Filling the Bucket

In response to the Management Teams commitment to filling our bucket and it's extension to all staff I have decided as a part of our Hauora to do this with my students.

Hauora - Student Voice

My class blew me away today! We had been talking about Hauora and the four aspects of Hauora for a week or so, so I asked the children to tell me the different ways James Street School meets their Hauora needs. I recorded their ideas on strips of paper and then they put them under the appropriate health aspect. OMG! talk about filling someone's bucket they came up with so many ideas. It was really fulfilling to see that they really do get what we are trying to do for them. We are not just here to teach them how to read. I was so impressed I asked Norah to come and see what they had done and I have typed it all up and am displaying it in my windows for ERO to see.

YAY ALL TAKE 2!!!!!!

Sooooooooooooooooooooooo pleased we are doing ALL again. I really enjoyed ALL last year and developed a lot of new skills for teaching writing. I have no doubt I am a much better teacher of writing for having gone through the programme. So I am super excited to be doing it again this year. I have maintained full and updated Learner profiles for my At Risk students this year so they are all ready and I know exactly who I'm going to work with.
Yay ALL here we come!

Hmmmm, different kids this time, different challenges. The video taping and observations (although always slightly awkward) are really helpful for that reflection. Ana has been a great sounding board as I knew something wasn't going as well this time but couldn't quite articulate what it was. After talking it through with Ana I am now back on track and meeting my ALL writers needs.

Awhi 4 Autism

I had a new student start this term. He has Asperger's Syndrome and has a tendency to react aggressively if he thinks someone is laughing at him or bullying him. My other Asperger's student has been interesting to watch interact with my new boy and I have tried to allow them to get to know each other. Unfortunately my first student, who has come a long way regarding being a part of the class and following routines, is now showing signs of her old behaviours. Today a colleague and I attended a brief afterschool course on Autism. It could not have been more perfectly timed as I have worked with a severally aggressive Asperger's student at a previous school, quite successfully, and was reminded of all the things I knew then about how best to meet my new boys needs. It was refreshing reminder that I can do it and manage the rest of my class.

Matariki Day, Maori Langauage Week and Star Jam

Busy, Busy, Busy. My kids loved creating resources to take home to support teaching their family Te Reo for Maori Language Week. They feedback that they enjoyed using the sandwich methodology and differentiation activities with their whanau as they felt like the teacher.
Matariki day was a great success, as always. The rotation went well and the children's recount writing of the day were all very positive. Jump Jam for Star Jam was a blast, I think we should do Jump Jam as a whole school every Friday morning.

PB4L (GGL)

Having just attended the latest PB4L cluster meeting I am reminded how far we are down the PB4L pathway. We have truly integrated throughout our whole school. Our school wide discipline plan is run directly off our PB4L behaviour plan. There is no discrepancies between classrooms or syndicates regarding the behaviour management procedures and the kids are responding well to this. My colleagues have feedback positively regarding the hand-outs I create each term break to re-direct, remind them of the up coming terms expectations.

Reciprocal Teaching Reflection

The children still use the language of the tokotoko during reading and are still able to run their own session. They really enjoyed the whole process, as did I. The thumbs up has naturally translated across the subjects. Unfortunately I did not take any photos during the process as it was always just go, go, go! Wish I had. The programme was great but not as easy to replicate without the extra support of the two extra adults in the room. We are learning to infer and re-organise with my L2 early readers and above as the pre and post probes showed they are not great at either of these skills. Due to this I am only actually running the RT system with my turquoise and gold readers.