Teacher Parent Interviews - What now?

So parent teacher interviews are over, you've received your child's semester 1 reports. What now? What does it really mean when your child's teacher says or writes in the report that "child A needs to work on his/her comprehension skills" or that "child B is developing her knowledge of numbers".

This is a post for parents/carers and ideas on how you can support your child at home.

As a teacher, I take a lot of time preparing for parent interviews. I like to create "packs" to send home with parents to assist them in helping their little ones at home. I'm conscious of not sending home anything too technical, just simple activities.

1. Reading resources

A few years ago, I came across these great questions parents can ask children before, during and after reading their home reading books.

There is one for fiction books and one for non-fiction books from ___________.

It's important to ask questions before reading as it develops prediction and inferential skills. If you ask questions as your child is reading, it helps check that they are understanding what is happening in the book. And asking questions after reading helps children retell/recall facts, events and discuss their opinions about the book/characters.

2. Maths resources

For children who are not yet confident counting forward and backwards to/from 100, I send home a number chart and some counters.

The number chart is to practise counting in the car, on the bus/train or whenever there is "transiting" time. The counters are used to play number games.

Parent covers some numbers on the number chart. The child then has to work out what the number is and explain how they know.

"I have covered a number, if the number before it is ___. What number is it?"

"I have covered a number, if the number after it is ___. What number is it?

3. Fine motor activities

Some children come to year 1 with very poor fine motor skills which can affect their handwriting and ability to work with small objects. Instead of sending home handwriting sheets, I send home laminated fluency lines and an activity I call Sponge Towers.

Fluency Lines Pack

In this pack, I put a laminated fluency line sheet, whiteboard marker and a Chux wipe. I laminate these sheets so children can trace the lines with whiteboard markers and then wipe it off. I have a link to fluency lines that you can print and make a  fluency line pack.

Sponge Towers Pack

I made these by cutting up sponges into small cubes. Pop them into a zip lock bag put in 2 pegs. The idea is to strengthen the muscles in the hand by pinching the peg (using thumb and index finger only) to pick up the sponges to build a tower. To make it fun, children compete with their sibling/parent to build the highest tower.

I also suggest to parents to use this resource as a listening activity. The adult will give instructions to the child. Eg: Can you build me a tower with 2 pink blocks, blue block and green block. The child needs to wait for the adult to finish and then complete the instructions.

Hope these gives parents out there some ideas on what they can do if their child's teacher says.. your child needs help with...

DIY Nursery Mobile

As you will find out, I love craft. Only problem these days is that I don't have a place to spread out my materials. I can't wait for our house to be finished and I can set up my own craft area. Today, I'm going to make some cute birds to put on a mobile for my lil bubba's nursery. I', so excited to meet her!!

You will need: 

Coloured felt of your choice

String/ fishing line (any string of your choice really)

Small beads

Needle

Craft glue

Thread (choose a colour that will match your birds - I'm using grey on all my birds/flowers/clouds)

Optional: wadding/cotton balls

Method:

Print the template for birds HERE. I have used the small size template as they matched the size of the mobile I have.

Cut the template sizes you want. Pin them to the felt and cut the felt to shape (for each bird you will need 2 pieces of felt for the body, 2 for the wings and 1 beak ). Alternatively, place the template onto the felt, trace around the template and then cut it out.

Line up the 2 pieces of felt for the bird's body together. Place the wings in the position. Stitch the base of the wings to the body using a cross stitch. 

Place the beak in position and glue it in place with some craft glue (this will help it hold together while you are stitching). 

Cut a 30cm length of string (I'm using cotton string). Tie the string to a small rectangle piece of felt and glue the felt on the inside bird's body. This will ensure the string does not come off later on.

Start stitching the body of the bird together using a stitch of your choice. I have used a running stitch. Here are some types of stitches you may want to use and information on it from Hobby Farms. 

Optional: Stop stitching about 3/4 of the way and stuff the body with some cotton balls or wadding. I like to add the wadding/cotton wool because it makes the bird 3D. You can leave this step out if you want o have flat ornaments.

Next, stitch the tip of the 2 wings together using a cross stitch.

Finally, sew a bead on either side of the bird to form the eyes. If you tug on the thread you will indent the eyes in a little, which is what I would do.

That's it! All done. Make a few of these and attach the string to the mobile. I've also added some flowers using the same colour felt to the top of each string to make it look pretty. 

Hope you enjoyed making these cut felt birds as much as I did. 

Happy crafting!

