Week 3 of term 2 2013

Afternoon all,

It has been a very exciting of weeks with lots happening. Our inquiry has started with the kids allowed to work in any class with however they like. Some very cool enquiries are being carried out, such as How did the Meta... (huge shark) change into the great white of today, what makes the sea salty, how much pollution is in the fish of Carolyn Bay. etc...
Some are finding it more frustrating than others with the Self Organised Learning Environment they are having. Some really cool trips that are being planned  by the kids in class time like fishing, videoing, visiting ECAN. I really encourage the parents to ask what is happening at school and discuss what they have learnt and what they want to learn.

Our class has been running hard to practice for the cross country. We have been doing fitness all year (which they all love) but now we have just picked up the fitness for the race. It is really pleasing to see that some go for really good runs at the weekends and after school.

I had a chat to the class the other day about running and other things. I discussed with them that we all have our strengths and weaknesses and we need to embrace our strengths and improve our weaknesses. This was in relation to the cross country with those who are good runners and enjoy the cross country should be trying to win. They should be aiming for first. Those who find cross country a challenge should be they try their absolute best, run their hardest and achieve their potential.

I celebrate winners and I also celebrate those who 'bust their guts' doing their best. It would be fantastic to see as many parents as possible their on the day to cheer everybody on.

Next week we have Debbie Eddington (ECAN) in class to talk about the Science fair in term 3. She will be inferring to the kids which ways their Science fairs should go if they want to keep relevant with the ideas  of the ECAN and the judges. If the kids listen well they their Science Fair projects should be easier to choose and give them a better chance of success.

Good luck to the Young leaders who are going to Dunedin on Monday. It should be a great day. A nice early start.

As the class has been working so well they can have the Friday 31st of May and then Monday 3rd June off. Enjoy the long weekend!

Well done to Grace Waller and Lily Rae who reported back to the board what the Year 7's have been up to at Mountainview High School. They did an excellent job in front of them. it was clear, informative  and really interesting. Mr Z taped them and made the presentation into a video. have a look.

Grace and Lily (sorry the clip would not copy here)


In the class we have been trialling BYOD. It has been really good to have the kids work with technology to enhance their learning. To get a better understanding of what BYOD is and why we feel it is valuable have a look at the video below.

Hope you have a good Queens Birthday break.


Cheers
Hamish

PS. I'm looking forward to this weeks homework reports.

Week one Term 2

Hi there,

Well the first week has ended with the students off to Technology. It has been a good start to the term with only a few grumbles due to everybody settling into the school routine again.

This week we have started our inquiry with a Tune In week. This has been a lot of talking, discussing, viewing and thinking. We have watched a few TED videos on peoples opinions of the sea and its state and what can and should be done to fix it. It is quite scary seeing what we have done to the sea and what some say we do to fix or not fix it.

Have a look below at a couple of the videos. What do you think?

Wow! Very interesting. What do you think of his final thoughts?

Real photos which do give you some things to think about.

 

The conversations have been really thoughtful and I am a little bit embarrassed to be one of the few non reusable grocery bag uses in the class. Well done to you!!

Next week we will be staring the inquiry part of the process. This will be a lot more students leading their own learning. It is going to be an open class process based loosely on SOLE. See last blogs video. It is going to mean we as teachers are onto it, with tracking of groups their questions and what process they are up to. They will be presenting their findings during week 10 this term.

WE ARE PUTTING ON A YEAR 7/8 MUSICAL IN TERM 3 (dates TBC). This is a huge but a fantastic opportunity. EVERYBODY will involved with some aspect of the production. Huge amounts of work but it is a great thing. To that end you will be getting notes home seeking help. Don't be shy in coming forward.

Well that's all this week.
Looking forward to the rest of the term

Hamish