Child Study

Presentation
 Shelly Park Primary School
.

Mission Statement
 Shelly Park is a State primary co- Shelly Park School empowers its students to be
educational Decile 10 school. confident, caring and connected community
contributors.
 Shelly Park is of modern design and
has large open grounds. Currently
there are 20 classrooms. Some rooms  Parents see Shelly Park as a safe and friendly community
are linked together as Pods while with a good level of caring and support.
others are relocatable rooms.  Close contact and cooperation between home and school is
essential. Parents are invited to be involved with class
 The staff currently comprises the work, sporting and cultural activities.
Principal and sixteen fulltime
classroom teachers. In addition to the  Teaching staff are encouraged and supported to integrate
full-time staff, there are part-time elements of Tikanga Maori and Te Reo into their
teachers and several teacher aides. programmes.
 The school participates in the annual Eastern Districts
Koanga festival which occurs over two nights in October.

Motto
Working Together to Succeed .

Reference:
Shelly Park Primary School. (2018). Shelly Park Primary School. Retrieved from http://www.shellypark.school.nz/.
 School Ethnicity Breakdown
Students 446: Male 245 / Female 201
 WELCOME TO POD 3
 3 Classrooms in the pod plus 2 relocatable classrooms
 Mix of female and male teachers
 Different ages and years experience
 Lots of collaboration between all teachers and class rooms
 Modern facilities:
 electronic whiteboards
 student devices
 art facilities in the pod
 swimming pool
 two separate playgrounds divided by ages
 gymnasium
 Year 3 & Year 4 Breakdown
Ethnicity Year 3 Male Year 3 Female Year 4 Male Year 4 Female
German 1
Korean 1 1
Samoan 1 2
Other European 2 2 2 3
NZ European 15 18 27 19
Middle East 1 1
British Irish 1 2 1
NZ Maori 3 3 1
Australian 1 1
African Origins 1
Indian 1 1
Cook Island Maori 1
Chinese 4 4 6 5
TOTALS 26 25 45 36
 STUDENT ‘Y’ INFORMATION
 Year 4 - New Zealander – 8 year old boy
 Has 29 year old brother whose about to have a baby
 Divorced parents lives with mother while father lives locally
 Both working parents working in highly successful employment
 Attended early child care for 2 years
 Happy child. Very affectionate. Wonderful smile
 Very sociable and interacts confidently with peers from both classroom and in the pod
 “Comes to school for play time”
 Plays rough ups every morning with friends
 Enjoys sports : surfing, BMXing, cross country; reading
 He participated in school triathlon hardest course. Wasn’t overly successful but gave 100%
 Seen playing with different children at different times / days
 When 5 he was accessed by physical disabilities services with concerns around use of motor skills and grip however, report
found him to be ok
 While he loves being physically active he is quite often clumsy
 Concentration is variable. If interested will stay focused but does loses interest very quickly
 Often likes to be the clown of the class
 Listening a problem but not because he’s a challenged student rather he just loses attention easily
 Attends literacy group for 30 minutes 4 days a week to work on weaknesses
 Never met either parent as attends Oscar After School Care
 STUDENT ‘X’ INFORMATION
 Year 4 - New Zealander – 8 year old boy
 Only child
 Lives locally with parents and extended family
 Both working parents working
 Attended early child care for 3.5 years
 Comes across quite shy and quiet, however, becomes more outgoing with friends and in smaller groups
 Hobbies: Soccer, Cricket, IPad, Dancing
 Loves sport. Very good at soccer and cricket.
 Plays goal keeper and/or defence for a development soccer team.
 Has super high expectations on himself regarding sport. I feel he has a lot of pressure from home to do well.
 Academically a strong student
 Due to quieter nature is often missed in class as very rarely is he problematic or causes concern as academic very strong. “X is
often overlooked in a class” (Associate Teacher).
 Concentration is inconstant. ‘Often away with the fairies’. If interested will stay focused however switches off frequently.
Often sits with noisier more troublesome students and is easily distracted by them.
 Fidgets a lot while listening to instructions
 Often appears not to be listening then answers perfectly
 Is very forgetful with his things. Most days something is left behind at school or lost.
 I’ve met X’s mother. Very strong women. Likes to know what is happening with her son. Sees son’s talent in sports and wants to
push it.
 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF
CHILD STUDIES
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION PERCENTAGES
90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
ON TASK OFF TASK MOVING CHATTING DISRUPTIVE UNINVOLVED INVOLVED

