Extension tasks for 'Highly Able Students'

Farmyard Antics

I am a teacher, this is my job but it is also a calling. I am called to this sphere of influence. There is nothing I love more than growing young minds and taking students on a journey of discovery. I really do have the best job in the world!

Our goal this term was to expose our 'Highly Able Students' (Those students identified as working significantly above our grade level expectations and showing proficiency and ability in one or more academic areas) to content beyond the borders of the regular school curriculum. This meant extending thinking and investigations to broader areas of learning in student directed and teacher facilitated tasks.

This term our Integrated Studies unit explored the topic - 'Life on the Farm'. In order to expose students to a broader theme I thought it might be fun to investigate micro habitats. So, our students investigated other types of farming and ant farming proved most popular! ... and ended up being the easiest to implement. (It was also highly successful - if not somewhat challenging... collecting ants became a lunch time obsession for all our Grade One students!!) 

During the term we ended up purchasing ant farms for each of the Grade One classrooms so students could study a micro habitat in a more in-depth and hands on way. As part of the whole class learning process we developed a schema chart of things we already knew about general farming and things we were discovering to keep track of what we were learning. 

Extension students added learnt facts to our slowly growing 'Tree of Knowledge'.

Students were encouraged to put together an annotated diagram (prior knowledge, showing us what they already knew about farms in general) before they set about gathering information on their chosen area of interest and undertaking more in-depth research. We were delighted with the effort of our students who happily put together posters and Power-points (at home and in class) to share at our grade level assembly. (Purposeful show and tell can be very informative!!) 

Throughout the term we worked on a variety of 'Higher Order Thinking' tasks with students presenting what they were learning to their peers along the way, becoming resident experts on their chosen topic. The flow on effect saw other students in the class also engage in their own discovery learning which was celebrated at regular intervals. Having a real purpose (creating the ant farm) and audience (their peers) meant that students were fully engaged in learning processes as they analysed, synthesised, created and evaluated what they were doing. 

Some very interesting facts were discovered along the way about these amazing little critters as students showcased their learning alongside the formal school curriculum. (Did you know that an ants sense of smell is just as good as a dogs!!)

Drawings of ant delicacies in the jars - Investigating what ants like to eat!

Investigation - What do ants like best ... sand or soil?

At the end of the term students reflected on their learning, discussing and highlighting factors that impacted on an animals habitat, suggesting ways to better improve the needs of living things ... and most importantly life on our ant farm to ensure continued survival of the species!

Miscellany Monday

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Learning to draw

Teacher Talk - Grade One

Drawing with little people is so fun. They don't have preconceived ideas about how things should look. They don't over evaluate their work and are proud as punch when they are done. I love that I get to encourage creativity at its best - colour, style, freedom, possibilities, purpose ... and yes, this is my real every day life,  it doesn't get better than this!

This term in Grade One we have been learning about farms and micro habitats. Just for fun we had a go at drawing a few farm animals to develop our artistic skills. 

Drawing a cow seemed like a good place to start. I showed my students how to follow the step by step instructions on the media screen in the classroom and then I had a go on the whiteboard, showing them how easy it was. They loved how simple it was to add detail one step at a time. Not so overwhelming when we can break it all down into bite size pieces. (Even for me!!!)

Step by step tutorial here

My students were rather impressed with their efforts. I loved seeing the awe on their faces as they discovered that they can draw better than they at first imagined. Their little faces deep in concentration were a delight to behold. I encouraged their efforts, reminding them that creative ability developed with practice. My affirmations opened up the next bout of frantic scribbling as they tried to get the form they were drawing down on paper. They revelled in this ability to create, to cause something to take on shape from somewhere deep inside of them. As I watched the creativity in progress, I paused in the uncharacteristic lull of the classroom and contemplated the creative force within all of us. 

How is it that such creative capacity slowly goes to sleep over time? Why do so many of us think we are not artistic ... or creative ... or imaginative, when we are born with this limitless potential?

