Last year a student in my class arrived in with a copy of 'Danger is Everywhere'. He loved to read and would often tell me about the books he was reading at home. This time he gave me his copy of the book and told me that I had to read it as I 'would LOVE it!'. Immediately I knew that it would suit the class, especially the boys that found novels a bit daunting. The book has a great balance of pictures, by Chris Judge, and words, by David O' Doherty. We went online and found an interview on Puffin Virtually live. It was a great way to introduce the book to the children. They were delighted when Chris Judge showed them how to draw Docter Noel! We spent a whole afternoon pausing and playing the clip so that the children could perfect their drawings of Docter Noel! That was it, we were hooked! Each day we read a page or two of the book. We linked it in with our literacy, art and drama lessons. Check out an extract from Danger is Everywhere here! In the extract you will see 'Instructions to check for page 9 scorpion'. This was what I had to do, with the permission from the owner of the book of course! The boys loved watching me make a fool of myself :) Reading the book and drawing illustrations wasn't enough and the children decided they wanted to use it as our focus for our drama lessons. So they took the lessons into their own hands and made up a drama based on another character in the book, the Postbox Octopus. The boys worked together to create costumes, make an octopus to be put on our local postbox and create their drama. I can only imagine that passers-by thought we were crazy, filming a mini drama at a post box! I have never seen the whole class as engaged and excited by the same book before. It appealed to every level of reader in the class and they loved the element of mischief in it. Oh and if you do read it to your class be aware that they will be convinced that you are a Vampire! :) Not happy with their attempts at saving the world from 'Page 9 Scorpions' and the 'Postbox Octopus' Chris and David have teamed up again to save us from many other dangers. they are launching their new book 'Danger is Still Everywhere' this Wednesday 23rd of September in Eason, O Connell Street. Make sure to check the tips about 'Avoiding Danger in Bookstores' before you go.
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Tomorrow, the 13th of September, is Roald Dahl's birthday. Although he passed away many years ago his legacy lives on. Each year I tell my student's a little bit about how Roald Dahl wrote his books. 'Fantastic Mr Dahl' written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Quentin Blake is a great resource to have.
This is a view of Roald Dahl's writing shed which can be seen in the Roald Dahl Museum. it was taken apart piece by piece, cleaned and reconstructed in the museum. It is unusual to see someone set up their writing area in an armchair using a sort of tray to write! He had some very interesting items in his shed, including a piece of his bone that had been shaved away during surgery.
Check out this interesting article about Roald Dahl's Writing Hut. I feel that the word 'Mindfulness' is being pushed at us from every angle. It can seem overwhelming and is another task on a long list. However I feel that I have a slight advantage in that my school has always promoted mindfulness. Over 150 boys meditating in a school hall on Friday mornings chanting positive affirmations is not an unusual sight. We have a fantastic teacher working in our school that has helped us to gain experience in teaching mindfulness. The main thing i would like to say is that it is not a lesson for the children alone, it is also of benefit to the teacher. We would often spend some time listening to a nice song or meditation. The students in my class last year really enjoyed listening to the band Sigur Ros during this quiet time. We also encourage the children to speak about their feelings. One of the first things i usually set up in my classroom is a 'Thought Box'. As a class we design a box which sits at the top of our classroom. and has some slips of paper and pencils beside it. As a class we decided that we didn't just want a box where your wrote any issues you have. instead we decided it could be any thoughts, about art ideas, projects, worries, feelings etc. This meant that if a child was putting something into the box the others wouldn't know if it was a worry or just a note saying 'I would love to do painting next week'. I found that this worked very well and some children wrote down that they felt that they needed to speak to me in private. Other children would write that they were having a 'bad day' and it would allow me to try to do something to cheer them up. Another nice aspect to our meditation lessons is a ladybird massager. A child is chosen and they walk around using the massager on the other children's backs. It allows children that find it difficult to switch off time to move around the room. I cannot explain how much the children love this. I leave the massagers in the class library and the children use them regularly. Today when i was in with a fellow teacher she shared a great lesson based on Mindfulness. She filled a jar with water and told the students that this represented their brain. She then asked them some questions such as 'How do you feel when you wake up?', 'How do you feel when i ask you to take out your maths book?'..... Each time the children named a feeling she added a sprinkle of glitter to the jar. She then swirled the glitter around and explained to the children that that is how many feelings you have in your brain. She then let the water rest and showed the children what happens when you just take a moment to rest. It is a fantastic way to show children the importance of taking some time for yourself. On this note it important for us all to take this time out! I know we can think 'Oh I could get some marking done here' or 'I could sort these files' but we need to stop and take some time out. Last year during DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time i decided i would also read. What better way to promote reading than to let your students see you getting enjoyment from it. The first few days of school are over and I have had some lovely display pictures sent in. Remember take it easy over the next few days and don't underestimate how tired you will be by the end of the week. I have put together a collection of some of the pictures that people have shared. I love to see other people ideas and how easy some can be to recreate. So keep sharing your pictures of displays, books or anything in your classroom that you are proud of or cannot live without! |
AuthorI have been teaching for several years and hope to share some of my ideas and experiences with you. Archives
March 2020
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