Global Glitter Tribe: October Linky

Did you hear?

I'm one of the admins on the amazing Global Glitter Tribe blog! 

What does that mean?

We are a group of 13 teachers from across the globe who are dedicated to making connections and strengthening our student's understanding of being global citizens. 

Every month a different member of the Glitterarti will produce a jam-packed post full of ideas for teaching global awareness- be it how we celebrate festivals from other cultures or how we address the issue of Fair Trade, you will find a host of ideas just waiting for you to read! 

Now… along with a monthly blog post there will also be a monthly link-up for everyone to take part in! It's simple- save that months linky template, add your answers, pop it into your blog post and link back to the Global Glitter Tribe blog! Easy-peasy! 

Look- even I managed it! 

Totally inspirational 

Are you trying to develop thinking skills amongst your children? Do you want them to be aware of which thinking skills are needed for a particular situation? Are you seeking to develop self-aware and independent learners? 

I LOVE, like more than chocolate love, using De Bono's Thinking Hats in my classroom. The 'Hats' each have a specific thinking skill attached to them and by using them you can focus a child to apply the type of thinking needed for a specific task.

 To find out more about Thinking Hats and how I use them with my 6 and 7 year olds, read this post. 

Responsiveness

I appreciate that sometimes 'Hands Up' is needed but in my classroom I try to foster a more relaxed and collaborative approach to questioning where children are given time to formulate answers, not always be right or original in their thinking and develop other's ideas. 

The PPPB approach works every time! 

http://cheneyagilitytoolkit.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/pose-pause-pounce-bounce.html 

Thanks go to Teacher Toolkit for bringing this notion to my attention and I will just provide a brief overview of it for you here-

Pose- a thought provoking question relevant to the topic at hand

Pause- provide thinking time (as much as you can!) and, if you feel it is necessary, partner talking time

Pounce- NO HANDS UP!!! 'Pounce' on a child for an answer

Bounce- continue 'pouncing' on children with the aim of them elaborating on the child before them's thinking

I never confirm a child's thinking- I always ask the next child 'Do you agree?'- it is so hard not to give away your opinion through facial gestures but it does work wonderfully as a method to develop collaboration and speaking and listening.

Igniting Passionate Readers

Reading is HUGE in our school! Not just the teaching of it but fostering a love for it too!

During the first half term of every school year our class becomes 'Camp Learn-a-lot'- the children bring in sleeping bags and torches and we have a 'campfire' in class. 

After children have learnt how to choose a good fit book the next step is getting them to enjoy reading them. 

Over the 2 weeks of 'Camp Learn-a-lot' the children snuggle in their sleeping bags around the 'campfire' or in pop-up tents and use their torches to read their books. 

The novelty aspect of this really captures the children's interest and even if they are simply looking at the pictures I don't care- they are enjoying a book!  

Bridging the Gap

If you read my 'BUILDing our confidence' post a few months ago then you will know that I have given my Numeracy lessons a bit of a shake-up. 

By taking on more of a 'guided' approach 2 days a week, my children have had the opportunity to have  up to an hour and 20 minutes of 'teacher face time' on top of the quality teaching they receive the other 3 days a week. 

LEGO men are available from Glitter Meets Glue

During the session we have a 10 minute introduction, two 20 minute rotations and a 5 minute plenary. 

Children will take part in 2 of the following centres a day- 

B- Buddy Games

U- Using Hands

I- Independent Learning

L- Linking Learning

D- Diving in Deeper

It has worked wonders for our Using & Applying skills and Problem Solving skills. BUILD allows me to really focus in on what each small group needs and provide activities which will address their needs whilst pushing them further yet with the support of an adult. The Buddy Games centre has truly inspired a love of Numeracy within my children AND provided lots of opportunities to practise those crucial basic skills.

With the new emphasis on 'Mastery' in the New National Curriculum- I can see how using BUILD will develop my more able children's 'Stage Security' too! 

Enjoying Your Time

I know this seems bizarre considering I live in the drizzly north of England BUT I have loved getting home from work, making a steaming hot cuppa and sitting in my garden. Up until our recent house move, I've not had a garden to sit in so this is something of a novelty for me! Plus, unless it is my playground duty, I very rarely venture outside during the day at this time of year so the opportunity to get some fresh air and reflect on the day is priceless! 

I'm sure as the weather turns then this will stop and I'll be curling up with my cuppa on the sofa but for now- this is bliss! 

Fancy linking up? 

Hop over to Global Glitter Tribe now and get your blog on! 

Stop, Swap & Roll Baby!

I am so EXCITED!!!!

Today I am linking up with the lovely Melissa over at Jungle Learners to tell you all about the fab product swap I have been a part of.

