Outdoor Environment

 

I tried a new thing during this teaching practice which is using the outdoor environment. They have an access from the classroom to back outdoor area where cooperative activities and big projects can done there. The children were very excited about using the outdoor environment and when I took them out for the first time. They were running and playing and it was hard to explain and talk to them. However, after I explain to them that some children will be inside doing other activities and they will have turns to do outdoor activities they started to understand and it was easier to manage inside and outside activities.

 

 

One of the activities i did in the outdoor area was a bus painting activitie. I divided the children into two groups and each group painted a bus.

 

 

 



a child is writting letter u of the word bus



 



the children decided to add their pictures



 

Measurement chart

The children had a lot of fun doing a height measurement chart. The children chose yarn and flower colours and I divided them in pairs so each two children measure each other’s height using yarn and they put it on the wall. I think the activity helped the children to cooperate and talk, they were really interested to see each others height and they were motivated to compare them. I did the activity in two days and the second day I asked the children who did the activity to explain it for other children to reinforce their knowledge and to scaffold each other learning. I tried to step back as much as i could and let them work independently.

You can do this activity for the _mass length and height outcome- it’s really fun =)

here are some pictures

The children brought flash lights from the classroom to investigate others height!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Footprint

I did an activity for letter F. I asked the children to write the letter f on their papers then I let them print their foot on the paper and help each other to print their foot. I gave the children the instructions and I told them that they have to wait for their turn. They were so excited to take their shoes off and do the activity outside.

 

 

children are writting letter F

 

 

I was concerned about the management of the activity because they are not used to such activities and they don’t usually use the outside area. However, the children were really good during the activity. They were waiting for their turn and when some children finished they asked me to help other children. So I tried to step back and let them do the activity independently. I think the activity worked well because the children were really motivated to do it.

 

 

 

 

 
After we finished the children clean up and I choose some children to help me to display their work.

 

 

 

 

 

a child !

I have a boy named Saif in my classroom. He is one of the most missed behavior children in my class. After I did the behavior chart it affected most the children but Saif was not really affective by the chart. It may affect him later if I stay consistent but I really want to try something different with this child. He always refuse to sit on the circle with any teacher, he hit other children and during the small tables activates some times he refuse to do them and choose to go to the computer.

The boy is very smart  and his English also is developed but he is in the low group because of his behavior. I start thinking of his life and the impact of that on his behavior.. His parents are divorced and he live with his older sister who is in grade five and she took care of him he have also two younger brothers. They live with their father and a maid . as I knew from my teacher his father is not always at the house and when the school call the father to come to the school he never showed.

I observed him in the last two days and I noticed the teachers are surrounding him with negative feedback all the time because they are tired off his behavior but that broke my heart and I think this is the place where the teachers should make him feel safe, secure and build his self esteem. I tried to use positive reinforcement by giving him positive feedback whenever he do any good thing ,I also I tried to build a stronger relationship with him by talking with him before the assembly.

 

help me =( any suggestions?

behavior management strategy

 There are no clear rules in the classroom and no specific behavior management techniques that children are familiar with or I can follow during my teaching practice . There are many problems arise from this such as, the  children don’t stop what they doing when the teacher ask them to sit on the carpet, they talk and don’t listen during circle time, some children hit others and sometimes they refuse to do what the teacher asks them to do.

I started a behaviour management technique using children photos. If the children did what the teacher asked them, clean up etc.. they move up until they reach the cloud and then they get a reward. On the other hand if they miss behave they move down. The behaviour chart that I used worked really well with some children but the ones that I was concern about their behaviour it did not affected them a lot.

I tried to be consistent with it but I felt that something is missing but after our discussion about behaviour management on Thursday I figured out that I needed to add a consequences beside the rewards. The children need to understand that there are consequences on their bad behaviour. therefore, I decided to add another column at the bottom of the chart which will be area where the child will miss about 2-4 minutes from play time

I talked with my mentor as well the Arabic teacher about the management system that I am going to use and  they agreed to use it so all of us will be using the same behaviour management technique which I think will make more sense for children and reduce confusion.

We decided to focus on positive behaviour and use prising wards, certificates and gifts as rewards.

Here you can find some certificates =)

http://www.mrprintables.com/printable-certificates-for-kids-good-behavior.html

http://www.rewardcharts4kids.com/good-behavior-printable-certificates/

 

Incident of my first week

During the previous week, the school went through many changes. One of the changes was a different grouping style in all the classroom. Before the change the children were in 5 groups, two groups sit with the teachers while the other groups play freely in the corners. Now, they divided the children into three groups and each group have to sit on a table doing specific activities and swap to other tables. An Arabic table , an English literacy table  and the third table for craft or any activities. So the children have to sit during the circle time for about 15 minutes and then move to the 3 table and sit in each group for 15 minutes!!

The first two days of doing this method I felt that it could make the classroom more arranged and quiet but it was the opposite. The children were trying hard to sit in each table and do the activity but after they finish they start to be so active because they sit for too long.  

This incident took a place because it affects my teaching style negatively. I taught the first week using the same way the school asked the teacher to do. Using flash cards, white board and other stuff during the literacy group. I felt that I was not enjoying the lessons that I was teaching. Moreover, what is the most important thing the children were not having fun. Forcing children to move from one table to another without having any choice or free play made the children restless and a lot of miss behavior appeared. This incident create a negative climate in the school because not all the teachers agreed on this change which may affect their teaching as well.

 

As a trainee teacher I should have asked the teachers to teach the way that I believe and explained for them my point of view. If they did not except other ways of teaching, I should also try to integrate my teaching style and what I believe with any system.

From this I learned that the teacher should not do what she think it’s not beneficial for the students. I should do the lessons the way that I believe will enable children to learn and have fun and not give up on what I believe because a change in the grouping system.

 

Others perspective of the incident

Dr Neil observed my lesson and he said that my teaching moved backward and the grouping strategy affected my teaching and the children’s learning. He added that we should do the lessons the way we believe in. My mentor also did not like the new grouping activity but she said that we can’t change the way of teaching unless they let us change, I told her that I want to use more art and craft for numeracy and she said that she will support me on that. my colleague Reem had the same point of view but the  Arabic head teacher when she knew about that we want to change she said : no way to change the grouping method!

 

Look how the children feel about this!!!

 

 

I’m joking these pictures are from previews feelings lesson =p