Over the hump..

As the term has progressed Kate and I have definitely felt we are refining areas of our practice in our new learning space. The children are becoming more receptive and we have been continuing to work together as part of a team. The subtle changes that we continue to make are having the impact that we have wanted them too.

The students have become more comfortable in the space. Their respect for the space has improved as well as their respect for the gear they use. Last week we took away the glue guns and just pretended we didn't know where they were. Because of this they were forced to think of other ways to "stick" things together. We are hoping that it will also help them appreciate them so much more when they mysteriously return from holiday. We have had less broken pencils and items seem to be getting returned to where they were originally taken from. We have had to continue to model these things and also make sure we are seen ourselves doing these things. End of the day clean up is getting better but still having a little trouble with cleaning up as you go.. Just today a girl had paint everywhere!! And then didn't even clean it up just moved on to something else. She did go back and clean it up but only after being prompted. Still working on the soft systems to create successful hard systems… But we have seen noticeable improvement which is wonderful. Makes us feel like we are getting somewhere.

Talking with the students about the physical changes we have made and taking on their suggestions has made the students feel like they "own" their environment more. Talking about the placement of a mat to where we should put the box of tissues! All extremely vital parts of their environment.

This week we changed our foyer area. We took away the table that wasn't working, got rid of the lost property box which was becoming a lost property mountain and moved the rubbish bins. We added a whiteboard explaining our programme for the day and notices for our classes. We put a nice table cloth on the table and put out some of the kids work to display. It seemed to be an instant success. I have asked the children how they feel about it and they thought it made the foyer seem more inviting and welcoming. It was also good to know all important information they needed to know was in one space and was clear and easy to read. It allowed also for the parents to know what was going on as well.

It is week 8, next week we head away on school camp for 3 days and I can't believe where the term has gone already. We do feel though we are getting somewhere now. We can see the small things that have made a real difference in what we are trying to achieve. 

Next steps for us are choice within choice and providing a good quality structure for inquiry learning. Some more storage would be great too!!