This term I have trialled setting up a google site that the children could use as a way to look into what we are doing that week and have time to feel prepared and have a look, as well as be able to follow what we are doing each day without having to constantly ask what to do next. The link to this site is  here. Here is a screenshot of what the site looks like

We have been lucky enough to get a specialist art teacher to come in and work alongside me and with the children to teach them different art styles.  They have been learning about sketching, transferring, using pastels, painting, and different shading styles. What a great opportunity for the children. And a fun learning experience for me. From Nicola Habbitts after working with our Year 7-8 pupils ‘’Thank you for all your hard work, year 7 & 8, you have been amazing students, diligent and hard working. I have been really impressed with your innovation and creativity. You should be very proud of your final piece, it really is outstanding and is a great show of the partnership throughout the class.” Mrs Habbitts Also as part of this art experience, we organised a trip for the children to go to Christchurch to visit the art gallery and museum. The children loved this opportunity and had a fantastic day!

A few weeks ago the teachers from the Kahui Ako Maths Workstream went to Mayfield School to observe the way that they do maths across the school. At Mayfield School, they  plan collaboratively across the school using the   Upside Down Teaching approach.  Strands are not taught in isolation.  They entwined with problem-solving.   Problem-solving is about open-ended questions - questions that have lots of possibilities for answers   In the  Upside Down Teaching approach , the children work in mixed ability groups to do problem-solving. T he pedagogy around the upside-down teaching approach is that it is a  shift from  'I – we – you'    To    'You – we – I'   Which will create a shift to the children teaching each other and working collaboratively to work through problems.   What I Observed Planning: The teachers plan collaboratively across the school. Once a week they get togeth...

I felt extremely nervous coming into the start of the week. Even though I had already met/ knew all of the children from teaching them in the past, it was still all very new coming into the week. Although nervous, I was also feeling excited to be coming into a new collaborative teaching environment and getting to work alongside other fantastic teachers that I knew would be there to support and guide me through my first week back. I also felt good relaxing back into it, and everything not being so new this time around - I have 2 years teaching under my belt and feel a lot more comfortable and authoritative in the classroom. Overall I feel that the children not only in my homeroom but also in the other two classes, are settling into the term well and showing good signs of warming up and being accepting to me as their teacher and I am looking forward to starting formal rotations and learning next w eek. I also feel that our new team is working really well so far.