At the minute I'm currently studying the Literacy and Numeracy modules in college, and by that I mean the subjects English, Gaeilge (Irish) and Mathematics. I started this particular module back in January/February of this year- just before I began my first School Placement. (The first experience I'd have as a class teacher, and one which I was both excited and anxious about!) The learning I experienced in these particular subjects, before I went on School Placement, was very valuable, I thought. I am really enjoying seeing different methodologies that can be used alongside the teaching of these core subjects, and how well they can be integrated into the Primary School Curriculum.
I taught 3rd class (aged 8-9) on my recent School Placement/Teaching Practice and while we we learning about our environment one day, I had an idea of creating a space for the children to go, if they needed some 'inspiration' or some reflecting time, during their school day. I collaborated with the class teacher and I spoke to the pupils about this. We all worked together, and after some deliberations, we came up with an idea of creating a simple painting of a tree, and adding some colourful buttons to it. We decided to add all different colours and shapes and sizes of buttons, some big some small, some thick some thin.
These buttons stood as a symbol for the diversity we have not only in our classroom of 29 boys and girls, but in our school, in our county and in our country of Ireland. The children (and I) would stand at the tree each day and spot buttons we had not even noticed before. All the different colours brought so many different ideas to the pupils and was useful in so many lessons. In English when we were writing 'Colour Poems', the buttons became a huge inspiration for the pupil's writing. We also made up many different stories in English about this tree and where it could have possibly originated. These stories were then read out to a younger class in the school.
Everyone who passed our 'Inspiration Tree' in the corridor stopped to have a look and the pupils were very pleased with the reaction they got from the school on a simple tree, that I had the pleasure of working with them to create. We simply got a large sheet of green paper, drew on a tree with waving branches and painted the tree in brown. We all gathered some spare buttons from our home and glued them to the tree, each and everyone of us. This tree symbolised the unity in the classroom and the connection each pupil had with each other. The tree was then placed on the wall outside our classroom and a border was added. The pupils enjoyed creating this tree in our Visual Art lesson and reflecting of it for inspiration in many subsequent lessons.
It also provided a great stimulation for our Mathematics lesson on Shapes and Space and our English lessons. It integrated well with our theme of 'Our Local Environment' and was used in our Gaeilge lessons too. We were counting the amount of buttons on each branch, all in Irish and describing the colours we saw using our knowledge of the colours in Irish. I found the children often pausing as they walked by, on the way out for break and as they arrived in the morning. They were all so attracted to the colours on the tree, and were thrilled to have made it. It definitely made them smile! As a result, I smiled and those anxious feelings I had, were put to the back of my mind!
This tree provided me with many different ideas and inspiration while on School Placement, and I loved it so much. So much so that I wanted to feature it on my blog. It was left on the wall in the school after I left, and I continue to hope that it brings some light and hope into those children's lives. I also hope that you feel you could do this simple activity with your class. I think it would work with any age group and you can integrate it so much into the Curriculum! Let me know if you've any questions about this or anything else!
Have you any ideas of other ways it could be used in the classroom or the school? Feel free to leave a comment below!
Sorcha.
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