I was partnered with the super Ashley of Anchored in Learning fame. 

When I visited her store I was really confused because there was so much to chose from- 

click here and check it out for yourself!

I could easily have chosen loads of the general classroom resources she has on sale but I stopped myself and thought about what I would actually be teaching over the coming week.

So…as I was planning on looking closely at 2D shapes in my BUILD sessions this week I chose Ashley's 'Button Sorting Task Card Center' 

What you get

The title of the product claims it is a 'task card center' but I found it to be oh so much more! 

The pack is a comprehensive practical sorting activity which allows for open-ended discussions and gives the opportunity for an independent demonstration of understanding.

Lots of discussion about how to sort going on amongst my kiddies

The pack includes pictures of large button jars, pictures of buttons, criteria cards (including sorting by more than 1) and cutting and sticking sorting sheets.

I loved how easily the children could sort by a range of criteria using the same picture cards. Due to the fact the buttons were different shapes, colours and sizes and had different numbers of hole on them, this product could be used time and again to fit in with units on both shape and measure as well as straight forward sorting units. 

How I used it

Over the past few weeks I have restructured my normal Numeracy lessons to include B.U.I.L.D rotations on a Monday and Tuesday (read the hows and whys here).

To continue revisiting previous learning I have used the 'L' as 'Linking Learning' so children use our week's focus alongside a previous skill- this week we were investigating shape so our 'Linking Learning' activity asked them to use their sorting/ data handling skills also. 

The 'Button Task Card Center' was perfect for this!

Each group who visited the Center entered in to lengthy discussions over how they would
sort and what they would do with the items left out.
They then independently recored their sorting so I was able to reflect on their understanding later on.

Recording their sorting independently!

How you can get a copy

The super thing about the 'Stop, Swap and Roll' link up is that you don't just get to find out about a wonderful product but you also get the chance to win it! 

Follow the 'Rafflecopter' steps below to be in with a chance of winning your very own copy of Ashley's 'Button Sorting Task Card Center'

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What did I swap?

Anchored in Learning chose my 'Superhero Addition and Subtraction Games'

Head over to Anchored in Learning to find out what Ashely thought of my product and to 

enter her give-away.

Don't win? Don't worry- click here to visit my TpT store and snag it for 

50% off until Wednesday! 

Thanks for stopping by- click on the buttons below to visit lots of other lovely bloggers and enter their giveaways- stop, swap and roll baby!\

BUILDing our session

Well hello friends- sorry I've been missing all week but I've been exhausted!

If you read my post last Tuesday (click here) then you will know that I have shaken things up and introduced rotations to my Numeracy sessions. 

I have chosen to use the B.U.I.L.D. acronym to help manage the rotations and have been very impressed by the progress my children have made so far. 

So, as well as the increase in 'face time' I spoke about last week, my children have also benefited from the chance to revisit old skills and apply them in a new context and the opportunity to practise new concepts in fun ways during 'Buddy Games'. 

As this is quite a big change for my little friends I have found it important to lay down ground rules for each activity. I have been displaying them on the SMARTboard and reinforcing them just before the children go off to their first station. 

The main issue I thought we would have was children going off task as this was a problem 

when we first introduced a carousel of activities for Guided Reading.

Here are some of the rules I have chosen to include-  

So far the kiddies seem to be following the rules and I truly believe it is because the children are enjoying their learning and understand how these rules help.

To keep us all on track I have set up a rotation board using very cute figures from Glitter Meets Glue Designs to help both my team and children know who should be where-

All of my children are in a numbered group based on their general understanding and level however I have moved individual children around in sessions in response to their particular needs. 

 After about 20 minutes I call 'Wiggly Fingers' and we tidy up. Thanks to the board the children easily move onto their next activity and we are all set to go again in a matter of minutes- fab! 

As this is all new to me I've felt the need to keep planning in a similar way so to help keep track of the activities I have planned to use and of which children have visited which activity,  I have devised this simple but effective planning sheet. Once I've noted down how I will introduce the session and the activities for each area I simply highlight each letter with the corresponding colour for the group who will visit it. I've included a space for notes after each rotation which has been useful for responding to grouping the following day. 

Click on the image to download your own copy 

This week we have looked at 2D shape and extended our knowledge of polygons and symmetry. To recap the properties of 2D shapes we have loved using this fabulous resources 

from Linda Camp on TpT

It is worth every penny!!! 

How do you run your rotations? 

I'd love and appreciate any tips you have for me!

BUILDing our confidence

So this week in Numeracy I've changed things up, I've tried something new, given it a go, winged it!!! Read on to find out why…

Well…..just as all year 2s across the country are, my little ones are facing SAT's over this next half term and I have been looking at my latest Numeracy assessments analysis and biting my nails. I see holes, big holes!!! Holes and gaps everywhere!!! I thought things were going well! 

