Shark Cat edpuzzle

Check out EDpuzzle if you want to create interactive youtube videos to share with the class.

More Zentangles

Our first ever Techie Brekkie

Thanks to all the parents and staff that turned up to our first 'Techie Brekkie'. Thanks to the children who were able to turn up so early and then volunteer to showcase their learning and their GAFE skills to interested whanau.
It was fantastic to wander around and listen in to the discussions happening between parent and child. Several teachers told me that they learnt a lot from the students as well....that is so wonderful!
Yummy coffee and muffins too!

Pecha Kucha Slides Example

Room 5 students are currently working towards a Pecha Kucha style presentation of their learning. Every student has created a provocative statement about a historical phenomena eg. "Nelson Mandela is the greatest human to ever live" and have 10 slides and 20 seconds per slide to make that argument. There is a good 'buzz' about the project and I am excited to hear and see these innovative presentations late next week.

x4 Genius Hour (Moonshot 10x)

As voted for by the class-our most deserving groups to be nominated for Geniushourfair.com http://www.geniushourfair.com/
We have sent in four video reflections on the process to this new competition run by two extraordinary teachers I met in Sydney last year at the Google Teacher Academy. This genius hour competition is their 'Moonshot project' Moonshot thinking 10x and they have created it to help share and celebrate the ideas and creativity put in by students around the world.

I am proud of the way these four groups are able to reflect so soundly on their successes and failures within their own projects.
(Sorry the green screens are a fail on my part)

Naturally Native

We had a fun day out planting native trees up on Piper's Reserve. The class managed the big walk very well and got straight into planting as many trees as they could. Along with the splendid views we had many creepy crawly visitors that sent the hill into delirious shrieking at certain points. 

Thanks to Nelmac for having us and being so patient with us.

Our WW1 Films-Bringing the Literacy Progressions to life with Do Ink

I recently discovered a fantastic app called 'Do Ink' on the Ipads. It allows the students to use a green screen to create any scene they want to act in front of.
We have used our best stories from the literacy progressions WW1 writing project to bring our writing to life. Stories from the trenches, from the hospitals, from the houses of war veterans are used in engaging ways by the students.

Playlist with names to easily find the video you want  (If you don't want to watch all 27 videos in a row)  :)

As this was our first go with the app, some lessons we learnt were

• Holding the ipad still using a chair or table to give our camerawork some stability.
• To talk loudly and clearly when reading aloud.
• To reduce background noise by clearing the room when filming.
• To act out our stories rather than just reading them word for word.

All in all though, the class enjoyed the project and came up with new and creative ways to present their work.