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20151204
Highlights of 2015
2015 has been a massive year. MASSIVE. We've covered so much ground and made huge gains in learning. The children have had so many opportunities this year. Here are some photographic highlights.
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Genius Hour Sharing
Here are some photos from our second Genius Hour sharing session from Charlotte's Grandma. It was a great success and it was amazing to have all of our wonderful parents come in and ask the tough questions of the presenters. Thanks!
New toys.
In the holidays, I was lucky enough to attend ULearn 2015 in Auckland with a small group of HSS teachers. One highlight for me was geeking out on some new technologies like mbots, 3D printers, Occulus and makey makey. It was fun trying these out and thinking of applications for the classroom that are authentic and engaging that steer away from the 'toy' style of learning. Watch this space.
20151015
Some Genius Hour videos
More to come....
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Reading for the 40 book challenge
We are reading up a storm at the moment in order to try and 40 chapter books for the year- or at least get as close as we can to this grand sum. If the class average of books read is higher than mine then the class can have a wee party on me. It is neck and neck at the moment! Please keep pushing your child to read chapter books they enjoy at home.
20151013
An invitation
We have our second Genius Hour sharing for the year on Thursday @ 1.30pm in the Senior Syndicate. Come one and all to be amazed at the true potential of student lead projects.
20150916
Enviro schools making a difference
A group of fantastic HSS kids are passionate about the environment and are keen to make a difference to our school and local community. We've had a few projects on the go recently. The first has been to expand the school orchard. We've planted another 8 fruit trees to add to last years. The trees have all had a good mulch and compost and last years have been pruned by Nancy our KEGS gardener with some of the KEGS kids.
The second has been the designing, building, painting and now placing of weta hotels around the school. These have been nailed to trees around the school in secret and public spots to engage the rest the of the school. So far no Weta have moved in to the Hotels-so our next steps is to research how to attract Weta into our safe and predator free environments.
Finally, we recently had 14 native trees donated to the school by Dean's Nursery as part of our Paper 4 Trees scheme-wherby the school recycles paper and 'earns' trees. We decided to restore an area of planting in the far left hand corner of the school where Waimea Road intersects with Van Dieman Street. We've planted Houheria (Lacebarks), Ti Kouka (Cabbage Trees), Lancewoods, Manuka and Red Harekeke (Flax) while leaving pathways for the children to play and explore-without standing on the trees (we hope).
The second has been the designing, building, painting and now placing of weta hotels around the school. These have been nailed to trees around the school in secret and public spots to engage the rest the of the school. So far no Weta have moved in to the Hotels-so our next steps is to research how to attract Weta into our safe and predator free environments.
Finally, we recently had 14 native trees donated to the school by Dean's Nursery as part of our Paper 4 Trees scheme-wherby the school recycles paper and 'earns' trees. We decided to restore an area of planting in the far left hand corner of the school where Waimea Road intersects with Van Dieman Street. We've planted Houheria (Lacebarks), Ti Kouka (Cabbage Trees), Lancewoods, Manuka and Red Harekeke (Flax) while leaving pathways for the children to play and explore-without standing on the trees (we hope).
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Adjective Design Projects
We are just wrapping up a small project that asks the student to choose an interesting adjective and turn that into a static image. They were asked to write a short poem that summed up the feeling of the adjective and find the dictionary meaning of the word as well. The hard bits are finding just the right image to match the adjective, the right font and then placing the bits altogether to make them visibly appealing. I am really happy with how they have turned out- the students are very proud of their work.
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Microgreens
A cute new thing in our class has been the growth of our peas and cress seeds that Nancy the KEGS gardener brought into share three weeks ago. We sowed the seeds and have been caring for the needs. We got to have our first healthy snack on Monday and we hope that the stalks regrow so we can eat them again!
Science Fair
A quick thank you to all of our parents and teachers who came along to a successful Science Fair exhibition yesterday. It was fantastic to have so many of you come along. We are hoping to finalise which children are going through to the next round by the end of the week.
HSS has talent-no it really does!
20150814
Genius Hour: Genius Genius Genius....
We are in the throws of our second Genius Hour project for the year. The children seem really engaged and motivated to take bigger risks this term and are trying out some interesting projects.
Our big focus this term is to make our projects have a purpose and to take what I've called an 'enjoyable risk', ie; have fun but also, take a gamble and be prepared to fail. That's where the best learning occurs.
Some projects I've been impressed with so far include boat building, documentary making, whakapapa-lineage research and the merging of Vietnamese and modern pop cultures together into a dance routine.
Included are some photos of the projects on the go today.
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