The Gruffalo

Being on my first placement as a trainee teacher has meant that occassionally my lessons are timed incorrectly, either leaving me with lots or no time to spare. On those days with lots of time to spare I have found that the IWB can again come in very useful in having a bit of fun at the end of the lesson whilst waiting for assembly, playtime or whatever was planned next.

One website which I think I loved as much as the children was http://www.gruffalo.com/chorus/index.html. This brought a bit of music into the lesson and was great for keeping the children quiet and happy whilst waiting for playtime. The website has all the characters from The Gruffalo book singing the Gruffalo song. They can be turned on and off by clicking on them so it meant that the children could choose which character would sing/be turned off. It tied in brilliantly with the lesson, meaning we could talk about all the characters while we listened to the song. I have recommended this website to other teachers and trainees I know and shall post it on the Wiki so hopefully others will be able to have as much fun as we did with it!

Teaching in a computer suite

Having the extra help of a TA with the class has meant it is possible to split the class in half and have two ICT sessions in the computer suite. This means that each child can have a computer to themselves, giving them more opportunity to practice. This week I took each group for a 30 minute session into the suite. It is well laid out with the computers around the outside of the room and an IWB in the centre. This meant I was able to show all the children at the same time how to access the computer programme they were going to be working on and how to play the typing games that were planned for the lesson. We all logged on and got into the programme together before trying out the games. This prevented the need to go round to each child to make sure they knew what they were doing and enabled me to dedicate my time to those children with particular needs.

I feel that if schools are going to have computer suites then this is a good way to lay them out so that there is a big screen for all the children to easily see while the teacher is modelling the activities and the teacher can see what all the children are accessing at all times making behaviour management a lot easier.

My first week of SBT1

Since starting at the school I have heavily relied on the internet for resources and ideas for lessons I have done. The main website I have used is the primary resources one and I have also used the links on the Jotspot learning resources Wiki, which I have found very useful.

One problem I have found with the classroom I am working in is that the interactive whiteboard is placed on the wall too high and set back behind desks. Unfortunately, that means it cannot be very interactive. However, it is still a very useful visual resource that I can show the children different websites and documents on. Therefore, I have still tried to incorporate it within some of my lessons but I have have kept the control of the computer to myself due to behaviour management and safety reasons. Next week I will try to make sure there is a clear area around the computer so that the children can be in control of the mouse when playing interactive games, making it more interseting and fun for them!