Week+6+The+frost

We began the day viewing photos taken when we had a visit from Sally from Water Care. The children talked through the event sharing their experiences as a class. We then discussed the oral planner and they went off to video each other. Some of the class – just really enjoy videoing each other – their enjoyment is evident in their faces.
 * == Week 6 Term 2 The frost == ||
 * __**Tuesday**__

Our shared book this week is the Rainbow fish – a link to last weeks shared book about goldfish. The children were quick to point out passing of time words and adjectives used by the author.

Our shared poem – Water is for….. lead to a discussion about mud pies. Hmmm very few of these children have ever experienced making mud pies – something many of us took for granted as we grew up - the texture, the decorating, - such fond memories. I wonder what this generation will hold dear from their childhood experiences.

After lunch each day we view the blog and see what is new, view comments and generally talk about stories we have enjoyed listening to and why. Today we viewed the comment Ora had made on Grace’s story and discussed how through commenting Grace could answer Ora’s queries. Grace told me what she wanted to comment and I typed for her. We are hoping Ora will look at it from home as she is off with chicken pox. ||

|| A sick day today.
 * __**Wednesday**__

Time to think about the inquiry – what is working well, what needs to re refined and what I need to change. Time to reflect on our classroom programmes is an important part of teaching.

One of the children who is a reflective learner is away with the chicken pox. I miss her greatly as I have come to realise the important role she is playing within the classroom. Her questions, ideas, queries result in healthy classroom discussions. She clearly is a role model for the others as she reflects on her work and others. ||  || I arrived at school to a wonderful sight – a sea of white as frost covered the field directly outside our classroom (which for us in Auckland is something we rarely see ). As the children arrived, bubbling with excited I placed the class camera in their hands and told them to go and capture an image of the frost. I always admire the buddy young photographers work - they capture such interesting images.
 * __**Thursday**__

I took the class out and we walked on the frost, pulled out blades of grass and examined the frost. The squeals of delight, the freezing bare feet, the mounds of dried grass carried back into the classroom all part of the experience. The fun we had. We came inside and the vocabulary to describe what they saw and felt flowed. From that we wrote cinquains. The images they took will be used to make booklets to place on the blog.

The information reports I’d planned to write today will just have to wait until next week. After all its all about making the most of the teachable moment. ||

|| The children asked me this morning if we were going to write personal recounts. I simply answered "No" In hindsight I wished I had asked more questions and listened to my learners. Thinking about it later I wonder if they had experiences they wanted to record and I had missed the opportunity to have these recorded.
 * __**Friday**__

The children are highly motivated to record their work and more and more I am setting the camera up in 14A the withdrawal space next door, making sure they are o.k. and leaving it to them to record their buddy. It will be interesting to view their work and view the quality of it.

I have asked for two more headphones for my classroom. I would like the children to make use of the classroom computers to listen to their own work, reflect on it and add a comment to the blog. To do this effectively we need more headphones so they don't disturb each other. ||  || • Being flexible with our planning and seizing the teachable moment is important. • Reflective learners are important role models in our classrooms • Using the class camera is motivating the students as well as training them to view the subject in interesting ways. ||
 * As the week draws to a close – I ponder and acknowledge the following