Sonia Manzano López
Teaching Practice in Downview School
(Bognor Regis)
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world". Nelson Mandela
My lesson plan in Year 3
All about Downview Primary School
This is the lesson plan, originally planned for year 3 and and used also in year 2 with the materials created.
Downview Primary School is an academy which means that money comes directly from the Goverment and not from the Local Authorities.
This school provides a high quality education for children aged between 4-11 years old (reception year - year 6) helping them to develop an excitement and enthusiasm for life-long learning and become well rounded both socially and academically.
These are the school's mission statements and aims
We grow and learn together everyday. We provide a stimulating, rich and relevant curriculum in a teaching and learning environment which is creative, engaging and inspiring. Teaching encourages further investigation and risk taking and by catering for all learning styles, enables the children to learn effectively and independently and reach their full potential. We give our children the opportunity to learn from a wide range of experiences, including a variety of out of school visits and bringing in visitors and specialists to talk to the children and share their knowledge. Our children’s achievements are celebrated and we aim to promote a culture of consideration and respect for all, along with high, fair expectations of work and behaviour, so that each child is prepared to take their place in society as a confident, active, healthy and responsible citizen. The school believes that it is vital for parents and the school to work in a supportive partnership. Through close, informed collaboration we aim to help children to succeed as a learner and make the best possible, consistent progress in a setting that is exciting, safe and cheerful and a place in which the children want to be.
STAFF AND STUDENTS
There are 420 students and 59 members of the staff : 10 canteen, 25 ancillary, 22 teachers, 1 headteacher, 1 deputy teacher.
FACILITIES OF THE SCHOOL
The school was built in 1976. The original building is of semi-open plan design and comprises teaching areas, a staffroom, an ICT studio, a library, SEN base, cloakrooms and toilet facilities, a medical room, a fully accessible toilet and hygiene facility and administrative
accommodation. The school is accessible to the disabled in almost all areas.
A three-classroom extension to the main building was completed in August 1998, a further single classroom in September 1999, a two-class unit in August 2000, one in 2001 and one additional classroom in 2009.
There are also two mobile units on site, which are two-class buildings with their own cloakrooms. In total, there are now 14 classes. A hall was added in December 1990. An extension to this, funded jointly by the school and the LEA, was completed in October 2004, which has doubled the available hall space. An additional, self contained room has been added, which houses the Pavilion, a private company offering a Breakfast Club and an After school and Holiday care facility.
In September 1994, another mobile classroom was installed in the grounds, which houses the Downview Nursery, an independent, fee-paying nursery for children from three years of age.
There is adequate hard surface play space, with a range of playground markings and equipment and a large playing field for physical education and recreation. We also have an extensive quiet area, a pond is being developed in association with Felpham Community
College students, due to be completed 2010.
ORGANIZATION OF THE CLASSES
One of the aspects that I loved from the school and that impress me it was that the classrooms were open classrooms. That means that there are not doors and one classroom was separated from another one just by a wall, as you can see on the following picture.
LEARNING ENVIROMENT
The whole school has some classroom routines and school principles established from Reception Year to Year 6 of Primary Education and all teachers and school staff follow these principles and routines. They give special importance of greeting each child in the morning and saying goodbye at departure time. The daily routine incorporates many musical activities and song s which played an important role on their learning.
They also have a program called “The child of the week” to encourage self-esteem of each individual child. The child of the week is chosen by their partners (voting a partner who has made a great effort during that week) or at random, depending on the year. All children should say or write what they like about the child of the week. This increases students' self steem and integration in the classroom. The children were always very excited when their turn came.
There are also lots of bulletin boards with pictures of the children and their families, as well as QI displays with "Quite Interesting" facts. This kind of displays make children feel important and it is a great opportunity of sharing experiences with their partners and learn from each other.
DISPLAYS AND BULLETIN BOARDS
British schools are very creative and they decorate all the school with wonderful displays. Here tthere are some explanation of the displays seen in Downview school.
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Some displays are merely decorative. They make the classroom brighter, and a more interesting and stimulating place. This , in itself, have a direct impact on pupil motivation and thus on pupil learning.
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Some display materials include useful direct teaching aids, such as number lines, letters, specific vocabulary or the letters of the alphabet. They can help to make the teaching more effective.
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Some others, include supplementary teaching aids that simply enrich or reinforce what is being taught, helping to bring the subject "to life".
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Some displays include information that it is important for students to memorise: such as number tables, formulae, spellings and other important factual information. These displays can be used for "drills".
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Some displays are used to "set the scene" for a new teaching topic. The teacher can put some stimulating material on display to promote pupil interest in a topic that is going to be taught.
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Some displays promote classroom management. They include the lists of routines, responsabilities, tasks and rules.
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Some others form part of record keeping. They are used to record pupil and class progress and topics covered.
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Finally, some other displays shows pupils work, showing that their work is valued.
Here there are some displays in Downview school.
House Points are a positive reward incentive and are issued to children for ‘exceptional’ work, behaviour, manners etc. We use the word ‘exceptional’ as good behaviour/work/manners are expected as the ‘norm’, therefore ‘house point rewards’ are issued to children when any action over and above ‘normal’ is achieved.
For each bundle of 25 house points a House Point Certificate is awarded and presented to the child during a special Award Assembly. The children are nominated by their teacher for a merit badge; typically when in Years 5 and 6. Children are usually very proud, and rightly so, to receive their Certificates and Badges.
Golden Rules have been agreed by children and staff and are displayed in all classes and areas around school. Positive Reinforcement and rewards are given to the students who respect the golden rules, and sanctions are applied fairly, making sure that the child understands that he or she has broken a rule.
