Baby in the Classroom

At our school, parents (and other relatives) are invited to join their child for lunch. We have up to ten parents per day, in the hall, eating with their children. If you don't already, maybe you should give it a go. Anyway, as a result of that, we, as teachers, have brought our own young children into school to eat with us.

A few weeks ago, my thirteen moth old daughter and wife were due to join my for lunch. I asked them to come in an hour early and we had a lesson with my class before lunch. Here's what we did:

The children sat in a circle, with my daughter in the middle.

We waved to her and she waved back. We all said hello in turn and she followed the sound.

We passed a ball to her and she passed it back.

We pulled her train around the circle for her to follow.

Of course, we played peek-a-bo. Both her and the class loved that.

We sang 'Twinkle Twinkle' to her.

We said 'Ta', 'Baby' and 'No' for her to copy.

The children asked questions and generally interacted with her.

Why did I choose to do this? In my Year Five class of 30 pupils, only two of them have a sibling of a similar age. Some are from single child families; others the youngest child. The ones who do have younger siblings are similar in age. It gave them chance see and interact with a one year old baby. Many of the class appreciated this and they don't get the opportunity to in their extended families. In addition, my daughter thoroughly enjoyed her time in the limelight! 

So, if you have access to a small child and would like to spend some time with them in your classroom, I'd recommend it.

#LikeAGirl Assembly

In the past, we've used videos in assemblies. In the main, these have been courtesy of Assembly Tube (and some we've made ourselves too). If you've not already checked out that resource, we suggest you take a look. One of our favourites from Assembly Tube is The Impossible Dream assembly.

At the start of this month, our vice principal shared the following videos with us:

With these videos, and some we added, we lead an excellent assembly with Years Five and Six. 

At the start, we showed the introduction of the first video, which showed people running in a silly way when asked to 'run like a girl'. This got a giggle from the mixed-gender audience and then we cut straight to this:

Chrissie Wellington being a real inspiration for us given her amazing achievements and, despite these, she is still relatively less well-known (we are always eager to do some Chrissie Wellington plugging). We discussed what an amazing athlete she is.

Then, because we are actually boys and feel that it is just as important that we get rid of stereotyping boys, we showed an extract from this video demonstrating Mad Chadd and his stunning dancing:

Rather sneakily we added this, in part, because we are both teaching dance next term and it allows us to demonstrate that it is not alright to say that dancing is "only for girls."

Moving on, we discussed how pernicious the phrase "like a girl" has become, both as an insult and, more worryingly, as a normal everyday comment. We also talked about how important it was to avoid other 'isms' through stereotyping and from this had a general discussion about moving forward with doing what people want.

Personally, we felt the most important part of the assembly came at the end: we discussed not letting others limit us or even limiting ourselves because of generalities and stereotypes. We ended by asking the children to ask a simple question if they are told they are not allowed to do something because they are a boy or a girl: why not?

6 Circle Time Games

We recently answered a tweet asking for circle time games. Below is the response we gave. These are just 6 out of many ideas for games to use in circle time. You may have used some of these and hopefully some of them are new. Please feel free to comment below to add any other ideas you have of your own. An internet search will also provide a plethora of ideas!

Idea 1: The Parrot Parade

Give each child a colour: red, blue, green, red. Then read out a made up story about children making a parrot made of those colours to go on a float at a carnival. The story describes the making of the parrot and then the parading of it. Describing all its colours at every opportunity. When the children hear their colour they stand up, turn around and sit back down. They enjoy it especially if their colours come up a lot consecutively!

Idea 2: Lifeboats

The children all start sat down and then have to stand up one at a time with out communicating with each other. The aim is to get all standing up, but if two stand up at once they all sit back down.

Image credit: Andy Stephenson - www.geograph.org.uk/photo/980798

Idea 3: Pass the Squeeze

Start of end the session with pass the squeeze. A handshake with a squeeze.

Idea 4: Hello

Person A says hello to person B, person B then replies hello, person A then says tell person C, person B then says hello to person C, person C says hello, person B says tell person D... and so on... (A nice way to start can also be used at the end with good-bye).

Idea 5: Fizz Buzz

When the person starts, they start by saying 1. The next person must then say the next number, and so on. People take their turn by saying the next number in sequence. If the number is divisible by 5, the person doesn't say the number, instead, they say "Fizz!". Similarly, if the number is divisible by 7, they must say "Buzz!". These fizzes and buzzes combine together - for example, instead of 35, I would say "Fizz, buzz!", because is divisible by 5, and is divisible by 7.

This example of using multiples of 5 and 7 could be changed to other numbers.

Idea 6: Pass the Hoop

All hold hands; pass a plastic hoop through everyone around the circle.

Who are our Children's Role Models?

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At the start of a new school year, classes may choose to undertake a study into role models. Or during the year, the study of role models may be part of the PSHCE or RE curriculums. The term role model may also appear in history, science and other subject areas when significant figures are mentioned or studied. The purpose of these studies and the use of the term ‘role model’ is to give children direction and someone for them to aspire to be or become more like. If we, as adults, refer to someone as a role model then the person’s actions, morals and achievements need to be something worth aspiring to.

The people seen by children as role models are more often drawn from contemporary society and modern culture and are often world famous. I would like to see children thinking more deeply about the term role model. What exactly makes a role model and are they someone that everyone can aspire to be more like?

From looking in the dictionary, I found: ‘role model (noun); a person looked to by others as an example to be imitated’. My parents were role models. I looked to and still look to them for inspiration, advice and direction. While, not all parents will be perfect role models for their children, they, even though children may not realise it, are their first role models, shaping and defining their early lives. A discussion of parents as role models could be a good place to begin the lesson. How do the children perceive their parents as role models? The teachers and other members of a school’s staff will also be seen as role models by some of the children they work with. Have any of the children realised or experienced this?

There are many people in a child’s life they will look to copy, turn to for advice and reassurance. These people (close relatives, teachers, club leaders or community members) can be looked to first in a lesson about role models. These are the most important role models as they are the ones children have daily contact with and may not even realise they are role models. Then the children’s idea of whom they see as a famous role model can be looked at, before possibly discussing some other role models that are possibly less well known.

Within primary education, on the news and in various other media I frequently hear the name ‘David Beckham’ being put forward as a role model. While I have nothing against David Beckham or his achievements I do feel there are other role models we can look to first. The Wikipedia entry for Role Models highlights children’s perception of what or indeed who a ‘role model’ is. Below are some suggestions of less mentioned role models:

Richard Branson – Found school challenging. Has dyslexia. Left school without qualifications. Multimillionaire!

Elizabeth Fry – Prison reformist. Features on £5 notes in England.

Maximilian Kolbe – Took the place of a condemned man at Auschwitz. Kolbe died, Franciszek Gajowniczek went on to live until 1995.

St. Thomas More – Refused to go against something he believed in.

Adam Smith – Earned a reputation and became one of the most influential works on economics ever published.

Aung San Suu Kyi – Political activist.

Margret Thatcher – Perhaps not a popular choice with everyone, but overcome boundaries to become the UK’s first female Prime minister.