Crikey, the little 'uns are nearly upon us!

Only a few days left before the children are in (Wednesday the 5th to be precise) and I feel I am nowhere near ready to have them in the classroom. Not only is my classroom still not ready in any way, shape or form; neither is my planning. This morning alone I just spent 3 hours typing up some activities to go up on the IWB (Interactive White Board) ready for the kids 3 days back. I'm not looking for praise here; I'm looking for a telling off !

What's annoying about the whole thing is that I can hear my brain tell me that's it's a waste of time and my common sense says; 'stop working so long on one thing, Mat' and then I can hear Claire (my lovely wife) saying 'Is it right spending all this time on one thing?' So what is it that drives me to spend up to seven hours on three days worth of Literacy Planning? Insecurity with not knowing what to do? Wanting to get things just right? *sigh* Feel free to post any ideas on a postcard :)

So far it probably seems like I have a very negative feeling towards the start of the new year; nothing could be further from the truth. I'm ready in many other ways. My classroom, although messy, has some great additions of which I hope will make the kids laugh and smile. Firstly, I bought this lush leaf (see pic. on left ) that acts like a shade where the sunlight comes in and I also purchased four giant rubber ducks (see next pic. below) that will act as team targets of a sort. A little explanation is probably needed.

When I was training to be a teacher, one of the things that I pondered upon the most was how to entice boys to want to learn and be at school. From one seminar I came across the idea of having four rockets zoom across the classroom with the children being in one of the four teams. Whichever team got the most laps at the end of the year was the winner (and usually won a large tub of sweets).

I really liked this idea and made my own rockets and then put them to work. The whole rockets = rewards thing worked like a charm and kept me in the kids' good books for a whopping seven years.

However, with being moved up to Year 6 this year and also seeing that my rockets were starting to crumble, I thought that something new would be needed. Something that would work with 10-11 year olds who may be a little too 'cool' for rockets. Then it came to me:

GIANT RUBBER DUCKS !

Of course ! Something so daft and ridiculous would surely be a great way to re-inspire the class. When I had the rockets, they were pianted the colours of the four Harry Potter School Teams (through pure luck I might add) and that seemed to work; but Ducks named after the four Harry Potter teams? Nah, it didn't feel right. Some adjustment was needed:

Instead of Gryffindor we have Gryffinquack ( that's what ducks do best :-) )

Ravenclaw becomes Ravenduck (sure to confuse all ornithologists)

Hufflepuff becomes Beaklepuff (a bit like Beetlejuice - such a fab film)

And finally, Slytherin becomes Slytherwaddle (I love those waddling geese from Aristocats)

Anyway, I should get back to tidying and planning before time runs out (as a teacher, time always runs out but I know what I mean). I have photos to take and preperation to put in place before all the staff arrive on Monday.