Broom cupboard 4 - soon be time to think about heating this place

[TheHoneyBadger]

Will post this on the end of the other thread too but I have just found this:

If you are identified as a contact and asked to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, including by the NHS COVID-19 app you may be entitled to a payment of £500 from your local authority under the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme. If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has been told to self-isolate you may also be entitled to this payment.

^Presumably that is all of the 'thought' that has gone into the situation I've been talking about. Still doesn't tell us if we would be seen as taking unauthorised leave or able to work from home or anything - need union specific advice on that.

I’ve got 4 more weeks too squashed

That must feel so odd spending so little time with your class. I think you are right about the cases going balmy soon.

PHE advised our school to send Yr 12 home today and to ask them to get a PCR before returning as we’ve had so many cases. 42 positives in 5 days and some awaiting confirmation.

Weird for me having a class where the supply teacher knows them as well as I do.

My Year 2 DD has only had supply since the start of term and not actually met their class teacher yet due to illness so yes that must feel strange for the returning teacher!
My DD is doing well with the supply teacher and has her for another 6 days at least until we hear otherwise.
What a crazy start to the year!

My local rate is now 950 per 10,000. Yet the rate in the town where my kids bus to school is low. Could it be the buses? The school has huge absence but it's all the village bussed in kids according to my two.

It's creeping up at my primary too. And the amount of "it's just a cold" from parents and the gatekeeper receptionist is unreal. Even though we know they have it but just can't be arsed to get a pcr for their kid. Because they put it on fb! And their sibling is off with it. Duh.

I've done a LF. I had covid at xmas and been double jabbed so surely I couldn't get it again? Saying that, DS school is rife with it.

I'm still in awe of how you all do it. I feel I'm struggling and constantly on the back foot.

I'm still in awe of how you all do it. I feel I'm struggling and constantly on the back foot.
That's how we do it 😂

Yep, constantly on the back foot. You just stop caring as much and can wing it if necessary.

You mean that there is an alternative to being on the back foot??????

Second PCR test of the week done, politely suggested by slt as they sent my plague ridden self home. Who was it talking about teacher guilt? Not sure I could have more of it right now.

You mean that there is an alternative to being on the back foot??????
Being retired.

😂😂😂
So that's good that I'm feeling that way then! Feeling so frustrated at the minute with so much. So much to learn. Touch and go whether I am covered for PPA and ECT time. Using pre existing planning that I'm struggling to use. New so don't want to rock the boat but finding it tricky. Everyone is feeling quite stressed. It's only week 3 😱

Touch and go whether I am covered for PPA and ECT time.
This time is sacrosanct. It's in the statutory guidance.
Are you in a union?

@namechangedyetagain I tried to do some ofmy planning for next week in two hours PPA this am. Can't leave my classroom for it for various reasons. Got about 20 mins to myself. I was so all over the place that I ended up teaching half a lesson from this week and half a lesson from next week in Maths in the afternoon. Then had an SLT drop in at the transition between lesson 4+5. Not ideal, feeling a bit frazzled.

On a related topic, if anyone has any tips for teaching number bonds to children with ASD working at about yr/1 level, I would appreciate them. Numicon and cubes have not helped at all, they just get angry. Am thinking bead strings might be worth a go.

Yes I am in a union and luckily the business manager sorted it out and a hlta stepped in. Supposedly there's a shortage of supply. If I wasn't to get the time, would it be owed to me? Then there's trying to find a space, a spare laptop that works etc etc. It's little niggly things like that that are beginning to frustrate me.

I'm also aware that I'm not teaching all singing all dancing lessons like for my observation lessons in placement. Some lessons are a bit well.... boring.

'm also aware that I'm not teaching all singing all dancing lessons like for my observation lessons in placement. Some lessons are a bit well.... boring.
Now you're truly one of us 😂

The time is meant to be given in fixed blocks every week. They can't owe you it.

I'm also aware that I'm not teaching all singing all dancing lessons like for my observation lessons in placement. Some lessons are a bit well ... boring.

No, they are functional and appropriate for daily teaching!

On a related topic, if anyone has any tips for teaching number bonds to children with ASD working at about yr/1 level, I would appreciate them
Abacus or bead strings?
The rainbow diagram?
Lots of tech- topmarks games? Numberblocks?
Or dig into any special interests.

We have a long weekend this weekend! Bit of a cheek given I was off but it's so lovely to think tomorrow and Monday are freeeeeee.

OOoh, and Cuisennaire's.

Thanks @DollyMixtureLulus! I will give those a go, it feels like trial and error at the moment, Numicon was great for one child, so if I have a different method for each child that's fine.

Enjoy your long weekend!

@13luckyblackcats

On a related topic, if anyone has any tips for teaching number bonds to children with ASD working at about yr/1 level, I would appreciate them. Numicon and cubes have not helped at all, they just get angry. Am thinking bead strings might be worth a go.

Yes! It's a game involving a 0 to 20 numberline, a dice and a counter. It's more complicated to explain than to play but I'll try:

You start with the counter on the number 10.
Person A is trying to get the counter to 0 to win.
Person B is trying to get the counter to 20 to win.
Person A rolls the dice and moves the counter that number of spaces down the numberline.
Person B rolls the dice and moves the same counter that number of spaces up the numberline.
Repeat until there's a winner or time runs out.

To begin with, the child will make each move individually, counting the steps, but they will quickly start making moves in bigger jumps rather than counting. Play this for 10-15 minutes at the start of every day and within a few weeks, the number bonds within 20 start becoming automatic.

Rekenreks (the red and white version) are also a fantastic resource but require quite specific modelling and use to be most successful.

@namechangedyetagain

Yes I am in a union and luckily the business manager sorted it out and a hlta stepped in. Supposedly there's a shortage of supply. If I wasn't to get the time, would it be owed to me? Then there's trying to find a space, a spare laptop that works etc etc. It's little niggly things like that that are beginning to frustrate me.

I'm also aware that I'm not teaching all singing all dancing lessons like for my observation lessons in placement. Some lessons are a bit well.... boring.

In the battle between sustance and flash, substance wins every time.

@motherrunner

I think that’s another reason why I’m annoyed at this homework. Both DCs have spellings, timetables and an online English/Maths (alternated) homework task each week, plus daily reading. I don’t help them at all apart from making them sit at the table Sunday morning and so it. This is work for me!

Absolutely this. Love doing poetry with kids, particularly performing it. There's no reason why it needed to be this short notice or that it has to be individual poems rather than picking one for the class to learn together.

@MrsHamlet

You mean that there is an alternative to being on the back foot?????? Being retired.

This is true.

I'm baffled by the business manager sorting stuff out. Ours lives in his office and keeps away from teaching staff and students.
Primary- secondary differences are fascinating.