Well I'm super excited about 2018. I have huge plans for how to improve my teaching practise in my classroom by incorporating a lot more play-based learning into my day. I have read a really fantastic article from a NZ teacher about her play-based learning journey and it really confirmed for me what I want to do. Link to Reading
Here are some of the key things I have taken out of it/want to do.
Starting the day with phonics/phonological awareness etc.
Not starting formal reading/writing with those that aren't ready - practise nursery rhymes/poems/create and "read" shared stories etc instead.
Reading with students individually (maybe in pairs if that suits them?) and it doesn't have to be every day.
Taking lots of pictures - reflecting and talking about what they learnt. May also write about what they did.
Explicitly teaching social/emotional literacy - AROHA/Key Compentencies
Having a literacy time where they can choose from some chooses (like daily 5)
Playing alongside the students to feed in language - language being the key to learning success
Children are supposed to learn through play
During reflection have the students identify interesting descriptive or detail words to keep on a word wall - could style/illustrate/include photos with these words to help with meaning
Letting go of writing a bit - allowing independent writing to be independent without corrections.
Have "clinics" for working on writing skills
Continue individual goals in all areas
Other things that were interesting that I'd like to look into further.
Having maths as a huge roleplay game where they learn skills to defeat the villains (like Number Jacks). I think to start with I might try to do something like this once a week with the rest of the week focusing on number knowledge etc.
Other things I want to do
I want to get back into using Evernote to take more anecdotal notes and pictures about students progress.
Green screen space for creating movies/role plays etc - maybe in middle to share with other teacher?