Xx Laura

Cranberry, Macadamia & white Choc Brownie Recipe

So it's Saturday morning. Half of the term 1 school break is over. I've got plenty of prepping still to do for school. My dear cousin is getting married today. I need to drop by the building site to see how our house is progressing. I also need to make the final decision on buying a pram and bits n bobs for the nursery. My friend is holding a bake sale so I'm going to drop by with some brownies to support her charity work. I think it will be a busy day. So up and at them!!

This is my cranberry, macadamia, white choc brownie recipe. This recipe makes about 16 serves of brownies.

Ingredients:

·        180g unsalted butter

·        200g dark chocolate melts (I like using Hershey's kisses but regular dark choc will do)

·        3 large eggs

·        100g of caster sugar

·        1 tsp of vanilla extract

·        120g plain flour

·        1/4 tsp salt

·        100g of white choc chunks

·        100g dried cranberries (or any other dried fruits you like)

·        100g of raw macadamia nuts, chopped

Optional: Icing sugar to coat the top of brownies

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a brownie tin with baking paper.

2. Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a bowl over a bain marie or in the microwave. I start it off in the microwave for 30 seconds and then pop it on a bain marie to continue melting gently.

3. In another bowl mix together the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until well combined. Stir in the butter and chocolate mixture until thick and creamy.

4. Shift in the flour and salt. Stir it together and then add the white chocolate, cranberries and macadamia nuts.

5. Pour the mixture into the lined brownie tin and bake for 25-30 minutes. You will know he brownies are ready when the top is cracked and when you insert a skewer into the centre it doesn't come out wet. The skewer does not have to come out completely clean, as that would mean your brownies are overcooked and possible dry. Leave to cool for 20 minutes then cut into squares.

Optional: Shift icing sugar on the top of the brownies to decorate.

Enjoy!!

Word Wheels

As any infant teacher would know, learning to blend sounds together is a key skill in English. Here is something I came up with last year to help my little ones get the hang of blending. I'm calling these Word Wheels!

How it works: Students look at the picture in the centre of the "wheel". They then blend the letters around the wheel to work out which direction the wheel turns. The initial sound is always at the top of the wheel. Students then have to draw a line to connect the letters to form the word. I like to laminate my resources and put them on metal ring for ease of storage. Also I found that it helps children learn to organise their learning as they can figure out themselves what sets they have already worked on. 

I organise these by putting them into a box along with some whiteboard markers and use it as a guided reading activity.

I have made a set of 60 cards that cover all short vowel sounds. They can be purchased here of you are interested.

If you would like to try these out in your classroom, I have posted 10 cards from the set of 60 here FREE!

Happy teaching everyone!

Xx Laura

3 ways to Improve Conversations with Kids

I've recently took part in a professional learning course about enhancing language use through conversation in the classroom. It was nice and affirming to find out that I am already doing a great job with my students in terms of building language through conversation but there were a few stand out strategies that I really wanted to share and have been trying in my classroom. They're not hard, it's just that I needed to be more aware and try to use them more often. Of course there are times where it will not be appropriate to use eg. while giving explicit teaching instructions but these strategies can be used by parents/teachers or any adult to encourage better conversations with kids.

1. Strive for 5

  

Strive for 5 is a strategy that teachers/parents can employ to engage students in sustained conversation. The aim is to have a total of at least 5 turns in speaking. Teachers/parents need to consider the types of questions/comments they make to children that will encourage them to take another turn. Sometimes a comment can bring about more conversation than asking a closed question. Here are some examples:

Example 1 (3 Turns)

1. Child: "I have a toy"

2. Adult: "What is it?" (closed question)

3. Child: "A doll". Child walks away to continue playing.

Example 2 (5 Turns)

1. Child: " I have a toy"

2. Adult: " That looks like an interesting toy. Tell me about your toy"

3. Child: "It's a doll and she like to play with me"

4. Adult: "Ooh, what things do you like doing with your doll?" (open question)

5. Child: "I like to dance, dress up and pretend cook"

As you can see, the second example of asking open questions leads to further conversation with a child as opposed to the closed question in the example 1.

  

2. OWL Strategy

I like this strategy because it allows children to lead the conversation on a topic or issue that they are interested in. It allows for all sorts of opportunities for communication.

0 - Observe

Sometimes it difficult to work out what is on a child's mind. And so adults need to observe and see what the child is doing (body language, hand gestures and facial expressions) and initiate a conversation based on what the child is interested in.

