Thursday

Ewwww - I just went to look outside to see what the weather was doing and in the shadowy hall I saw a slug.  On my carpet.  Yuck, yuck and triple yuck.  I hate and loathe slugs and snails and all slimy things.  So it was very brave of me to investigate and, thank goodness, it was just a leaf.  Phew!

Anyway, although it's been raining, the sky looks a lot more promising and, hopefully, the children will be able to get their outdoor games lesson today, fingers crossed.

In our PPA yesterday, J and I looked carefully at the last several weeks' planning for this term and decided that there's absolutely no chance of getting it all done - so we set to and reduced it down a bit to make it more manageable.  We then worked out how we can adapt some science assessment material to make it accessible to the children for whom it is intended.  J and I concluded that whoever created this material has absolutely no idea of the way the youngest children develop, think and function: most of it was totally unrealistic and would have tested their (lack of) writing ability much more than their scientific understanding.  Given what I've just said above, there's no way we can find the time to individually assess 29 children on six or seven sheets.  Utterly ridiculous.
And, at their age, does it really matter anyway?

Maybe, one day, I should publish my own assessment stuff - after all, I end up having to make most of what we use.  I've just dug up and refreshed a maths assessment booklet to test their understanding of this term's work which I made a few years ago, all based around a Christmas theme.  Though I say it myself, it's really not bad at all!   :0)