Feeling better

Feeling better and a lot more confident

After the exhaustion and worry of yesterday I gave myself a good talking to and came into school today with more optimism, determined to have a 'positive day. I have to say, sat in the PPA room now at 1.45 my day so far has been a positive one. 

First I took the register but with a twist, asking each child to say good morning followed by their cheesiest smile. Now who could fail to feel cheered up by the sight of a class of 34 six year olds grinning at them, missing teeth and all! 

This was followed by me beginning to read our new class reader 'The Minpins' by Roald Dahl. I absolutely love reading to children, the looks on their faces as you begin to draw them into the world which the book creates is wonderful. Up until I began my preparation for this new topic 'Down in the Woods' I had never even heard of the Minpins before and if you haven't either I suggest you give it a try. Basically it is a typical Dahl book in as much as it has made up words and made up creatures which most children absolutely love but it is very similar to the Borrowers by Mary Norton. It is about a boy who runs off into the woods to explore, he is chased by a 'Dahl' creature and is saved by a group of people the 'Minpins' who are tiny and live in the trees in the forest.

As I was reading it to my grandson, who is often my guinea pig, I was overwhelmed by the possible activities the book has as part of my topic, including:

• Drawing the creatures the book describes
• Discussing if the main character should have gone into the woods alone
• Writing what happens next
• Lots and lots of art work possibilities from nature collages to leaf prints
• Adjectives to describe the little boy, the forest, the monsters
• Synonyms for some of the words in the story
• Onomatopoeia poetry to link with some of the words Dahl uses to describe the monsters noises

After break we then did some counting in 1s, 2s and 3s but as I intend to so some drumming with my class to teach them about pulse and beat, we did our counting to different beats e.g. 1, 2, 345, 6,7 8910, 11,12, 131415 and so on. Great fun! Then we completed a 'Pinterest activity' Math About Me. Which enables the children to see how we have numbers all around us from the day we are born. Finally before lunch it was  outside for another nature scavenger hunt to find resources for all of the art work we have to come over the next few weeks.

So yes looking back on the day so far it has been great. It really does prove that it is all about mindset. My 'happy' mindset has also been helped by one of my summer holidays reading books -

   

An amazing read!! But if I am ever to get next weeks planning done that will have to wait for another day.