Modern Learning Example: School 21 (UK)

School 21

An English multi-level school "Elevating Student Voice: Combining Wellbeing, Speaking Skills, and Project-Based Learning

Carol Dweck - Growth Mindset TED Talk

The Mindset website

Discussion about fixed mindset versus growth mindset - Brainpickings blog

DRIVE Term One 2016: In Great Shape!

DRIVE - the Inquiry process at Edendale Primary School:
Discover  Reflect & ask questions  Investigate  Vision and create  Evaluate

Term One 2016: HEALTH 

"IN GREAT SHAPE"

- What makes me a healthy person? 

PURPOSE/AUTHENTICITY:
* Personal Health and Physical Development is where students develop the knowledge, understanding, skills, and attitudes that they need in order to maintain and enhance their personal well-being and physical development.
* Healthy Communities and Environment is where students contribute to healthy communities and environments by taking responsible and critical action.

KEY UNDERSTANDINGS:
* Health and well-being (hauora) is physical, mental and emotional/spiritual.
* My health is my responsibility.
* I can support others as they keep themselves healthy and safe.
* We mature physically and mentally as we get older.
* We all have feelings and emotions that we express in different ways.

CORE KNOWLEDGE:
* We all have a range of feelings and emotions to describe our experiences in different situations.
* If I don’t take care of myself I will become ill.
* Healthy eating, hygiene, exercise, sleep, relationships, positive thinking, Sunsmart, water safety etc. SMARTS/learning styles, values and principles
* Our bodies and minds change at different rates.





RESOURCES FOR DISCOVERY AND INVESTIGATION STAGES OF 'DRIVE'

General
templates for tracking healthy habits
a variety of health/body templates

Food/Eating  - AN APPLE A DAY pupil group resource links blog-post
track your diet for a week - template   and five food groups tracking chart
Healthy eating for kids
expert: Mel McKenzie, Heart Foundation (Linda Harris)

Exercise - WARRANT OF FITNESS pupil group resource links blog-post
tracking your movement minutes chart
expert: Jane Muir

Hygiene - KEEP IT CLEAN pupil group resource links blog-post
healthy hands templates and unit
teeth - experiments to show why we should brush
toothbrushing tracking chart
kidshealth.org - why we need to brush our teeth
expert: Dental Health service educator

The Body - ENGINE PARTS pupil group resource links blog-post
variety of games/activities to print out
skeleton cut out
skeleton labelling sheets
heart health
expert: NZ Heart Foundation (Linda Harris)

The Brain - BRAIN POWER! pupil group resource links blog-post
multiple intelligences pupil survey printable
another printable smarts survey
expert: Maureen Deuchrass, Road Safety Southland

Take Two News episode

My Year Six pupils take turns to work in teams of three to write, film and present a short video about a current event or issue happening at our school...I do the editing using Windows MovieMaker...


2014 Take Two News - We Sell Worm Tea! (Team Kahu, Year Six) from Edendale Primary School on Vimeo.

BLOOMing good!

A great poster to remind us of the multitude of ways to incorporated Bloom's Taxonomy in the classroom...

Thanks Mia, An Ethical Island blog

Science Fair preparations

Information for the Southland Science Fair - held in mid-late August each year.

Introductory activities: maybe use to get pupils thinking about scientific process:

• Turn Milk Into Plastic!
• Home experiments from Science Is Fun

With the Sci Fair being held in Week 5, it means we only have four weeks to carry out our investigations and write them up for display and interviews with the judges.

I plan to introduce scientific process in Week One, pupils to then choose their investigation, materials gathered for the start of Week 2 - with on-going record keeping for Weeks 2-4 and the final write up happening at the start of Week 5. So I have looked for quick investigations where results should be showing in the time-frame - I have also selected ideas that flow on nicely from our Term 2 inquiry about our solar system, as well as any that could be related to the Science Fair special theme of 'Living in a Cooling World'...

Pupils will work in groups of 2 or 3 and can choose from any of the ideas below (which are from Science Buddies which has a huge range of fantastic investigation ideas):

1. Is It Getting Hot in Here? - temperature/greenhouse gases - Ben and Jonas
2. How Salty Does the Sea Have to Be? - floating an egg  Jennifer and Caity
3. Is the Soup Ready? - measure the amount of water dried beans can absorb
4. Shaking for Butter - which temperature works best?  Nikka and Anthony #1
5. Mag-nificent Breakfast Cereals - how much iron is in your cereal?  Coebie and Damien
6. How Greasy Are Your Chips? - measuring the fat content of potato chips
7. Bigger is Better - how much baking powder do muffins need?  Kim and BJ
8. Growing, Growing, Gone! - the use of nitrogen fertilizers on plants   Nikka and Anthony #2
9. Radiant Radish Seeds - how much heat can a seed take?
10. Which Way Up? - how does gravity affect plant root growth?
11. Do Plants Need Soil? - a simply hydroponics investigation
12. Home Sweet Biome - which environment is best for plants?  Dylan and Brayden
13. Recycling Grey Water - do the plants like it?  Brock and JM
14. All Packed Up - how does packaging affect the storage of fruit?
15. Can House Colour Reduce Energy Bills? - how colour attracts heat Keegan and Logan 
• instructions            background info**
16. Cold Room - make your own solar air heater  Lisa and Richard
17. Roof-top Gardens - do they help keep your house warm?
18. Colour My World - how do different colours of light affect plant growth?  Maria and Lane
19. Breathe Out - how does increased levels of carbon dioxide affect plant growth?
20. Feed Me - how do different fertilizers affect plant growth?