As the saying goes 'if children aren't learning the way you teach, teach the way they learn' it was clear that something wasn't working for this group of kids. My typical lesson follows a 4 part structure- Mental/ Oral starter (10mins), Intro and whole class teaching (15mins), group work(20mins), plenary (10mins) often with groups missing parts of the Intro and whole class teaching section to work with a TA because they a) are already beyond this and need extending or b) they are not ready for this and need more consolidation. M/O, group and plenary include appropriate levels of differentiation. 'Hum….sounds similar to my lesson structure' you might think…..'This is what they tell us to do' you might think….'This is tailored to children's abilities' you might think….'What's up with this way of teaching?' you might think and my answer would be- yes it is differentiated, what they tell us to do, tailored to abilities and nothing is wrong with this way of teaching the problem is it's not right for my children at this moment in time, it's not closing their gaps, ultimately it's not giving them enough 'face time' and my children need 'face time'. 

So what have I done about it?

Well I've shopped around, I've researched and I've thought about what already works well 

within my class. 

The 2 established routines which work the best for us are Guided Reading and Basic Skills Friday both give the children quality 'face time' and plug specific holes in their learning, both include the opportunity for games and consolidation of skills, both utilise the skills of our class TA's, both are fun, both include rotations of small groups. 

So I've decided to use the B.U.I.L.D acronym to manage small group rotations within my Numeracy lessons on a Monday and Tuesday. You may have seen B.U.I.L.D on Instagram or Pinterest before and wondered, just as I did, what it was all about so for more details I headed over to  'Adventures in Teaching'  and 'Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits' for further information (don't you just love how the blogging community works?!) and came away feeling as though I had made the right choice. 

Glitter Lego men are from Glitter Meets Glue

I've opted to only devote 2 days to rotations for 3 reasons- a) we have a lot of content to get through before the end of May and I felt the effort that would be required to do a full week of rotations would tie me to the same area of maths for too long b) I have a trainee TA as well as our class TA in on Mondays and Tuesdays so an extra pair of hands is available and c) I'm giving this a go, its a change for us all, for the better I hope and it may be that I move full time to small group rotations but I'd rather dip a toe in first! 

Everything I have read about B.U.I.L.D reassured me that is is a management system which is easily tailored to the needs of your particular class and, after 2 days, I'm convinced! I've altered some of the meanings to suit my setting and children without taking away from the Guided element I love so in our classroom it looks like this-

B remains the same Buddy Games, 

U remains the same Using Manipulatives although I've opted to word it is Using our hands, 

I remains the same Independent (Indie) although I've not included reading, 

L I've opted to include this as 'Linking Our Learning',

D remains a teacher/ TA led activity and I've phrased it as 'Dive In' to encourage the children to dive deeper into the concepts covered in the introduction section of the lesson. 

The structure of my Numeracy lesson now looks like this- Intro and a quick game or activity to practise the skills needed for the independent activities (10mins), First rotation (20 min), Second rotation (20 mins) then 5 min review/ plenary activity. As I have 3 adults in the room it means that over the 2 days every group gets a minimum of 20 mins 'face time' with a maximum of 80 mins 'face time'! That number amazes me- 80 mins- almost an hour and 1/2 of adult 'face time' with 3 days learning still to go!  

I'm not saying this is a quick fix but here is an example of what a group who have had 60 mins of 'face time' these past 2 days have accomplished- 

Our WALT has been 'use addition and subtraction to solve problems involving money' so on Monday day we focused on simply adding and subtracting amounts- the 'Linking our Learning' task was partitioning coins with 2 digit totals out into 10p (Tens) and 1p (Units). It was clear from my marking that they all got it so today I pulled them for 'Linking Our Learning' again and guided them to partition to add 2 sets of coins- applying and pushing a skill they already had into a new context- after 20mins they were confidently portioning to add 2 sets of coins with 2 digit totals so when they moved onto their 'Dive In' session guided by my TA they were able to use the CUBES method we had looked at in 'Intro' along with partitioning to solve money word problems. BOOM! 

                                            

Another group took a similar journey only within 40mins they had developed a solid understanding of pounds representing 100 pence, partitioned into HTU, used partitioning into HTU to add 2 amounts together, begun to understand how a decimal point works when dealing with money and used this to convert their totals back into pounds. BOOM BOOM!!! 

So it's clear to see from my post so far that I'm pretty impressed with how BUILD is working out in my classroom after only 2 days….check back next Tuesday to see if I'm still as impressed plus grab a free download of my B.U.I.L.D display and find out how I manage the rotations.