First PE Lesson!

Sorry for the delay in posting about the handball lesson I was planning. It has been a really crazy few weeks!


So, the lesson actually went really well. The children seemed to enjoy it and my groups worked really well together. We had originally divided the lesson into sections so that we could each take a section but in the end we all just mucked in and helped each other out.


The other groups did similar, non-traditional games like Dodgeball, Kick Rounders, Gaelic Football with the exception of one group who did Hockey. 


All of the sessions were really great and we all swapped lesson plans at the end too!...that's 5 PE lesson I don't need to spend hours planning now!


I'm currently in the middle of writing my first assignment. We were allowed to pick the topics which actually made it much harder to get started than you would have thought! I knew I wanted to do something on Maths but until I started reading through papers and books I didn't know what to focus on. On Monday I had a break through and now my assignment is on the use of resources in a primary maths classroom!


On that note, I best get back to business, 1500 words down, 4500 to go!! :)


Take Care,


Student Teacher

Handball or not to Handball!

I've had a really amazing week this week. I'm half way through a PE placement at an amazing school. We spent the whole of yesterday experiencing the breadth of their PE curriculum and tomorrow we get a chance to have a go at teaching!


We've been split into groups of 3 to plan a 45 minute Games lesson. Currently we thinking about doing Handball as it is not traditionally taught in Primary Schools....but it does seem quite a complicated game!

I'm off to a planning session now so will report back with our progress!!

Student Teacher

Placements here I come!!! :)

I have just had my last day at uni for 5 weeks!! Off on a PE placement on Monday for a week and then a welcome break over half term followed by the first 3 weeks of my first proper placement!!

Found out that I'll be off to spend my first placement in a mixed Year 1/2 class which I am extreamly happy about! Within all that I need to also spend a few days in reception!! :)

The school I am going to is very local to me...10 minute walk! At least my hours shouldn't be too long. One of my friends is expecting his journey to take about 3 hours including a 55 minute ferry ride which leaves the dock at 5.45am! We were told that we would have one "round the corner" placement and one travelling placement (up to 1 hour drive we were told!)...so i'm not hopeful for my second placement, God knows where i'll be placed!!

I've not have much homework this week so will be using the time to get ready for my PE placement and my main placement...we have so much to do in the first three weeks that I hope that if I do as much prep as I can now there will be minimal stress later!!

Well i'm going to settle down to a night full of X-Factor and sewing!!

Student Teacher

Placement Drama!

Well, after a 4 day weekend it was back to Uni today! 

I was hoping for some good news about my placement but no, nothing! I still don't know what Key Stage i'm in, never mind what year group. The uni have organised a Teacher Meet today for class mentors but my teacher isn't coming :( slightly worries now that I will be severely under prepared for the placement which starts in less than 3 weeks time (straight after October half term)!!


On a positive note, we had a great Maths lesson today. Our mental starter was Maths Tag! Basically the teacher asks the class questions and the child that gets the answer right gets to take a step (oh...all of the children are stood up in a space...), if they get close enough to another child then they can "tag" them, making them "out". Etc....until only one child is left standing - who is the winner!!


I have a quite night, work wise, tonight. Only a bit of maths to do from today, so I think a cuppa and a DVD might be in order...Chalet Girl arrived today via LoveFilm!

Have a great evening everyone!


Student Teacher

Spells and Mouse Fears

Hi Everyone!

I recently joined the local library so that I could have free reign on a bunch of children books! 

Last year I was introduced to some of Emily Gravett's books, and they are truly amaizing. The illustrations are fantastic and beautiful.

Here are two that I have had the pleasure of reading so far!!

Little Mouses big book of fears is all about a little mouse (obviously) who details all of his fears in the pages of the book. Everything from being scared of the dark to being sucked down the plug hole! The illustrations are wonderful!!

Spells is all about a little frog who finds a book of spells and in trying to find a spell to turn him into a Prince he ends up become a variety of animals!! This book has a series of flaps which bring a whole new aspect to the story!

Other than Emily Gravett books I have also become quite fond of Michael Morpurgo. I'm currently reading "This morning I met a Whale". I'll pop a post on here when i'm done!!


Have a lovely evening!


Student Teacher

Boomwhackers!!!

We had the most amazing Music lessons today. We were introduced to a load of coloured plastic tubes...called Boomwhackers!! There were AWESOME!!!

We have such a mix of musical abilities in our group and it was really great to have something that we could all use and together we made some really great music!!

