Genius Hour Buzz

Wander around and see what the buzz was like during our Genius Hour open afternoon.

Fun with the Green Screens

We are working on a fun way to present our best story written for the literacy progressions about WW1. The students are going to use a green screen and an easy to use  Ipad app called 'Do Ink' to make a short film with themselves in it. There is a good buzz around this project.

If you've not had the chance to view your child's writing for the Literacy Progressions-please ask them to share their folder with you or perhaps they've put them on their blogs.....the writing is stellar, superb, amazing and such other adjectives.

Genius Hour Sharing

Thanks to all the Parents and wider whanau that came along to our successful Genius Hour sharing day. The class had the chance to share their projects to the class and gain some feedback on the projects by their fellow peers. I was really pleased by the way the children spoke so clearly and passionately about their projects. Bring on the Term 3 projects. 

In flow!

Lovely to see the new signs being used so eagerly by the students. I think they will prove to be very popular. I hope to see them spreading throughout the Syndicate. 

Our next step is to talk about personal 'bubbles' and respecting each other's learning and personal space. Anecdotally, the class are already using them in interesting ways-for instance-as a group-needing quiet and distraction free time and also individuals removing themselves from the classroom with a sign- emboldened and ready to work.

Encouraging Student Agency

A big part of what we do in the Senior Syndicate is to teach and value the importance of students that can manage their own learning. We encourage students to figure problems out for themselves and to remove the teacher as the only source of knowledge in the classroom. The children in general, are very good at working solidly on their projects without much intervention from me. In fact, I have recently come to reflect that my presence can in fact be distracting to those students who are 'in the zone' and have to stop working in order to answer my questions!

So......my latest attempt to encourage student agency and independent learners are these cafe inspired table signs the students can use when they are 'in the flow' and don't want to be distracted....by Teachers, other learners, visiting schools....whatever and whoever.

The class were excited when I shared the idea this afternoon, so I look forward to seeing how we go tomorrow.

(Thanks to Wellington Teacher Matt Ives for the idea.)

Nice Buddy Class Actvity

Museum and Library visit

We had a lovely day out yesterday, where we managed to beat the rain. We found ourselves at the Nelson Museum, working with Esther from the Suter Art Gallery.

We were encouraged to study the works of Pat White and the true story of the soldier Jack Dunn, sentenced to die for falling asleep at his post.

 Five students worked hard to create a beautiful and very creative landscape backdrop that reflected the similarities between Gallipoli and New Zealand-labelled clearly as HOME.

 Everyone else was asked to create a banner ribbon labelled with a word that the soldier's would take to represent their feelings about 'HOME'. Words like 'family, love, peace, food, comfort' etc.
Our finished artwork can be hung in the classroom with our words attached to the main backdrop.

In Flanders Field

We've been investigating WW1 and the famous poem 'In Flanders Field'. The students have created a visual that matches the first two lines of the poem and then create their own fourth stanza that matches the sentiment and tone of the original.

I have been amazed at the imagery and creativity of the writing. What a stellar class!

I will add more finished pieces to the 'ART' page of this blog.

Visit from a Journalist

Amy and Carla have been very proactive in their genius hour projects and have contacted a Journalist from the Leader to come into our classroom and interview them for their project.

I am proud of the way they handled the interview and were able to answer the questions in a mature and calm manner. The reporter ventured around after the interview and was intrigued by all the children's projects. We look forward to seeing and celebrating the finished article later this week.

Practise along at home-HAPPY!

Crazy, say

Sunshine, relax

Rocket to space

Don’t care, why?

Happy

Clap along, room without a roof

Because, happy

Clap along, happy, truth

Because Happy

Clap along, know, happy

Because happy

Clap along, want to

Bad people, talking

Give me, give me, give me

Me fine

Don’t waste time.

Why?

Happy

Clap along, room without a roof

Because, happy

Clap along, happy, truth

Because Happy

Clap along, know, happy

Because happy

Clap along, want to

Bring me down, can’t!

Levels too high.

Bring me down, can’t

Happy

Clap along, room without a roof

Because, happy

Clap along, happy, truth

Because Happy

Clap along, know, happy

Because happy

Clap along, want to

Bring me down, can’t!

Levels too high.

Bring me down, can’t

Love this new Kid President Video-How to be an inventor!

Does History Matter?

Created with Padlet

NZSL Week

We are celebrating New Zealand Sign Language week by learning sign language and drawing butterflies outside in chalk for the world to see. Butterflies are the symbol of deaf awareness as butterflies too are deaf. We played some fun games too.

Check out www.nzslsignninja.co.nz/ for a fun way to learn NZSL!

Code Club

A shout out for our awesome coders.
Come along-it is super fun and challenging.

WW1 Writing genres

Our open literacy task allows the students to create four different pieces of writing about WW1 that will help accelerate their progress in writing.
You can drag the brainstorm around to see what the spines of the brainstorm say...
I am excited to see what the children create!

Welcome to Mrs Wright (never wrong)

We are lucky to have Mrs Carolyn Wright starting today in Room 5 as a student teacher. Carolyn will be in our class for the next seven weeks and will do some sole-charge teaching during the course of the term. Please make her feel welcome and introduce yourself if you are in before or after school.

Our proud Student Councillors

A hearty congratulations to these six superstars who have been elected as school representatives on the Student Council. I am very proud of them and the hard work they put into their applications. I know they will serve us really well and will work very hard to ensure HSS continues to be an awesome place for learning.