My first day observing a primary school came quicker than I had expected. I sent out a lot of letters to local schools and the surrounding areas, (both in
Primary and Secondary). It was by sheer coincidence that a fellow runner at my club, whose
daughter goes to this school, said that I should mention his name in a letter to the headteacher.
I did just that and within a week had a reply asking me to visit the school for a meeting with the head to discuss when I could come and observe at the school. The meeting was a success, and the head mentioned that they did have a Schools Direct Salaried person linked to the school but fell pregnant and had to drop out. For this reason they would not be prepared to take on someone salaried for the 2014-15, however I was just happy to be given a chance to start the ball rolling.
Tuesday 24th - Year 3: 23 Children in the classroom
It was my first day and I spent it with the Year 3 teacher. I was nervous because not since college had I been to a primary school before (to perform Twelfth Night) and I had forgotten how small everything is compared to big school. I found out that he is an ex rock star who quite recently had a hit in the charts. Nice to know I am not the only one changing career from performing on stage to putting on an act at a school.
The children were very charming and there were only 23 in the class with a TA. The tables and chairs were small, each student had their books underneath their table. Outside was a separate set of pegs just for their classes coats and bags.
Up first was a re-cap lesson on healthy eating, where the class had been learning about something good to eat and drink. This was quickly followed by assembly where every Tuesday Father Andrews comes in for worship. Jubilate capped off assembly after a set of prayers.
Maths: I can add a 2 digit number to a 1 digit number
The class were given 10 sums in which the students had to mark if they were wrong or right. Then it moved onto long addition.
TU
26
+ 5
= 31.
I was asked to work alongside a boy with SEN statement, and assisted by going through the questions, asking him how he would work it out and then scribe the answer. When the teacher asked the class for input, he responded well by given some correct answers.
Literacy: I can use the 'ea'and 'ee' in spellings.
Such as cleaner, beaker, heap, east, teacher, cheat, dungarees, see, hear, feel, After 5 minutes he asked them to feedback on which words they had come up with. I went around the class and assisted when necessary.
Storytelling: A story about a duck called Borka was read out. Borka had no feathers and the children were asked how the duck felt. Sad, petrified and lonely were some of the responses.
The teacher asked them about the book and what they noticed about it.
- recognised it was by the same author as a previously studied book - John Burningham
- instead of pictures, some of the class know the word illustration
- it also had the same font as the previous book
The teacher asked them to link feeling to both characters and work in pairs or groups. To get them quiet he used click click clap to which the class copied and held their attention.
After lunch the years 1-5 had singing with the year 5 teacher.
Songs included:
It's a beautiful world you made.
Who put colours in the rainbow.
Jesus's love is so wonderful.
If I were a butterfly.
Finally was PE, and netball was covered. Chris looked at pivot passing and did a game which used fake passing to send players the wrong way.
Thursday 26th - Year 5: 26 Children in the classroom
The head asked me to work alongside a supply teacher.
The first things I noticed between the year groups was, that a Maths Vocab Board, Connectives Board and Timeline of writing and communication had been displayed. Some of this was completed by the children, which gives a sense of ownership.
A huge display about Alice in Wonderland was also up at the back of the classroom and this was for a 'working wall', where work is completed and added to create the display rather than it being made all in advance. It had the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat and of course Alice.
Reading: I noticed the class reading a wide variety of books by various authors; Roald Dahl, Micheal Murpogo, Jacqueline Wilson, Anthony Horowitz and J.K Rowling. I was pleased to see a all of them reading something and there is also a couple of beanbags for those wishing to be more comfortable (treated as a reward).
Assembly: News had spread from two of the children (whose mum had overheard a conversation, I had with one of the teachers about me being Daniel Radcliffe's body double, on the Harry Potter films) and this got through to the Year 6 teacher, who asked me to give a talk on being on a film set, and my experiences.
This was nerve-wracking, especially as I had only been in school one full day and apart from Years 3 & 5, I didn't know any of the other children,. and also what to expect. My worries soon disappeared when I had 120+ children captivated with stories of what the set looks like, the time I got to ride on a broomstick, dressing in the costumes that Harry Potter wears, using a wand for the first time and drinking poly-juice potion. Despite the very young ones not encountering the series by book or even film, I did ask if they knew any characters, the 4 Houses of Hogwarts, and what the book titles were. This lasted for about 10 minutes and from then on at every break and lunchtime, I was met with a barrage of questions, which I duly listened to and answered.
