Today was my last day of placement, the teacher asked me to continue working at the primary school even after finishing placement as she also said that she saw a big improvement within the children that I had been assigned to from the first day of my placement. My teaching skills also have improved with working with children with learning disabilities. On the last day the children were all on their last day before having half term so they were given some homework to do during the upcoming week they had of no school just so they don’t forget what they were learning about in the pervious weeks. They were also given 3 different books to read at home.

The children had made me a card and told me to not leave as they gave me hugs. I felt sad for having to leave but I had told them I would be coming back as soon as I finish my academic uni year. Some children did not know what university was but those who did understood what I meant. Also the teachers had respected my decision which I had appreciated.

Before I entered placement I felt like I was catching a cold but I didn’t want to miss placement because I loved working with the children. As soon as I came in to placement everyone I walked passed said ‘morning’ and I replied saying ‘morning’ back to them. When I entered the class I usually work in the children had still not come in so I started fixing the book shelf. By the time I had finished doing that the children started coming in to the class room. When all the children sat on their table the teacher, they did some phonics on mini class boards and pens. When they had come back from break, there were 4 tables which had activities ready for them to be used. One group was taken by another teacher that helps them with their writing and speaking. A couple of boys got taken each day so by the end of the week they would all. In the afternoon everyone was reading and doing that linked to the story that they will be learning about all week. I was feeling slightly better in the afternoon.

Today the children had number day which meant that the children would be taking part in activities all day.
All the children came with tops that had numbers, some of the children had made their own personalised top.
All the children were excited about showing their families what they can do and races they can win.
As all the children raced, done the egg and spoon race they had a break and spoke to their parents.
They did different activities through out the whole day.
What went well is that the children were excited to participate in sports day. What didn’t go well on the day was the unfortunate fact that I wasn’t wearing the appropriate clothing for the sports activates that were being held by the school. What I now know that I could have avoided happening on the day was my clothing, by being more organised and prepared I could have made sure I was fully aware of any school activities that would have cause me to have changed my normal work outfit.

on the 5th day the class was looking at facts about the moon. The teacher had given each student a A4 paper to create a fact sheet about the moon. I went over to the table that I worked with to go over the strategy that we use and continued giving points to the table, which I had noticed that it motivated all the children rush to finish their work first but I had also told them that their writing has to be neat and they should remember where to put their capital letters and full stops. Once all the children had finished their posters on facts about the moon they had presented it to the class and spoke about different facts that they had remembered from their previous weekend home work.

During the day I had use a new strategy, I had asked questions regarding the worksheets and told the children to put their hands up if they knew the answers. I got answers from everyone on the table expect one boy. As the day went on we did different tasks. I used the same strategy this time round the boy that did not put his hands up did, it had made me happy to see that he understood what I had been asking. I had picked him to answer as he stuck his hand up with excitement to answer for the first time. He had told me the right answer as well which made me very proud and happy. I had also informed the teacher and she was also impressed at the improvements on the children’s work.

Before starting my placement I was quite nervous because I was going to a school that I did not know anyone. It was a new setting but to prepare my self I had went to the school to visit the head teacher to introduce myself and also to speak about what I wanted to get out from the placement. I was also able to meet the class that I will be doing my placement in and everyone gave me a warm welcome. The children were friendly and open to me as well as the teachers which made my nervous disappear. This had made me excited and happy to start my placement. I had been assigned with a year 2 class.