Making the move to KS1

It's been a long time since my last post and a lot has changed. I've just finished my first week teaching my new Yr 1/2 class and have loved every minute of it. I've decided to carry on with this blog to share my KS1 experiences which will hopefully be of interest to some of you. 

I started the week by introducing our topic for this term which is 'growing'. We had a discussion about what we knew already and what we'd like to find out. The children wrote their ideas on post-it notes which they loved - the power of sticky yellow paper.

Here are all of their ideas!

Our class 'WOW wall' and phoneme tree

So it's been a whole week since I welcomed my first ever class into school! I have loved it but am definitely feeling it today. My displays are starting to be filled now and I thought I would share a few with you. The first is my WOW wall.

Each parent has been given a pack of post-it notes which they can fill out whenever their child does an activity at home. They can then stick the post-it on to a leaf and we can celebrate the achievements in class. When our tree is full, the leaves can be put in the children's learning journeys. So far we've celebrated a first swimming lesson and a child who had helped with the cooking at home.

The second display is my phoneme tree which is in my Literacy corner. I'm planning to add phonemes here as we learn them. 

I'm also planning to make an interactive maths display. I'm thinking numbers with a pot underneath so that the children can count different objects for the correct number. Pictures to come.

Superhero afternoon

It's days like today that make me think I have the best job in the world. It was my last transition afternoon with my new class before September so I wanted to make it extra fun. I decided that a superhero afternoon was in order (prompted by the child who turned up to his parent interview dressed as Batman).

I took a picture of each child and photoshopped it on to these Twinkl superhero pictures. We started by talking about superheroes that we knew of and what made them so super. I loved hearing the children's thoughts; Batman was a particular favourite! I told everyone that I knew some superheroes that were even better than Batman and produced my superhero bag. There was such a squeal when I brought out the first picture!

I was aiming for a PSED theme for the session so I decided to talk about what made each of the children super. I wrote the ideas that we came up with on a yellow circle behind each superhero (I will get a picture asap).

And then we coloured! The finished products looked amazing; here's my effort:

The fun didn't end there! I spent the whole afternoon wearing a superhero mask and bin bag cape running around and solving crime. I'm not sure if the parents liked being given a bin bag to take home, but the children loved it!

'Welcome to my class' postcards

Time is flying by so quickly at the moment! 1 week left of school until the summer holidays and it won't be long until I have my new class either. I plan to send the children a postcard over the summer holidays telling them how much I'm looking forward to having them in my class to try and make them feel excited instead of nervous about starting school.

I ordered this design ages ago from vistaprint and they finally arrived today. They are perfect for what I'm looking for and I only had to pay the postage fee!

I'm going to send these in August to try and combat any little worries =)

I'd really recommend taking a look at Vistaprint. They have quite a lot of free offers; many of which are perfect for the classroom. Enjoy.

Microwave playdough

There is no way I could have a squelchy and squidgy afternoon without playdough. I've never made it before so I had no idea how I would get on. I found an amazing microwave playdough recipe though (I'm afraid I'm not sure where I found it) and it all turned out really well. So well infact that I thought I would share it with you. 

 Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup salt
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• Food colouring and glitter

I mixed up all of the ingredients apart from the food colouring and glitter in a microwavable plastic bowl. I wasn't sure what the consistency should be like but as my finished product turned out well, I presume it should look like this:

I then put the mixture into the microwave for 2 minutes and gave it a stir before putting it back in for a remaining 2 minutes. In our staffroom we have a 700w microwave so timings may vary depending on what you have.

I then shaped the mixture into balls and left it to cool for a while. Once it was cool enough to touch, I made a hole in the middle of each ball.

 I added food colouring into each ball and a little bit of glitter for some sparkle.

All that was left to do was seal the balls so that they had a pocket of food colouring and glitter in the centre. This meant that when the children started squeezing the dough, they got a colourful and sparkly surprise. I made the children wear gloves when mixing the food colouring into the dough to prevent them going home with green hands!

In the end we made cookies and cupcakes with our dough but the possibilities are endless.

Rainbow spaghetti

Children love messy play; there's no denying it! If they can get their hands on something squelchy and squidgy then they're happy. So this afternoon had to be one of those messy days.

The children loved playing with the cornflour gloop and many of them went home with white dust all over them! I also decided to make rainbow spaghetti:

 

After a bit of squealing at the texture, the children got really stuck in. I saw some counting and imaginative play as well as lots of communication! Next time I'm going to make loads and maybe put some numbers or letters in for even more learning opportunities.

Ideas folder

I'm very lucky that I've got this term to come up with ideas for teaching and activities in September. So many people have been giving me ideas and, of course, I am always stumbling upon something interesting on the internet. There is no way I'm going to remember all of these ideas and somewhere down the line they are going to be 'just perfect' for what I'm teaching. 

For this reason I've decided to make an 'ideas folder'. This is my place to note down any activities, songs etc that take my fancy. My folder is an A5 ring binder from Paperchase with 10 dividers. I've included the categories: CLL, Maths, Understanding the World, Physical Development, Art and Design, PSHE, Music, Outdoor Learning, Roleplay and General.

I have been known to spend ages looking for ideas so I'm hoping this will save me a bit of time.