Guest Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Sorry you cannot find the book have you tried asking you EY team it was my team that flagged it up to us at a training day so yours may have a copy. I have also bought these http://www.acblack.com/featherstone/books/list.aspx?catid=37 and they are full of great ideas but perhaps your school could buy them for you. Also Kariana I posted a weekly timetable on here I think it is on page 1 but I would suggest you start this small and perhaps you go for it one day a week or only afternoon to get the children yused to the way of working. Emilia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 The AC Black website appears to have Meeting the Challenge. I also find the Book Depository very competitively priced. The Carrying on in Year One books have lots of lovely ideas, but will need more unpicking than the Meeting the Challenge, the former I had already bought and the latter my new HT has. I suggest that you choose the area of provision that you are most likely to use to get a feel for these books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_4544 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 http://www.acblack.com/Books/details.aspx?...g+the+Challenge I bought this book when we were writing our transition policy 2006 ( think/hope Y1 teacher still has it) but I can't recall it containing any of the types of challenges Emilia uses although it is a while since I read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Yes, it has some or at least very similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 I don't get my ideas just from Sally Featherstone we also use all of the resource books and old Infant Project and other magazines in the staff room. I am very old in the tooth so over the years I have acquired a good deal of books etc and another publication I used to belong to was Books For Keeps and they used to have ideas in them for 'topic' work and I have just adapted these over the years. I've looked online for some of my old favourites but cannot find them but i did find this http://www.piedpipertheatre.co.uk/jos/dmdo...#39;s_Lunch.pdf which when you scan down has some good ideas that can be adapted for other challenges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Thanks for that too Emilia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 Thanks for the links, that A&C Black website is much more reasonably price than others I've seen! Also Kariana I posted a weekly timetable on here I think it is on page 1 but I would suggest you start this small and perhaps you go for it one day a week or only afternoon to get the children yused to the way of working. Ah yes, I totally missed this before. Thank you. Just been having a look at it, where you have the 'challenge work/focussed work/teaching time' do you do a whole class input each time then move to focussed groups or do you do most of your input just during focussed group work? Also how long do you usually spend with each group? I only work mornings so I aim to see each of my five groups at least once every two days but I'm not sure if I'm trying to pack too much in by doing that (2 hours each day). I can't reduce them to fewer groups as my tables only seat 6 and the spread of ability wouldn't make it practical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Hi Kariana hope you had a good Christmas! There are times when I will do a whole class input and this is usually at the beginning of a theme.Monday morning has a very big focus on whole class as i am explaining the challenges to everyone otherwise most of the time I am working with focussed groups and this is usually about 30 minutes per group as I find that after that amount of time they have lost concentration and I am not really getting anymore our of them! I only have two sets of tables where I work and my TA works and the rest of the classroom looks like a reception class. I have an art/craft set of tables so the children can work on that type of challenge but many of the challenges happen on the floor, outside, in the book area or sometimes in the corridor! It is more about quality of time than quantity but I can imagine this way of working will be more difficult if you are a jobshare you will both need to ensure you have the same expectations! I guess you just have to try it and see! But I cannot say enough that to change too much at this time of a school year it will not be as easy as the children will have already learned how you work and so will need lots of support and you will also need to realise that it may not work in the first 1, 2 ,3 4 weeks!!!! Emilia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Monday morning has a very big focus on whole class as i am explaining the challenges to everyone otherwise most of the time I am working with focussed groups Emilia You have mentioned that you have 6 challenges, would that be 1 for each curricular area (FS style areas)? Also when you say explaining the challenges are you demonstrating/ teaching concepts to enable independence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Hi Susan The challenges usually cover different curriculum areas but I don't restrict myself to 6 areas each week as I want to ensure I cover everything planned in my term and I know I will come to things again and again as the KS1 PoS are really not huge. Monday is when I will read out the challentes and we will discuss them and also know who is confident to read them to others as not all of my class are fluent readers yet. We will brainstorm ideas etc and I leave this out for the children to see but they are open ended. But yes it is to encourage independence because this is one of my key objectives. Also if they are independent then I can work with a group undisturbed! I used these pictures from Bruegels 'Children's Games' painting in my Toy theme and they covered Art, History D&T and maths and also children wrote about their favourite game in the picture so literacy also. http://artyfactory.com/perspective_drawing...spective_14.htm As a school we all went to the National Gallery's Take One Picture INSET which was a great help when working this way! Emilia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 I haven't been on here for a while - hectic time of year! I just wanted to say thank you to Emilia for all the advice - I will be introducing the challenges in the new term! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Thank you for all your great advice! I'm not expecting it to all work out in the first week (already dreading some of the problems that are going to crop up!) but hopefully it won't be too big a change, at least in terms of set up. At the moment the classroom is somewhat like a reception room and we have most of the children on continuous provision whilst myself and the TA take a group each to do focussed activities based on whatever the input was about, so the children are used to being off and getting on independently around the classroom. We've also had 'targets' in the various areas which the children knew they were supposed to work towards if they were in that particualr area. The problem was that they weren't very exciting and some of the children either found them too difficult or just didn't bother to do them and it was difficult to moitor whether they were or weren't. Also I didn't feel like they were getting enough from the sessions, especially when I would end up I the situation where neither myself nor the TA had worked with a particular group and they'd just spent the whole morning playing. (Play is valuable of course but with only one TA who would be working with a group it was all unstructured play.) My other main problem was that the children have to attend phonics, assembly and playtime which takes around an hour out of the morning meaning that they spend, at best, 2 hours in the classroom of which one is supposed to be literacy and one numeracy. As far as I'm concerned it really isn't working and I can't wait for the advisor to come in and hopefully agree with me about shaking things up a bit! (I'm leaning towards mornings dedicated alternately to either literacy or numeracy at the moment, rather than both.) Hopefully giving them a challenge book and encouraging them to fill it in, and actually making them into challenges rather than targets will really motivate them to actually complete them and at the same time make their independent time more structured. I'm hoping the challenge books will be like scrapbooks with pictures and writing and will be something they'll be proud of! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Karina sounds like you are already firmly on the journey and I am sure you will be successful in your change to challenges. Good luck for the new year and keep us informed. Emilia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Karina sounds like you are already firmly on the journey and I am sure you will be successful in your change to challenges. Good luck for the new year and keep us informed. Emilia Hi Emilia, I just wanted to say thank you for all of your advice on this post. I have read through it and have now emailed my Head Teacher asking if I can apply this format to my class in January. I have a small class with 2 reception, 3 year 1's and 6 year 2's. I think it will work well but I would never have been brave enough to take the plunge if I hadn't of read your post. So may thanks x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Hi and welcome lonneymiss. I have a small class with 2 reception, 3 year 1's and 6 year 2's. That sounds like its own challenge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Hi and welcome lonneymiss. That sounds like its own challenge! Happy New Year! It is quite interesting at times. I am so worried about the Reception starting as I have never taught EYFS before so it feels like I am starting over again. Have spent all over Christmas worrying and have now decided that it will be okay in the end. I am just unsure of how to deliver the AI activities for reception as well as the lessons for Y1 and Y2 without a TA in the afternoons. Sure I am just being a worry wart! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_4544 Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I would treat the class as ability groups for their AI time. I've not had a mix since the introduction of the Foundation Stage (can't believe it's that long ago) but you may find that you can mix the ages for some AI activities quite easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinkerbell Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Hi Lonneymiss and welcome to the forum What an exciting situation you are in ! You sound to have an interesting mix aged class and because it is so small you will have the time to really get to grips with it.The worry with it being so small will be the group dynamics and backing off to give the children their time to work independently...plenty of time for observation! I would also introduce things like paired reading with the yr2/R yr2/yr1 and certainly let the yr2 organise some of the phonics and maths games ,perhaps designing their own . Please keep us informed on how things are going. I teach a mixed R (17) and YR1 (5) but have also taught the yr1/yr2 class so the combination of all is intriguing...good luck Happy New Year Tinkerbellx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Happy New Year! It is quite interesting at times. I am so worried about the Reception starting as I have never taught EYFS before so it feels like I am starting over again. Have spent all over Christmas worrying and have now decided that it will be okay in the end. I am just unsure of how to deliver the AI activities for reception as well as the lessons for Y1 and Y2 without a TA in the afternoons. Sure I am just being a worry wart! A very big challenge! I'm sure you will do fine so don't worry. With so few children in each year group you should find time in the afternoon to focus on each class (or ability band if you have some Y1 who are still FS learners) in turn even with just one of you. Also I think I'd be tempted to teach a subjects which are easy to differentiate as whole class time (music, art?, PE) at the beginning of the afternoon and count that as some of the AI time for reception in order to focus on the older children afterwards with some extension activties. By late afternoon reception children tend to be quite tired anyway; I know our reception teacher uses the latter half of the afternoon just as finishing off any AI activities which the children might not have completed in the other sessions rather than starting a whole new activity, whilst the rest are just playing. Obviously she has a TA who can still help direct the play if necessary, but in your situation no one can complain if the reception children are just doing some undirected play at least some of the afternoon! With so few children I also wouldn't worry too much about focussing on traditional 'lessons' for the older children where you do input on the carpet and then the children go off and work all lesson. I would leave the whole class input for things like science or history or topic or however you work it and just do this as focussed group activities with your older children whilst reception are playing. Keep the focussed activity short and then perhaps set the children a challenge relating either to the lesson or to another learning objective for that week which they can do independently (like the ones discussed in this topic). That way you still have time to do some AI work with reception if you wish or just time to go and see what they've been playing with and extend their play. This might be your plan already so I might just be telling you something you already know, but just thought it might be useful. Also I think Ems post on the second page of this topic links well with the year 1/2 challenges. Just something else to consider to keep things focussed. http://www.foundation-stage.info/forums/in...15&start=15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 A very big challenge! I'm sure you will do fine so don't worry. With so few children in each year group you should find time in the afternoon to focus on each class (or ability band if you have some Y1 who are still FS learners) in turn even with just one of you. Also I think I'd be tempted to teach a subjects which are easy to differentiate as whole class time (music, art?, PE) at the beginning of the afternoon and count that as some of the AI time for reception in order to focus on the older children afterwards with some extension activties. By late afternoon reception children tend to be quite tired anyway; I know our reception teacher uses the latter half of the afternoon just as finishing off any AI activities which the children might not have completed in the other sessions rather than starting a whole new activity, whilst the rest are just playing. Obviously she has a TA who can still help direct the play if necessary, but in your situation no one can complain if the reception children are just doing some undirected play at least some of the afternoon! With so few children I also wouldn't worry too much about focussing on traditional 'lessons' for the older children where you do input on the carpet and then the children go off and work all lesson. I would leave the whole class input for things like science or history or topic or however you work it and just do this as focussed group activities with your older children whilst reception are playing. Keep the focussed activity short and then perhaps set the children a challenge relating either to the lesson or to another learning objective for that week which they can do independently (like the ones discussed in this topic). That way you still have time to do some AI work with reception if you wish or just time to go and see what they've been playing with and extend their play. Thank you so much for your replies. I have been into school today and sorted out a book den (amazing what some material blue tack and enthusiasm can create!) so I am feeling a bit better about it all. I have chosen to have Literacy and Maths in the mornings with my TA so I can teach it in stages (for Reception and Y1/2) where one group are doing an independent task and the other groups work with either myself or the TA. I am going to keep the carpet time for this short for the reception children then a 20 minute task and then for the rest of session they can do CI play until my plenary revision session. In the afternoons I will have two AI activties (linked to KS1 lessons) which tie in with PE lessons, Re or PSHE or topic and then the rest of the time the children can be getting on with their challenges. I will then use the rest of the time to have focus groups so apply the knoweldge and skills to small groups so I can personalise their learning. Through combining the CI play and the KS1 challenges I am hoping I will be able to differentiate enough and have chance to do more assessing and observing. I think it is more the fear of the unknown which is scaring me. As soon as I get into the swing of school again I am sure it will be fine. Will keep you posted x This might be your plan already so I might just be telling you something you already know, but just thought it might be useful. Also I think Ems post on the second page of this topic links well with the year 1/2 challenges. Just something else to consider to keep things focussed. http://www.foundation-stage.info/forums/in...15&start=15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Sounds like you've got things sorted! My main advice would be don't overdo the AI activities for the reception children or any other children who are still at a FSP level. This was my major mistake with my very low ability year ones and I've quickly discovered that the best thing is to only do either literacy or maths in the morning and alternate them, this allows me to spend longer with each group and give my FS learners more of the CI time they need (because they only have one AI activity per morning, plus a phonics session) whilst also letting me extend the brighter ones. The reception teacher has also gone to this way of working as well. With less children though this might not be so much of a problem for you since it won't take you as long to get round all the ability groups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Thanks for all of this advice, everyone! Getting very excited about slowly introducing this next term!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Sounds like you've got things sorted! My main advice would be don't overdo the AI activities for the reception children or any other children who are still at a FSP level. This was my major mistake with my very low ability year ones and I've quickly discovered that the best thing is to only do either literacy or maths in the morning and alternate them, this allows me to spend longer with each group and give my FS learners more of the CI time they need (because they only have one AI activity per morning, plus a phonics session) whilst also letting me extend the brighter ones. The reception teacher has also gone to this way of working as well. With less children though this might not be so much of a problem for you since it won't take you as long to get round all the ability groups. Hi, Just wanted to drop by and say hello. I also promised to let you know how it is all going. Well it wasn't a typical week as we were in on Monday, shut because of the snow Tuesday and Wednesday then back in on Thursday and Friday/ I introduced the ideas of challenges for my Year 1's and Year 2's and they loved it. I felt liberated on Monday when I set my Year 2's off on their challenges and had a focus group with my Year 1's and found myself discussing the camoflaging abilities of polar bears. They enjoyed having the 1:1 time with me and the quality of their work was much higher then what I normally get. The Year 2's were busy with their challenges and I was shocked at how independent they were being. I then swapped over and had my Year 2's as a focus group and let my Year 1's do the challenges. They will need a bit more practice at being independent and need to grasp that we don't just finish all the challenges in half an hour. I had to explain I was expecting their very best work. I am sure they will get it. I have brought the Sally Featherstone book 'Making the Transition' and 'Little book of investigations' which are both fab and given me lots of motivation. I am struggling a bit to make sure I am catering fro my reception children to my full potential. Everyday I am changing what is on the writing table, have a different type of construction toy out, had jungle animals in my tuff spot, the jungle role play, book corner and diggers in the sand pit. In the mornings they complete a AI activity for maths and literacy and in the afternoon they join in for some part of the topic lessons and the rest of the time is CIP. I am a little unsure what I am meant to do in the review sessions. Do the children just say what they have done? If anyone could help me understand what I need to get from in this part of the lessons that would be fab. Sorry to be a pain I still feel so new to all this! Best go as my puppy is currently eating my planning! Many thanks x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 I have brought the Sally Featherstone book 'Making the Transition' and 'Little book of investigations' which are both fab and given me lots of motivation. Where did you buy from? I got the little book of sand and the one for construction (both great) from the publishers website. I also ordered 'meeting the challenge' but they took the money and then sent me a note saying they were 'considering reprint' so I haven't got it unfortuntely. I am struggling a bit to make sure I am catering fro my reception children to my full potential. Everyday I am changing what is on the writing table, have a different type of construction toy out, had jungle animals in my tuff spot, the jungle role play, book corner and diggers in the sand pit. It sounds like you're doing a lot for them already. I wouldn't worry about changing the construction and writing table everyday, sometimes it's nice, particularly with construction, to have it out for a week or even longer depending on the interest levels of the children. I find it encourages them to explore its possibilities in greater depth and to perhaps try building bigger projects that they can leave out and come back to the next day. I am a little unsure what I am meant to do in the review sessions. Do the children just say what they have done? If anyone could help me understand what I need to get from in this part of the lessons that would be fab. I haven't got to introduce the challenges myself yet because we had a whole week of snow days but in the review lessons I'm planning on going through the challenges and asking children how they tackled them and looking at anything they have produced and getting them to discuss what they did. I have a large class so I'll give them a bit of time to talk to their partners about them so they all get to say something but just have a few talking to the whole class about what they did. I'll also discusss with them which challenges they found difficult/easy, which they enjoyed best, what they would like to do more of etc, in order to help me plan future challenges. I'm sure there's other stuff we could talk about as well that others are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 lonneymiss and karianna this is all sounding fantastic! I do much the same as you karianna at review time. We have talking partners and then I listen to about three children review at each session more than that and it is too much for the children to listen and three is just enough to whet the appetite of the other children to get on and do the challenge and if necessary I can clear up any misunderstandings and also perhaps add another aspect to challenges! Emilia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 So wonderful to find this thread! Im an NQT in a Y1/2 class and am trying to implement play based fs style but so unsure as to whether it's really working or not as Ive not had any fs training or experience! Have the various areas set up but often struggle to ensure they are (a) challenging enough for year twos ( linked to nc objectives. Head came to observe and felt the activities were more 'holding activities' and questioned whether their learning had progressed through their involvement in these particular activities?? It seems this way owns itself more to a skills based approach, do my areas/activities need to have nc objectives??? Is anyone using APP in the same way as the profile? Am I crazy to think I can do this on my own (Im the only KS1 teacher?) Nobody will give a straight answer as to whether this is what we want to do as a school or not? Have met with a local AST who seems to have worked with schools in tryin to bring this into KS1, but none of the schools actually have anything in place yet in a 1/2 class. Can't help but feel Ive bitten off more than I can chew but the thoughts of going back to old, 'whole class' teaching - 3 differentiated activities method is incredibly depressing! Would love to see this in place in a Y1/2 classroom but not sure whether there are any in my area?? Any advice much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Hi Sarahjmullins and welcome to the forum. Just wanted to give my advice on some of what you have said... So wonderful to find this thread! Im an NQT in a Y1/2 class and am trying to implement play based fs style but so unsure as to whether it's really working or not as Ive not had any fs training or experience! Have the various areas set up but often struggle to ensure they are (a) challenging enough for year twos ( linked to nc objectives. Head came to observe and felt the activities were more 'holding activities' and questioned whether their learning had progressed through their involvement in these particular activities?? The challenges are about building children's confidence and we know that children need to do things more than once to really grasp a concept so you need to expalin this to your headteacher. Hold activities is a mean way to describe them but as you say it is about skills based but alos NC AT1s are all about using and applying and so if you want to givbe your challenges the learning intention use this as one of the intentions. It seems this way owns itself more to a skills based approach, do my areas/activities need to have nc objectives??? Is anyone using APP in the same way as the profile? As your children will be working on challenges while you would with focussed groups you will have plenty of evidence for APP and also if you review the challenges with the children this is alos evidence and you could give each child a folder and keep the evidecne in a similar way to YR. Am I crazy to think I can do this on my own (Im the only KS1 teacher?) No you are not crazy you are being professional but it would help if you could find a like minded colleague to bounce ideas with which is why this forum is so good. Nobody will give