Literacy: I can explore a piece of fictional text and analyse the use of language.
Alice in Wonderland was the focus of the lesson and I worked with a group of children on the 'Mock Turtle and Gryphon' scene.
The children explored the text for body language description, how to let an audience know someones mood, habit or trait, and also the use of stage directions and adjectives.
One of the students I worked with was a boy with some mild learning disabilities including; Dyslexia and Autism. This all sounds a lot but he copes really well, I used a white board to help create answers for him to copy.
Behaviour Management: I even had a reward system in which I drew a Harry Potter and Voldermort face on the board, then kept a tally chart of good/bad behaviour under each character. This worked really well and it was used on any subsequent school days I was in his classroom.
Maths: I can find the different factors from a set of 1 and 2 digit numbers.
These were 24, 48, 9, 10, 40 and 21.
They contained a variety of factors including; 2,3,4,5,7,8 and 10
This can be up-leveled by investigating which numbers have common factors in them and can be represented by using a Venn Diagram.
RE: I can use pictures to create a story.
The class looked at pictures taken from all over the world of different journeys. One was someone on a boat, another by plane and one was of Mecca. Not all of them necessarily had a religious purpose but they explored the possibilities of where the travellers were going, why and how long it would take them. They were then asked to think about a time they too went on a journey and described where, when, how and what did they do on the journey. Some said about their way to school others mentioned a holiday they had been on and one said about every time they go to the shops and including the senses of sweets.
French: I can say the basic colours and numbers in the French language.
A specialist teacher came in to teach and straight away we had a great rapport. She did speak less English on purpose, which I could see unsettled some of the class, but this effect should work well if they are to pick up another language quickly.
Colouring in flags on a sheet, was the way in which to learn both colours and numbers. Each represented a colour and ranged from blue/bleu to green/vert to red/rouge. I used the white board with the same colours, to come up with flags not on the sheet. They included the Jamaican, Italian and Canadian flags. Jamaican was the hardest because of its complex trianglular cross pattern. It was however a fun interactive way to learn and the class really enjoyed saying the phrases.
Thursday 10th October - Year 5: 26 Children in the classroom with the head as Teacher for the day
Literacy: I can list as many nursery rhymes as I can in a minute.
This was a quick starter and gave the children time to get their brains into action. All of the classics cropped up including ; 3 Blind Mice, Humpty Dumpty, Incey Wincey Spider, and Baa Ba Black Sheep.
The class then had to choose one and were given 30 secs thinking time before telling a story around the rhyme, which was to last a minute.
Each pupil paired up with another and both had to give a reason for their story - i.e Humpty Dumpty was sat on the wall as a prank but when he fell down, all of his yolk was made into a huge omelette. The other pupil asked questions and see how much detail could be made from this story.
It helped to understand the perspectives of different characters.
Maths: I can work out a sequence of numbers and fill in the next number to the pattern.
The sequences ranged from simple multiplications, to adding the same number but not in traditional multiplication order. I assisted the same boy as before in this class, and showed him on a whiteboard how to spot any patterns. The sequences included;
I can use a tally chart to record data and a bar graph to represent data.
Each pupil was given the same sheet of paper with a paragraph about 10 lines long. They were asked to work in their table groups and give each of them a single vowel to find. This worked by scanning carefully each word and highlighting their chosen a.e.i.o.u. This was then recorded on a tally chart and shared across the table so that everyone had all the information required for a bar graph.
Next the pupils were given graph paper and asked to create a bar graph showing how frequent each of the letters appeared in the text. The results did vary depending on how careful some of the pupils were but on the whole it was a success and e,a,i,u,o came up as the most to least represented. The middle and higher level students were able to show the range, mode, mean and medium of the data and explained that not all texts will be the same.
RE: The lesson concentrated on the Islamic Faith and the Muslim Community. This was a continuation of the journey's lesson, the class had worked on in one of my previous visits.
