Leytia modelling writing

 Leytia came and modelled writing in my classroom on Wednesday.  She brought in a lift-the-flaps book about insects in the garden.  Before she read it she did a quick brainstorm to check prior knowledge.  She drew a flower and pointed to the stem.  "Who knows what this part of the plant is called?"  The children suggested "the stick?"  She asked them what lived in the garden.  She wrote the things that they supplied in the petals on the flower.  As she went through the story she added more information about the characters.  I liked the way she explicitly referred to their prior knowledge, introducing the children to this term.

The children had to write a description of one of the characters.  Leytia modelled this.

Takeaway: I liked the way Leytia used the brainstorm to check prior knowledge about the topic - I have usually been doing brainstorms after we have read a story to check understanding.  I liked the way she added to it as the story progressed.  This is something I would like to do in future.  

Pasifika Dual Language Texts seminar

I went to a talk held by Dr Rae Si'ilata at the Universtity of Auckland on Wednesday night - it was about 'translanguaging and storying with Pasifika dual language texts.'
Translanguaging, I learnt, is having input in one language and output in another.

Dr Si'ilata's main message was to value the languages children bring to school.  She said people used to believe that if children were strong in their first language then there was less space in their minds for learning English.  The understanding now though is that if children are strong in their first language this will support them to have a strong understanding of English, too.

She showed some practical examples of children using the Pasifika dual language texts.  At Holy Cross School the children were reading 'Let's Go' and making their own version of the book online with photos and audio files of them reading it in different languages.

She showed the blog of a colleague who was using Pasifika stories to engage her learners: http://kylahansell.blogspot.co.nz/

She mentioned that the audio files of some of the stories online had the words read too fast, so the school had used children's older siblings to record slower versions.

Takeaway: This seminar gave me some ideas about how to use the dual language texts in my class.  I will look into good apps for making an online book and use this with a simple bilingual text like 'Let's Go.'

Observation - writing in Year 1

Yesterday I observed Jas teaching writing in her Year 1 class.

First she went over the 'letters with long sticks' - d, f, h, k, l, t.  She had these on a handwritten chart.

She talked about what good writers do - saying that it's important to use finger spaces so our words are not mashed together like mashed potato.  I think this explanation would appeal to my class.

Then she set up the two groups who were going to be writing independently.  One had a box of sentences like "I like to shop." printed out big and with a photo.  That group had to write a story from the card and illustrate it.  The other group had a box with sentence starters like "My brother is nice to me because..." on one side and options like "he reads with me" or "he looks after me" on the back.  I thought these would be really effective for independent writing activities for my low group and that the everyday topics would appeal to them.

When the two independent groups were settled Jas sat down with the group she was writing with.  She had a picture of a pig glued into the modelling book.  They briefly discussed the pig, how it had four legs like a dog etc.  Then she said she'd like them to write "Look at my pig."  They counted the words in the sentence.  Jas had some big word magnets on the board and she got children to go and find the words on the board. She then got them to compare the words from the board with the words on the alphabet card. She got one child to be the 'spacer' - making the finger spaces in the modelling book.  When they got to the word 'pig' in the sentence, a word that wasn't on the alphabet card, Jas gave them different options for hearing the letter sounds.  "Is it 'i-apple' or 'i-insect?'  Is it 'g-goat' or 'g-orange?'"

Then she got them to read the completed sentence from the beginning and to record it in their books.

Takeaway: I would like to make some sentence starter cards for my low writing group as an independent writing activity when they are not writing with me.  I really liked the way that using the magnets got the children to physically go and find the words.  I would like to get a set of these to use with my class too.  

PTC 4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice i. identify professional learning goals in consultation with colleagues ii. participate responsively in professional learning opportunities within the learning community iii. initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills

Spelling lesson observation

I watched Shabnam teaching spelling with Leytia.

She was revising consonant blends and had written them on a chart like they were equations.

b+l=bl

c+l=cl

d+r=dr

s+t+r=str

s+c+r=scr

She defined blends as "2 or more consonants put together to make a new sound."

Shabnam then wrote up some letter combinations and asked the children "Is that a blend or not?"

The first one she put up was 'st.'
One child said it was and Shabnam restated "So you can hear the sound of the s and the sound of the t...is that what you're saying?"

She then put up "ch."  "Is that a blend?" she asked.  "Why or why not?"

Monisha said "You can't hear the c and the h."

She then put up "sh."  She got them to imagine putting the letters together.

She gave them "wh" and asked if the letters could be separated.  She gave Irma the word "whale" and asked if the w and the h could be separated in that word.  She then introduced the idea of digraphs.  "So if it's not a blend it's a digraph."
She shared the purpose of this new learning: "We are learning this so you'll be  able to use them in your writing.  Sometimes we have to sound things out but we can't.  So we just have to know them."

Observing Leytia modelling a writing lesson

Yesterday I observed Leytia teaching a writing lesson with my class.  Her focus was on vocabulary.

Leytia started with some quick formative assessment.  She asked "Where do sounds belong?"  "In a word" was the answer she was looking for.  "Where do words belong?" "In a sentence" the children replied.  

She wrote up a sentence "My hair is black."  "What's the noun?" she asked.  "What's the adjective?"

She got the children to describe their hair and eyes and supply her with some sentences.  She got them to identify the noun and adjective in each one and reinforced the idea that an adjective describes a noun, you can't have an adjective without a noun. 

Leytia then brought out a "feely box." The children had to reach in one by one to feel what was inside without looking in the box.  They then had to come up with words to describe what they felt.  She wrote them up classified into "Feel" and "Touch."

She then got the children to guess what the object was.  They guessed glue, slime and paint.  It turned out to be a small shoe covered in slime.  She asked what the noun was..."shoe!"  

She then gave the lowest group a writing frame, which she wrote in the modelling book.  This was "The slime felt_____ and ____.  She got them to write a new sentence with the same structure.  Prinze, for example, wrote "The slime felt cold and sticky."  

Takeaway:  I liked the way Leytia scaffolded the lowest group by giving them a frame to use and giving them the freedom to choose the adjectives they wanted.  This would work with lots of different topics.  I also liked the way she did  a quick formative assessment at the start of the lesson to check the children's understanding of a noun and an adjective.

PTC 4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice i. identify professional learning goals in consultation with colleagues ii. participate responsively in professional learning opportunities within the learning community iii. initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills