Timings for a Nursery Teacher lesson ob

[twistandshout]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a lesson observation for a nursery teacher position coming up, I have been told it can be on anything and it's for 20 minutes.

 

I have planned the following but am now a little concerned about the children spending too much time "on the carpet", even though the story book is sandwiched between two active songs. Could any nursery teachers please advise if this is appropriate in terms of timings for nursery children's attention span...

 

• Introduction to Mr. Shark (the puppet) who is going to help us learn about his friends that live under the sea.
• 3 minute warm up song with actions “Under the Water” by Julia Donaldson.
• Billy’s Bucket story by Kes Gray
• Children sit in a circle. Encourage children to suggest their own creatures that they might see if they had Billy’s Bucket. Take suggestions and turn them into a song with children’s ideas for actions (to the tune of “the wheels on the bus”). Children stand up to sing each new verse and do the actions together.
  E.g. The crab in the bucket goes nip nip nip...
  The shark in the bucket goes snap snap snap...

I was happy but now stating to doubt myself! Thank you for any help :1b

[hannt]

Hi

If I were you I would not worry about trying to cram too much in. Althouh your ideas could theoretically continue for another session, if the children's interest is sustained.

If you take some buckets in that will hook the children into the story straight away. Perhaps your activity could then be that some of the children (in small groups) come with you to see what they can find to put into their buckets and then at the end come together to share with the others. They could then swop over and contine whilst you are being interviewed?

Good luck!

[Guest]

your lesson sounds spot on. is it the whole class or a small group? our class will happily sit in a small group for 30 mins if it is an interesting and active session. could you write the animal name and action chosen each verse on a whiteboard for extra learning and to 'help' you remember what to sing! and any extra time could be spent discussing their experiences of seeing any of the creatures,

[twistandshout]

Thanks so much to you both for your feedback. It's with the whole class, about 20 children in total. Without knowing the children it's really tricky to know how much I can do! I suppose in this instance less is more to give more chance for discussion. I suppose the thing I should get rid of is the active song at the beginning but with it being first thing in the morning I wanted to do a bit of wake and shake... hmm what to do!

I love the idea of writing things down to "help me remember" and modelling writing at the same time, thank you :-)

[Guest]

20 is a good number. and first thing they should be able to focus well. you could drop the song and just ask lots of questions about the story, then have a discussion afterwards. children always like to talk!!!