Help me improve my Reception class

[Guest]

I have a lovely class, 26 children and a part time TA.

I have a pretty small classroom and a shared outdoor space with the pre-school which I can only use on a rotational basis ( so half of the day we are all stuck in the classroom).

 

I Have some very boisterous and loud children and I don't know what to do with them to keep them busy when they are all couped up in the classroom.

 

They want to be superheroes all the time or make guns etc with Lego. All I do is nag them to be quiet or stop what they are doing.

 

I have 3 tables, a carpet area and a home corner.

 

Please advise what I could put out/do to keep them amused and quiet!

[Lucie]

Do you need 3 tables?

Are you using topics or a child led curriculum?

Mine are the same, lots of superheroes and guns. focus on the skills they are using, embrace and extend them.

Clipboards, large paper-like wallpaper lining rolls and pens on the floor.

What about an investigation space/ malleable / media and materials?

D you have an Interactive white board or PC/ or remote controlled toys including bee bots?

[Guest]

We are a topic based where we are expected to be quite formal in our approach. Lots of adult led and then some CHIL. Yeah i have a IWB but we are not supposed to let them use without an adult! And school like them turned off as much as pos to save money.

 

I have 6 children that need splitting... How do I split them without anywhere for them to actually go?!

[Susan]

Please think about the learning and not keeping them amused! I think you will find it easier to plan your day appropriately and you do not want to give out the message to Ofsted etc that you are entertaining!

[Guest]

Thanks Susan you're right. I do think i do that and amuse is obviously my poor choice of wording! Though Maybe i could improve the way I do this... Any planninh examples of how best to do that?

[catma]

Do you have other indoor spaces like the hall that can be used, so groups can go out with our TA to work on activities elsewhere?

Engagement and motivation are 2 sides of the same coin really - how open ended are the resources in the provision? Can you give them challenges which will extend the things they want to do, e.g. write a letter from a superhero with a problem. One school I worked with did this (Spiderman was stuck inside a mountain in a cave) and the response from the boys was great, loads of planning and writing and thinking and building/making to work out how to deter the baddies and rescue Spiderman! Another instigated a full on investigation into the missing IWB rubber! I think you have to try to make the curriculum as interesting as possible and maybe not split into identifiable segments labelled literacy/maths etc. and then the children will sometimes engage more.

I also think larger group activities supported by an adult can help. I used to make large story boards with the children, so a big table sized collaged background to Handa's surprise for example. Then we would make and laminate the characters and the children would use them endlessly to retell stories until they fell apart. Lots of children could join in with the making and thinking about materials etc (very rich range in the workshop already) Children came and went from the activity but they all had a part in it and could use it afterwards. This built engagement as it was theirs.

Don't whisk activities away and replace with something different the next day - leave things to develop, so if the children have been creating something with the construction and it is interesting, leave it overnight for them to come back to. (A polite note to the cleaners helps!). Or plan resourcing like small world scenarios in a builders tray and really make them interesting but leave for a week. Children like to return to things and we often spend our time over planing resourcing because we somehow think we have to have a new thing out every day.

Try an open ended role play area - just boxes and tubes, lengths of fabrics and simple things like bowls/wooden spoons,a sieve, some skipping rope, etc. Yes, at first they will probably trash the boxes as they work them out but they are just boxes. Work with them again to explore story telling through using these types of resources. It builds imagination and creative thinking.

 

I understand the pressures and there is a lot to cover in YearR, but with a bit of creative thinking you will be able to work out what helps your children learn best.

Cx

 

Cx

[Fredbear]

Great advice already. Do they really need to be quiet all of the time? Can you build the noisyness into something exciting, like being pirates and looking for treasure, helping someone escape from the baddies with the superheroes coming to their rescue.

With an assortment of resources to aide this.

Then the quiet time could be your story times, with a thoughtful think about books to share to support their interest as well as extend learning.

Can you share a super hero story and get smaller groups to go off and plan how they are going to rescue, save, find the treasure.

As for the WB, sorry but what is the use of having it when it cannot be used effectively.

[catma]

As for the WB, sorry but what is the use of having it when it cannot be used effectively.

Does seem to defeat the purpose of having an interactive resource which cannot be interacted with!!

[Guest]

I agree!

 

I suppose I could use it as long as SMT don't walk in and see!

 

In terms of quiet, we are meant to have the children working at the Volume of 'purposeful key stage 1 group work' ie: all children using hushed tones or whispers!

 

My children find this difficult and I sometimes forget to enforce it!! Any tips?

[Susan]

Its very difficult for little children to be quiet! Some classes are also noisier than others. As long as you are not raising your voice to get over the noise and they are not shouting then I dont think you should worry too much.

[Lucie]

Do you have an early years advisor who you could contact, it sounds as though you need some support to develop the knowledge of your SMT. How long have you worked in his school? This does not sound like a purposeful learning environment to me - not through your doing but because of the pressures put on you.

I also don't think KS one should be talking in hushed tones, but that's not for you to fix!

[Guest]

i was once told to make use of every table top, corner of my classroom and develop these areas. This was so that the children would be busy but at the same time engaged in activities based around what we are learning. Can i ask what your topic is? My children were making guns out of lego the first day we put it out. But we then tried to encourgae them to make a house for the three little pigs by modelling and giving them smalll pigs to build their house around. (OUr topic at the moment is 3 little pigs). I hope iv helped ;s xx

[SueFinanceManager]

Superheroes seems a recurrent topic, so much so that we have a dedicated Topic support section here

Have a look and see if there are some ideas you could incorporate in your planning....always good to find a new way of approaching the issue

[Guest tinkerbell]

I have a boisterous class too and we come straight in and sit down with a book ,then register and straight to the hall for assembly .Because they have been sat down for a good 20 mins we do bean bag rapps as soon as we get back to the classroom and get rid of some energy,the children join in the rhymes and copy the movements which they love.

Another good physical activity is using the iwb to show childrens aerobics ...you would have to push the tables to one side but we watch and join in with a Sally Gunnell childrens aerobics which they love.

If you can split up sessions with some big physical action in class it may help.

our hall has an iwb does yours? you could do some of the physical activities in yours....keep them in there after assembly (I'm presuming you have assembly ) and do 10mins...farmers in his den,duck duck goose etc...

[Guest tinkerbell]

You could just take them out into the main playground whilst the rest of the school is working, with a bag of equipment eg bean bags,balls,hoops,ropes, chalk et c make an area with the chalk to keep them contained and let them get rid of energy...make up games eg target throwing,balls and beanbags into a bucket or chalked shape ....

[Susan]

A run around the playground is also good for letting off steam and used to work well for my "hard work" class. A couple of circuits and then some brain gym, to encourage control and coordination.