Bringing the story to life...

Thursday 10th March 2016

Bringing the story to life...

This week was one of my favourite weeks of the year as we celebrated Book Week at our school. As a Year Three Class Teacher, I feel that the Horrid Henry series by Francesca Simon are a perfect range of stories to focus on the during the week. The links with school and family issues are perfect and the language used in the text is very appropriate for children aged 7-9 years old. The outcome of my whole week was for the children to write a recount of what had happened over the week and for this information to be sent to the local police for investigation. The children also wrote character descriptions for the main character 'Horrid Henry'. Each character in the series has a name with an adjective placed in front, which promotes great vocabulary development for the students. E.g. Perfect Peter, Moody Margaret, Sour Susan. 

On the first day of the week the children returned from break time to find the classroom completely destroyed with tables upside down, displays ripped off the walls and the children's school bags completely empty. The children were in complete shock, but there were some clues around the room which some children spotted. I placed some UK coins in the classroom, as well as a London travel card and my own passport with a Horrid Henry passport page attached. The children wanted to take finger prints of each child and try and match it up to the coins. Using the App 'Mood Scan' I took the finger prints of all the children in the class. We then created an evidence wall of everything we had found so far and interrogated some of the children. At the early stages the children were unsure if it was me, one of the other children or even Horrid Henry. The 'Hot Seating' type activity was excellent and the children asked some wonderful questions...

Where were you between 8am and 9,30am?

Have you ever been to England? 

Have you seen anyone acting suspicious around the school today? 

After this the children took their Ipads around the school to find more clues, whilst also interviewing many teachers and students. On their return to the classroom they found out that Horrid Henry had emailed the class. Over the next two days emails were going back and forth between Horrid Henry and the students. All of this was to raise the profile of Book Week, but more importantly to bring the stories to life. The children wrote their own recounts of the week and they ended up being the best pieces of writing they had done all year! The vocabulary used, the understanding of the situation  and their ability to write in event order was excellent. We sent all recounts off to the local police, so that Horrid Henry can never do this to a school again. 

It was a truly remarkable week and one that we will all remember for a very long time...

All my planning and resources can be found at:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/boltoncharlie

*** Please 'like' and 'share' my blog on all social media ***

Enjoy!

Global Teacher

Resource of the day!

Resource of the day!

Please share with all your teacher friends:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/world-math-day-2016-assembly-and-resources-11223016


World Maths Day 2016:

You will be able to download three main resources in this folder. 

Maths Riddles - These can be sent to children throughout the day or cut out and stuck around the school for the children to solve. 

Maths Challenges - There are two challenges for each year group that should be completed throughout the day. They can be easily edited to suit your school context. 

Maths Assembly - This PowerPoint Presentation can be used in a variety of ways, although I have used it in the past for whole school assemblies. At the end of World Math Day I normally lead a whole school assembly where all children in the school bring a small whiteboard and have to answer the set questions. Last year I even turned this into an interhouse Math competition by choosing one child from each house to stand at the front of the hall and answer the questions. You can be as creative as you like, but this assembly presentation will be a fun, interactive way to begin or end your World Math Day activities. 

All my planning and resources can be found at:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/boltoncharlie

*** Please 'like' and 'share' my blog on all social media ***

Enjoy!

Global Teacher

Technology in the Primary Classroom

Tuesday 23rd February 2016

On my previous posts I have mentioned active participation and I have shared some examples of how I have used technology around the school. During the previous seven days I have used two new strategies when using iPads and have set up an 'internet start page'. Below I will explain how I created each one and what it has been used for.

A few days ago I was introduced to a website named '3x3links.com' and I have been extremely impressed with how easy it has been to set up. It is a website controlled by Google and enables quick and easy web searching. The picture on the left is an example of what the internet page looks like. You can add links to as many pages as you wish by adding folders. I have set it up for children aged 5-8, but it could be used for any age. I have created a link on all the desktop computers in the IT Lab, as well as setting the link as an icon on all iPads. The link has also been shared with the parents, so that the children can use the same system at home. It has saved a lot of time and ensures that we are using the internet safely. If you are a teacher and you haven't done this yet, I strongly recommend that you copy and paste the link and begin making your own internet start page. 

Kahoot.it is a fantastic website that allows you to create online, interactive quizzes for any subject area. Thousands have already been made that you have full access to for free. I use it at least once every two weeks, mainly for Maths and topic related activities. The attached picture on the right is an example of a question that I used this week. You can add pictures to the screen and ask the children to identify the correct spelling. 
The teacher creates the quiz, usually around 20 questions. The children open kahoot.it and follow the instructions on the IWB. Once they have logged in using the uniques number, the quiz is ready to begin. A question flashes on the screen (IWB) and the children have a set time (created by the teacher) to answer the question. The faster they are, the more points they receive. The child with the most points at the end is the winner. I also differentiate my quizzes by making my odd number quiz questions slightly harder and the higher ability students answer those questions only. 

Last week, I wanted to support my EAL students by using technology to aid their understanding of prepositions. My four EAL students worked in pairs and had six preposition cards each. They had to take turns recording their partner saying a sentence about their preposition card, whilst showing it on the video. The children could then play these videos during the independent tasks to aid their written sentence structure. This strategy worked very well for my EAL and catered for many different learning styles. 


All my planning and resources can be found at:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/boltoncharlie

*** Please 'like' and 'share' my blog on all social media ***

Enjoy!

Global Teacher

TES Sale!!!!

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/boltoncharlie

Maths, differentiation and active participation...

Friday 19th February 2016

Maths, differentiation and active participation are three of my main interests within the classroom. I am a strong believer in all children being challenged, yet actively engaged throughout the whole lesson and I have developed a variety of strategies to ensure that this happens each and every day. In my update this morning, I will be sharing two key strategies that can work in any classroom regardless of the subject or age of the children. I use both strategies daily and they also promote concentration and help with classroom management.

