Dance with Susan Nel

In Matai we are very lucky to have Susan Nel come to see us every week on a Wednesday after morning tea. Susan is a certified therapeutic dance teacher using the movement process to help with the physical, emotional, cognitive and social integration of the individual. Susan does this be incorporating the use of music, movement and props in a fun and understanding way that is part of the holistic approach that offers a chance for creative expression for our children supported by our awesome teachers and teacher aids. 

Art in Matai

We have been enjoying our art in Matai
and this time when we went for one of  our  walks we collected natural things we could paint with. We found many things including branches with leaves, flower heads and seed pods and the following afternoon we got to try out our findings.

Think maths

Really enjoyed a chance during the term break to go along to Mt Manganui intermediate with colleagues for a maths symposium. Taking the time to learn about developing spatial awareness in geometry, algebra in the early years and number sense. These work shops had very informative presenters along with an impressive key note speaker was well worth the time.

Teacher and Teacher aid only day in Matai

Lead by senior Natalie Williams

We started the morning with a share of something personal that had special meaning to us our Taonga our treasure. This gave us an insight to what was dear, important to us above all; and for all of us it is family they shape us they are there through the good and bad, we don’t always stay on the same page in our books of life nonetheless on a whole we are there for them as they are for us.

Term 2 in Matai   

Natalie presented what she envisioned our learning environment to look like for the second term 2015. Acknowledging and welcoming new staff, discussing general housekeeping and administration.

We then viewed concepts to help staff reflect on their own professional practise. Discussion included no question is a silly question, that we are all learners, our own limiting beliefs and how we apply these to our children.

Natalie finished with a statement that I believe was like this (tried to remember it fully but may have paraphrased a little)

I have the belief that our children have the amazing ability to surprise us…… however if we don’t allow them to try then they will never have that opportunity.

After lunch we participated in a workshop for Anaphylaxis management.

Anaphylaxis – allergic reactions

These reactions can happen to anyone at any time but of course are more prominent in someone who already has a known allergic reaction history.

For a very useful training resource follow this link    

www.allergy.org.au   click on Anaphylaxis resources for schools and early childcare to do the training. 

During our workshop we were able to view, discuss and participate with the two adrenaline auto injectors the Anapen and the Epipen.

These pens are automatic injectors that administer a single dose of adrenaline. 

Adrenaline is the ONLY effective treatment for Anaphylaxis, this is (adrenaline) a hormone that is naturally produced in the human body and is very safe when given in a single dose via an automatic injector. Adrenaline assists with the breathing, maintains heart function and blood pressure works within minutes and last for approximately 10 - 20 minutes, reverses a severe allergic reaction and can be life saving 

Anaphylaxis is potentially life threatening and should always be treated as a MEDICAL EMERGENCY.    

I E P's

This post is not a reflection on any one student.

With gaining a full 11 weeks employment in Matai (special needs unit) for term two I have been trying to gain as much insight as I can to these learners hence I spent yesterday morning viewing a selection of Individual Education Plans An IEP sets goals for the student and shows how the student will be supported to meet those goals. It is developed by the team of people who support the student, including their parents, family, whānau and the student themselves. to find out more follow this link to the Ministry of Education http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/SpecialEducation/ServicesAndSupport/IndividualEducationPlans.aspx      

By the implementation of consistent management and communication strategies for the immediate learning and safety of the student I hope to develop an understanding of their learning, the resources and equipment needed for his/her strengths and needs to be meet through my teaching.

A sensory profile presents information about how a students experiences and processes information from various senses from auditory (hearing) vision (sight) vestibular (movement against gravity) tactile (touch) smell taste proprioception (deep pressure/body sense from joints and muscles).

This can tell me many things as a teacher such as whether a student is wary of loud noises, how able the are to sit for a long time, needs a favorite object in his hand , the need for simplify instructions.  

There's an involvement of many different services including but not exclusive to physiotherapists and occupational therapists to work with both student and teacher; viewing effects such as safe movement (both the students and their ability to move and accesses within the classroom) student ability to take part in the learning activity especially physical and the tools needed to undertake and complete the lesson.  

