quality Practise Sheet that this Blog documents relevant data to show how I am working on achieving these goals.

Moderating

Team AsTTLe Moderating

Term 1:
This term we completed the schoolwide  AsTTLe writing assessment based on a descriptive piece of writing. We all completed an initial sort of where we felt the children were after reading each child's work. We then came together as a team to compare and reflect on how we had assessed children based on the marking criteria.

This created great discussion and provided clarity around areas we were feeling unsure about. We all felt like we were marking in a similar and fair way and happy to go ahead and mark the rest of the classes.

Self Reflection: I find the exemplars really helpful and while some of the marking criteria can be interpreted differently I feel confident in marking my classes work fairly. Also our team is really positive and helpful and know I can discuss any that come up as tricky with any team member to clarify.

Class Blog

Room 8 Class Blog

In Room 8 the children are in charge of our class blog. Each week 2 to 3 children sign up for being in charge of the blog post for the week. During the week they get together and decide what they would like to write a post about and let me know if they will  need a photo for the post. They are then responsible for writing up the post and organising anything they may need for it before posting. We then try to share each Friday or Monday.

Term 1: The children are really enjoying taking the responsibility of this and, as it is optional at this stage, there is no pressure on those who aren't comfortable as yet to do this.