Maths Vocabulary

 We are doing a hands-on unit on probability at the end of this term and to start we are doing a range of vocabulary activities. This is important for my students for them to be able to talk about the trails and outcomes that they will be completing. One of the things we have done is to bookmark a link to a child friendly Maths Dictionary. This was recommended by Marie Hurst earlier in the year and has been an excellent resource for the students to be able to understand the vocabulary and therefore the concepts.

Reading PLD

Panmure Bridge and Glen Taylor school had the opportunity to work with the fabulous Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey on providing a balanced reading programme. 

It was great to be able to have the time to step back and reflect on the components of the reading programmes we are providing for our students.

My main takeaway from the sessions was to plan for more shared reading opportunities. This is usually done 'on the fly' as we look at a text. This teaching strategy allows for students to: explore more difficult texts, work in social groupings, encourages discussion on the text, and the strategies used to comprehend. 

Collaborative Art

Really enjoyed putting this together with my class. Great discussion starter on collaboration; What is it? What does it look like?

Reading - Looking at opinions

This week we have been working in thinking groups to look at two different opinions. Since we have come back from lockdown it has been important to re-teach co-operative and collaborative skills as we get used to be ing back in the classroom.

For this learning I chose a context that all students are familiar with, the end of year school prize giving. We looked at 2 different texts, one written for students by Kiwi Kids News and the other article from the NZ herald.

We followed parts of the reciprocal teaching model and pulled out the vocabulary that we needed to explore and then we could use in making a decision for ourselves. We collected vocabulary and ideas on post it notes to pull together the ideas from each group.

We posted our ODL to our blogs once it was completed.

Art

Really pleased with the way my instrument art turned out. This links into our unit on light and sound.

Maths Coaching and PLD

Really enjoyed the Maths PLD session this week with Marie Hirst. A great range of activities was shared and we all had a fun time working on these. 

I enjoyed the coaching session too, it is always nice to get a different perspective on what we are doing in our classrooms. Being able to discuss learning progressions and next steps for individual students is valuable learning.

Google Meet

Room 5 had a Google Meet every morning during lockdown. As we were still in the process of getting 1:1 devices for my year 4 class, it was tricky to get everyone up and running. This day we managed to get 21 out of 28 students on-line together. We used the Meet to share our experiences, check in on the previous days learning and discuss the current learning tasks. Everyone got a chance to speak and we were able to share artwork (and new babies) over the Meet. There was some good contextual learning about lighting, sound, and framing that came up as we got better about meeting online.

Sheena and Louise - Retelling PLD

During lockdown Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsy ran a workshop on using the retell strategy for reading comprehension. This was a great session with lots of practical ideas to implement in the classroom with students. Two of the ideas I was able to implement once lockdown ended are excellent for my TAide to work with some of my ESOL, high needs students on.

Stick puppets to retell Traditional tales

Copying Nursery Rhymes onto ice cream sticks for organising and retelling.

Building trip to Christchurch

As part of the Tamaki redevelopment we need to ensure that our schools remain the school of choice for our community. As our buildings date to the Social housing boom of the 1950's there is a lot of scope to improve. We visited 3 schools in Christchurch and saw some amazing buildings and pedagogy at work.

High Leverage Practises

Love listening to Aaron Wilson about how we can best get shift in reading with our students. Starting with a provocation and making sure we provide lots of opportunities to read and discuss texts. Thinking about the activities I use in the classroom and how to get my students engaged in the text enough to talk about it in a discussion.

Manaiakalani Staff Meeting

The Manaiakalani Learn staff meeting gave us a chance to reflect back the opportunities we offer our students to experience Modification and Redefinition in the learn part of our pedagogy. W are all capable using these tools to create, but what experieces can we plan in this space?
In our syndicates we are planning our Science unit around light and sound for next term.

Maths PLD

Session 1 with Marie focused on the students who are working on making 10. This is a good reminder about the value of using materials, and imaging to embed concepts for our students.
Giving students a problem like - Ben has some strawberries and picks some more. How many strawberries does he have altogether? - this allows students to focus on the language of the question first, rather than get distracted by the numbers.
Once students have the concept numbers can be added to the question for them to solve.

Woolf Fisher feedback 2020

As always, the Woolf Fisher feedback provided an opportunity for lots of professional reflection. It is timely as we plan our learning for the start of the year that we reflect on the things that make us effective digital practitioners.

Maths PLD - Teacher only day

The growth mindset messages have been around for a few years now but these Videos shared by Marie Hurst at our teacher only day are a wonderful way to share the messages with our students. This on really resonated with me and my class. A great way to approach the start of the year.