Individual Learning Plans

Hey Friends!

This year my role is a Support teacher so it means I am that person who helps you write those dreaded Individual Learning Plans for your students who need a differentiated approach to the curriculum.

I know a lot of teachers see Learning Plans as extra work and initially they can be but I want to help you see this as a way to make your job easier!  I already hear you groaning but trust me this will be painless.

So lets start with what they are called, I asked some of my followers on my FB page what they call Learning Plans in their school and this was some of the responses

• IEP's Individual Education Plan
• PLP's Personalised Learning Plan
• ILP's Individual Learning Plan
• PLASP Personalised Learning and Support Plan
• ICP's Individual Curriculum Plan

Whatever they are called they all pretty much have the same function.  They are there to make sure the information about a particular learner informs the teaching and learning for that student.  These learning plans should be created in conjunction with a Support Staff, parents and Classroom Teacher, this way you will get the most relevant information and all stakeholders are aware of what will be happening for that learner in the classroom.

So what should an effective Learning Plan include?

• Student information including name, age, grade level, teacher
• Diagnosis information if relevant 
• Types of Professional assessments that have been done including psychologist, speech therapist, OT etc
• Student strengths and interests
• Information about sensory issues, personal assistance needed ie toileting, transition assistance, social management, communication
• Strategies and adjustments for the above information
• Curriculum outcomes and goals
• Personal and Social outcomes and goals
• Evidence to show the progression toward achieving the outcomes and goals

Phew!  Seems like a pretty extensive list but believe me when I say this is all relevant and will make your life and the students life easier.  When you have this at hand you can easily see what needs differentiation and what doesn't. Let's face it though most student who have a Learning Plan need it to access the curriculum in a way that needs adjustments and the heaviest subject areas are English and Mathematics so most Learning Plans I have seen usually include an English and Maths Outcome.

Most schools have a preferred template for you to use so if you don't have access to one find out from you admin staff if there is one for school use.  If not you can download this free one here or by clicking on the pic below.  This is a Word document so it is completely editable for you to add your school logo and anything else you need.

A new journey!

Hey friends!

Well I went back to school last week and started my new school year with a new grade level and a new team.  This year I am teaching Preps (you might call it Kinder) and I am no longer job sharing. While I was very sad to leave behind my Grade 2 and Grade 3 teaching partners I am super excited to have my own space and my own group.

So I have a new teaching journey this year, I haven't taught Prep for 6 years so I am going into this new adventure with some knowledge but also a lot to learn :)

I wanted to share some classroom photos with you today.  I love my room, it makes me smile.

This is our library corner, the lanterns and fluffy decorations now hang from the ceiling.  In the cloud storage basket is lots of book buddies and puppets for the kiddos to read to.

This is going to be my Sounds and Seasons tree.  I will change out the colours each season to match, there is also a little birds nest that I plan on putting our letter of the day in.  The students will pull it out and then choose from a range of objects, student names and words that will go on the sounds tree.  The tree is now in a pot to protect his roots :)  Next to the tree is our class calender.

Looking towards our IWB and my maths shelf

Looking from the door back towards my desk

Our home corner is very popular!  Once again the lanterns and fluffy decorations are now hanging up thanks to my lovely groundsman.

Our home for the rest of the year!

I'm really looking forward to sharing my journey with you this year and even though I am physically and mentally exhausted right now, I am also brimming with excitement for the amazing learning that is going to happen for all of us here.

I'll be back with some posts about our rotations we have been doing,

Bright Ideas! Where are we?

Welcome to another round of Bright Ideas!

I love that we are able to share all of these fabulous ideas with teachers all over the world.

Today I wanted to share with you a quick way to let everyone know where your class is.  You know those times you decide that learning doesn't only have to take place in the classroom and that you are going to be daring and take your class outside or to another area of the school?  Of course that is going to be the time a parent or the Principal comes looking  for you and then you end up getting a slap on the wrist (I speak figuratively) because no-one knows where you are.  Did this happen to me?  Of course not!  

There are a number of ways you can let people know where you are, you can display your timetable in your room so it is plain to see when you have you specialist lessons like Music or PE, you can leave a note on your whiteboard if you are going to be somewhere else.  But this is my favourite way to let people know where you are.

Use your windows or glass door as a whiteboard, I made this cute background, laminated it and stuck it on the the inside of my glass door, I can then write on the glass with a whiteboard marker to let everyone know where we are.  If you have a solid door, you can still write on the laminate or slide a piece of paper into a page protector and write on the plastic with a whiteboard marker.

I can't believe how easy it is and why I didn't think of this before, you can see in an instant where our class is and I will never get in trouble again for not telling people where we are :)  

If you have enjoyed this Bright Idea make sure you join me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest

and for more Bright Ideas from over 130 amazing bloggers check out the linky below

An InLinkz Link-up

Don't forget to leave a TIP

I am just checking in really quickly today to share a freebie with you and how this freebie came about.

