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.