Monday, May 14, 2007

I'm hiding...

from my lesson plans! (I've got 2 to write for tomorrow, plus 4 to write evaluations for from Friday and today).

I've been on placement for a week now. It seems to be going well. I've got used to the class, learned their names, and mostly figured out what happens when. There are only 21 of them, which is nice, although a couple of them are quite capable of making it feel like a fair few more than that!
I've taught a few activities this past week, including teaching Year 1 (age 5-6) to subtract by counting back and to recognise & name 3-D shapes from pictures, plus teaching the whole class about symmetry and how to use the shift key and space bar when typing.

This past week or so, the theme has been Minibeasts... Creepy-crawlies or bugs to most people. Thus, we've been learning all about bees, snails, worms, beetles, ladybirds and goodness knows what else. Tomorrow, as a special treat, I'm going to be taking in my housemate's giant African land snails (~6-8 inches long!) to show them.
Last week, we went on a minibeast hunt in the playground and came back with 3 ladybirds, 6 snails, a dead bee, 3 slugs, 2 worms and 4,000 woodlice (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but they're slow and easy to catch!). The children were unable to catch the pigeon or the crow!

The week before (May 4th), I wrote 4 essays in a week (2 x 2,000 and 2 x 1,000) which in total amounted to 6,140 words. I was rather proud of myself for that, although it might have been a good idea to have started a little earlier. Never mind, it'll be a while before I have to write another one, if ever. Maybe if/when I do a Masters?

Anyway, my lesson plans are calling... Will post soon.