Interesting thoughts!

I totally agree with the comments made in this article...if we took away all the traditional/historical routines that our schools adhere to (for various reasons), then imagine the number of 'Da Vinci' students we would discover in our learning spaces!

http://leading-learning.blogspot.co.nz/2006/09/da-vinci-code.html

Start the year off with lots of inquiry thinking...

Some very interesting points are made here by Australian inquiry 'guru' Kath Murdoch and have certainly got me thinking (again!) about how to incorporate more inquiry thinking across all curriculum areas...

http://www.kathmurdoch.com.au/blog/2017/1/24/establishing-a-culture-of-inquiry-through-inquiry

Modern Learning Example: School 21 (UK)

School 21

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

Problem-based Learning - 'real life' in the classroom

Very cool programme - I'm thinking about how I might be able to do the same to make my maths programme more 'real' and more effectively teach skills alongside strategies and knowledge.

http://www.theedadvocate.org/mr-johnsons-classroom-fun/

From Didactic Pedagogy to New Learning

From the website http://newlearningonline.com/  - lots of information and ideas about modern teaching/learning practices - based on the book by Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope:  New Learning: Elements of a Science of Education, Cambridge University Press, second edition, 2012.

Wildlife Photo Awards

Some great nature photos can be found here - use them as oral language or writing starters!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2016/oct/18/2016-wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-winners-in-pictures

This one, by Tim Laman, is my favourite!

Teaching Kids to Think

From the MindShift site (always so informative!)

When Kids Have Structure for Thinking, Better Learning Emerges

Fictional writing motivation images

My pupils are keen to write some fictional imaginary stories so I have gathered these images for inspiration...looking to inspire discussion about mystery destinations or adventures that may be occurring or about to occur...

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

We will be focusing on (Level 3) selecting main ideas, using written language features such as direct speech as well as using a good range of descriptive language and (Level 4) writing in the third person.

I've got a couple of text models (using excerpts from actual novels or school journal stories - thanks Susan Brocker an Roald Dahl in particular!)

And our reading texts for the next few weeks will of course also be based on fictional texts so we can make reading-writing links and see how authors use those skills in their own writing. I'll link some of the pupils' work once they get underway -hopefully there will be some fantastic pieces of writing to share!

TED Talk How to Learn From Mistakes

Found embedded in this MindShift blogpost 'Ten Tips for Launching an Inquiry Based Classroom'

Engaging learners - how might we go about it?

Some ideas from NZ and international educators c/o the Learning Network NZ...

Carol Dweck - Growth Mindset TED Talk

The Mindset website

Discussion about fixed mindset versus growth mindset - Brainpickings blog

Back into the action for Term One 2016!!

This week's motivational quote for our blogs and our attention grabber and our Notebook Quotebooks...

Image link

I have a purchased copy of this exact poster, which will stay permanently on display on the upper wall with our school motto etc. This week the pupils will write it into their own 'Notebook Quotebooks' and I will also call out the first part of it when I want their attention (and they will show I have their attention by responding with the rest of the sentence.)

Have a great year everyone!

This week's THINK ABOUT IT...

This quote may be 400 years old, but it is still very applicable - Sir Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, scientist and politician...

Image source

M.I.N.T.S.

I have decided that my Year Sixes are not taking enough responsibility to use capitals correctly so have put together this incentive...

Pupils will get to take a mini mint whenever they have correctly used:

M for the months of the year (and days!)

I for the pronoun 'I'

N for names (people, places, countries, brands, important groups)

T for titles such as Mr, Mrs, Dr, Sir, madam

S for the start of sentences. 

Thanks to Raewyn Green from the Southland Campus of the University of Otago for the acronym hint!

Fun! (And THAT song is not to be heard...)

Dance to wake your brain up!

Another favourite of the class, great for a quick brain break...thanks to my awesome 2014 side-kick via her blog The Curious Case of the Beginning Teacher...

Awesome poem...

Found this reverse poem "Lost Generation" by Jon Reed being used as motivation for a writing unit on the Runde's Room blog.  I doubt I will use it with my pupils, I think it is more suited to Year 7 & 8, but I am a bit of a collector of poetry so I just love this...

Van Gogh inspired landscape paintings

Saw a wonderful idea using Van Gogh's 1889 'Cypress Trees' painting on Deep Space Sparkle using chalk as the painting tool.

My pupils first discussed and compared the painting alongside Van Gogh's 'Starry  Night at St Remy' ...

They then chose to either do a daytime or night time landscape based on the two paintings. We looked at the technique used on the Deep Space Sparkle blog.

Daytime painters used white cartridge paper while the night time painters used black sugar paper. Everyone had access to the same set of paint colours: greens, blues, purple, yellow, orange and brown. 

First we cut out our hills and foothills shapes to glue onto the base paper. 

Then we began painting our skies using chalk dipped in paint and trying to use short strokes and to replicate the swirls and movement of Van Gogh's works...some pupils also chose to try to do a sunset or sunrise sky rather than just a blue daytime sky, while just four pupils chose to try a night-time scene...

Our next step was the hills, thinking about colour choices...

The foreground area was next...

We left the paintings to dry overnight and the next day we cut out tree shapes, glued them into position and painted them...

See all 21 artworks here on the classroom blog.

We discovered that the black sugar paper, being slightly rougher in texture, meant that the chalk would rub onto the paper as well while the paint was stroked on and therefore added shading and texture to the paint strokes, while the white cartridge paper was too smooth to cause the chalk to rub off.  So next time I would try to use sugar paper for all layers of the picture to help with that texture and toning.

Also from Deep Space Sparkle - cool and warm modern landscapes using chalk pastels - something else I would like to try!

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