Lolly Sticks:

I am sure some of you may be aware of this simple, yet effective strategy to ensure mass active participation. In a cup near the front of the classroom I have 16 lolly sticks with a child's name on each one. The teacher is to ask a question and allow 3-8 seconds for the children to think about the answer before the teacher chooses a lolly stick and then that child shares the answer. This is great for random selection, but it is vital that all the children have time to think about the answer, as that is the 'active' part of this strategy. I also use differentiated lolly sticks that are different colours. E.g. I choose a blue lolly stick for a more difficult question during Maths, as my higher ability students will have their name on a blue lolly stick. I have three pots of lolly sticks that I use regularly. One for general questioning, one for Maths and one for topic based learning.

Random Questioning:

This is a fun, interactive game that promotes active participation and can be easily differentiated. It would be great for an observation! On each slide a question appears on the screen and all the children have to think about the answer. After 6-8 seconds a name flashes across the screen and that child should shout out the answer. The children love this game and you should all give it a go! Tip - Repeat a child's name, so that they never know when their name will appear. It will be one of the best Maths warm ups you will ever do!

I have used this mainly for Maths, although it could be easily adapted to suit any subject. The answer from the previous question is displayed at the top of the next slide. 

This resource takes around 20 minutes to make and can be edited to use again and again....

All my planning and resources can be found at:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/boltoncharlie

*** Please 'like' and 'share' my blog on all social media ***

Enjoy!

Global Teacher

How to visit a mountain without visiting a mountain...

Sunday 13th February 2016

Another school week has passed and we are already thinking about next week and beyond. Over the previous six weeks my class and year group has been learning about Mountains and Volcanoes as the location of the school doesn't allow us to visit a mountain locally. As I have previously shared, I continually create opportunities to take learning out of the classroom environment and this unit was no exception. The topic began with our 'wow' factor where we created our own volcanic eruption. 

What you need:

• Orange or red clay/play dough.
• 1 tablespoon liquid dishwashing soap.
• 
  3 drops red food colouring.
• 
  1 cup vinegar.
• 
  1 1⁄2 cups warm water.
• 
  2 tablespoons baking soda.

Directions:

1. You will also need 1 empty 25oz. plastic bottle.
2. Build a mound of dirt up around the bottle, keeping the top open.
3. Combine the soap and food colouring in the bottle.
4. Add vinegar and pour in water almost to the top.
5. Here's the amazing part! In a large spoon blend the baking soda with a little tap water to moisten it and then quickly pour into the bottle.
6. The contents will erupt out of the bottle just like a volcano.

The unit continued with a range of other activities. The children learned about the different mountain ranges across the world, as well as learning about the different types of mountains. E.g. Folded, Dome and Volcanic mountains. The children created their own questions and researched the answers using an iPad. The children were also lucky enough to interview Alan Arnette who has climbed Mount Everest three times and has climbed the highest peak on all seven continents. His website is: alanarnette.com

 I wanted the children to understand the feeling of walking up a mountain. Each child was given one straw and their school bag with extra books added to it. The children put the straw in their mouth and the bag on their backs. We then turned the Air-Conditioning down to as cold as it would possibly go. Once the room was cold enough we set off on our journey. The school is three floors high and the children had to walk up and down the stairs three times breathing only through the straw. There is 66% less oxygen at the summit of Mount Everest and this activity gave the children an insight into what that might feel like.
It was a great end to a wonderful unit!

All my planning and resources for this unit can be found at:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/boltoncharlie

*** Please 'like' and 'share' my blog on all social media ***

Enjoy!

Global Teacher

Maths outside the classroom!

Monday 8th February 2016

What a week and what an activity! 

This week the children learned all about direction, angles and perimeter. The week was divided into practical hands on maths and independent activities in the classroom. 
The first lesson of the week was for the children to learn about direction and to be able to use the term clockwise and anti-clockwise. Rather than complete this task using paper and a pen, I decided to take the whole class to the Sports Hall to play a game called 'Minefield'. Small pieces of gold (tennis balls) are to be placed in the centre of the hall. Around the edge of the Sports Hall there should be a large circle of small cones, which are to be used as a starting point for the game. Between the cones and the gold the teacher should place any objects, sport equipment that they can get their hands on. This space needs to be as full as possible. Children are then placed in pairs with one blindfold between them. Child A wears the blindfold and Child B has to guide their partner to the gold without touching any of the mines. If a mine is touched they swap over and start again. The children must guide each other using the appropriate vocabulary. E.g. Two steps forwards, one quarter turn clockwise etc. The children absolutely loved the game and wanted to play for longer...

Later in the week we learned about right angles and rather than just learn about right angles in a book, we once again took our learning around the rest of the school. Children were placed in partners and were given an iPad. The children had to move around the school and find right angles on everyday objects and if they found one they should take a picture. They then choose their favourite images and completed a table. On return to the classroom, the children linked their Ipad to the Apple TV and the rest of the class could compare what they had found. 

One of the final lessons of the week was to learn about perimeter. This was yet another lesson which we took out of the classroom setting. The children used trundle wheel, metre sticks and tape measures to find the perimeter of many areas of the school. This included the canteen, playground, library and even the Headteacher's office! 



The whole week was a tremendous success and once again it demonstrates how easily lessons can be adapted and taught using a real life contexts. My EAL, SEN and lower ability children made a huge amount of progress this week. I will continue to develop new strategies and ideas each week. Keep reading my blog for new suggestions, tips and resources. 

All of my resources can be found on the TES teacher resources website:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/boltoncharlie

*** Please 'like' and 'share' my blog on all social media ***

Enjoy!