I am trying to get my littles to become more aware of the responsibility they have for their own learning, very gently shoving  moving them toward independence and awareness.  So to help with this I have a "make your own choice" about where you need to work to become a better learner.  Students have the choice to work at their desk (independent), with a peer or with the teacher, if they are with me, they need to make sure they get to me when the activity starts and not half way through (and yes there are some that do not have the option).  So far it has been working quite well and the kiddos who are independent are able to complete activities without me hovering and I am able to work with the kiddos who need me the most at that time.  My kiddos that can be extended have open ended activities that they can move on to if I am still busy.

Anyway, I was having trouble keeping track of who was with me for each activity until......TIP was born!

The students simply need to mark their work with a T I or P and highlight it so that I know how they were working and how often they are utilising me as a support.  I can also see that I haven't marked work because they were with me.  So simple and easy!  You can get your copy of this poster by clicking on the pic!

How Pinteresting, Classroom storage ideas

Welcome to my next edition on How Pinteresting.  This week I wanted to share some pins on creative storage.  I am blessed this year to have a storeroom and some shelving in my room but still need to store some of my items both at home and school.  I like to have items that I use everyday close at hand and I often pack away items by theme.

Here are a few of the Pinteresting pins I thought I might like to use this year.

Great idea!  I also use skirt hangers to hang my posters.

Love this, definitely heading out to get some soap boxes, or you could use old video cases.



Tidy and out of the way!



Of course we have all seen many versions of the crate seats.  I love them and think they are a great idea, another project I would like to complete one day.



This one is so obvious but I actually never thought about using a Pringles tube for rulers.

Well my friends that is it for How Pinteresting this week and I must apologise for it being late AGAIN but I promise you I was really busy  on a girls night out working on my program so I am sure you will forgive me.  

Have a great week everyone!

How Pinteresting and a Giveaway!

Hi friends!  I have to apologise for missing my How Pinteresting post on Friday but things have been crazy here.  I have started at my new school in a Year 3 class, I have so much to figure out!  I have been trying to get my head around all the policies and procedures that go with starting at a new school on top of getting a program together that uses their Whole School plans.....my classroom is still in the process of coming together as it was an un used classroom and was full of rubbish and leftover stuff from another teacher.  I have been so busy I haven't even managed to get any pics yet!  I also have my Mum and Dad visiting, (they are Grey Nomads and are on their way back north)  so I have been trying to get some quality time with them as well.
So onto my finds on Pinterest this week.  I have been looking at great anchor charts for using with Daily 5 and CAFE as I will be using this in my class again this year.  So without further ado.....

We will be looking at the Main Idea this term.

This links to a blog with lots of other charts.

I love the visual of this.

I am definitely making this one

Straight to the point!

I hope this has inspired you to use anchor charts in your room.  Before I go I want to share a fabulous giveaway my friend Shanyn at Coffe, Kids and Compulsive Lists is having for her 500.....yes 500 follower giveaway.  Head on over and enter to win 3 items from her TpT store.

Managing a Split class Part 2....

Yesterday I posted about how I manage a split or composite class, if you missed that post you can read it here.
Today I wanted to talk about how I plan for that split class.  Over the years I have had many composites up to Grade 3 and over the years I have worked in different states with different curriculums, so when you plan you really have to have a good knowledge of your curriculum and where your class fits in.  In NSW the curriculum is organised by Stages as follows
Early Stage 1 (Kinder)
Stage 1 (Yr 1, 2)
Stage 2 (Yr 3, 4)
Stage 3 (Yr 5, 6)

So if you have a 1/2 class planning is quite easy because you only have to look at the outcomes and indicators for that Stage. However, if you have to cross the Stages eg Yr 2/3 it becomes a bit tricky because you have to look at outcomes and indicators from 2 Stages.

Keeping this in mind I plan both seperatly and as a whole group.  I have included a copy of my term overview, apologies for the plainess of it.

You can see here that I have outlined the Outcomes and Indicators for BOTH stages.  Now I will show you a classroom term plan for both Year levels

(This is really plain, I have prettied my planning up so much more now!)

This plan is very broad in its detail and from this term overview I will fine tune and plan my week in more detail.  This does not show my reading groups plan which is separate to this and works on ability groups rather than Year levels.  
I think this can show you that even though you have to cover a larger amount of content alot of it is broad enough to cover two levels.  In this plan it shows that my whole class were working on Narratives, now the structure of a Narrative does not change, but my expectations for what each student produces is where the differentiation is.  I use a Rubric for both year levels to show this.  Unfortunately I couldn't find those Rubrics to show you but there are many available or you could make your own.  You can see that my spelling rule was the same for both Year levels however my spelling lists were where the differentiation occurred.  The only place that was completely different for the Year levels was in handwriting, this was because in Year 3 students learn to join letters and write in cursive, while students in Year 2 are still printing.  However my Year 2 students often picked up on the cursive early.

