Moody Mondays Volume 13: Feeling positive but ill!

Hello Bloggers!

I'm sat in bed feeling a little worse for wear so I thought I'd take a break from planning/resourcing and write a quick post! My observation went so well on Friday and I'm so so so happy and positive about my progress. I really feel like I can do Early Years- well! Unfortunately, with being in school  comes the dreaded illnesses and germs that get spread around like wildfire! I'm currently feeling sorry for myself with a sore throat, headache and snotty nose. Yes this is a very attractive picture I'm painting of myself (oops). Nevertheless, I've sat and watched 90210 in bed and done planning as well as reading up on teaching blogs to get ideas.

I am really enjoying being positive Megan for a change. I might not be feeling great right now but everything is going good so far. I have lots to look forward to this Summer! I have two trips to London planned, one with Adeline to see Taylor Swift and one with Luke probably to sight see and spend more time together doing 'coupley things'. I am seeing Hozier and Maroon 5 in a few weeks as well as going to a cute cinema screening of Dirty Dancing with Adeline at a bakery in Headingley! Cupcakes and cocktails sounds like an amazing idea (if I do say so myself).

I have less than 11 days till I finish placement and University and then I can look forward to a nice long relaxing Summer to prepare myself for third and final year...wow how time has flown. This time next year I will be preparing for graduation and starting a job...as a teacher...with my own class (screams). That idea seems even more daunting than placement itself! NQT year will be hard, but when it's over I know I will continue to improve as the years progress.

I hope you're all doing good! Let me know about your exciting plans for the Summer/weeks ahead! Don't forget to follow me by using the links below!

"The rest is still unwritten"

Megan 

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Teaching Tips: Hattie Peck by Emma Levey

Hello Bloggers!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post I've been buying lots of books today and as it's Easter time I thought it would be pretty good to add this little book to my collection. Hattie Peck cost me £1.49 at Sainsburys! Not bad at all and the children in my Reception class loved it. 

The story is about a chicken called Hattie who loves eggs. All she wants is an egg of her own so she leaves her coop to go on an adventure to collect all the abandoned eggs in the world. It's a really nice story because at a young age children are aware that chickens lay eggs and chicks hatch out of them. As a result of this errors and misconceptions can occur, e.g. that every animal that hatches from an egg is a chick. This is not true and this book shows that when Hattie collects all the eggs and they hatch there are a lot of different animals. It's nice to show children how many animals hatch from eggs and that they can grow to be a lot larger than chickens! 

When I got to the last page I just asked the children "What has happened?" and they all sat up and stared at the picture. They were confused. "They're not chickens!" It was nice to sit and chat about the different animals Hattie had found and where she'd collected their egg from. This definitely interested the children as some of these animals were quite large and seeing them come from an egg so small confused them. 

Overall, I think this is such a lovely book to share with children. The pictures are bright and colourful and the text is in different fonts and not written in straight lines. It's nice for children to be exposed to different fonts and not the usual boring child friendly font that they're used to seeing. If you're in Sainsburys and looking for a new book to pick up on the trip definitely pick this one up from the shelf!

"The rest is still unwritten"

Megan 

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Teaching Tips: Nursery World Show 2015

Hello Bloggers!

As you know I went to London on the 5th-6th February 2015 to go to the Nursery World Show (NWS). This focuses on Early Years teaching and how we can make our practice the best it can be, to fit the needs of the children. I found this experience to be so helpful and enriching, being able to talk to skilled practitioners in the profession as well as listening to inspiring speakers who gave us vital information and advice. For me this show has helped me confirm what age I want to work with. Early Years is such an interesting age range for me that I cannot see myself anywhere else at this time. Of course to gain more experience I would teach in other years, however I am glad I am specialising in Early Years.

I enjoyed every single one of my seminars and found them to be particularly useful. I just wish that I could have gone to more of them! The seminars gave me lots of advice to put in to practice when I start teaching in Reception and has also given me more confidence. Everyone I met there reassured me that I would be brilliant when I started teaching. I also met two teachers from a nursery in Leeds who invited me to come and see how they work. What I forgot is that events like this allow you to network with professionals who can help you. I know that the contacts I made there will help me grow into the teacher I want to be, the best kind to help my class achieve their potential.

The NWS had plenty of different stalls selling lots of different resources, however one that I was particularly intrigued by was the Actiphons Stall. This made phonics so much more fun and engaging. I find that some children (mainly boys) struggle to be engaged by phonics because it doesn't interest them. This programme integrates phonics and physical activity. This is important in Reception and I think if used correctly it could work well in most classrooms. Actiphons works with many different phonics approaches so even if you were using Read, Write, Inc it can still be incorporated with this. I really liked their ethos and I would seek to use this if I had a class of my own.

You can find their website here: http://actiphons.com
You can also follow them on twitter: @actiphons

If you're a trainee teacher/qualified teacher check their website out and let me know what you think!

The NWS will be running again next year and I would advise any Early Years Professionals to sign up and go. It was worth every penny I spent just to get the experience and advice from the professionals. They have lots of stalls and live demos going on so there is definitely never a quiet minute!

If you want to know more about my experience you can message me using my links below!

"The rest is still unwritten"

Megan

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