** background info can be found via the link on the Inquiry page of our classroom blog - scroll down to see the Science Fair heading and select the links for the appropriate investigation/theme!

New ICT tool - padlet.com

Padlet.com is an online app that is designed to work just as beautifully on an ipad as it does on a laptop or similar device - accessed viz the internet, its uses are numerous: for independent, group or whole class activities, for teaching, for learning - you are only limited by your imagination!

This is a great overview of some ideas, created by Suzy of the Technically Invisible blog and you can get your own free copy of it here

My class have been used the site for reading responses and inquiry brainstorming/sharing of ideas.

LEARNZ Virtual Field Trip - Feb 2014 - Geohazards

A resource I love to use to provide content and extend my pupils for reading and/or inquiry, is the NZ website LEARNZ, which provides real-time virtual field trips to various locations or based on various events around NZ.

I love it because the field trips, once you have registered and they have taken place, can be accessed any time - so if it doesn't suit my programme to follow the trip in real time on the dates the trip takes place, my pupils can still make use of the related resources at another time - for instance in 2012 there was a wetlands field trip which we used about two terms later in the year when it fit better in support of our inquiry.

Term One of 2014 - 25-27 Feb - a field trip to the geo-thermal region of the Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand is taking place. We will be using it for our reading programme as I think the non-fiction nature of the content will really motivate my boys and my reluctant readers:
                

Geohazards: 

volcanoes, tsunami, landslide, 

earthquakes and 

hydrothermal activity

The topic of natural disasters is one that many children find fascinating and, as I cannot physically take my southern class to view this North Island area, they will be able to see it via the photos and videos that will take place on the website. They know this is our theme and were excited about what they might find out.

This is a link to the learning resources page I created on our classroom blog for the children to use: 

Geohazards - NZ is full of them!

My guided group lessons will be using material based on the geohazard topics also, and the class bookshelf also has library books about the topics.  Different reading groups, as per ability, will be given guided or independent activities to complete over the next four weeks, some from the field trip and others based on their guided reading material.  These are the independent sheets that I have developed based on the fact sheets in the LEARNZ website.

Supporting materials - guided reading resources: to be used with various groups according to reading ability and interest level of the content...I usually set pre and post tasks for the title, meaning that the group has at least three days of activities with the guided text and one day of an independent activity using other resources (but that is a whole other blog post!)

• Connected 2 2005 - Living on a Lava Flow
• Connected 1 2011 - Ruaumoko Rages; Taupo; Time Capsules; Understanding Volcanoes; Living With a Volcano
• School Journal Part 2 No. 2 2002 -  Make a Volcano
• National Geographic Kids Science Readers Level 2 - Volcanoes!
• School Journal Level 3 Nov 2011 - One City, Two Earthquakes
• School Journal Story Library Level 3 - Quake, Rattle and Roll
• Connected 2 2000 - Jago Descends
• MainSails 2 - The Volcano Awakes!
• MainSails 2 - Tsunami!
• School Journal Part 4 No 3 2004 - A Bit of a Bang
  
• MacMillan Winners - Killer Quakes
• Scholastic Connectors - Extreme Scientists

Just a couple of changes!

Have been out of the room for the past few weeks while my student teacher was in control. Gave me a chance to reflect on my own programme and plan for the term to come. I also observed a couple of the other teachers and sitting in someone else's room and checking out their layout is always good personal reflection too.  So have had a bit of rearrangement today ( not the reason I went to school today but that's what needed up happening - gotta do it when inspiration strikes!)

Corner to corner view from my desk by the front door...have joined the three large tables together, rearranged the desks...still have options of table/desk/floor seating for 26 pupils (and they start the day in one 'base' place but are free to move around during the day depending on their tasks)...

View from art bay...still plenty of room at the floor table (with cushions)....

Moved the computer cupboard and marking shelf over to the side wall...

Back wall now has a jellybean table where the kids can use three laptops or iPads, the inquiry table has moved to the centre, with the report books in the boxes beside it, and a small table is over near the library shelf (two pupils can work there easily with computers or iPads too).

Two bean bag chairs for pupils to work on and two desks in the art bay where pupils can sit to work or stand to do art if needed...

Just need to reshuffle a couple of the wall displays now and then will set up the D.I.Y. Programme again (my student worked a regular classroom timetable and guided group sessions).

Only one week left until holidays and we will be right into it all again in October!