This term has been crazy. I have been away from school a lot and feel as though I'm not really in the game. My kids have had good consistent relievers which has been great but we've also had a couple of new students which are unsettling the class as a whole.
Two of my new students have been under Early Prevention Services support at their ECE Centre which has been really helpful. We have had productive meetings which support their transition to school and help me understand their strengths and challenges.
My biggest issue at the moment is getting the students settled and listening on the mat. One student in particular really struggles to sit quietly at all. Often humming or talking loudly over anyone else about his own interests regardless of the topic. He is making some progress but it is very difficult to keep the rest of the class on track and following class expectations about mat time behaviour.
I also have several students who are struggling to keep their hands and feet to themselves. They are constantly in someone else's space and annoying each other by touching, pushing, prodding etc.
I am trying to get back into using way more positives but it is difficult when I am feeling run down by having to use constant reminders. I think my mat times are becoming too long, because I am struggling to give instructions quickly due to interruptions.
As far as curriculum goes, we are doing OK with Reading, Writing and Maths. I am struggling a little bit more with fitting Inquiry, Te Reo, Science, Technology, Arts etc into my day.
I am trying to incorporate a bit of drama into our day through character play in relation to stories we have read etc. I think I may need to plan 1 day a week where I do purely Inquiry that also ties into the Arts, Sciences etc to ensure we are doing some of that more specifically.
I have handed writing over to Robyn to monitor for now. I am doing Modelled/Shared writing every day and the students are writing independently with roaming support from Robyn when she comes in. They get explicit letter-sound/spelling teaching.
I really want to get goals up and running within their writing and maths books.
In Maths, I am trying to get back on track with my Number Agents maths. So far I am teaching number knowledge games and doing a simple word problem each day as a group to help them understand how they can solve the problems. We have been working on using materials as models which the kids have actually grasped quite quickly.