It reminded me to purposefully embrace this way of living, teaching and being. To capture, celebrate and cherish the gift of infinite originality and unique individuality!

So, embrace the creativity that makes you uniquely individual!

Later I showed them how to use pastels to build up the colour on their drawing using a few different techniques. We began with blending two colours in the background and later added detail to the image bit by bit.

Not bad for little people .... 
and below are a few more we had a go at drawing too.

'A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament ...
the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.' - Oscar Wilde

More Tales from the Classroom here.

Linking up with Studio JRU

Enough already!!

It is that time of the week to write for five minutes straight from the heart, with no over thinking or editing - no going back, this is the hard part! Linking up with the Gypsy Mama for a bit of frivolous fun.

It has been a big week ... which is an understatement. This week means I am back to school and teaching Grade One, with all its fun and challenges and already I am calling for another holiday ... 

ahhh!!! 

It has been a big week, but truly I am up for it. I love teaching Grade One, and watching the little tackers grasp the English language(Which is seriously, no mean feat!). I love the awe in their faces as they listen to stories read aloud and beg for more, especially when little boys who play rough and squirm in their seats besiege me to read just one more story. 

In all honesty, I love it!
Yes, it is tiring - so very tiring! BUT, to see the delight ... the pure delight of a face lighting up and connecting the dots, developing such raw and pure potential, can there really be anything better? 

So, when I say enough already! When the day is done and I'm dragging my feet, enough is really not close enough. There is so much more to do and learn and become. There really is not enough time in the day to impact a life, change a destiny or realise a dream ... BUT,  I really will try!

Journey of Gratitude

'Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.' - Sarah Ban Breathnach 

As the school bell echoed its shrill morning call, I contemplated the day ahead. The chatter of little people filled the air, noisy banter spreading across the classroom. The contents of school bags were deposited and sorted, greetings extended, show and tell displayed ... and then they sat, legs crossed and arms folded, waiting. I looked out at the sea of faces before me, their bodies still and expectant. For the rest of the day these little bodies would become restless, fidgety, so very busy, but for now they were still. We opened the day with prayer, simple and encompassing. Cries of 'Amen' rang out signalling its end. I looked up, inquiring who would like to contribute a prayer for the day? A hand shoots up, an eager face imploring me to allow them to be the one chosen today. Again we bow our heads, a simple prayer is offered heavenward. 'Thank you Father for this beautiful world and everything in it, Amen." 
My heart catches, is snagged by the simplicity and sincerity. The words flutter within me, a simple prayer of thankfulness. The thankfulness resonated deep, something about those words, the way they were whispered and extended left me in awe. 

For this is the journey I am on right now ... 

my learning place, learning the lessons of a thankful heart - true, real and honest thanksgiving. 

     
Because I want to discover the mystery of raw, genuine and authentic gratitude, I sit and wait and smile at the sea of faces. 

     Because I want to understand Ann Voskamps Eucharisteo - the thanksgiving she writes about, the thanksgiving that always precedes the miracle, I linger in that child's prayer
... because I really want the miracle.

Need the miracle!
     

     Because I want to fully understand the secret of living content in every situation, whether full or empty. Because I want to grasp how to see the gifts of heaven even in the hard places of my life, I pause and roll the thoughts around in my heart. I let them sift and settle within my soul. 

I hear the 'God whisper', quiet within me and am surprised with the simplicity of its sound. Surprised how he used these words to arrest my attention, the prayer of a child to awaken something within me. (I don't know why I am surprised, isn't this how we should come?, come to him like a child ... come to him with arms open wide, come to him open and thankful!) The whisper from heaven opens the way,  I tell the little people before me that this is how we come to God, with thanksgiving in our hearts ... thanking him for all things, even the little and seemingly insignificant because there truly is so much to be thankful for. I lead these little ones on a journey of thankfulness and we list some things ...