W - Wait

After initiating a conversation based on what you have observed a child doing, you need to WAIT! I feel like this is probably the most difficult part of this strategy because we as adult so often want to fill in the silence but waiting is a powerful tool. Waiting actually refers to 3 things:

1) stop talking

2) focus on the child by making eye contact or slightly leaning forward and

3) looking at the child expectantly.

This sends signals to the child that you're ready to them to respond to you or to take the lead in the conversation.  

If the child does not respond at all, the adult can ask a question or make a comment about the topic. Such as:  "Did you know...", "I wonder ...",  Try not to say "Thanks for sharing that with me" as that closes the conversation and the child is prompted to move along.

L - Listen

The listening part of this strategy is simple. Simply LISTEN to the child without interrupting. Whether or not you have understood the child's message just let the child speak. This lets them know what they are saying is important and it helps build their confidence in speaking to others.

Here is some further information about the OWL strategy from the Hanen's Early Language Program that I found online in addition to what I learnt on the course. 

3. Cueing Hierarchy

This is a great strategy to help those little ones who are anxious, unsure of what to say. It is a prompting guide for teachers/parents and is my favourite strategy of the 3. Here is a visual of this cueing system.

When you ask a question, allow waiting time for children to respond. If the child does not respond go through the cueing system. Start by giving the child a semantic clue (clue about the meaning), followed by a phonemic cue (clue about the sound). If this gets no response, provide the child with a binary choice. If by this stage the child has still not responded, model the word or sentence for them.

Here is an example:

Question: "What animal is the main character is the story?"

Wait for a response. If there is no response, provide a semantic cue.

Semantic cue: "Some people call this animal the king of the jungle."

Wait for a response. If there is no response, provide a phonemic cue.

Phonemic cue: "The animals starts with a 'l' sound like leaf"

Wait for a response. If there is no response, provide the child with a binary choice.

Binary choice: Do you think it could be a lion or a turtle?

Wait for a response. If there is no response, provide the child with a sentence starter or word.

Sentence/Word starter: The main character in the story is a l... (stress the 'l' sound so the child can say lion with you).

Using this cueing system allow many opportunities for a child to respond.

Hope this has been a helpful hint to you about how to engage children in conversation.

Xx Laura

Thai Beef Salad

This is a quick and easy Thai beef salad recipe that I make whenever hubby and I want something light to eat. The original recipe comes from taste.com.au 

I follow the recipe for the sauce/dressing but often change up the vegs/herbs depending on what is available in the fridge and it still tastes awesome! 

Ingredients for sauce/dressing:

- 1.5 tbsp lime juice

- 1 tbsp finely chopped palm sugar

- 1 tbsp fish sauce

- 2 tsp sesame oil

- 2 tsp grated ginger

- 1 garlic clove finely chopped

- 1 tsp soy sauce

Ingredients for salad

- 1 cucumber

- 1 packet of grape/cherry tomatoes or 1 whole tomato 

- 1 red onion, thinly sliced into wedges

-  2 fresh chilli, thinly sliced (deseed the chilli unless you like it hot!)

- 1 bunch of coriander

- 1 bunch of mint

- 1 bunch of basil (Thai basil is nicer than regular basil)

- 1/3 cup fo roasted peanut (optional)

- 2 kaffir leaves (optional)

Steps:

Mixed all the sauce/dressing ingredients together. Set aside.

Preheat the grill plate for the rump steak and cook the steak for 2-3 minutes on each side. Let the steak rest for 10 minutes.

Chop up all the veges/herbs as indicated in the ingredient list. Place in large bowl. 

Slice the steak into thin slices and place them on top of the salad. 

Pour the dressing and toss the salad. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Mummy Tip: Make double/triple the dressing amount and store it is a jar. That way you can keep it in the fridge for the next time. It will keep well in the fridge for 2-3 weeks  depending on the temperature of your fridge. I just found buying a tiny bit of ginger, palm sugar etc each time was annoying and often wasteful so I just make a big batch of dressing.

Day 2 of my Blogging Journey

So it's day 2 and I was wondering to myself what things do I want to put on this blog. So I made a list and yes you will be seeing lots of lists from me. 

1. Lots of teaching stuff

- I'll share my teaching experiences with you in and outside the classroom

2. My journey into becoming a mum and eventually a SAHM.

- This is a new stage in my life and hubby and I are thrilled that we will be starting out own little family soon. Keep watching this little space!

3. Crafty projects

- I love craft... I mean I LOOOOOVE craft!! So... don't be surprised if you see lots of attempts/fails at craft projects for the home, school or just random crafty things!

End list.. for now =P

Xx Laura