Self Watering Plant- Science Experiement

Day 1

Today, continuing our life processes theme, we each made self watering plants. To do this you cut the top of an empty 2L bottle (although smaller ones work just as well) and fill the bottom with water. You then put a strip of fabric through the bottle neck and let this fall into the water. You then fill the top of the bottle with compost, add some seeds (I used wheat) and add a little more compost. Give it a water and your done!

7 days later...

The first shoot has appeared!

- Rebecca Moss

Growing Beans- Science Experiment

Day 1

Today, in our Science seminar, we headed down to the greenhouse for a little science experiment. We were each given a broad bean and this is ours to see how it grows. We dampened some kitchen roll and placed it in a plastic bag with a seal and stapled it in place. We then placed our broad bean in the middle. I'm planning to photograph it every few days to see the development of its growth.

9 days later...

The first shoot has showed up! There was a small crack in the bean a few days ago- and now it has really began to grow. I'll continue to photograph the progress :)

Day 10

- Rebecca Moss

Specialist Week

All this week we have been meeting for seminars in our English Specialism group. On Monday and Tuesday we prepared for a visit from a local partner Primary School to visit. We focused all our preparations on looking through The Tunnel by Anthony Browne and preparing drama based activities for the children to take part in.

The idea behind using drama with The Tunnel was to see how using these activities could enhance a child's understanding and enjoyment of the book.

The activities we used were:

• 'Role on the wall' in which the children drew around each other to form a silhouette. The children were then to write what they thought Jack or Rose's personality was like on the inside of the silhouette and on the outside they were to write down physical qualities.
• 'Freeze Framing' in which the children would act out a small part of the book and after an adult shouted 'freeze' they would say what their character was thinking.
• 'Conscience Alley' in which the children would form a tunnel and either give a reason for or against either of the children going down the tunnel. The child would slowly walk through the tunnel as the children gave their opinions and make a decision of what they would do at the end.
• 'News report' in which the children got into groups of four and chose roles such as news reporter, interviewer and witness. They then performed a news report on the missing children.

Each group ran their own activity, but unfortunately my group were unable to run our activity as we ran out of time. We had planned to run a phone call activity in which the children would hold a conversation between the mother and her friend about the missing children.

Before we began the activities we went through the book as a powerpoint and asked the children to point out anything that was unusual or confusing. It was interesting that the children saw things and pointed out things that we had not previously seen or thought about. After this the children wrote down questions in their groups of four. They were encouraged to ask about anything that wasn't clear or they didn't understand.

At the end of the day we went back to these questions and answered what we could as a class. We also spoke to the class and asked how any activity could be improved and what they liked about the day. The news report activity seemed to be a favourite and most children were excited to show their report to the whole class. Unfortunately there wasn't time for them all but the reports that were shown were imaginative and showed that they had worked hard on them- even with the limited time.

I think the day has been really beneficial in that I now feel that I could confidently use these activities with a class and I know what activities are the most fun and beneficial.

- Rebecca Moss

Technology in the Classroom.

So I've been reading a lot about using all sorts of different technology in the classroom. The most common use of technology is Apple products and E-Readers. But some blogs I've looked at are pretty negative about technology. I think using technology in the classroom is extremely important. Since its everywhere, children should be taught how to use it sensibly and safely, and perhaps school is the first place children are able to get their hands on all this technology.

But books and whiteboards shouldn't be overlooked either. I think actually holding and reading a book is much more effective than reading from a Kindle. I also think that I would prefer to include mini whiteboards into activities than Ipads. However, I would like to include technology in lessons. So I think that perhaps an equal balance of these would be the best way to go about teaching.

I think I will try and include ICT in lessons or activities at some point in a placement, and will feedback on how it goes.

-Rebecca Moss

Education Studies

I am currently sat in a Education Studies seminar learning all about social networking. I've just started using my proffesional Twitter account @RebeccaMoss18 and I will be tweeting all my blogs on there so keep an eye out! Really enjoying this seminar and will definately be using my Twitter frequently. :)

-Rebecca Moss

1 month gone...

So its been officially one month since I started University. I'm already feeling more and more confident and I'm really pleased with the way everything is going.

Yesterday, in our English specialism seminar we read to the rest of the group using story sacks. I gave myself the challenging task of reading to the class while the rest of the group acted it out using finger puppets. However, the book was in French, so it was rather daunting. But once I got into it, I found myself really enjoying it and I would definately consider using books in other languages in the classroom. Perhaps I'll even give it a try on my placement in a few months. The story sacks were also fantastic and I think that when I am fully qualified I will use these to encourage the children's reading. I think it would be good for them to also take them home to engage their parents in reading with them.

Today, we looked back over out Pecha Kucha presentations. I was very pleased with our groups, even though I looked very nervous! But there were a lot of positives, and I have set myself some targets to improve. I'm seriously considering doing my assignment for Education Studies as an oral presentation now, I feel it will be very beneficial.

-Rebecca Moss

Beginning blogging.

So today I was inspired to start blogging. We had a lecture today, and it was, well, pretty inspiring. So here I am, blogging about the life of a trainee teacher. I am a student at Plymouth University and have been studying here for nearly a month now.

We've been doing some great stuff. Yesterday we were doing Pecha Kucha presentations on professionalism and although I was pretty nervous, I think it went really well and I definitely learnt a lot. I'm now considering using this method of teaching in school one day in the future. I think my pupils would really benefit from it, and it would definitely help with speaking and listening skills.

So, a little bit about me. I've wanted to be teacher since Year 10, and everything I've done since- a levels, work experience etc.- has been leading up to this. I'm so thrilled to actually be here and to actually start learning how to make a career out of my passion.

-Rebecca Moss