Today has been a rather long day. Starting at the usual 6am, so we could get to school by 7am. I worked through break and lunch - again, as normal - but then had a real good laugh with a few of the teachers in the garden. I've become something of a passive smoker - mainly because so many teachers at my school smoke lol. We had a really good laugh though and it was great to have some light-relief. :)
I left school at around 4.30pm but had to go up to a local leisure centre to update a display provided by the school [all about the olympics]. We had created some medals this afternoon, where the children wrote down a time when they were brave. Some of those were incredibly funny - I've realised, especially after marking so much Big Write, that innocent spelling errors can make you cry with laughter. Although obviously not in front of the children! Eg. One of the medals read "I was brave when I fell off the whores". Obviously, the pupil meant horse, but it didn't stop myself, the TA and my class teacher having a good, innappropriate giggle. One that was incredibly funny [without any such spelling errors] read: "I was brave when I was chased by a venermous spider and when a horse ate my hair". I mean, what lol?! The children are fantastic - they are definitely a highlight of any PGCE. They make you smile, with their little ways and some of the things they say, every day. :D
Anyway, I put the display up and got back home at around 5.30pm. I then realised that I hadn't eaten anything today [pretty usual on placement, I've found], so I competed with a large group of Americans to cook my dinner. They are still in the kitchen now [in fact, there are more of them now lol], so I am glad I didn't hold off to cook without interrupting them. :)
As the title says, today marks the end of a half term. An entire half term as the main teacher for 29 children. A very scary notion! It has been a good half term though [knackering, but good] and we've managed to do some creative things. The children have written and performed playscripts, created photoframes in DT, 'natural collages' in art, newspapers/bar charts/collages and various maps in history/geography and we have had the chance to do lots of practical things in maths. Eg, we did a 'measure me' activity on Monday outside in the sunshine - with the children working in pairs to find 7 set measurements, eg. foot length, smile width. Similarly, we did lots of hands-on activities involving capacity on Wednesday, including an activity where we made up some drinks for Willy Wonka. It is nice when the creative things pay off and the children seem to enjoy their lessons. And, they have all been so engaged by our class novel [The Twits] that we keep having little fights on our hands over the Roald Dahl book collection in our classroom - all the children want the chance to read each and every one, including those who normally refuse to read. Yay!
So, all good things. I've one more week of this placement left, then two weeks enhancement. I've arranged to spend those two weeks in three different classes [covering EYFS/KS1 and year 3 - I am staying in my current class for three days, just because I'd hate to miss that chance]. Time is ticking. It'll soon be summer! And, before that, I've got half term. There is an essay to do and a day to be spent in university, but I have most of the week off and it almost doesn't feel real right now. No 6am starts for a week?! Wow! :D
Oh, and here are our broadbeans now. :) We finished our investigation into the effects of light [and disposed of those slightly unhappy looking plants today - they went into the compost bin] and we planted the children's individual broadbeans. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, they will be able to serve them up in the school kitchen [alongside some of the crops being grown by the other classes]. :)
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