Mecca was the location and a pilgrimage was the journey. Questions were asked as to why Muslims take the time to make the journey, what part of the world it is in, what it symbolises and what they thought of the iconic stone monument called Kaaba, also known as the Sacred House and the Ancient House, is a cuboid building at the centre of Islam's most sacred mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram.
MIX UP/PAIR UP - To promote working with others, outside of friendship/table groups
As a task the class were asked to think of key places for religious activities and a list of generic questions that could be applied to all. They then walked about the class, pairing up with each other and asked the questions about a place they may have visited in their lives.
Some of the questions were:
The class certainly respected Mrs M, not only because she was the Head but because she engaged and connected in a way that I have not seen a lot of heads do. She wasn't commanding or over powering, and allowed questions and answers from everyone.
Tuesday 22nd October - Year 5: 26 Children in the classroom.
Literacy: I can come up with a range of descriptions to use in a poem.
The school were honoured to have a local poet from to come in and work with the class on some poetry. It was to be about the English Countryside and everyone brainstormed ideas.
There is to be a performance of poetry at a localLeisure Centre, with three workshop session building up to the event. All schools receive the poems created and they will be using Wood and Forests as the theme.
Coral read out one of her own poems in which she got a resounding round of applause, she then asked the class to improvise a word chain, in which each word has to link somehow, with the previous for example;
Fire, water, drink, tea, milk, cow, farm, tractor, wheel, car, road, chicken, egg, omelette
Next was using a simile to describe one of their classmates. As clever as an elephant, as mischievous, as a chimpanzee, as strong as a brick wall and as fast as Usain Bolt, were ones that sprung up.
Making the sentences flow and have a rhythm is also key to a good poem.
Maths: I can times a number by 10, 100 and 1000.
Not only were whole numbers used but decimals as well. This was to show how the decimal point moves to the right when multiplying. Adding the correct amount of 0s depending what was given. Some of the low-middle ability children started on whole numbers to help cement the skill, whereas the higher ability children were able to focus on 2 decimal places
I can round a 6 digit number to nearest multiple of 1000.
This is a continuation of the above, and built of place-values. Over 5 moves number up and 4/below moves number down.
13,675 rounded to nearest 1000 = 14,000
12,356 rounded to nearest 100 = 12,300
Dice were used to create numbers.
Guided Reading: The class are split into their author named groups again and I spent time with those in Pratchett, who were reading and then asking each other question. These had been printed onto card and are a great way to introduce and emphasise comprehension techniques.The head asked me to work alongside a supply teacher.
The first things I noticed between the year groups was, that a Maths Vocab Board, Connectives Board and Timeline of writing and communication had been displayed. Some of this was completed by the children, which gives a sense of ownership.
A huge display about Alice in Wonderland was also up at the back of the classroom and this was for a 'working wall', where work is completed and added to create the display rather than it being made all in advance. It had the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat and of course Alice.
Reading: I noticed the class reading a wide variety of books by various authors; Roald Dahl, Micheal Murpogo, Jacqueline Wilson, Anthony Horowitz and J.K Rowling. I was pleased to see a all of them reading something and there is also a couple of beanbags for those wishing to be more comfortable (treated as a reward).
Assembly: News had spread from two of the children (whose mum had overheard a conversation, I had with one of the teachers about me being Daniel Radcliffe's body double, on the Harry Potter films) and this got through to the Year 6 teacher, who asked me to give a talk on being on a film set, and my experiences.
This was nerve-wracking, especially as I had only been in school one full day and apart from Years 3 & 5, I didn't know any of the other children,. and also what to expect. My worries soon disappeared when I had 120+ children captivated with stories of what the set looks like, the time I got to ride on a broomstick, dressing in the costumes that Harry Potter wears, using a wand for the first time and drinking poly-juice potion. Despite the very young ones not encountering the series by book or even film, I did ask if they knew any characters, the 4 Houses of Hogwarts, and what the book titles were. This lasted for about 10 minutes and from then on at every break and lunchtime, I was met with a barrage of questions, which I duly listened to and answered.
Literacy: I can explore a piece of fictional text and analyse the use of language.
Alice in Wonderland was the focus of the lesson and I worked with a group of children on the 'Mock Turtle and Gryphon' scene.
The children explored the text for body language description, how to let an audience know someones mood, habit or trait, and also the use of stage directions and adjectives.
