The Secret Kindergarten Kid: Fotobabble

Showing posts with label Fotobabble. Show all posts

Thursday, 17 April 2014

Felt tip rules and printed csv file blues

Madge has a funky new haircut :)

Tells Hina to wait until name taken in register before she can have a wee...poor judge of bladder! Hina walks back into room with wet trou & knickers around ankles!

Teacher wants me to take register but... but I do not have any data - as I've previously hinted at, a print out of a spreadsheet when all I need is a csv copy of their file - would take 20 seconds per class to import to Teacher Assistant Pro (if they ever gave me internet access). Instead takes me about 30 seconds per child, of my own time. Cannot organise names the way I want to thereafter - alphabetical by name (surname or given, fair enough) but their lists are by date of birth girls/boys split, or by age group split, or by hiragana...Obviously very US-centric.

(Note - some of the children some of the time have names on their clothes or nametags, but in hiragana. Children respond to family name first = even with very good listening skills, hard to pick out one from 30 in an alphabetised list of first names. When asked names, always respond with family name first too, so anyone unfamiliar with Japanese names inevitably finds the blend impossible to discern. Even with my experience, a shy/mumbling kid mumbles even more when asked to repeat their name - and that is when they want to give it/are standing right in front of you...I have a good memory names/faces, but need to know at least one part of the equation. Can't yell across a playground at a kid x about to do something dangerous, or tell a colleague about a conflict between y & a, or warn of imminent bowel eruptions from q!)

Madge asks for felt tip pen rules, including don't put in mouth or rub too hard & make holes in the paper!

Took time out to teach Boss about Edmodo, Flickr, Stupeflix, Fotobabble. Think blew his socks off!

Missed a colouring job; miso mackerel. Mums in the hall eating likewise, ushered away from windows when tried to sneak peaks! Did grace etc too; found Minii's mum to get email address for Ohanami pics (sent)

Quick review of lesson plan in quiet room but Ts found me & nicely complemented. Nervous again.

Went over time again: need more structure to art activity, pre-label & put names on things; iLeader says give prints away to take home a better idea - totally agree.

Nozomi popped by.

Thursday, 10 April 2014

Day 2 - 1st 'Jim Time' Day

Cherry Blossom falling on head & 1st House Martin of the spring spotted.

Expedition of old/young pairs around the block, boys sliding hands along everything: lamp posts, fences, parked cars but tripping over kerbs all the way.

iLeader pinch hitting for Madge, with Bacardi now supporting; she started the day very nicely with lovely piano & dialing down the shouters.

Invites rules for skipping rope & everyone agrees to best behavior. V nice trick, shushing one with finger & eye contact without stopping talking to rest of class - keeps everyone engaged. Also like the reduction by clapping 54321 to zero & sit straight.

iLeader is great but her element is tiddlers. Big help with Jim time & has volunteered short cuts already, given me crayons & glue. How sweet!

Managed to use excuse of Jim time to be scarce after lunch - Mick Jagger & dim sims - need the time out of action to think, cobble together ideas and scribble down a 40-minute running plan. Can hardly do that with nendo & test-my-strength challenges. came up with

How's the weather today after x3 Hello, How are you?

Older group of 2 classes

Modeled then had boys face girls & do

Weather+ wheel, modeling weather words, then + TPR. Dicta pic on rudimentary template. iLeader & Bacardi, but also Boss, Chief, Dragon.

Fotobabble done & art collected. Final 10 mins = Jim says .....please

& quick goodbye song.

School gate observation - tight sky-blue jeans mummy kicked her shoe off trying to be fancy! Nice wiggle of bum as she exited with my fave v-neck sweater.

Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Falling asleep into your lunch, poking tigers and an eternal smile.

Unusually arrived by car today and was dry & warm - however, it took much longer to get there across town than usual by bike. Added 10 minutes to my trip as well, having to got the wrong direction to go to my office to get the car in the first place. Reason being = torrential rain.