For example, if any child does not respect the golden rules, they can loose their golden time.
Golden Time is a reward that can be earned by classes for good behaviour. It is for a maximum of 30 minutes and takes place on Friday afternoons. Golden time is earned or lost in five minute increments and can be earned either by the whole class or by an individual child for the whole class. The amount of golden minutes a class currently has will be displayed in the classroom.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH LESSON
Another thing I learnt in Downview school is how teachers share the learning objectives at the beginning of each lesson. This forces students into a cognitive activity immediately they enter the lesson. This means they are activating their HOTS. Moreover, it gives the learners the tools they need to take more responsibility for their own learning and achieve learning independence.They make the children feel concious about their own learning process. It is amazing how they relate what they are learning to the real world and how concious and aware they are about their own learning.
Moreover, learning objectives are always displayed in the classroom.
SELF ASSESSMENT
I really love how students make their own self-assessment and how teachers are asking them continually to assess themselves. In this way, students identify strengths and weakness in their own work. In every classroom students have some stamps of a star in different colours. If they understand very well the activity they are doing on their notebooks, they will put a green stamp, if they think they need more practice they will put the orange one and if they do not understand it they will put the red stamp. Here there is an example.
Other useful ideas for the classroom
Working with apostrophes
FINE MOTOR SKILLS IN RECEPTION YEAR
In reception year you can see children who are apparently just playing. However, they are developing their fine motor skills in a great variety of ways. Here there are some of them:
Fine motor skills involve the small muscles of the body that enable such functions as writing, grasping small objects, and fastening clothing. They involvestrength, fine motor control,and dexterity.
These skills are important in most school activities as well as in life in general. Weaknesses in fine motor skills can affect a child's ability to eat, write legibly, use a computer, turn pages in a book, and perform personal care tasks such as dressing and grooming.
In order to find more activities to develop fine motor skills, click HERE
JOLLY PHONICS
Jolly Phonics is a systematic synthetic phonics programme designed to teach children to read and write. Children learn the 42 letter sounds of the English language, rather than the alphabet. They are then taken through the stages of blending and segmenting words to develop reading and writing skills. Although Jolly Phonics is a programme originally created for native English speakers, has been broadly developed in other countries to teach English literacy as a second language. This is the case of Spain. In many bilingual schools in Madrid Community (included mine) Jolly Phonics is taught in Infant Education and first cycle of primary education. I enjoyed a lot to see how many different strategies they use to teach Jolly Phonics and how they can be adapted and aplied in my school.
SCHOOL POLICY
There is a whole school policy document in the school to control behaviour modification and assertive discipline including the Downview Policy against bullying (see above).
Downview School fosters positive behaviour. If children are not adhering to class/school rules:
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1st – Give them a visual cue (look) / touch (e.g. on shoulder) / whisper in ear
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2nd – Sit the child with an adult to explain or model behaviour / move the child to the Teacher / give verbal warning / use strategies such as 1, 2, 3, Magic
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3rd – Give the child a choice or consequence, e.g. work on own / lose play / lose golden time
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4th– Time out to shared area / other room
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5th – Choice or consequence to involve SMT. This could lead to: - staying out for the remainder of session, or until work is completed / contacting parents
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6th– To have an IBP / to refer to Behaviour Support
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7th– Internal exclusion / Fixed term or Permanent exclusion
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NUMICON AND MULTILINK CUBES TO TEACH MATHS
Numicon is a multi-sensory maths teaching programme using Numicon maths shapes in a series of practical teaching activities. The Maths Shapes give learners insight into number values and relationships in a way not provided by written numerals. Learners develop their own mental imagery as they combine and compare the shapes to do arithmetic in a series of practical activities.
Numicon’s visual, auditory and kinaesthetic approach appeals to different learning styles. Pupils learn through both seeing and feeling how Numicon patterns connect with each other. By physically manipulating Numicon to build constructions, make arrangements and patterns and play games using the feely bag, pupils will experience with both their hands and their eyes how numbers fit together. The powerful images can also open doors for children struggling with number, no matter how old they are.
The teaching programme that accompanies the Numicon maths shapes has been developed by the authors as they work with children and teachers on a daily basis. The teaching activities are described on a series of illustrated cards.
In the early stages children play with the Numicon shapes, through the teaching activities they begin to associate a number name with each shape and then start to use the shapes in practical arithmetic activities. Thus children develop their own mental imagery of number, relationships between numbers and arithmetic operations. As children’s understanding develops they cease to rely on the concrete Numicon imagery using their own mental imagery of number and relationships between numbers and arithmetic operations.
Numicon illustrates addition and subtraction, place value, doubling and halving, estimation, division, multiplication and much more. Pupils actively enjoy using Numicon, either independently or in groups. The colourful and durable pieces are ideal for whole class mental maths activities. As teachers begin to work with the materials they quickly find further ways of using Numicon maths shapes; percentages, fractions and decimals are all easily illustrated using the shapes.
ELECTRICITY: HANDS ON SCIENCE ACTIVITIES
Students experimented with electricity during two lessons, finding out the elements of a circuit, the dangers of electricity and reproducing different circuits in Science and Arts and Crafts lessons. They used an "Energy Ball" to demonstrate open and closed series circuits without any danger of electric shocks. When the ball is 'Turned On' from inside the 1.5-inch ball, a red light flashes and a buzzer buzzes. They could turn the ball on just by touching the metal strips with theirfingers. Their bodies forms the conducting material that bridges the gap between the two metal strips and closes the circuit.
Here there is a video of how the energy ball works and some pictures of the experiments:
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