Week 10, Term 2

As part of our learning design, we want our children to understand that they don't have to wait for a lesson to learn and in fact in a lot of jobs now, training and upskilling takes place on the job. At H.P.P we call this approach 'just in time' learning.

As part of supporting the students we have created a form that they can access (if we are not free for a chat) so they can get the ball rolling on having some support put in place.

Instead of asking your child 'what did you do at school today?' Try asking them what support have they asked for or what are they doing to learn something new?



MathsBuddy

This is a fantastic site with lots of great lessons on it.  We have been exploring how to use it and have prioritised getting it up and running so the children can access a short-course in week 11 AND over the holidays!

The students have been grouped from some assessment data that we have.  Not every lesson in their course will be individualised but a lot of it will be and related to 'gaps' they have in their learning.

The lessons are related to their numeracy skills. e.g. skip counting, fractions, addition etc.  Until a child can show they are getting 70% correct they can't progress to the next lesson.  They may need some support so if you could talk to them about their progress, it would be fantastic.

Please have a look and encourage that they give it a go over the holidays.  The children all have an individual sign in and password.

Scale of the Universe
The immersion phase is designed to introduce our learners to a world they didn't know that they didn't know. This week our students have been investigating a website called Scale of the Universe where they can zoom in or out to look at the size of objects relative to others, as shown here.

TED Ed Club

This week, we presented our talks...it was an interesting learning journey.  We have recorded our talks and our next step is to edit them in YouTube editor.  We'll be sharing them with our friends and families.

One of our gardening groups have made a partnership with Westgate Mitre 10 which is an exciting add-on to their project as they'll be receiving some expert advice and support from the Mitre10 Garden Club.  It just goes to show what perseverance can bring!

We are looking forward to seeing our outdoor space have some vitality and the vision come to life.

Emma from Mitre 10 & the 'Garden Guardians' talking ideas

Week 9, Term 2 (Part 1)

LC 4, as part of their immersion into a world they have heard of or do not know are exploring infographics.  This is part of our immersion into digital age literacy.

After Reid showed a few examples, the reactions were:
- I'm going into the pit
- Oh no, that looks hard
- I'm scared
- How will I do this?!

We are going to need to climb out of the learning pit for this one!!  Some strategies we have is to look at lots of examples, talk to each other and link up with an expert.


The next phase, after inquiring into what makes a quality context is to start gathering data and doing some research.

Here is a cool snapshot that some of us liked!

Holly and Isabelle would appreciate it if you could take the time to get your kids (or if you are a kid) fill out this survey to help us with our data collection.

Term 2 - week 8

We have kicked off our immersion learning this week. Students are involved in lots of provocation, taster sessions all linked to 'Digital Age' literacies.  This is part of our school wide learning design that is underpinned by knowledge, skills and understandings needed in today's world.

In short, this learning encourages students to be introduced to new interests or passions for them to explore through projects and inquiries.  This follows this teacher lead phase of immersion.

This week we have explored:

Important moments in time (the past) and looked at how we can creatively represent them through the context of the 'doodle for Google' competition

Tools to Track Progress

 We have introduced 'milestones' to the children so they develop their accountability and grow awareness of how to plan their days to allow time to complete projects.  This is a visual so they can access it all of the time to support them and to help our more visual learners.  This has come from our observations and conversations with some of the children.

Term 3 Week 7

This week has been quite productive, learners have spent time reflecting on their journey through Inventive Thinking and starting to consider what they might learn as we transition into Digital Age Literacy. Our immersion process has begun already with the introduction of coding and today we all started planning our own dream or mood boards. Digital Age Literacy is a broad area that includes Technological, Visual, Economic, Cultural, Information, Scientific and Multicultural Literacy as well as Global Awareness. Over the next two to three weeks we will immerse them in these learning areas to elicit what they may do for their projects.

Dance Mat Typing

"I know that some learners are struggling with typing and I had a tool that I thought could help them. Before the workshop started I thought it would be a bit hectic, but once it got started everyone was just working and I didn't have to talk so much. Next time I would try to explain it a little more and I had to keep reminding them to use all of their fingers not just two finger typing."

"Because I don't know how to touch type, I'm hoping to learn so that I'll be able to get things done faster. I'm always looking down to make sure of where the keys are or because I'm worried about making a mistake."

Science Experiment

Mackenzie and Amy also wanted to run a workshop this week and have asked Reid for support in planning a workshop. They are spending Friday afternoon running two science experiments. The science experiments were to teach others how to make predictions and compare the predictions against what actually happens. We hope that this will be the first of many workshops they run at Hobsonville Point.

Those who attended said that the workshop was well run, they learnt how to make predictions but thought that a little more research could have helped make the experiment more successful next time.

Coding
In the last two weeks we have started a coding group in response to some request and because it aligns with Digital Age Literacy. Coding is the family of languages that are used to create websites, apps, games and make them all function. Some of our children have experienced coding before, our job is to support them with this and make the learning purposeful. At the moment many are concentrating on a Code.org.  Many of them didn't have any experience with coding before this, they are all enjoying the challenge of coding.

"I'm learning about the language of coding like pixels and degrees".

"I like using the repeat code, so that you don't have to give the same instruction many times".

HPPS History Project
A group of learners have been working with Daniel to build a proposal for celebrating the history of Hobsonville Point, on Wednesday they presented to a group from outside the school who want to support this project. They had practiced their presentation beforehand but were still a little nervous as the meeting got nearer.
"The problem with me is I talk to fast, I was trying so hard not to in our presentation. I think I did quite well"

"I learned how to gain more confidence in presenting something to an audience, we practiced by presenting to a group of our peers and even that made me nervous. We practiced a lot and got positive feedback from Bryan and Pat, next time I won't be so nervous as I have more experience".

"I think it was good to practice the proposal in front of an audience, as it got me used to the audience and it was a bit easier because there were less people than our practice sessions".

Mood Boards
We finished the week planning our mood boards. These are a chance to learn more about our children's interests, passions and wonderings and our class discussions revolved around relating this to Digital Age Literacy. Don't be surprised if your children ask to chop some of your magazines to contribute towards this, others are talking about photos from home that might be useful.