All About Germs!

Teaching your students about germs is an absolute must with the little ones. Opening their eyes up to how easily germs are transferred can help in stopping those germs traveling around your classroom. There's really nothing like talking to one of your students when suddenly you feel the cool spray of a sneeze across your face. Not to mention, no teacher has any time to take days out of the classroom because of sickness. Teaching my students about hygiene and the spread of germs can also help in keeping them at school too. Having days off don't only affect us as teachers but it affects them too! Depending on the child, they can feel panicked when they have missed lessons and are having to play catch up.  

So, what does a fun and hands-on initial germ lesson look like? Well, here is one I did with a year 1 class a few years ago.

First, we brainstormed what we already knew about germs, I like to Think, Pair, Share for discussion time.  If you're unsure what that means, I give my students individual thinking time, they then turn to the person next to them and make a pair to discuss what they think and finally we share back to the class. I always find that this thinking strategy gives those students who may struggle an opportunity to get ideas from others and it sets them up for success. 

After brainstorming what we know, I like to give them a visual lesson about how easily germs can be transferred. I take my students outside with two different colours of glitter. In these photos, I used silver and gold. 

Here is my hand and my teaching partners hand. I like to do an example for the students so they can observe first. The students predict what they think will happen when we touch hands.

When it was the students turn, I let them dip one finger into the glitter. This saves us from a glitter bomb exploding everywhere and it still does the trick! Make sure you divide the students in half, give one half silver glitter and the other half gold. This is how they are going to see the germ transfer.

Get your students to go and find someone with the opposite coloured glitter. It's time to germ transfer!

After they have had a good play around with swapping germs. We went back into the classroom to discuss what happened and what we observed. Here was one beautiful child's response. 

There you have it! My initial hands-on lesson about germs. It's a fantastic way to jump into learning and the kids love it! Let me know in the comments if you gave it a go!

To Me God Is....

This week in Religion we have been discussing 'Who is God to me?'

We begun our discussion with a brainstorm about God which brought up the question 

'What does God look like?'

Each student was given a green post-it note and were ask to go back to their table and write down anything that comes to mind. The answers were not only adorable but completely different. Some drew pictures, some drew love hearts others described God as medium sized with brown hair and others with blonde hair and a halo. All were correct to them. 

After the brainstorm we decided to draw our own image of God while quiet reflective music was on in the background. Again each picture was completely different. Some students drew God praying, in the garden, on the cross with Jesus and up in heaven. All were correct to them.

In their next lesson we posed the question again 'To Me God Is' 

Students completed a Think Pair Share and discussed the different ways God is special to them. They wrote their beautiful ideas on a template I created. 

The lesson was such a success that the students decided it would look great in their portfolio. They loved the discussion and listening to others views and ideas. 

A great reflective lesson on their beliefs! 

To Purchase Your Copy of this Lesson Click the Link Below!

To Me God Is - Activity!

New Year New Grade!

Welcome to 2016!

So this year I have been given 26 year twos - and what a grade they are! I have a mixture of abilities ranging from prep all the way to year 5! How amazingly different are kids! I love how each child brings a different aspect to the classroom. Not only in learning abilities but history and behaviour. It's always so interesting getting a new grade and working out how we fit together in a classroom. 

At the beginning of the year, term one is always the hardest. I'm learning about them and they are learning about me. I have taught Prep (kindergarten) for the last 3 years. The difference between Prep and Year 2 is a big one! Prep students are fresh, they've never been in a classroom before so they have nothing to compare to. Year 2 have already been in 2 different classes. I found that I have been getting a lot of "I didn't do that last year!" and "That's not what my teacher last year did". Finding a way to respond was difficult at times. I found the best way to respond was explaining 'why' I chose to run 'our' classroom this way. I always use the word 'our' when discussing the classroom. I find it's very important to allow the students to feel that we are all equals.

Bring on the new year!