I'm defiantly going to use them with my class!! :)

Enjoy the video,

Student Teacher

How ICT has changed my life!!

I'm currently sat in an ICT seminar and we've all been asked to write a blog on how ICT and technology has changed the way we go about our lives.


So, lets get down to business.....How has ICT/technology has changed my life?

I suppose the biggest change digital technology has made for me is email. It has made it so much easier to keep in touch with friends, especially when we all went our separate ways to go to uni. Snail mail takes so long these days that it is so much more convenient to quickly type up an email and send it (and with reciepts you know if it's arrived or not too!!). The last company I worked for relied so much on email that if there was ever a problem with our computers or the network everything just screeched to a halt!!



I had better give Facebook a mention! I probably wouldn't keep in touch with as many people if I didn't have Facebook. It has been a great way to get back in touch with friends from my childhood too. The only downside to facebook is that it is very easy to get a bit "obsessed"!! The event pages are great as it is much easier to organise activities with a lot of people via a single page.


Other than communication I really find it much easier to shop online than going into town. I guess the only down side is that you can't see if before you buy it, but generally the returns procedure is quite simple! It is really great for buying things that you wouldn't nessessarily find on the local high street for example websites like Not on the Highstreet and Etsy which have a range of weird and wonderful things you would never find at a shopping centre! http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/ and http://www.etsy.com/?ref=so_home


With regards to blogs, I have never really used them religiously before. I have read a few but this is the first one I have written. Cherry Menlove's blog is one of my favourites, it's great for cooking and craft ideas. http://www.cherrymenlove.com/


When it comes to university work, the internet has made it so much easier to do research and find sources of information. Rather than rummaging through hundreds of books in the library trying to find the one paragraph on the topic you're interested in, you can just stick a few words into Google and it's done!! Google is so popular that it has become a well used verb...to google!

This week I have probably used hundreds of different aspects of digital technology without really thinking about it: Email, iTunes, Google, Facebook, Online Shopping, Freeview TV, Mobile internet, YouTube....the list goes on. My favourite online facility is Google Calendars! My boyfriend and I both have separate calendars but can view each others as well by sharing them. This make it so much easier to plan events and to find each other! And now that we both have android phones...Google calendar is with us every second of the day!! Well Done Google! :)


Thinking about computers in general, we tend to get on OK but I find it extreamly frustrating when they have a mind of there own. My old laptop used to do some very odd things, without me even touching it half the time! Fortunately my new one seems to be better behaved but sometimes I do think that a pen and paper would be easier!


Other than the internet and computers, technology has made many day to day tasks much easier, quicker and, most of the time, more effective. For example, electric toothbrushes, solar powered calculators, television remotes and the more obvious, mobile phone and iPods. I don't remember the last day when I didn't use my mobile phone (...maybe at summer camp in the Lake District when there was no signal!). Technology has also made it more convenient to communicate and therefore I think more people tend to get in touch with each other these days. When I was at school, before mobiles and email were popular, I saw my friends but then on Friday, unless plans had been made, I wouldn't talk to them until the following Monday. It is however, a shame that people don't write letters anymore. I love getting post, but now it's mainly bills, junk or the odd postcard (its strange how people still send postcards!).


So, we've covered the fact that technology has made our lives easier, but I also think that it's made us much lazier too. From not having to go to Tesco to do food shopping, as we can now order online, to using escalators and lifts to get to the next floor, so we don't have to use the stairs. Technology has also made it very possible for us to never have to leave the house again!, and surely that is not a good thing.


I am sure that there are many other technological items and gadgets which I haven't mentioned here which impact on our lives massively but at the end of the day I really don't think you can ever replace the real thing....people will still read books even though kindles are available, people will still meet up with friends even though they have Skype and people will still write letter (even if it is just a postcard or a Christmas card) even though they have email.


Well I better get off to my next lecture!


Student Teacher

Mosquito Bites and Music Lessons

Well i'm back from a weekend of camping, covered in mosquito bites ready to get down to some work. I am extreamly grateful for the Monday Study Days otherwise I would never get my work done if I went away!


We didn't get a huge amount of written work to do this week, it's mainly reading, but for me its the reading that takes up all of my time (i'm a pretty slow reader!!)


I've got Music for the first time this week which i'm very much looking forward to and we have an interactive whiteboard practical too....which could be interesting!! :)


As I need to get on with work i'll keep this one short, but i'll pop back later in the week to tell you all about Music!! :)

Student Teacher