New observation at the gate = mums have to take kids' umbrellas home, & bring them back again at home-time. I am sure there is a logical reason for this. But why not apply it to shoes, hats, gloves etc as well?! With no outdoor play possible, pandemonium instead in the hall, and play dough in the classrooms, where I was lucky to be spending the day with delightful Ikuko. This lady never stops smiling, even when she's frowning. A class act. Loved the dress rehearsal with Pink class today - check out the Fotobabble:

<object width="600" height="650"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.fotobabble.com/mediafiles/templates/basicslideshow/fb.swf"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="autoPlay=false&remoteXML=true&appURL=http://www.fotobabble.com&id=STYwdksxMi9Sb289&increment=true&layout=default&size=large"/><PARAM NAME=BASE VALUE="http://0ztevmk3kfy73v4y4m82-fb-production-content.s3.amazonaws.com/content/STYwdksxMi9Sb289"/><embed src="http://www.fotobabble.com/mediafiles/templates/basicslideshow/fb.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" FlashVars="autoPlay=false&remoteXML=true&appURL=http://www.fotobabble.com&id=STYwdksxMi9Sb289&increment=true&layout=default&size=large" BASE="http://0ztevmk3kfy73v4y4m82-fb-production-content.s3.amazonaws.com/content/STYwdksxMi9Sb289" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#ffffff" allowfullscreen="true" width="600" height="650"></embed></object>

I think this teacher as receptive as any others (but still very analogue!) & enjoyed seeing her Hungry Caterpillar start talking! Also very giggle-worthy was watching one of the odder little girls fall asleep during lunch into her lunch. Classic stuff! Meantime, her table-mate dribbling a nose-bleed into his rice. Not quite sure where to look.

Some dress rehearsals went better than others - practicing by class, in turns, in the main hall. Two particular miscreants playing up in their teacher's absence today walk into a slow but effective barrage from the Chief, ever so carefully eviscerating them with all the good little boys & girls responding on her cues to reinforce the good behaviour message. A slow motion, quietly delivered, SMACK DOWN! A master a work.

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

The generation games - big schoolies visit

Generation Games

A hesitant clump of bigger kids in their track suits arrived in the yard this morning, mostly trying to hide behind each other! They looked like they'd rather be somewhere else, but instead broke up into groups of six and detailed to entertain our classes with various DIY fair games they had made & brought along, for example a bowling set (10 pin).

It was fun to not be the focus of attention at all, and K-sensei likewise enjoyed being able to take a back seat and instead just nudge things along when they could not make themselves understood or did not know how to manage an activity when it didn't quite work out the way they anticipated...that and the odd name check for the more boisterous usual suspects - one of whom totally wrecked a game, hogging all the bits and pushing playmates out the way!

Connecting

The older visitors did become more confident once they hit floor level & got involved & their activities took over my classmates; not many teens like to stand up in front of a group. I am sure they learned a lot from the experience, and some of them showed a genuine skill with younger children - the ones with younger brothers and sisters at home? All of this geared towards the smooth induction of the top age group next spring...

I browsed the other classes as well; Bunko Booth style activities looked popular, but the origama a bit too hard & unengaging/quiet. One group were sat in circles singing/doing a janken game and having a very nice time. Another finished by doing a traditional counting chant/finger play activity, which I could not fathom but I am sure has many cultural cousins long forgotten. Only ones I can think of from England would be skipping songs - of which I never learnt to do. Have a listen - any ideas?

<object width="300" height="360"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.fotobabble.com/mediafiles/templates/basicslideshow/fb.swf"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="autoPlay=false&remoteXML=true&appURL=http://www.fotobabble.com&id=UGdITmhzY0VpcXM9&increment=true&layout=default&size=large"/><PARAM NAME=BASE VALUE="http://0ztevmk3kfy73v4y4m82-fb-production-content.s3.amazonaws.com/content/UGdITmhzY0VpcXM9"/><embed src="http://www.fotobabble.com/mediafiles/templates/basicslideshow/fb.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" FlashVars="autoPlay=false&remoteXML=true&appURL=http://www.fotobabble.com&id=UGdITmhzY0VpcXM9&increment=true&layout=default&size=large" BASE="http://0ztevmk3kfy73v4y4m82-fb-production-content.s3.amazonaws.com/content/UGdITmhzY0VpcXM9" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#ffffff" allowfullscreen="true" width="00" height="360"></embed></object>

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Assembly practice

Monday, 16 September 2013

If you can't sing...shout!