Out Of This World Interest Projects

It was a rewarding final week of term in Room 14 as we shared our recent interest projects. The theme for these was 'Planet earth and beyond', linking with some of the other projects we have been engaged in this term. From our world, to the solar system, black holes and aliens, there were many fascinating discoveries made and interesting debates had about the reliability of research.

As has become the norm, everyone had a say in the sharing order and the class decided how the stage and audience will be organised. Again we put a lot of thought into showing we care by listening and giving thoughtful feedback to our peers on their projects. This was one of the areas we were assessed on relating to the key competencies in our IP evaluation. The other areas are also listed below.

Thinking: I showed curiosity and asked lots of questions to drive my learning

Managing Self: Making plans and finishing the tasks I say I will complete on time

Using Language, Symbols and Texts: I created a quality presentation

Participating and Contributing: I confidently shared my learning with others

Relating to Others: Cooperating with others when sharing resources and learning spaces during IP workshops

Relating to Others: I listened and gave thoughtful feedback to my peers on their projects

See our Twitter feed for more photos. We are looking forward to creating more of our own interest projects this year, with our most recent ones providing us with some great goals to work on!


Click here to see Korban's excellent presentation about our Moon.

Response to Our Exhibition

Thanks to all who came along to our exhibition last Tuesday night. Here are some photos of the evening...



This was a nice way of showcasing some of the projects our Te Harakeke team have been working on across curriculum areas, for our community to have some fun learning about our coding club and for our Te Rito team to share their Matariki art gallery. The survey responses and feedback we received were very positive, so will certainly look to have more events of this kind in the future.

Korban from Room 14 wrote a brief summary:

Term Two Interest Projects

The children in Room 14 have been itching to get underway with more IPs (Interest Projects). We have spent the first half of this term engaging in predominantly 'guided' inquiry into earth systems, specifically how the Moon and the Sun work. The idea behind this was to not only gain some important scientific understandings about the world we live in, but to also spark curiosity about planet earth and beyond that we could dig deeper into through IPs. 

Again, our 3 things we must do for IPs are the same...

1. Create a plan. 

2. Document progress. 

3. Share our learning with others. 

This week we have begun creating our new IP plans. Driving questions have included, "How would it be possible to live on Mars?", "How does the Moon affect our lives?" and "Why do areas of our New Zealand environment look so different?", to name a few.

Sharing our plans with Mr K and receiving some feedback on our questions.

Two specific IP areas (linking to key competencies) that Te Harakeke will be focussing on this term are:

Relating to others - Cooperating with others when sharing resources and learning spaces.

Managing self - Making plans, organising ourselves and finishing the tasks when we say we will complete on time. 

We can't wait to begin IP workshops next week. 

Sharing our IPs by Reuben and Cooper

Today the whole syndicate gathered together in P1 to share some of the student's Interest Projects. Korban started off with a magnificent project about Mohammad Ali. He used Book Creator to present his project. He had a lot of information and some really good quotes.
The other presenters were:
Riley - Martin Crowe
Cooper - Jim Henson
Reuben - Michael Jackson
Amber - Hannah (her sister)
Emily - Sir Edmond Hillary
Kaizen - Mr K!
Kaylee - Miss Harris
Willow - Mr Willis
Eti - Martin Luther King Jr
Bryson and Connor - Sir Edmund Hillary

It was great to see that people chose lots of different ways to present (both digital and non-digital). Some of the different apps that were used for the digital presentations were iMovie, Book Creator, Explain Everything, Green Screen and Pic Collage.  For the non-digital presentations we had some colourful posters and big books.




We think that the sharing stage is really important because we all got to see what others had been researching and we learnt lots of new stuff!  It also gave us ideas about what we need to focus on for our next project.

"I enjoyed doing my Interest Project because it was about Jim Henson and I like puppets. My favourite part of doing it was presenting my iMovie to everyone. I like speaking to the audience! The most difficult part for me was probably researching the stuff because I couldn't find the answers to some of my questions"       

Cooper

"My IP was about Michael Jackson and the reason I chose him was because I like his music and got into him last year and thought it would be a good IP to do - to find out about his music, charity work and family. Finding the information and writing the information into Docs was probably the easiest part of the process but took the longest time. I really liked putting the presentation together because I used some special effects and a green screen"

Reuben

Badge Winners

After the presentations the teachers awarded 'Creative' 'Connected' 'Curious' 'Courageous' and 'Caring' badges to some of the students!  Congratulations everyone!

By Reuben and Cooper!

Interest Projects: Update

This week during IP workshop it was great to see the progress being made with our student interest projects.

Last week Mandy ran a workshop on Blogger, which a number of children opted into as they wanted to set up a personal blog to document their IP journey. These blogs would be used as a self-reflection tool and also as a way to share learning with peers, teachers and whānau. It was nice to see those children who set up blogs last week, along with those who knew how to set up blogs from previous years, giving their time and expertise to coach others in setting one up this week.

Despite being independent inquiry projects, this term's IP format is providing ample opportunities for peer support and collaboration. Another example of this was James and Reuben visiting Te Harakeke classes during IP workshop this week, explaining their project plans, how they have been using their time, sharing their progress and answering questions other students may have.



Now that students have their IP plans, most are currently finding information using a variety of sources. We are looking to develop our note taking skills while gathering as much information as possible.

Term One Interest Projects: What Makes A Hero?

What does make a hero? 

Over the next few weeks Team Te Harakeke will be exploring this question. We have begun interest projects for the term, which we were introduced to in a team assembly last week. The focus will be around heroes, where all children are choosing someone of interest to them who they believe to be a hero to find out more about. Some children will choose people they know, maybe in their families or in our school community, while others will be investigating people who are well-known around New Zealand and the world.

Every Thursday morning we will have an interest project (IP) workshop. This will be class time designated to be working on our projects. We hope to encourage collaboration, run inquiry and ICT workshops, and promote a community of independent inquiry where we can foster the development of some valuable learning skills and attitudes.

We have a 3-step format for our interest projects that all children will follow. (1) They need to create a plan for their project, (2) they need to document their progress each week, and (3) they must share their learning with us at the end.

We can't wait to see what everyone discovers and shares with us. With so many examples of people who we consider heroes, we hope to answer the big question together... "What makes a hero?"

IP introductions

Some of us have been meeting with our teachers to make our plans and get 

our wheels in motion.

Keep an eye out on our blog and Twitter accounts for updates.