One of the students I worked with was a boy with some mild learning disabilities including; Dyslexia and Autism. This all sounds a lot but he copes really well, I used a white board to help create answers for him to copy.
Behaviour Management: I even had a reward system in which I drew a Harry Potter and Voldermort face on the board, then kept a tally chart of good/bad behaviour under each character. This worked really well and it was used on any subsequent school days I was in his classroom.
Maths: I can find the different factors from a set of 1 and 2 digit numbers.
These were 24, 48, 9, 10, 40 and 21.
They contained a variety of factors including; 2,3,4,5,7,8 and 10
This can be up-leveled by investigating which numbers have common factors in them and can be represented by using a Venn Diagram.
RE: I can use pictures to create a story.
The class looked at pictures taken from all over the world of different journeys. One was someone on a boat, another by plane and one was of Mecca. Not all of them necessarily had a religious purpose but they explored the possibilities of where the travellers were going, why and how long it would take them. They were then asked to think about a time they too went on a journey and described where, when, how and what did they do on the journey. Some said about their way to school others mentioned a holiday they had been on and one said about every time they go to the shops and including the senses of sweets.
French: I can say the basic colours and numbers in the French language.
A specialist teacher came in to teach and straight away we had a great rapport. She did speak less English on purpose, which I could see unsettled some of the class, but this effect should work well if they are to pick up another language quickly.
Colouring in flags on a sheet, was the way in which to learn both colours and numbers. Each represented a colour and ranged from blue/bleu to green/vert to red/rouge. I used the white board with the same colours, to come up with flags not on the sheet. They included the Jamaican, Italian and Canadian flags. Jamaican was the hardest because of its complex trianglular cross pattern. It was however a fun interactive way to learn and the class really enjoyed saying the phrases.
Thursday 10th October - Year 5: 26 Children in the classroom with the head as Teacher for the day
Literacy: I can list as many nursery rhymes as I can in a minute.
This was a quick starter and gave the children time to get their brains into action. All of the classics cropped up including ; 3 Blind Mice, Humpty Dumpty, Incey Wincey Spider, and Baa Ba Black Sheep.
The class then had to choose one and were given 30 secs thinking time before telling a story around the rhyme, which was to last a minute.
Each pupil paired up with another and both had to give a reason for their story - i.e Humpty Dumpty was sat on the wall as a prank but when he fell down, all of his yolk was made into a huge omelette. The other pupil asked questions and see how much detail could be made from this story.
It helped to understand the perspectives of different characters.
Maths: I can work out a sequence of numbers and fill in the next number to the pattern.
The sequences ranged from simple multiplications, to adding the same number but not in traditional multiplication order. I assisted the same boy as before in this class, and showed him on a whiteboard how to spot any patterns. The sequences included;
- 1,7,13,19 - add 6 each time
- 6,9.12 - add 3 each time (it's also the 3 x table)
- 33,30,27 - subtracting 3 each time (3 x table backwards)
- 9, 0, -9 - subtracting 9 each time but also going into negative numbers
This gave different levels of differentiation. The lowers could look purely at the times table, middle level pupils can explore addition or subtracting the same number, but not necessarily from a times table sequence, and the highers will be able to look into both, but with negative numbers as well. For those who are G&T (Gifted and Talented) I noticed them doing some more challenging sequences, for example 1,3,6,10,15,21 which is known as the Triangular Sequence.
I can use a tally chart to record data and a bar graph to represent data.
Each pupil was given the same sheet of paper with a paragraph about 10 lines long. They were asked to work in their table groups and give each of them a single vowel to find. This worked by scanning carefully each word and highlighting their chosen a.e.i.o.u. This was then recorded on a tally chart and shared across the table so that everyone had all the information required for a bar graph.
Next the pupils were given graph paper and asked to create a bar graph showing how frequent each of the letters appeared in the text. The results did vary depending on how careful some of the pupils were but on the whole it was a success and e,a,i,u,o came up as the most to least represented. The middle and higher level students were able to show the range, mode, mean and medium of the data and explained that not all texts will be the same.
RE: The lesson concentrated on the Islamic Faith and the Muslim Community. This was a continuation of the journey's lesson, the class had worked on in one of my previous visits.
