The donkey in the corner...

The traditional Easter message is, this year, being done in "tableaux" by my class for the end of term service.

The class have broken the story down into 10 main parts:

which they will turn into "freeze-frames."

They'll be writing (and reading out) a caption to explain each one so there'll be language elements, they'll have to work together as effective contributors and they'll have to "act" as well as making the props. This activity (being done as a series of lessons - to draw out the story - then practical "workshops" to make props and work on the action and the transitions from scene to scene) is a real cross-curricular, cross-capacity exercise.

...and it's not every day you get to say to your class "put your cross down by the donkey in the corner."

Our Big Fairtrade Adventure...

More photos to follow but in the meantime a great example of ACfE in action and Responsible Citizens to boot. Not much more to say on this front, the kids blog speaks for itself I think.

Update, 13th March.

And here are the photos of the homework task "research Fairtrade to collect and present any information you like in whatever way you want"

World view - PSD? Cross-curricular topic work?

Does it matter? As I've said before, it's what the kids are getting out of it that matters most.

Last week, the homework task centred around Kosovo. The emergence of a new "nation" in the midst of our Europe topic was too good an opportunity to miss (and a great example of flexibility in the planning & delivery of the curriculum too!)

"EUROPE: A new European “nation” came into being at the weekend. There will be LOADS about it in the news and online at the moment. Can you find out as much as you possibly can about this new country (name, location, why it has emerged, population and so on) and make an information leaflet on it. The leaflet should be A4, double sided and in booklet form"

How is this going to work?

I'm not entirely sure of the best format for this, though I suppose I'll learn as I go along and amend procedures accordingly, in line with the very best principles of formative assessment and A Curriculum for Excellence, I'm sure you'll agree.

What I think I'd like to do is to put up postings which share the learning intentions and success criteria of a "learning experience" and to accompany this with photos/videos/podcasts showcasing what the children have been doing and how they've interacted with the experience.

This will allow me to make evaluative, formative statements or comments and this will - hopefully - enable me to inform my future practice.

Well, it sounds good...