Here are our term 2 plays, click the image to go to all five plays.
Each term, we finish with plays in the last week. Everyone enjoys the opportunity to work within cross levels, showcasing their creativity. It's a lot of fun, and each term the focus is to meet our class constructed criteria, while also improving in the areas identified the previous term.
Here are our term 2 plays, click the image to go to all five plays. Every term we have reading homework, every week students are expected to complete and record four nights of reading. This is tallied at the end of the week, giving an overall total for the term.
As well as standard reading homework, we also have a term reading challenge related to the topic we are covering, this term being Mäori myths. This term 9 students read a minimum of 28 nights or completed the full reading challenge with 8 books read, and 8 lots of detailed information researched and presented. Not everyone completes our homework expectations, and it is at end of term, when they wish they had persevered more with this. We have a treat for readers, negotiated by themselves. This time, they chose to make their own ice creams, building them as high as they liked (and going back for seconds and thirds). Reading is a vital part of learning, and it is an essential skill needed in all areas of learning (even maths). Reading homework helps to consolidate a range of reading skills. In Room 14 this term, our focus has been on writing myths following the Narrative Writing process. As an e-learning class, it's not enough to simply write a story and publish it to our classroom walls, we need to think about ways to reach a much wider audience. We decided to publish our stories as books online, using Googledocs first to present our work, Queekypaint to illustrate it, and finally Youtube to publish it. We have discovered great talents amongst our people and in particular Wayne-Jack, who has amazed us with his incredible drawing ability. His is one myth well worth reading. Chanel has taken her e-book one step further, by adding audio, to allow an even wider audience to enjoy her story. We are very proud of what we have achieved with our myth writing this term. You can view them all by clicking on our Student E-Portfolio page, and accessing the student's work. This term we have been learning about the marae, tikanga, kupu with the end result that we would experience a Noho Marae. For many children this was well out of their comfort zones. However, the experience was a positive one and the children certainly seemed to enjoy it all. They now have a much better understanding of the marae in general, and what it is like to spend time there, They know the significance of the structure of a wharenui and the meaning of the carvings, tukutuku and kowhaiwhai. Take a look at our photos of Noho Marae... Over the last two weeks, all Room 14 students have been working in pairs or small groups to create a poster, model, or item related to a book they've read. They had to take something they've learnt from a book and show that learning in some form of display. They have also needed to research further to learn more about something from the article. As the students apply their learning to a display, our classroom has been covered in paper, cardboard, glue, paint, sellotape (metres and metres of it), wire, plants, toys and much more as the students worked to create their displays.
Their next challenge is to show this learning in the form of an assessment post on their blogs. They can do this in any way that is effective, provided they meet the success criteria. Some are opting for photos and presentations in GooglOver the next week, these assessments will be published for you to see. You can access them through our student e-portfolio page. This week being the last week of an incredibly busy term, we decided our Reading focus would be performing plays. The students created their own success criteria, and today performed their plays to an audience. They will upload the video of their play to their e-portfolios and reflect on their performance in relation to the success criteria, and decide on area/s they need to work on. You can access the videos below and from the Student e-portfolio link. VID00008 from Sonja Heuvel on Vimeo. VID00005 from Sonja Heuvel on Vimeo. VID00007 from Sonja Heuvel on Vimeo. VID00003 from Sonja Heuvel on Vimeo. VID00011 from Sonja Heuvel on Vimeo. We now have been working with our Google accounts for a few weeks and are getting very confident using a range of features. It is an easy next step to share our googledocs with others and work collaboratively together. For our Pasifika Inquiry, we are now working at the 'Explore' stage, and have formulated a number of questions related to Kiribati. The most effective way to answer these questions is to work together, sharing our research for others in the class to see. Not only is it possible to work anywhere with our accounts, but it's quick and easy to work collaboratively via one document/presentation. Have a look at what we are doing... With all of senior school classes e-Portfolio classes in 2014, it has meant that this term has been a steep learning curve for all. Students have been learning about cybersafety, and will expected to apply that knowledge to the use of their Google accounts.
All students in Rm 14 have now completed their Digital Passport and have signed their contracts (with their parents). We are now up and running with everyone able to access their Gmail, Googledocs and Blogger account. We have a document that has been shared among the whole class, that details the steps involved in each of the assessments to be loaded onto Blogger this term. These tasks can be completed easily both at home and at school (and many have chosen to access their accounts at home). All the student links are now live from our Students' ePortfolios page, so you can easily access their Blogger and take a look at the assessments they have completed. This year, we will look forward to a focus on using Google apps for a range of learning as well as many other sites and applications. We've just had a fabulous week involving a range of outdoor pursuits. The children have abseiled, done rock wall climbing, rowed a Waka, worked through a wire challenge, problem solved in a range of team situations, and participated in orienteering. Yesterday they kayaked, swam, tried the hydroslide, rope swing, trampolined (on the river), jumped from a high diving board and had a whole lot of fun. For many of the children, this was an opportunity to try out things they had never done before. For some of them, it meant conquering their fears. We have had an amazing group of parents accompany us throughout the week, supporting and encouraging the children to give things a go. We simply cannot do these types of out of classroom activities without the support of our parents. A huge thank you to all who helped. Take a look at our photos, not all are here but here is a good snapshot of what we have been doing.... |
CategoriesOur Blog...Here's where we post what's been happening in class. This essentially is our 'fifth wall' and it allows us to give parents and whanau the opportunity to see what we've been doing in our classroom as well as our celebrations. Archives
December 2014
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