Monday, 22 April 2013

Frequency Word Intervention

I work with a small group during Guided Reading on frequency words. At the moment I'm getting back into it all as we have been having a break from it and concentrating on reading. But now I am starting it back up and been looking at resources that are tailored to my needs. I had a look on pinterest for some ideas by simply searching 'frequency words' and as I filtered through everything I came across a really good format.

I have tried to attach my resources on here but I'm not having much luck! If I get the hang of it perhaps I can post them at a later date!

These are my plans of how to set up each session:

Each pupil will be provided with a weekly words sheet at the beginning of the week and we will focus on six words. These will be written in and the sentence section will be filled in at the end of the week. Then I will provide a star word sheet each day (one day will consist of 2 words) and these are pretty straight forward.

I'm pretty happy with this format but still think I am missing input that I could provide but one thing at a time! :)




Friday, 19 April 2013

Pet Peeves

TGIF! A week back after Easter break and everything feels all new again. The early starts are killing me! But hey ho the first week is done! :) Now to blog about my pet peeves within primary school! Here we go...

My issue with fonts

I HATE with a passion the font type Comic Sans! Why is it that this is all the schools in the UK seem to use?! It is so fustrating! Yes I did spend most of my time in education writing my essays/reports/assignments with this font however I made the switch over to Arial because even I got bored of it! Its just so blahh! Not kid friendly at all! When I see worksheets with boring font it makes me so mad, (I know I have issues) but its just so easy to download and install 'kid' friendly fonts! Even the most simple/boring worksheets seem so interesting with a nice font. Some of the ones I have installed (but hardly get to use) are:

Smiley Monster

Rowdy Thin

Appleberry

I *think* I downloaded all these from Kevin and Amanda so credit where it is due! I don't always have time to search through the fonts so I have a look at the blogs I visit and what they use in their resources. Usually there is a page that has all this information on which allows me to track it down easily! So please for the sake of something new if nothing else CHANGE YOUR FONT!

Classroom Decor 

There is nothing more depressing to me than going into a classroom that has such bland decorations/displays/posters etc. I love seeing how different teachers have set up their classrooms and get so many ideas of what I would/wouldn't do in the future. I have so many ideas already and there are so many good (and free sometimes!) decorations available on the web. My favourite resource to scout for these types of things is Teachers Pay Teachers. Such a good website and there is always something you are looking for! Classrooms need to be attractive not only for the students but also teachers and co as this is why we will be spending most of the day. So make it interesting and change it up every now and again!

Lesson Plans

There is sooo many lesson plans out on the web so why are some of the lessons I've been in seem so dull! Yes I know sometimes lessons are planned last minute due to circumstances but sometimes even the most well planned lessons seem a bit dull! I love viewing different teaching styles and while I definitely don't know a lot about creating the best lessons I have been able to observe what works well and not so well! I hope I have the energy to continuously keep it creative in the classroom!

That's all my blabbing for today! I am working on some behaviour management resources for one of the pupils I work with to be used starting on Monday. If they turn out half decent hopefully I will blog and post them! Have a good weekend everyone :)


Thursday, 18 April 2013

First blog post!

Hello...

So I thought it might be therapeutic to start a blog about all the adventures I have in Primary school where I work!

Currently I work as a Teaching Assistant hoping to go on to do a PGCE this September *fingers crossed*!

Although I do not teach at the moment (I work mainly one on one during class with pupils who require additional support) I am always on on the hunt for good resources, ideas, advice for the teaching world! I LOVE looking at how people have decorated classrooms...so many good ideas!

My top three sites that I try to check whenever I have time are the following:

The First Grade Parade

The Inspired Apple

Step into 2nd Grade

I love how these ladies inspire and provide so many ideas! Whenever I feel I've had a bad day, work related, these websites allow me to destress! So thank you very much for all your blogging!

I will try to blog my ideas, questions (I have many) and plenty of other random teaching babble! So stay tuned! :)