CHILD X CHILD Y
 STUDENT ‘Y’ MATHS FINDINGS
 Maths Year 4 lowest level Group
 Early Stage 5
 In Azkaban Group which means Achieving level in class
 Activities sometimes are completed under duress
 Basic facts quiz : anything from 6/10 to 8/10 (again concentration plays a role
here)
 Regularly distracted. Then moves onto distracting others
 If working with teacher maintains concentration for slightly longer
 Participates in class when has to or is monitored
 Loves playing maths games
 Not really able to work on his own as goes completely of task. I.e. during
place value practicing after doing 2 exercises asked if he could draw pictures
 STUDENT ‘Y’ READING FINDINGS
 Reading Group Dumbledore – developing level
 Currently Silver using PM journals level 23
 Confident reader as passionate about it
 Likes to SSR however, only if moved away from other students
 Easily distracted
 During guided reading needs to be constantly reminded to keep up
 Loves to tell stories and change subject which distracts regularly the group
 STUDENT ‘Y’ WRITING FINDINGS
 Writing is a challenge for Y
 Attends additional writing support for 30 minutes 4 days a week
 Smaller grouped lesson with more one to one support as well as longer time
frames to complete work
 Writing support lessons are linked to the mainstream lessons
 Y has a great imagination and can visualise well ideas
 During discussion and vocabulary creation processes Y participates well
 When left to begin writing Y promptly loses interest and looks around the room
 When reminded to get writing Y says ‘I’m thinking’ but can easily been seen
reading wall posters, looking at pictures
 Hand writing is a Pod 3 challenge for all students. Y in the first term has
confidently improved on his writing objective of ‘writing with even sized letters
and spaces’
 Works hard and does very well with weekly spelling words
 STUDENT ‘Y’
WHERE TO NEXT……
Writing :
 Continue with progress on writing smaller and neater
 Punctuation and Word endings
 Moving more to using pen confidently
 Remove wall distraction posters / images etc.
 Working with teacher aid when with whole class to keep on track

Maths :
 Additional support in smaller group learning rather than whole class as easier keep him focused
 Incorporate more knowledge games when possible to keep Y engaged

In Class :
 Set shorter time goals for activities with short breaks for distraction. I.e. 10mins then stand up,
jiggle around, 5 star jumps etc.
 Seating plan to keep Y in away from wall distractions to maintain constant attention
 Put with students who are not easily distracted to limit comedy practices
 Offering a reward systems to keep Y on track
 Work with parents to set up similar concentration reward systems at home
 STUDENT ‘X’ MATHS FINDINGS
 Maths Year 4 second highest level Group
 Stage 5
 Super strong at basic facts
 Not so confident at working out problem solving exercises
 Fidgets frequently during mat time discussions
 If working with teacher maintains concentration for longer
 Participates in class only if asked
 Appears to not be concentrating and then answers correctly
 Quietly disappears in the class and if not called on would be left totally alone
 Doesn’t distract other students just switches off
 STUDENT ‘X’ READING FINDINGS
 Reading Group Dumbledore – developing level
 Currently Silver using PM journals level 23
 Strong reader. In guided reading appears to be completing task as always
answers correctly.
 In SSR is most often chatting with a friend or reading together
 Easily distracted by peers.
 Is often so quiet that easily disappears in the class and needs to be searched
for
 STUDENT ‘X’ WRITING FINDINGS
 Writing is a done easily and quickly. Appears to not put in much effort
 During discussion times does not offer much, instead prefers to sit back and
watch
 Needs to work on even spaces and pressing harder when writing
 If listens will complete the task correctly, however, most of the time X
requires further reminder about the instructions
 Does exactly what is required and then starts listening to peers around him
 Y has a great imagination and can visualise well ideas when called upon
 STUDENT ‘X’
WHERE TO NEXT……
Writing :
 Continue with progress on writing goals
 Focus on keeping X on track; Ensure he listens well first time
 Monitor more frequently to make sure X is on task

Maths :
 X is now being asked to stay at the front of the class to allow the teacher to keep an eye on him
 Remove peers that easily distract him from his working groups
 Add more challenging exercises when finishes work earlier

In Class :
 Work on improving concentration with less distraction from friends around him
 Seating plan – put X on a table away from friends
 During mat time ask X to sit at front
 Make sure X is asked to participate either in mat time discussions or set more pair discussions rather than
open group conversations
 Offer challenge rewards : when X quickly completes a task correctly first time, offer a reward of IPad or
sports break for 5 mins
 Encourage the fun side of sports and try to remove compition in everything
 PERSONAL LESSONS LEARNT
 The need to really know and understand each child, not just academic
information but also them as individuals.
 Take time to build relationships both with the students and their parents in
order to work together to provide the best education possible.
 The quieter the child the more I need to investigate.
 Look to implement invigorating activities both indoors and outdoors, to
stimulate male students especially, into daily lessons to release energy and
aid further in concentration within the classroom.
University of Illinois (2011) suggests proposing activities that deactivate and
then reactivate goals to stay focused. “….when faced with long tasks (such
as studying before a final exam or doing your taxes), it is best to impose
brief breaks on yourself. Brief mental breaks will actually help you stay
focused on your task” (University of Illinois, 20011, para. 10).

Reference:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (2011, February 8). Brief diversions vastly improve focus, researchers find. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 2, 2018 from
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110208131529.htm.
 PERSONAL LESSONS LEARNT CONTINUED
 Develop further my philosophy that ‘Education is not only learnt in the
classroom’ and how I can create lessons that complement this. Thus
supporting me to become a better teacher of the NZ Curriculum by:
 Implementing Education outside the classroom (EOTC). Curriculum-based
activities that take place outside the school ie cultural visits, sports trips,
field trips, or camps (Education Review Office, 2016, para. 1).
 “Experiences outside the classroom reinforce learning by enabling students to
make connections between what they have learnt in the classroom and the
world beyond the classroom. EOTC experiences also give students
opportunities to demonstrate the key competencies identified in The New
Zealand Curriculum; particularly managing self, relating to others, and
participating and contributing” (Education Review Office, 2016, para. 2).

Reference:
Education Review Office. (2016). What is EOTC? Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/publications/education-outside-the-classroom-schools-use-of-eotc-guidelines/what-is-eotc/.