Starting phase 2

The next phase of our little project is to get the boys more engaged in the sessions through creating activities for themselves and also by developing their literacy skills by taking over some of the responsibility for completing this blog.

This week we met up at Herbert Thompson Primary and discussed the blog.  the students looked through it and were asked to write down what they liked about the project and why.

“We learnt how to listen”

“I like playing games in the pool”

“We get better at our handwriting in class and we are a team ”

They were then asked to look at planning an activity for the rest of the boys to do.  The added challenge was to include some way of developing numeracy and literacy I the game.  Two groups were really amazing at this and we played their activities.  First of all we did “stuck in the mud’  The literacy and numeracy element was that when you were tagged you had to either spell a word that was called out or answer a maths question.

The second activity was a basketball game where they had to keep track of their score.  Different points were allocated to different spots on the floor and they could make it more difficult to gain multiples of that number.

Next week we will be back in the pool and we will be trying to replicate the games in the water.

Great session

Today we returned to Michaelston as the pool was being used by another group.

The leaders took the opportunity to really work on developing some activities around spelling and sums.

The first activity was an obstacle course that the students had to navigate, at the end were words that they had to shout back to their team and then spell it out correctly before the next person took their turn.

All of the students really engaged in this and loved learning in this way

The second activity was based on numeracy and worked n the same way.  A number was located at the end of the run and the remaining team had to create a sum that would give that anser, the boys were challenged to try different sums each turn.

We ended the session with a game of kick rounders where the boys had to work as a team to be successful, further developing their oracy skills.

Next week the plan is to take the learning back to Herbert Thompson Primary to show off what they have been doing.

Back to the water

We headed back to the pool this week after our session at Michaelston.

In our quest to enthuse the students in their learning, the boys did some reflective writing based on their experiences of last week.  This work was done before they came to the pool.

The boys read through last weeks post on our blog and then wrote down how they felt about the session.  this is not only useful to impact on their literacy skills but also to support the programme going forward to gauge their thoughts.

Here are some examples of their reflections….

This week the boys continued looking at numeracy specific activities, quick mental arithmetic and number bonds.  they seem to really enjoy doing these sums and get excited about the different games they play.  the opportunity to shoot at the goal or aim for the hoops really appeals to them.

The final activity this week saw some relays where the boys had to answer questions set at one end of the pool and give their response at the other end.

In an effort to keep developing ideas we spoke about some new activities to look at estimating lengths so look out for these in weeks to come.

The boys listening skills have come on really well.  The leaders now have complete confidence in working with the group and encourage the boys to listen well all the time.

A change of scene

Today we moved away from the pool to the sports hall at Michaelston Community College.  We did this in an effort to have a really solid impact on some of the literacy work and to do a little bit of work on transition, showing the younger boys what the secondary environment was like.

The session was really well planned out by the boys and they had a great focus on teaching numeracy through some fun games.  The game was simple, the boys had to kick the ball and run to the far end of the hall.  To add in the numeracy though they first had to solve a sum.  Once they were asked the sum they then kicked the ball and had to run to the correct answer. (different values had been placed around the space to make the students work it out)

On return safely and with the correct answer they were awarded 2 points.  in order to keep track of the score the team counted in the successful players and using their 2 times table they worked out their score.

To add in some literacy we looked at developing tactics so had a teamtalk where the students had to discuss techniques to be more successful.  They were really good at this and showed some really good confidence and good use of sports vocabulary to explain their thoughts.