I hope this has helped some people who are going into teaching a composite class, I am more than happy to share more of my ideas in the future on the joys of teaching a composite class.  Please leave a comment
to share your ideas as well.


 

Managing a split class.

Hi friends!  I had a lovely comment left from a follower asking me to write a post about how I manage learning and teaching in a split or composite class.
Now to be honest I have never really thought about it as I have only ever taught a straight class twice in my teaching career.  Following is a list of the split classes I have taught

* Yr 1/2/3 (for 3 yrs)
* Pre-school/1/2/3  (1 Yr)
* Prep/1 (3 yrs)
* Yr 1/2 (3yr)
* Yr 2/3 (2 yrs)

So how do I manage a class with so many different levels, the short answer is the same as a class that is a straight year level.
When you think about it no matter what class you have you are likely to have to cater for abilities that span 2 or 3 different yr levels, this can be because of special needs, attendance, developmental delays the list could be endless.  Essentially you will most likely work in groups, I found for reading and writing workshops ability groups were the best type of groupings and of course your focus for each group will be different.  Last year I used Daily 5 and CAFE for the first time in my class and I found the organising tips from the 2 Sisters invaluable.  I used to think that you needed to spend an equal amount of time with each group and I used to feel guilty if I didn't see the top group for as long or as often as my lower ability students, but those kiddos who are able to fly need to be allowed to fly.  I'm not saying to not supervise them but let them become more independent and manage their own learning.  They may be able to do a research project to enhance their reading or writing while your lower group may still be working on phonics, which group do you think really needs most of your time?  Also it is vital to record your sessions with your groups, either with anecdotal notes, actual recordings or jotting down goals for each group so that you can track progress.

When I timetable my groups I always made sure we started with the whole group to focus on a concept, for example with spelling we would have a focus rule  for the week eg, 'ea' words and as a whole group we would brainstorm words that belonged to that rule but then students were sent back to their desks to focus on either an individual spelling list or a group spelling list depending on where they were at and I would be able to work with small groups.  I always made sure we had the same focus if I could swing it, (it didn't always happen).

The other thing I really used quite a bit in my room was a Teacher Aide or Assistant.  Now I know we aren't all lucky to have one or the TA may be in your room to help a specific student so you need to be very creative on how you group particular students, perhaps your Special Needs student needs support with the same concepts as another group that could benefit from TA time.  If you don't have a TA, try to recruit some reliable parents to come and read with your students or to help with a Maths group.

Well this is a topic that I could ramble on with all day, and I don't want this post to become exhaustive so I am going to pick up again tomorrow with how I plan on paper to make sure I am covering the Curriculum for both levels.

I am sure my lovely follower would love to hear from other teachers how they manage teaching and learning in a composite class so feel free to leave your ideas in the comments below.

For all my Aussie friends I hope you enjoy your first week back at school and for all those affected by the floods and weather, I hope you are safe.  My thoughts are with you and yours.

Team Teaching Tuesday linky

I am linking up with Stephanie at Falling into First for her first Team Teaching Tuesday linky.
I love the idea of sharing ideas from around the world on a particular topic.



The topic this week is classroom rules and what yours are in your classroom.  This past year I revamped my rules (just the display)  Here are mine!

I organise them under Responsible, Respect and Safe

Responsible

Always ask before you leave the classroom

Respect

Always put your hand up to talk

Use kind words and friendly voices

Safe

Always walk in the classroom

Responsible, Respect and Safe

Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself

I like to use both a broad spectrum and then take it down to specifics so that the littles who don't understand words like responsible or respect have an example to guide them.

I gave these a remake to match my apple and gingham theme I had in my room this last semester, you can see the post here for the makeover and if you would like a copy of your own you can get them here for FREE!

You can link up with Stephanie by clicking on the button below and tell us all about the rules in your classroom.

Monday Made It!

I am linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for this weeks Monday Made It!
I have decided to revamp my rules posters for this weeks Monday Made It.  It is something that has been on my to do list for a while now.
Here is the before pic


Here is how I updated them.
First I created a new format with an apple theme, here is a sample of what they look like

I used graphics from Mel at From the Pond, the apple graphic is one I created and the font is a standard one on Microsoft, Segoe and one from Kevin and Amanda Carrington (?)  On my old rules I just had the "negotiated" rules that I would discuss at the beginning of the year with the students.  After being part of a PBS school I decided to add the headings RESPECT, RESPONSIBLE, SAFE to each rule depending on what category they came under.  I think is important for students to see the reason why we have rules in the class and this is a reminder when we refer to them throughout the year.

Once I printed them off I glued them onto coloured paper and laminated them.

Then I lined them up in the order I wanted them to hang

I used red gingham ribbon to join them using a hot glue gun.

Then I used the apple green cord ribbon to make a hanger

This is how they turned out. (I had to hang it on my daughters wardrobe door to take this pic.)

Now it 's your turn to link up!