Animals Displays

For our last theme just before Easter we looked at animals and here are 2 displays we did on that theme, the first was a really simple display that our art teacher did about animals under the sea:

The sea animals were made using coloured acetate and glass pens and they made sea plants and grasses for the base.

The second is one I did with my class - we went on a trip to the zoo and before we went we looked at animal prints and identified different animals by their prints, as part of this we make some collage board and made a 3D display of animal prints and we added some of the pictures we took when we got back. Quite effective really.

Enjoy!

Oh help...Oh no...It's a Gruffalo!

Well last half term our topic was animals and we therefore studied the book 'The Gruffalo'. It coincided nicely with World Book Day so we did loads of drama work around an adapted version of the story and performed it for the school as part of a Performance Poetry project. For the performance we made some great masks from a template which you can get on the TES: http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Forest-Animal-Masks-Fox-Owl-Snake-Mouse-use-with-The-Gruffalo-Percy-the-Park-Keeper-etc-3004955/ and we found a Gruffalo template on the official site as well.

We also made some description cards which took a couple of days to make but looked fantastic! The students LOVED making these as we used modroc to build up the key features on each card and then we covered them with tissue paper and watered down PVA to create a papier mache effect and then to finish it off we painted round the edge of each card with a light blue. Students held these up in turn as we read through the poem. They look really effective and everyone commented on how great the work looked.

We also used these as part of our story each week and it really got the students engaging with the repetative verses and it acted as cued articulation.

Take a look:

     

 

 

 

We also linked this to Maths with a great game:
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Build-your-own-Gruffalo-Game-3005650/
We found that the board game was a little much for some of our students to we played it like a simple beetle drive or a 'Gruffalo Drive'. Download from the link.

Enjoy!

GTP: I didn't quite fall at the finish line!

For the second year running I have been applying for GTP and for the second year running it has been a barrage of NO's! This has been for a number of reasons...I work in SEN, I don't have a national curriculum subject as my degree and I have no desire to work in mainstream (I have been a little too honest about this one in my interviews!)

Then  a few weeks ago I went for an interview at Bradford and it was quite literally my last hope! If I didn't get on this time I was considering trying clearing but as far as I was concerned that was the end of the road for me...I was going back to Psychology and perusing a PhD! BUT...on Wednesday it all paid off...I GOT ON THE GTP!!! What a relief...so for everyone out there I will tell you the sorts of questions I got in the hope that you might be able to prepare for your interview.

• Why do you want to be a teacher
• What strengths do you have that would make you a good teacher
• Why do you want to do the GTP
• What makes a good teacher
• How would you deal with behaviour
• How would you deal with bullying 
• Tell me about an experience you have had where you has to overcome a problem
• How would you go about dealing with an issue with a colleague
• What does inclusion and equality mean to you
• What educational issues can you tell me about in the Primary sector
• Tell me about the important of phonics and some examples of how to deliver a phonics programme

These were the sort of questions that I had, in some of the other interviews I have had there has been a distinct focus on curriculum knowledge and understanding. So questions about how to deliver a topic are quite popular or questions which try to get you to demonstrate what you know (or what you don't know) are a favourite!

Hope this helps everyone, I will try and keep posting about my experiences through the GTP... I don't for a second expect it to be easy! My induction is the 10th July...wish me luck!