a straight answer as to whether this is what we want to do as a school or not? Have met with a local AST who seems to have worked with schools in tryin to bring this into KS1, but none of the schools actually have anything in place yet in a 1/2 class. You will see from the Rose review of the primary curriculum and the Alexander Review that this is the way we will all need to go if we are to educate children for the future. Too often children are switched off in primary so what hope do they have when they get to secoandary school Can't help but feel Ive bitten off more than I can chew but the thoughts of going back to old, 'whole class' teaching - 3 differentiated activities method is incredibly depressing! Then don't you just have a little self doubt at the moment so stick to your guns you will get there. It is hard enough being an NQT so doing this is brave and bold and you are the kind of teacher we need in school. Have you red the back page of the TES this week Mike Kent is great and he would snap you up as a teacher bacause of your enthusiasm!! Would love to see this in place in a Y1/2 classroom but not sure whether there are any in my area?? Where are you working that may help some of us on here offer you a day to visit? Any advice much appreciated. Don't give up one step at a time. Emilia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 I just thought I'd drop by this thread to see how things were going for everyone. Sarah sounds like you have a tough challenge being on your own with it but please don't give up, you'll find lots of good advice in this thread and throughout the whole forum. At the moment do your children have challenges or targets when they go to certain areas? I try to link mine in with something we've been doing, and although I'm not sitting there and specifically linking them with skills or NC level I think they instictively are linked in if they relate to what you are covering in class. Sometimes though they aren't at all. Last week one challenge was to make a pair of binoculars because next week we're going to be reading Bear Hunt and actually wandering around school with our binoculars, the children were really enthusiastic and there's some creative interpretations been produced and some problem solving as a couple worked out how to attach string and other followed along. Certainly not linked to the NC but definitely developing useful skills in a fun way. I have to confess I'm having difficulty coming up with challenges though. This week I'm finding it particularly hard (and the EY advisor is coming to watch me on monday so I need to have great challenges!) We suffer from lack of resources which doesn't help matters and my children hate doing anything involving writing because it's 'work'. This week I told them they could make jelly again next week if they ordered the pictures for the instructions and wrote something next to them as to what to do (we made jelly the week before). Despite the bribery only 5 children out of 29 actually did it and I had to nag them into doing it. This isn't because they can't do it (I actually gave my lowest group a TA to work with to help them order the pictures one session so those 5 managed to do it too) but because they can't be bothered to have a try. I'm struggling with getting the message across that the must do these challenges, because they do the 'easy' or 'fun' ones and then don't bother with the rest, even if they are really excited about doing all of them when we talk about them at the beginning of the week and at review times. Does anyone else come across this problem? I know it's the nature of the area I'm working in and partly the way the children have been brought up but I need them to do these challenges without me nagging and turning it into a chore. This term topics are materials in science, homes in topic work, family in RE and sculptures in art. Does anyone have any good ideas for challenges linked to these themes? I'm struggling with idea and I really don't want anything that's going to involve me spending a fortune on resources because I just don't have the money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_79 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Hi Sarah and welcome. Dont give up it is the way to go, ask more questions of your AST contact and get her to work more with you--that is part of her role remit. Can she model a session for you and involve your HT. Its also a good idea if you can visit a school, as you suggest. If its any consolation, I am an experienced FS teacher now working in yr1 and struggling to get the challenges up and running having just survived the whole class teaching experience! My own challenge is organisation and space. Keep going and keep talking here! Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_4544 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 I have decided to get the environment right first so spent last week removing cupboard doors so children can actually access resources! First question was "Can we touch the play dough miss?" At the moment I am doing teacher led activities in the morning and challenges after lunch and have had some tears from children who want to be told what to write and do... cue ..."One morning When the little boy had been in school awhile, The teacher said: "Today we are going to make a picture." ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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