Mecca was the location and a pilgrimage was the journey. Questions were asked as to why Muslims take the time to make the journey, what part of the world it is in, what it symbolises and what they thought of the iconic stone monument called Kaaba, also known as the Sacred House and the Ancient House, is a cuboid building at the centre of Islam's most sacred mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram.
MIX UP/PAIR UP - To promote working with others, outside of friendship/table groups
As a task the class were asked to think of key places for religious activities and a list of generic questions that could be applied to all. They then walked about the class, pairing up with each other and asked the questions about a place they may have visited in their lives.
Some of the questions were:
- What are the Pilgrims called?
- Who do they pray to?
- What do they wear?
- When would they go on their pilgrimage/
- Who do they meet?
Tuesday 22nd October - Year 5: 26 Children in the classroom.
Literacy: I can come up with a range of descriptions to use in a poem.
The school were honoured to have a local poet from to come in and work with the class on some poetry. It was to be about the English Countryside and everyone brainstormed ideas.
There is to be a performance of poetry at a localLeisure Centre, with three workshop session building up to the event. All schools receive the poems created and they will be using Wood and Forests as the theme.
Coral read out one of her own poems in which she got a resounding round of applause, she then asked the class to improvise a word chain, in which each word has to link somehow, with the previous for example;
Fire, water, drink, tea, milk, cow, farm, tractor, wheel, car, road, chicken, egg, omelette
Next was using a simile to describe one of their classmates. As clever as an elephant, as mischievous, as a chimpanzee, as strong as a brick wall and as fast as Usain Bolt, were ones that sprung up.
Making the sentences flow and have a rhythm is also key to a good poem.
Maths: I can times a number by 10, 100 and 1000.
Not only were whole numbers used but decimals as well. This was to show how the decimal point moves to the right when multiplying. Adding the correct amount of 0s depending what was given. Some of the low-middle ability children started on whole numbers to help cement the skill, whereas the higher ability children were able to focus on 2 decimal places
I can round a 6 digit number to nearest multiple of 1000.
This is a continuation of the above, and built of place-values. Over 5 moves number up and 4/below moves number down.
13,675 rounded to nearest 1000 = 14,000
12,356 rounded to nearest 100 = 12,300
Dice were used to create numbers.
- What has been happening to the characters?
- Who has the story been written for and why?
- What do you think of the story and is what feelings does it provoke?
RE: I can design and then draw a totem pole to represent my personality
Following on from the journeys topic, the class looked at Native American Totem poles and discovered the many creatures and designs that appeared on them. Afterwards they were asked to design their own and then colour it in.
Some did a symmetrical image whilst others had different faces for each part of the pole.
Tuesday 26th November - Whole School: Creative Writing Day
My final day of observation turned out to be one of the best. I had not been told what was happening until I arrived and the head informed me of the special day ahead. I was asked to dress up as a NASA Scientist, investigating the mysterious crash landing of a spaceship in the early morning hours whilst everyone was still in bed.
In the school playing fields, a crash site had been set up to represent an alien spaceship, broken into pieces, with many different object scattered around. After the bell went, the entire school made their way to the site and had to stand behind a no-go area surrounded by red/white tape. I had to pretend to observe the wreckage and pick up various objects for the children to ask questions and make notes.
Lots of things were found including;
Green jelly used to represent radioactive alien flesh.
A rocket was the main body of the ship, about 3m long with 4 engines.
The 'black box' was located which would have recorded the flight and details of the crash.
A headset, to which I had a 'conversation' with some aliens who told me the ship had crashed from Venus as it was going past the moon.
Another spaceship had crash landed in Massachusetts, according to the New York Post.
PP135 was an number plate.
Microchips scattered everywhere.
A multi-coloured seatbelt.
Gas mask, lots of wires and a silver ball was hanging from a nearby tree.
Pair of space-boots.
Golden pieces of rock - could be food or fuel source.
All of the above I noted and questions asked to children included; where the aliens may have come from, why they crashed and why in their school field, could there be any aliens walking around the school, what the different parts of the ship did and could it be fixed.
Once all of the children had gone back to their classrooms, I visited each one and shared my findings.
Year 6 were writing news reports and making believable writing. Making their opinions sound like fact simply by using quotes and persuasive language.