- For this beautiful world,

- For our Mums and Dads,

- For the pretty children in this world

(because God made us all pretty!)

- For no war in this country,

- For lego to build things

... and I sit, there on my teacher chair watching the gifts of heaven begin to open up.

'And when I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow within me.' - Ann Voskamp.

Thankful for the majestic and the microscopic ... I stand in awe of it all.

Thankful for this breathtakingly beautiful world!

Linking up with Ann Voskamp

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Through the eyes of a child

What a privilege it is to teach young minds. Grade One students are so very sweet. They see things simply and in uncomplicated ways. For instance, this week I was talking with my students about stranger danger and what to do if they got lost at the shops. I asked the class "Where should you go for help if you got lost at the shops?" ... I had a few thoughtful responses and then one little girl put her hand up and confidently responded by saying "Go straight to heaven". Aahhh, love the simplicity of her thinking. 


How unpretentious, to be able to go straight to God when you need help. I imagine this little six year old could see herself doing just that, opening the door of heaven and going straight into the throne room. How often do we get lost along the path of life and attempt to find our own way instead of going straight to God? Sometimes we complicate life and rationalise, analyse and synthesise what should really be very straight forward. How often do we limit the access we actually have straight to heaven when we allow our concerns to overshadow that direct access? Thanks to a First Grader, I am reminded about how simple it really should be and am grateful for the opportunity to once again see things through the eyes of a child.

Ready, set, go!

Well my classroom is set up and ready to go. I have even bought the class pets (a fighting fish and two hermit crabs) which will make their grand debut on Monday along with all the Grade One kiddies. My son has been enjoying the hermit crabs and has even made them a cardboard race track. They are fast little critters. I am sure they will keep us all entertained with their clever antics. They are pretty good climbers for having to carry a shell around on their back! 

‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire’ - William Butler Yeats. 

What a privilege it is to set the world ablaze with the most open and engaging of young minds. 

Looking forward to the start of the school year and all the fresh faced youngsters eager to learn how to read and write. The awe of it does not escape me. Teaching is both a privilege and an honour! How did I get so lucky?

A lesson with Ms Weight

This week I had the privilege of sharing about my upcoming trip to Watoto with four hundred gorgeous children. The same children I get to inspire every week in their weekly library lessons. I love that I get to open up a whole world of imagination, adventure and limitless possibilities for children through the amazing world of literature and thus inspire a generation of children to believe that anything is possible. 

Today was special however as I got to share something a little more personal with all of them, my heart to 'be the change'. After showing them some handmade Watoto dolls and reading a story about a little girl finding her way to a Watoto village, they eagerly bombarded me with an assortment of thoughts, questions and ideas. When I explained that I was going to Africa which was a very long way away, I was asked ... "How will you get there?," ... to which someone called out "A plane of course!" (and you can just imagine the excited chatter that broke forth as everyone begged to share their travel stories!)

When I told the children how many hours I would be travelling a little hand shot up and asked "Won't you get hungry?" (a whole day and night travelling is quite a long time in any one's books.) A bright spark piped up and informed everyone in a very knowing way, that planes had food on them. Another child proudly stated that "Planes even have kitchens!" (more excited chatter!)

The children were most impressed when I said that I had eight needles (I impressed myself ... I have an aversion to needles!), so I didn't get sick while over there.  A few exchanged concerned looks, which then prompted the question, "What will happen if you die?"... hmmmm (how to explain this), then someone called out ..."but who will teach us library if that happened? How funny! (If only I was not expendable).

I got a lot of 'oohhs and ahhs' from the girls when I told them I would be kissing and cuddling babies that had no Mummy or Daddy (and lots of giggling from the boys about the kissing part). One little fella shyly expressed that I was the best library teacher in the whole world. (How cute, I'm probably the only one he knows!)  Love inspiring kids to think big and embrace the possibility of being a world changer too.