Phonics Sessions

We have had two evening sessions of phonics training from Emma "The Learning Lady". These have been helpful in several ways:

- Reassured me that generally we are doing the right thing!
- Given me some new games to liven up phonics a bit (the games were getting a bit samey!)
- Encouraged us to talk cross phase about consistency and how we approach phonics.

Every Child a Talker (ECAT)

Today I went on a morning course based on Every Child a Talker.

The main thing we focused on was "The Chain of Communication" which detailed the process that occurs between hearing a question and responding, and the different difficulties children may have with this process. 

It was good to discuss this process and compare different children who may have issues in different areas. It was noted by most practitioners that sadly communication in progressive cohorts is getting worse. We spent some time theorizing reasons for this, and the best method for tackling this growing problem. 

Ideas to help support children in terms of intervention were briefly discussed, and resources can be found online to do this. I think this would be good to look at over the half term to possibly implement with some children for the last term and a half. 

CPD - The New Curriculum

This week our staff meeting was held at another in the Vale for joint training on the new curriculum. It was valuable to see the changes that have (or have not) been made and how these affect The Foundation Stage. The new curriculum lines up better with the new EYFS in terms of expectations. It has also made it clearer what an "exceeding" child would be expected to be achieving, as a child achieving "expected" could enter Y1 above a 1c.

Reflection - Action Plan 3

This half term I aimed too:

1. Become familiar with the new EYFS Framework and Assessment Procedures

Attending several courses helped me to learn more about how the new EYFS works and how to assess children against the new ELG's and Development Matters bands. Most importantly I learnt than in order to fall within a specific DM band, children must be displaying (or beginning to display) the points in their independent play - being able to count to ten with an adult is not the same as being able to count to ten independently. Displaying this in play shows mastery of an area. 

What has been most useful in getting to grips with the EYFS however, has simply been to teach within the classroom and spend time getting to know the children and planning for their needs. The EYFS lends itself well to learning through play, and observing children in their play and planning to further their knowledge has been a rewarding experience so far.

2. Get to know children and parents

All the parents have been really welcoming and are happy to chat about things in general and their children. Having such a small class has helped me to get to know each individual child's likes and dislikes, and their strengths and weaknesses. The next challenge for me will be to combine these two, and discuss the children with their parents at parents evening!

3. 3d/3e - relevance to new post etc.

Looking at the teaching standards I wanted to make sure I was achieving 3d and 3e successfully as I had not needed to in my previous post (teaching Year 3 instead of Yr R). I was observed during a phonics lesson, which was classed as a "good" lesson, and the resulting discussion with my mentor really helped to improve my teaching further. There is quite a spread of ability within my class and I would now like to focus on helping individual children achieve their potential by stretching the more able and encouraging children working at a lower level to become interested in both Numeracy and Literacy. 

4. Take on Curriculum Responsibilities

As a small school, I felt although not required in my NQT year that I would like to take on some Curriculum Responsibilities. In order for me to learn how this is done I have taken on several responsibilities with my mentor. As yet, we have not looked in great detail as to what is required in this role, so I will continue this target forward into the next half term. 

CPD - NQT/NQT+1 Diocese Meeting

Today I went to a meeting run by the Diocese of Leicester. It was especially for Teachers in their first and second year of teaching. Most of the meeting was spent networking, which was really useful as I found several teachers also in reception, one of whom had a class very similar to mine in both size and ability spread. It was good to talk about the strategies we used, and to know that we were both doing the same things! We also decided what our future meetings would entail - in the Spring we will meet again and look at moderation. This will be really useful to make sure our judgements on the EYFS are the same hopefully it will provoke lots of good discussion, as we discovered today, how to go about assessing in the EYFS is not straight forward with lots of people being told different things! 

CPD - New to the EYFS

Today I spent the whole day at Beaumanor Hall on a "New to the EYFS" course. Luckily I managed to escape the heavy downpours getting by bike inside just in time both on the way there and on the way home!

The course was excellent, providing lots of information in a clear, thought provoking way. There is still a lot of "murky water" when discussing the best way to analyse end of year data, particularly as the current National Curriculum levels do not match up with the new EYFS - however this is due to change with the new curriculum. 

One of the main benefits of the course was knowing where to find help both in terms of resources and other people! Hopefully half-term will give me the chance to download lots of resources to use within the classroom. The course also gave me confidence in my own practice, knowing that what I was doing within school was right (letting the children lead the way!). I would like to get the children even more involved in their learning next term - involving them more in the planning of activities etc.

There will be a follow up to this course in terms of a pre-moderation meeting in the Spring or Summer term, which will be useful as it will look in detail at the Early Learning Goals, discussing how to asses whether a child has met the goal or not.