The next step was to create their own crime scenes, split into groups with one half creating the scene and the other guessing what happened.
Year 5 were creating a diary about the alien and the journey it had taken from its home planet to Earth. Passports were also made for their own alien character.
Year 2 wrote their own alien story and Year 1 did the same but only looking at using time connectives - First, Next and Finally, plus story starters - One night and suddenly.
One of the teachers dresses up like an alien and kept popping up all across the school, this gave the students something else to think about in their creative writing.
Cookham Dean Round-up
Without the belief of the head, I wouldn't have been given the chance to observe so soon after inquiring into becoming a teacher. The school was able to offer me a range of observations and I had the chance to experience many age-groups and styles of teaching. Giving my 1st Assembly was nerve-wracking but because I was so passionate about my previous acting experiences, it flowed naturally and I had the entire school gripped.
Being a small, one form entry school, I could get around the classrooms quickly and spoke to most of the teachers. In other schools I will not be so lucky. Being another male member of staff, I stood out with the parents and students alike and I can see why primary schools are keen to take more on board.
The majority of my experience was with the Year 5's and it was a pleasure working with the all. A bright bunch of children with bags of energy. Polite and always helpful. The level of understanding and learning is higher than I remembered it was when I was same age.
To any of the staff reading this in the future- I thank you ever so much for the time you gave me and wish you all the best in your own careers.
My final day of observation turned out to be one of the best. I had not been told what was happening until I arrived and the head informed me of the special day ahead. I was asked to dress up as a NASA Scientist, investigating the mysterious crash landing of a spaceship in the early morning hours whilst everyone was still in bed.
In the school playing fields, a crash site had been set up to represent an alien spaceship, broken into pieces, with many different object scattered around. After the bell went, the entire school made their way to the site and had to stand behind a no-go area surrounded by red/white tape. I had to pretend to observe the wreckage and pick up various objects for the children to ask questions and make notes.
Lots of things were found including;
Green jelly used to represent radioactive alien flesh.
A rocket was the main body of the ship, about 3m long with 4 engines.
The 'black box' was located which would have recorded the flight and details of the crash.
A headset, to which I had a 'conversation' with some aliens who told me the ship had crashed from Venus as it was going past the moon.
Another spaceship had crash landed in Massachusetts, according to the New York Post.
PP135 was an number plate.
Microchips scattered everywhere.
A multi-coloured seatbelt.
Gas mask, lots of wires and a silver ball was hanging from a nearby tree.
Pair of space-boots.
Golden pieces of rock - could be food or fuel source.
All of the above I noted and questions asked to children included; where the aliens may have come from, why they crashed and why in their school field, could there be any aliens walking around the school, what the different parts of the ship did and could it be fixed.
Once all of the children had gone back to their classrooms, I visited each one and shared my findings.
Year 6 were writing news reports and making believable writing. Making their opinions sound like fact simply by using quotes and persuasive language.
The next step was to create their own crime scenes, split into groups with one half creating the scene and the other guessing what happened.
Year 5 were creating a diary about the alien and the journey it had taken from its home planet to Earth. Passports were also made for their own alien character.
Year 2 wrote their own alien story and Year 1 did the same but only looking at using time connectives - First, Next and Finally, plus story starters - One night and suddenly.
One of the teachers dresses up like an alien and kept popping up all across the school, this gave the students something else to think about in their creative writing.
Cookham Dean Round-up
Without the belief of the head, I wouldn't have been given the chance to observe so soon after inquiring into becoming a teacher. The school was able to offer me a range of observations and I had the chance to experience many age-groups and styles of teaching. Giving my 1st Assembly was nerve-wracking but because I was so passionate about my previous acting experiences, it flowed naturally and I had the entire school gripped.
Being a small, one form entry school, I could get around the classrooms quickly and spoke to most of the teachers. In other schools I will not be so lucky. Being another male member of staff, I stood out with the parents and students alike and I can see why primary schools are keen to take more on board.
The majority of my experience was with the Year 5's and it was a pleasure working with the all. A bright bunch of children with bags of energy. Polite and always helpful. The level of understanding and learning is higher than I remembered it was when I was same age.
To any of the staff reading this in the future- I thank you ever so much for the time you gave me and wish you all the best in your own careers.
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