Archive for 2012

End Of An Era

Well this term has been my last as a Newly Qualified Teacher and I'm pleased to say that I have passed! YAY! It has been such a great year and a half based in two different schools and I can only praise all the staff, parents and children that I have had the pleasure of working with.

Of course there have been ups and downs throughout the year but it wouldn't be teaching without them. I feel that my biggest strength that has shone out during my time in schools is my relationships and the way children embrace my style of teaching.

Thank you to all that have helped in the past year and look forward to 2013 a new year and a fully qualified me! Happy Christmas everyone!

PS. Grandad says hello....

Christmas!

Well Folks

Christmas is finally here again and the panic has begun. I expect most parents are doing last minute shopping and preparations for the kids big day! I can't wait for that excitement! The past few weeks have been mental as I'm sure most teachers can agree! We have been rehearsing for Carol concerts and Nativity and children have done us all proud with an excellent performance on both occasions.

I'm actually blown away by all my gifts I have received from the children! They are such a lovely bunch of kids and make it worth my while getting out of bed every morning!

The Jungle Role-play!

It's been a while but here goes!

I have been busy with all the things associated with new class in perpetration, meetings and oh yeah ... Ofsted!!

Been busy of late getting jungle role play ready for the kids. We have chosen The Tiger who came to Tea as our book and kids have been enjoying it! We have put our emphasis on Literacy and Phonics and worked out a routine that we are proud of and children enjoy.

Managed to get creative with this, plenty of kids help and of course the all important Tiger sleepsuit! I like to have challenges in there and this term we have put some writing and design materials in there to create a pastel tiger drawing and story sequencing cards.


Progress

I have been naughty and avoiding this but I have got some updates on the way soon. Been manic busy during the new term at school getting room sorted and observations etc. It is a stress but its part and parcel of what I do. My new class are a challenging bunch but the praise I have received so far has brought a smile to my face.

I do hope to post some pictures of my classroom displays and layout and pass on why I have done things as I think it would be very useful to other teachers and any feedback is more than welcome!

Talk Soon!

Football and Fitness

Ahhhh so the Olympics and London 2012 have been and gone with the Paralympics soon to begin. So now for a rest and no more sport ... Oh wait, hold on, maybe not! The Premier League has kicked off (much to my delight) and to make me super happy Newcastle kicked things off with a win! Huzzah!


Summary of the game was very slow to start, Spurs had better chances, but when you have prolific strikers in Ba and Cisse, you don't squander chances! On the whole Pardew incident it was slightly funny and shows the commitment of the manager - not the apology I think The F.A. were after though.

All this sport has started me back at the gym. Always had a good routine at gym and determination but work always seemed to creep up and knock me back out of it. Ideally I would loved to eventually do a triathlon or a big cycle (A-La-Wiggo) but we shall see when I get back to England. I have found a really good app to help me along and get motivated about going to the gym more called Fitocracy! Really impressive in that its like the Xbox of fitness where your workout earns you points which help prestige and unlock achievements - real life Call of Duty! To top it all of they have a pretty got iPhone app and its FREE!


Twitter: @fitocracy

Pride ... The Olympic Post

All I can say is ... WOW

From my point of view these Olympics have been breathtaking! So much passion, sport, spirit and grit! A lot of hard work has paid off since the announcement and glad it has shone a positive light on our part of the world!

The opening ceremony was a spectacle. Danny Boy has put on a show stopping arena celebrating all parts of the United Kingdom from old to new. Loved the little cameos from Mr Bean and James Bond (nice touch)! Take a bow son!


At this point of writing Team GB have 22 Gold medals with 5 days of competition left. Let there be more as it is well deserved!! My moment of the games to date has to be Andy Murray winning the Tennis event at Wimbledon. To think that last month he lost to R Fed in the final at the exact same venue is incredible. It looked like a role reversal with Murray showing the passion and combat needed to win a Grand Slam. I have followed his career from the very beginning and am glad he is starting to prove those doubters wrong!


Funniest part of these Olympics has actually just happened in the Women's hurdles! Hilarious coincidence that the women who falls over and fails to finish is called ... 


Yep (written in the script) .. Vania Stambolova! Also intrigued by all the sport on television and like every other Brit taking time to enjoy this occasion and embracing new things. Never in my life did I expect to watch handball or weightlifting!!

Hurrah for Britain (and Northern Ireland)

After The Storm...

Today I would like to share an application that I have picked up this year that has been fantastic for behaviour management. It is called Class Dojo and best of all it is FREE!!! :)


This is a demo taken from YouTube but shows the features. I personally like it because you can set your own behaviours and children see it as a visual prompt and interactive. I have it on my Smart Board all the time. Plus name me a child that doesn't like monsters!!!




I have also found that you can incorporate the themes of Class Dojo into your everyday classroom using the monsters for name pegs, certificates and extra reward incentives. Recently the report feature has been added allowing progress to be shown to parents and senior staff. And to top it all of there is an app for your mobile so you can give praise wherever you are!!

Today's blog is brought to you by Mumford & Sons and After The Storm.

One Day Like This...

Towards the end of the year we had a visitor in school and got to get my hands on the Olympic Torch! This is a once in a lifetime experience and everyone was really excited!

To commemorate our school did a lap of the school with all children holding hands and passing the torch around aiming to have as many people touch it as possible!

The torch was brought in by Samantha Grundy, one of the torch-bearers in Wakefield nominated for her charity work. Below is a little description from the official torch site.
"Sam has a son Daniel with Cerebral Palsy and Downes Syndrome age 10 - when he was 3 she started a charity called SNAPS (Special Needs & Parent Support) in Leeds - this went from strength to strength with her raising all the funds to run various projects, swimming lessons for children with special needs - hydrotherapy, dance classes, summer schools, speech & language workshops - Snaps now provides services to over 200 children with special needs!"
 Below is some of the pictures of me I have instagrammed :)


Today's blog post is brought to you by Elbow and One Day Like This.

Don't Forget Me...

As it is my first post I want to reflect on this year of teaching. Its been manic leading to completing my first two terms of NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher status). I have loved my job so much and it has been a rewarding year getting to know the children in my Year One class as well as staff members and parents. The feedback has also been special and enhances my effort to be a really awesome teacher.

Been very sad to leave this bunch of children and I hope they now go on to bigger and brighter things having a successful year in Year 2 with their new teacher.


I have decided to name my blog posts after song titles. Today's is brought to you by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The Beginnings...

Hello there,

This is just an idea I have had that lets me catch up with parents and gives an insight to the goings on of life as a teacher. Feel free to ask any questions and I will try my best to help out.


Recently qualified as a teacher from Leeds Metropolitan University in Early Childhood Education with a previous degree in Computer Science. I am 26 years old and originally from Northern Ireland.

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