Whanau conferences

I really enjoy having a specific time to sit down and talk to parents. I know these students very well by now and for some families this is the first time I have met them! Some parents I see regularly but this is during the busy school hours. Before and after school I have times for brief chats however this is rarely uninterrupted. I really appreciate families coming to these conferences to discuss their child's learning and the children are always happy and excited to show their whanau around our classroom and show them the work we do. I would like to think of more ways to have families involved in the classroom because I think that would be beneficial for all involved. I will look into ideas such as; Parent reading before school, expert afternoons (having parents come and teach something, language, music etc).

What is the best use of in class support?

This year I have a student who did not hear until she was 3 years old and therefore is still learning to communicate. I meet with her SLT to create specific goals and discuss her learning. This time is so beneficial for me because I have some time to sit with and specifically reflect on this specific student. This student receives some support with a Teacher aide either an hour or half hour a day. Recently I have been thinking about the best use of this time. Some days the student and TA work in class and other days they work in a separate room. I was thinking about whether it would be more beneficial for me to spend that time working 1:1 with this student. Throughout the rest of the day majority of the work is very hard for her and even though her activity is differentiated I still feel she doesn't have the time to work at her own pace or level. Next week I might alternate days where I work with the one student and the TA works with the class. I feel that because I only have 10 students in my class this might be possible and I believe that this will really accelerate this students learning and confidence in the class.

Writing structure

Last week I started a new writing structure. In the past I have written a range of genres with the students each week E.G. recount, descriptive. The focus would be on finding words around the class to use in their story. Last week we focused on 1 sentence structure (I am). We read a big book that used the structure and wrote that same sentence structure every day. On Thursday I let the students come up with their own sentence. This worked wonderfully. The students were offering up sentences each day and even expanding on them. The students were confident with the sentence structure and all but one of my students wrote their own sentence on Thursday morning.  The student who didn't has special learning needs and was able to orally say a correct simple sentence, which is great for her!
We have begun our new sentence structure this week which is building on from what they already know, the word I. This week we are writing I can sentences.