Julie Dekker : Weblog

Emergent Writing

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 19:23:21 GMT

Christmas has finally arrived in Class 1 with the creation of my "famous" Christmas Fairy Writing tent! Wet playtimes have never been looked forward to quite so much! With the aid of glitter voile, staples, fairy lights and special pens/paper the children have now somewhere very special to write within the classroom. It is amazing how excited the children become about writing when they are given a real reason to put pen to paper. The "Christmas Fairy" replies to these letters by hiding letters around the classroom ready for the children to find. These letters respond to the class as a group and spur even more writing! The youngest children are able to use emergent writing and older children are confident in the fact that their writing will not be marked. The boys love it too...there is always a queue of children waiting to enter the tent. At this time of year when so much of our time is taken up with rehearsals etc it is good to see the wonderful impact of independent writing. Long may the "Fairy" keep writing!

Out of the mouths of babes!

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 16:54:26 GMT

Having just recovered from an unknown virus, thank you Class 1!, I staggered back into school today to complete paperwork for my PGCE students and to pick up the pieces before the weekend. At the end of the afternoon we had circle time- the children love this opportunity to share thoughts, views and things they have made at home. Finally it was Nicholas' turn in the limelight. He proudly showed us the book he had written at home including pictures and sentences...pretty good for a Reception. We duly listened..."My name is Nicholas...I am 5...I like school...I have lots of friends." We nodded approval..."My teacher is old"...shriekes of hysteria!

I am now going to take myself off for a long, hot bath with cucumber, moisteriser and a stiff gin!...Maybe I'll look better by Monday!

A good day

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:16:07 GMT

I never imagined that I would ever enjoy a whole morning learning about ICT related things.However...I have just spent a really valuable and exciting day learning about my blog etc. 3 of us inexperienced primary AST Bloggers got together with an experienced high school blogger and "got online". We had a great time and ,with huge thanks to Yvonne, managed to set up our bloggs. Working with Yvonne was great for many reasons: she's used to working with children...!, realises that most of us are self taught in ICT ( therefore know very little!) and was happy to repeat everything at least 3 times!

Coffee breaks were also spent in very constructive discussion. It is good to listen to the experiences of others and to reassure each other that we are all trying, sometimes against the odds, to do a good job. As I spend all day with very short children it was good to share time with adults and to bounce ideas around the table.

It would be really good to spend more time with colleagues from other phases as we can all learn from eachother as today has proved.

The First time

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 11:53:54 GMT

Hi everyone! As this is my first time on this I was VERY tempted to describe myself as a "vir...blogger "! However, I don't want to get myself banned quite yet! Will write something of intelligence later.