At the end of the session I recorded our plenary, the students really engaged but showed some areas to develop in being reflective on what they had learnt.  This can now be a focus over the next few weeks.

https://soundcloud.com/mat6453/aqua-dragons-at-michaelston

Back to the pool next week

Launching numeracy

In today’s session the leaders started to embed some of the numeracy work into the session based on some of the students needs. They had planed to do some simple activities with some questions being asked at stages of the game to test students mental arithmatic.
As you can see in the film below the leaders were using the activities done previously but with added numeracy. The students were playing games but were asked sums to take part or given a sum to solve using the numbers in the hoops that they throw the ball into.
They then changed the activity to asking questions with three possible answers that the students had to solve and throw the ball into the correct hoop.
The boys really engaged with this and loved the session.
We also started todays session with some distance learning. I am using Edmodo with the boys to share learning and this blog. Matt and Kate meet the boys before they come to the pool and today they shared the blog post from the previous session and they had a group chat about what they had been doing. The intention here is to get them discussing things and to develop their oracy skills.
They completed a mind map of their views, at this point only simple statements but we will develop this over time.

At the pool we also interviewed some of the boys about what they were doing. This was tried in previous weeks but none would talk, this week they were more than happy to.

https://soundcloud.com/mat6453/aqua-dragons-3

https://soundcloud.com/mat6453/aqua-dragons-2

https://soundcloud.com/mat6453/aqua-dragons-1

https://soundcloud.com/mat6453/aqua-dragons

End of the first phase

Today saw the end of the first phase of the project, the getting to know each other phase.  It was important for the students, both the leaders and the KS3/4 pupils, to build up confidence and self-esteem so that trust was obvious between them.

Todays session was a chance to have a bit of fun and cement that relationship with some silly games, after half term we move on to developing numeracy and literacy in the sessions.

I started the session by meeting the boys at Herbert Thompson and getting them set up on Edmodo.  We are using this programme to support the collaboration between all parties to keep the same message going throughout.  The leaders can interact with the pupils and I can add in where needed.  I also intend to use it to support some of the literacy and numeracy work by getting the students to reflect on their sessions in the pool.

So back to todays session.  The leaders set up a course that had the boys having to balance on floating mats to get to a certain point to then have a shot at the basket.  They then added in a further challenge of having to dodge some balls being thrown as a distraction.  This activity had a lot of safety rules in place and it was a real testament to the leaders that they ensured this was all in place before the activity started.

We also started to use Class Dojo on the iPad to support positive behaviours and we tracked how well they were doing throughout the session.

Can’t wait for next term

Showing confidence

This week some of the leaders were unable to make it due to sporting committments but the 4 that were with the group were fantastic and showed exactly how much had been developed over the last few weeks.  Between them they quickly organised a great session and split the responsibilities up.  the session got off to a great start and they decided to do some competitive activity in two teams.  As a warm up they split the group in half and engaged the students with some numeracy work.  Calling out maths questions that the students had to quickly answer for a chance to have a shot at goal. the boys were really trying hard to get the answers correct and were loving the activity.

Star of the session was Harley.  Harley was a little nervous about entering the pool 4 weeks ago, he certainly did not want to get his face wet.  This week (after working with one of the leaders over the last few weeks on water confidence) he not only put his head in the water but he was swimming!!!!!  Well done Harley, great resilience and you are showing so much more confidence.  This has come from his own motivation, supported by the leaders to keep him going.

In the game the boys were breaking lots of rules at first but the leaders kept on top of things and developed the game as it went to ensure all were involved, they added in a second ball to make sure that there was more opportunity to touch the ball.  Great thinking developed from their Dragon Multi Skills training.

Below is a little video of the session

Starting out

We have been in the pool for about 4 weeks now, just building up pool confidence, relationships between the students and ensuring there is lots of trust.  Todays session saw some of the leaders start to think about how they could use some numeracy skills in the activity to help the students.  This proved a real success and without knowing it the students were soon quickly adding and subtracting or reciting timetables as part of the activities they were doing in the pool.

What is Aqua Dragons

Aqua dragons is a PESS initiative that looks to engage students from both College and Primary school to work together.  In this case the Students involved are from Michaelstone College and Herbert Thompson Primary.  The aim of the project is to use physical activity (in this case in the pool) to support the building of students self-esteem, confidence and motivation in school.  We will also be looking to build on this when we introduce literacy and numeracy to the activities to impact on that area of their education through physical activity.

The Leaders have all been trained on using Dragon Multi Skills and are adapting the land based activities into the pool.