Lesson 1 was with my little 7 year olds. Fractions. I'm not much of a mathematician but through filling containers of water and asking 'how full' they soon grasped the concept of halves and quarters. Better still through simple board work the children were soon onto sixths, eighths and even tenths, not to mention simplifying them! One child even looked at my illustration of 3/6 and said 'miss, isn't it just better to say one half?'! Get in!
The day got better. Class 6 assigned animals to habitats and now understand why snow leopards are white, and why llamas have 'special blood' that carried lots of oxygen. Furthermore they're super-excited about tomorrow's designer animal lesson where each will be assigned a habitat and the category 'herbivore' or 'carnivore'. Then it's up to them to design the perfect creature... Can't wait to get the creativity flowing!
But the biggest win today was in chemistry...
I'm a believer that chemistry is both fun and logical, but only if taught in such a way. To me it all begins with the atom and a basic understanding of the periodic table. If trends are grasped, recital soon becomes understanding, and before you know it we have the next generation of Dimitri Mendeleevs! So, enter my Mendeleevs in the making...
In using a simple hotel-electron analogy (proudly plagiarised from my last HOD, Pete Longman), some chalk and some pasta shapes (aka electrons) I had eight 14- year olds preparing electron configurations for the first 20 elements of the periodic table. One child even said 'miss, all of group 1 have 1 electron in their outer shell'!
Eventually they moved onto stable shells and became so happy with this concept that, when faced with lithium and fluorine, they pretty much figured out ionic bonding for themselves! Honestly, I'm bursting with pride this eve!
Tomorrow's lesson will focus on why hydrogen exists as H2... I'm not sure who's more excited...!
Wow! Having read all of your blog from the outset, what amazing experiences and what perceptive and brilliantly expressed thoughts. Nothing you write surprises us ... what bothers us is that there are some politicians in Britain who hanker after the day when most children just learnt what they were told and were not encouraged to think for themselves.
ReplyDeleteKeep faith in your roles ( we're very proud of you!! ) and keep smiling.
I + S
PS Annapurna will be a doddle because the routes are so obvious!!
Dear father Christmas, please can I join Giles and Sarah's class? It sounds so much more fun than most classes. Lots of love, Rob shezza
ReplyDeleteMr and Mrs B, hope you're both having some r&r between the excitements of classes. Looking forward to seeing you both at Christmas. Love from the shezzas