Using targets in displays February 10, 2007
Posted by lmhartley in : displays advice , add a commentThe Learning Environment Blog is a new blog based in 4 Primary Schools in York. They are looking at using displays to promote children’s awareness of their targets.
Classroom Curricular Target Displays
This target display from Y2 at Tang Hall Primary provides a constant reminder for the class.
The school’s curricular targets are differentiated for each yeargroup so that all children are working to achieve appropriate, age-related expectations.
Targets are clearly displayed in each classroom, so that children are aware of what they are working towards.
I find this particularly interesting as one of the critisisms of my school in the recent OFSTED report was exactly that! When questioned outside the classroom context none of the children asked had a clue what their targets were. Can displays make the difference? It seems unlikely as every classroom in my school has targets prominantly displayed both on walls and in children’s books.
Can a teacher (or more likely TA!) produced display like this actually involve the children enough to make sure they take ownership of their own learning and targets ? I’m unconvinced.
learning styles February 8, 2007
Posted by lmhartley in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so far 
learning styles, originally uploaded by LindaH.
This display caused a long and thoughtful discussion about learning styles in the Classroom Displays Group on Flickr.
I’ve got mixed feelings about the validity of the tests especially for young children. I’d love to know what other people think about them.
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India December 21, 2006
Posted by lmhartley in : geography , add a comment 
India, originally uploaded by LindaH.
This display is a work in progress. I’ll post updates as it builds up.
We painted the map on white paper then cut it out & put it up on the back wall. First lesson next term we’ll get the children to use atlases to help me put the labels on it. I’ve already printed & laminated them all.
Painting the map caused lots of excitement about the topic and some of our visual & kinesthetic learners enjoyed helping. It was interesting to see them workout how visual information could be transferred from the atlas to the larger scale painting.
“You need to move that border a bit this way miss”
“It curves more like that ”
Putting on the mountains led to a long discussion about whether they really were marked in exactly the right spots on the atlas or if it was
“..just to show you there are mountains in this general bit.”
I promised that next term we’ll go on GoogleEarth and have a look at the satelite images to do a comparision.
All this good learning went on not in formal lesson time but on the second last morning of term. The children were intrigued by what I was doing and just got themselves involved. (Interestingly enough they were exactly the children I would have predicted would enjoy this sort of approach from their learning skills survey.) I wish more of school could be like this!
I hope we’ll also be able to access the Chembakolli children’s blog.
Oh Canada! October 31, 2006
Posted by lmhartley in : geography , add a comment
Shedasia writes:
Our school held a “World Tour” Event where each classroom studied a country and presented what they learned one evening for families and friends to see. The next morning each class got to go visit some of the other classes and learn about their countries. My class studied Canada & they did a fantastic job of researching and presenting! The kids made several attempts at a maple leaf for the flag, but we never got it done!
I e-mailed several of the tourist bureaus in the various provinces & they were kind enough to send us a bunch of tourist literature & even some posters
Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch October 3, 2006
Posted by lmhartley in : literacy , add a comment
Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch, originally uploaded by LindaH.
Another story check list display from our Year 2 classroom. There are other displays in the room that showcase children’s own work. I still have mixed feelings about something that’s so obviously the work of an adult. How effective are such informative displays?
Up-date:
Popping back into this classroom a few days later I found a much more interactive display. A bo’sun’s line (like the one in the story) had been added. It looked great! There’s Hamish, looking suitably glum, being mobbed by a gang of hungry seagulls
A basket of food has also been added and this was where the interactivity came in. The children had been asked to sort food that might be in the Lighthouse Keeper’s lunch into food groups and talk about making healthy choices. Thus meeting one of their science targets at the same time.Then children then chose a variety of food to go into the basket:
People somtimes search for this post and forget the apostrophe, so just for them you could call it The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch.