After a warm up of buzz, I used the abacus to revisit 10 and...... (teen facts) as the teacher had explained that the children were quite confident with these facts. We then compared some teen numbers and ty numbers and what they look like on the abacus ie 12 & 20, 13 &30, 14 & 40, 15 & 50.

Jets making connections between finger patterns and sets of objects
10 fingers is the same as 10 bears
7 fingers is the same as 7 beans
3 fingers is the same as 3 dice

Then moving onto
8 fingers is the same as 8 bears is the same as 8 counters on a tens frame

Writing and maths in Rata

While working in Rata and with support from the teacher I had clear ideas and expectations for the writing and maths lessons.
After interval with the children on the mat and the Walt written on the white board (we are learning to start our sentence with a capital letter and read our story so we know what comes next)
I started with My cat likes to..... children brainstormed ideas (ideas recorded these on the white board) so our sentence became My cat likes to sleep in the sun. To enhance the sentence we brainstormed again this time focusing on descriptive words so then our sentence became My big fluffy cat likes to sleep in the sun.
Leaving the Walt in place, children were given two pictures of cats  (the higher group were able to work independently) while I work with the others I the mat, where I modeled what was happening in the pictures ie a kitten had found a ball of wool and in the next picture the kitten is tangled in the wool, these children then chose their own prompts and I supported them with the writing process. As I was in this class the following day I was able to get the children to read through their work, reading to see if it made sense,had they used capitals, full stops and spaces between their words.

Staff meeting

An interesting presentation from Ana about the Ministry of Education revised  e-asttle writing complete with online video  explanations. This online tool is designed to assess childrens' writing progress from years  1- 10 by providing a variety of communicative purposes ie describe, explain, recount, narrate persuade. A valuable tool with quality exemplars to track student writing.

Amber and Roz spoke about GGL and showed a tracking graph (which was informative as I had little knowledge of what happened from the form being filled out and the child spoken to, nice to have the elaboration)

Pirates in Tawa

We started our morning brainstorming what the children thought a pirate looked like or what he/she (no one thought there was any girl pirates) does  (this was used to engage prior knowledge). After this was completed I read a poem describing what a pirate is/does from this we we're able to confirm the prior knowledge we had and extend with what we didn't know.

Later I shared Jolly Roger and the treasure  (yellow) with the class the children got to colour and decorate their treasure chest and write a simple sentence (modeled and sounded out a simple sentence on the white board).
Later in the day we made our own stuffed pirate

Mapping and location

Mathematical lessons in Ruma Manuka 

As part of the geometry and measurement strand in Manuka we investigated mapping and locating after a lesson from our curriculum texts to introduce the strand at their respective stages. Students explored and viewed the pathway that they would take to travel from their own house to James Street School, discussing what locational points they would pass on the way. 

The following day for the next lesson students viewed and discussed how to find locations on a local street view map with grids and coordinate markings. Students needed to locate their place of residence and provide the grid coordinate for their location and successfully locate this on a local map. 

We then progressed on to extend this lesson by using our local map to locate landmarks and facilities and discussed how we could get from a point A i.e. their home to point B landmark/facility.      

Teachings in Rata and Tawa

Rainbow fish

While working in Ruma Rata and later in Tawa at James Street School I wanted to include lessons that incorporated the strengths of the James Street School PB4L growing great learner’s programme; we are Proud, we are Respectful, we are Safe.

 After discussion with my AT and following her suggestions I selected Rainbow fish written by Marcus Pfister an awesome junior shared book with great messages easily linked to the PB4L programme. After reading the shared book to the class, children participated in discussion and brain storm about what they thought made a good friend these were recorded on the white board at the teaching station suggestions from both classes included choosing who is good to play with, being nice and kind, greeting others by saying hello, hi, good morning, kia ora, sharing our time and things, be good to make friends, help people when they are hurt or sad, ask others to join in. (here would have been a good opportunity to extend and involve children in a more in-depth discussion about why these suggestions make for good friendship tips and to think about what actions they are using to show this) overall I wanted these lessons to improve children’s thinking about their relationships with in the classroom and further out to the playground.