ROOM+1

“Many teachers assign children work on drill-type activities to teach skills, with the rationale that such skills are needed in order to function in everyday life. Creative teachers find ways to embed such skill development within project or problem-solving scenarios that provide context for learners.”  //Anna Kilderry, Nicola Yelland , Vicky Lazaridis , Silvana Dragicevic//

This year we are going to create some slide shows and movies to help embed basic knowledge for: letter formation, letter/sound associations and spelling essential spelling words. I hope this will give the children greater ownership of their learning and make recall easier. We are also looking for good interactive programmes to supplement this work.

I will be able to monitor their progress

... through their written expression
 * essential words recorded correctly
 * good attempts at spelling interest words
 * legibility
 * working independently

... and reading
 * recognition of essential words
 * letter/sound associations

Click on this link [|Ramarama1] to see some of our work

__Reflection Week 3 Term 2__
The planning is still firmly in my hands but I can see the children taking more ownership in the execution of the work. I am happy with the co-operative atmosphere and personal/group responsibility which is developing naturally. Children have spontaneously helped others experiencing difficulty and volunteered ideas about fair use of equipment. Individuals drift in to assist with the recording process whilst the rest continue with quiet activities. They are very interested in immediate playback of their work but do not visit it regularly. The commercially produced interactive programme on letter sounds and formations is very popular. I have uploaded the children's work on our wikispace together with some links to web games involving letter names and sounds. I have not yet had any feedback on whether children are using these at home.

I have seen how deep some of the letter confusions are, especially y/u and d/b. It took several attempts to make the sound recording for l //and// and //my correctly. //

I am thinking about:
 * promoting use of wikispace at home (parent/child)
 * ways of overcoming letter confusions
 * involving the children more in the planning process - possibly using our newly acquired digital camera and some of the children's creative talents

__Reflection Week 4 Term 2__

media type="file" key="u - steven.mov" width="249" height="249" align="center"
 * The children are taking more ownership of the learning process by choosing materials to show letter formation and photographing their work. They have also used classroom materials to record their knowledge in the school-wide inquiry learning "Ramarama Footprints". ||
 * =  ||= [[image:u_Chloe.jpg width="320" height="240"]]

Lots of children are requesting the camera. I am thinking about equitable ways of managing its use. ||  ||
 * |||| __Reflection: Term 3 Week 7__
 * |||| __Reflection: Term 3 Week 7__

I promoted the class wiki at parent teacher interviews but it still doesn't seem to get much traffic from the audience it was designed for. One reason for this probably is that it takes a long time to download.

I have now set up a class blog and am opening it onto the class desktop computers every morning. In addition I have bookmarked it on the the desktop and laptop computers. The children are finding it much easier to use and enjoy looking at videos and pictures of themselves. In addition they are using some spelling websites which I have hyperlinked for them.

We now have a set of memory sticks to use in the classroom. This allows the children to work more independently.

Now I intend to use it to revisit my Inquiry learning goal, i.e. displaying class created videos on letter formation and spelling essential words. I will change these regularly to keep interest levels high.

[]

__Reflection: Term 3 Week 8__

We're back on track recording our commentaries to videos/animations and taking photos in order to personalise our learning. The children were inspired by this activity. Individuals would run up during the time we were taking the photos with a new object starting with //s// they had just thought of. One child suggested we make an //s// shape with the string. ||

__Reflection: Term 4 Week 1__

This week a paediatric physiotherapist spoke to us about the diminishing number of five year old children who can write on a line and hold a pencil correctly. Part of the problem is sitting in front of screens too much. I feel that I am on the right track using ICT as part of a developmental programme. Activities such as bead threading, painting, cutting, puzzles with pegs, building with blocks are important for developing their pincer grip.

I have given the class camera to pairs of children to independently record what they know about a given letter. They are highly motivated in the process and often surprise me with their innovative work. I am now moving away from directing, to editing and compiling their photos and movie clips. In the video below a third child joined in seamlessly with the two children forming the letter y with yacht shapes.

I am thinking about ways to increase the children's independence in recording voiceovers.

media type="file" key="Yy.mov" align="center" width="300" height="300" __Term 4 Week 2__ Children's Reflection