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:

Our mini exhibition next Tuesday

Parents and children all welcome!

Star Wars Squared

This week for home learning Room 14 were given this task...

SITUATION:

One of your parents has fallen in love with the idea of having this Star Wars patterned carpet in a room of your house. It costs $20 per square metre. 

PROBLEM:

Decide which room you will measure and work out approximately how much it will cost for enough carpet for the whole room. 

On Monday during our library time we thought about the process we would need to go through to complete this task, as there are a couple of steps involved. 

We tried to work out the cost of this carpet for our school library. Kelli aptly named this project 'Star Wars Squared', with each stage titled Episode 1, Episode 2 and Episode 3. 

We first discussed the idea of 'one square metre', then planned how we could measure the size of the library. We then did the measuring and came to a consensus on the size, using string and rulers. The final stage was multiplying the number of square metres by the price of the carpet. 

This was a task that required not only some key mathematical understandings, but also for us to work well with our peers, communicating effectively and managing resources. Most children felt confident they could complete the home learning task independently, so it will be great to see them apply their knowledge in a different setting. 

If you want another fun challenge, we have just been discussing the problem below together. 

Can you work out where the extra square comes from? 

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. 

School Cross Country

What a great time we had yesterday during our cross country.

All classes had been out training over the past two weeks and it was fantastic to have this event to look forward to on our calendar.

In Room 14 we had been collecting our training data and have been thinking about ways we could graph it to present visually and notice what it tells us.




A special thanks to Ms Baker and Mr Bates for organising the event and to all of the parents who came along to watch!

A small number of our children will soon be representing our school at the South-East Zones. We can't wait to see how they go.

Check out some of the pics from yesterday...

Solar Ovens And Moon Landings

This term our 'My Place, Our World' theme is taking an Earth systems direction. In Room 14 we have been learning all about both the Sun and the Moon through some projects we have been engaged in.

Following on from Kelli's IP presentation last term about Neil Armstrong, there was some debate in the Room 14 audience about whether the Moon landings have really happened. There were a large number of children who wanted to investigate this further. So, both the Avengers and Flashes groups have been researching this issue, using many sources of information and looking to find proof for claims that have been made by people.

























Both groups have been moving their names along a 'Yes' or 'No' continuum as they find more information. This is the 'Tug of War' routine. Some names have moved back and forth several times!

Jade and Kelli surveyed our teachers. What did they think?























With so many conspiracy theories around about the Moon landings, it has been a big challenge for us to figure out whether these sources are reliable. For example, some videos online claim to be made by scientists, but are they really? It has been a great learning opportunity understanding how anyone can put information on the internet and claim that it is true. The groups are currently deciding which side they will take when writing a persuasive piece to share in an interesting way.

The Daredevils and Iron Men have been reading about solar ovens and trying to design and build their own. They have been through a process of finding out how they work, coming up with several of their own designs to choose from, locating materials, and building.

KiwiCan Party

Yesterday Room 14 had a special pizza and quiz event put on by Nicky and Sophie from KiwiCan. This was reward for our class earning to most points during the Wednesday and Thursday sessions they ran this term. The points were very close, so we were excited to come out on top.

Thanks to Nicky and Sophie. The quiz was so much fun! We can't wait until you come back next term.

We've Just Finished Wonder!

In Room 14 we have just finished reading Wonder. It is a story about a boy who was born with a deformed face named August. He was always home-schooled until he turned 10 years old and enrolled at a public school. The story is about the many challenges he faces. 

We thought it was fantastic. In fact, we each completed a survey yesterday and as a class our average rating for Wonder was 9.8/10. 

We were also surveyed on our favourite character.

We know that some other classes are currently reading this book, so we won't give away the ending, but we do recommend it!

Kapa Haka

Te Harakeke Kapa Haka

We have started Te Harakeke Kapa Haka year with new tutors.  We now have Whaea Latoya and Whaea Mata teaching us. 

The students have been following the structure of

-       warm up - consisting of waiata they have learnt in previous years and new waiata. 

-       Practicing some of the waiata they’ve previously learnt

-       And learning new waiata for cultural festival

The Te Harakeke Kapa Haka are performing in the 2016 Cultural Festival which is from Monday 29^th August until Friday 2^nd September the exact date and time are to be confirmed.

Currently in the office there are sample materials of what we would like the Te Harakeke Kapa Haka group to wear on stage.  Here are some photos leave some feedback or leave us a comment.

Karawhiua!

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.

School Triathlon

We had a fantastic time participating in our school triathlon yesterday.

Most of us competed in teams, with a different person doing the cycling, swimming and running legs, but there were a couple of courageous students who took on the challenge of doing all three parts on their own. All children managed themselves so well, especially at the changeover points, where they needed to transition to the next leg.

It was great to see so many parents coming down as spectators. Thanks to Ms Baker and the other teachers who were in charge of organising the event. The hard work our community put into building our bike track is really paying off. An awesome day on our calendar!

Instead Of Saying...

You may have heard people talking about the importance of having a 'growth mindset' as opposed to a 'fixed mindset' recently. These words have been especially popular in many schools, as we look to encourage children to view the effort that they put into their learning as a path to mastery, rather than seeing their level of ability or intelligence as 'fixed'.

Carol Dweck is a popular researcher in this field. You may like to listen to one of her talks on the subject here.

Last Friday during assembly Room 14 shared an animated video presented by Class Dojo that tells the story of Mojo, a student who discovers that his brain is like a muscle that can grow and improve with effort. All of the Class Dojo videos in the series can be viewed here.

After the story about Mojo, Room 14 shared some of ways we can rephrase our responses to challenges in our learning. We found the ideas online and hope they made an impression on our assembly audience!

More Than Names And Faces

This week all of the children in Room 14 were asked to bring to school a personal treasure to share. As we get to know each other better, we want to look past the names and faces that make up our classroom community, and learn about what really makes us unique.

It was fascinating to see and hear about what each of us considered to be a 'treasure'. Some of us brought to school our current favourite toys or games, while others looked to more sentimental items such as old soft toys or artifacts and photos that remind us of loved ones who have passed away or special experiences we have had.

The back-stories behind the items were so interesting and it was a great opportunity to learn something interesting about each other. We learned that many treasures we have actually cost very little, even though we can sometimes think that expensive stuff is important to have for us to be happy.

We talked about how something that is a treasure to one person may hold no importance to someone else, and we discussed the reasons why this might be. These are great understandings for us to have as we look to further explore our diverse cultures and identities this term.

What is one of your personal treasures 

and why is it special to you?

(Feel free to share in a comment!)