Term 3 Week 8

Where has this term gone?

The last 3 weeks have disappeared in a blur! Everyone now has their project mapped out, so students are busy researching, running experiments, inviting experts to school and some have been out on trips already. We've also had several visits to school with ASB Financial Literacy, Grasshopper Soccer, Chess and of course Mitre 10.

Science and reading:
"Today we learnt about the science behind bread. We discovered that when dormant yeast is mixed with warm water and sugar it creates a chemical reaction, creating carbon dioxide which makes the bread rise!"

 


Student-led workshops:
LC4 students have been taking workshops in LC1 over the last two weeks. Our students have been delivering workshops in dance, maths, sport and culture to showcase their passions and learning. Aart and Ben were first up delivering maths workshops using Lego and Minecraft. They got great feedback from the LC1 students and have even been asked to run their workshops again. Patience, Harrison and Leilani ran workshops in week 8 teaching Kapa Haka, cricket and netball.

"Today I had to run two cricket workshops for LC1. In the first workshop I ran I got ready and then all the LC1 children came in. It was hard to keep all the kids away from the bat because they all wanted to use the bats. When I got to teaching them the grip and the stance as well as doing a drill I was not expecting it to be so hard to control them so instead of letting them do it by themselves I had to do it with them all the way. The second group was even harder but at least I had more of an idea. There was one kid that didn’t want to take part and another kid that didn’t listen to me. I dealt with it by reminding them to stay on the grey line and in the end that was probably the best workshop of the day. I definitely learnt a lot from the experience and it was also a lot of fun".  

ASB Financial Literacy Workshops:
On Monday the year 4 and 5 students attended a workshop provided by the ASB on financial literacy, our year 6 students will get the same workshop before the end of this term. 

Katie wrote: "Today the year fours and fives went in the breakout space and we learnt how to use a credit card and eftpos cards.There are some differences between a credit card and eftpos card. A credit card has the bank's money in it and a eftpos card has your own money in it. Also a credit card when you use the bank’s money,you have to pay it back by the end of the month but if you didn't pay it by the end of the month, you have to give them more money what you owe them". 

Home Reading:

http://wonderopolis.org/wonders

If you're looking for something to read with your children here are some interesting resources to consider. Wonderopolis is a website dedicated to things children are curious or wonder about, with questions like Who invented weekends? or How does bluetooth work? A fantastic site for reading the news is Kiwikidsnews which has news articles written for an audience of children. Another site worth visiting is the Diary of Wimpy Kid Readathon. Jeff Kinney has another book in this fabulous series due out soon and the readathon has a quiz for each title.

During recent weeks our students have made progress on their next round of projects and worked towards several different deadlines with the aid of tools that we have shown them. This supports their dispositional learning and it is pleasing to hear students talk about how they are collaborating, reflecting on why they miss a deadline or celebrate as they've completed a task they've persevered with. We look forward to sharing their celebrations with you during IEMs and when you visit us at other times.

Term 3, Week 3

Immersion

Please have a look at our planning site to see the full workshops that we have run this week.

We have started off the week by inquiring into shapes, geometry and how we see mathematical patterns all around us.

We have explored tessellated patterns and the artist Escher who created art pieces that had us really interested in the illusions and use of positive and negative.

To help us grow our knowledge and understanding we have tapped into Studyladder and Khan academy as well as attending workshops to boost our thinking.  We used some assessment data to help us reflect on our strengths, gaps and needs to find a course that would be of the best use to us.

Have a look at the planner to find our support links that we use to reinforce and extend thinking.

Exploring Fibonacci number patterns and making connections to the magic of mathematics in nature!

Fibonacci Number Pattern
0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13...

Provocation Movie Shared

Exploring tessellating patterns

We were asked to manage our time and have a completed tessellating pattern art work by the end of Monday. Dispositionally, this meant we had to self manage and also collaborate effectively with others.  We also had to problem solve throughout the day when we got 'stuck' or 'in the learning pit.' Lots of the immersion this week has been based on the children problem-solving and having to think about growing resilience.  

Our student led workshops are continuing.  Amy ran an origami workshop, Mackenzie ran a musical theatre workshop & Maia took a Minecraft workshop.

In order to run a workshop:
All students have to complete a lesson planner, showing thought out learning goals, plan and organise resources whilst thinking about the sequence of their lesson.  They then reflect on what went well and what they would do differently.  It's a great opportunity to share our passions and develop leadership skills.

Amy's workshop

Rulers, pencils, compasses and protractors!

Can you please check that your child has the above equipment as we are using these tools as a part of our maths learning.

The weather is warming up and we have been noticing when our energy is sometimes lacking during the day.  The students are able to plan into their day a brain break and go for a run around to recharge.  Lisa is also starting up our regular run club. We will be plotting the distances and also exploring times.   We have also reflected that we need more P.E in our week so some students are going to run student lead sports skills and Lisa & Reid will be taking us for some games.

Today our reading group learnt how to make hokey pokey. We studied the recipe and discussed the vocabulary in the text. We worked out how we would grease, dissolve and froth our ingredients.

Some of our first attempts burnt, so second time around we kept the temperature of the elements much lower and the result was fantastic; crunchy, melt in your mouth hokey pokey!

We then linked this cooking to what we have learnt about adding a base such as baking soda to another element. We discussed baking soda as a rising agent, releasing bubbles and carbon to make our mixture rise and froth.