This is the end...

 It is hard to believe that this is the end if my time here at Pt England School. Today marks my last day teaching here after almost 8 years. I feel so blessed to have been part of this amazing theme of people and to have had the chance to meet some incredible children. What an adventure!

Thank you to all the special people who have helped meto get to this next step in my journey. Special thank you to Anne, Fiona, Dorothy and Russell for bringing me into this MDTA program and showing me all I am capable of. Thank you Fiona for this lovely parting image.

Thank you everyone from Pt England School, Manaiakalani and Beyond you are an inspiration and I am so lcuky to have met you.

Teacher Only Day: Reading Sharing

After a morning of looking closely at data we got to share what we are doing in our class. My group we fantastic and we had loads of great ideas shared. To summarise the main learning: -Connecting with the interest of kids Elena talked about making memes with the kids. -Using multiple texts and provocations. -Vocabulary focuses and finding words that mean the same. -The link between reading and writing. -Engage children with the joy of reading and reading for there own interests. I really liked the opportunity to get ideas and activities.

Where are you at?

 For every inquiry it is important to know where the children are at and how the children are working. 

As part we gathered data in term 2 to understand not only where children are working in terms of number knowledge but also how they can apply this in strand. 

It again confirmed that for my learners at year 4 there is a wide spread of knowledge and gaps that has a huge impact on children. On way in which we did this was by using e-asstle tests to provide a picture of where children were at. I read the questions when needed so that did not impact the test results. 

What we think Children...

As part of my Inquiry I worked with Hannah and Danni to create surveys for the learners,  Leadership team and children about maths at our school. 

By far the most interesting and influential of the surveys was reading what the kids had to say about their maths. 

What I found interesting was the level of recognition they had about their strengths and needs. Many identified the need for more times table knowledge and the attitudes of learner in maths were very different from the completely positive view the children had when we did a reading survey earlier in the term. 

I appreciated the honesty that come through when the children wrote about what they wanted their teacher to know. 

Below are the results from the Child Survey found here. 

What we think teachers...

As part of my Inquiry I worked with Hannah and Danni to create surveys for the learners,  Leadership team and children about maths at our school. 

It has been interesting to see what the teachers think are the key areas of need and to read descriptions of what is happening in each year level. 

What I found most interesting was that well teachers felt they were teaching basic facts with a whole class approach through song, movement, Xtramath, Mathwhizz. It was also an area in which they felt there was a big need for children that wasn't being addressed. 

They also mentioned the different between strand and number knowledge teaching and the pressure this creates for doing everything well which was similarly mentioned in the SMT survey. 

What I liked and appreciated about this was the clear links to what the children thought about their maths (although these were only year 4 learners) and what the teachers noticed as needs.  

Below are the results from the Teachers Survey found here. 

Teacher Only Day: Animate a Poem

To finish off a very informative day we had create workshops. In this time we shared ways in which we create with our student in Literacy and in responding to or engaging with texts. 

What I really enjoy about this time is have a chance to share practical examples of what we are actually doing in our classrooms. I love poems and it was great to share that with others. 

Causal Chain, So what?

 This year I have been looking at what I can do to support learners in maths when they have a varying degree of knowledge, skill and understanding. 

How do I make this fun and what do I need to do as a teacher to know the issue, where to and what next? 

This is what I have come up with so far.