Evernote

This year we are using Evernote to keep our anecdotal notes.

This is an amazing tool for teachers I couldn't speak highly enough of it to do it justice.

At first I found it really challenging to find the time to make the notes. With seniors it can be hard to find a moment to jot down comments and observations, before you are interrupted and it is lost. I have had to make a conscious effort to make the time and now I feel like I have been able to teach while making quick notes and taking photos for evidence.

Things I like about Evernote:

- Searching students names (great for when it comes to parent teacher interviews and reports)
- Annotating photos - You can highlight and write all over photos
- I can use the notes to help with planning - particularly when trying to decide how long to spend on a learning intention
- The evidence is visual, organised and accessible on a range of devices and locations (Home and School)
- The notes can be shared with fellow colleagues and management
- You can create notebooks to organise various topics and content. I have a notebook for Behaviour & Social, Planning Reflections, Testing Observations, Room 1 (2015) and then various notebooks for different curriculum ideas
- You can clip articles, photos and documents off the internet. This is a great way to never lose amazing resources!
- I can use it on my phone. I take the photos, type the notes and post these to my Evernote while I am sitting with a group
- You can set yourself checklists and reminders within your notes - e.g. Need to Gloss test ASAP - Look at Mult/Div

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Term 4 Novel Study time!

Pretty much mine and my students favourite part of each term.
I am such an avid reader and I love getting students excited about the books we read.
I usually try to find a book with a movie as a reward/comparison study or books that are in a series to encourage further reading. Every term I have so much fun trying to decide what our novel study will be. I spend time looking for books that fit our terms inquiry and resources that will engage and suit all my students.

This term I had decided on 'Hatchet'. I had made all these resources and had everything super organised and ready to go, only to find on the first day of term half my students had studied the novel in year 5. That will teach me for being so eager!

I had a dilemma that needed to be solved quickly. I had the hard copy of' 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' in my cupboard to pre-read for next year. I just decided to give it a go, thankfully another teacher had read it and could vouch that it would be perfect for my kiddies.

I read them the brief synopsis and showed them the cover. I was trying to gauge if this would suit them and think on the spot of how to hook them in. It didn't take much, they loved it, they were so excited the begged me to start straight away.


"A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.

As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive." 

We read the prologue and first chapter. I only had my students listen at first, pausing occasionally to discuss themes, characters or vocabulary. After I had read the prologue and chapter one I showed them the book trailer. We discussed some of the themes that were already arising from the text and began building our wall of predictions. The students got really excited because they thought the book trailer was a movie trailer, had to burst their bubbles on that one. However it is going to be a movie in 2015.

We started our third session by using Kahoot. I had created a brief quiz to check their understanding. It was great to be able to introduce them to a new ICT tool, have a little fun and assess their needs. Students over the next fee weeks in their reading groups will be creating their own Kahoot quiz. They are going to create them about their favourite books, general knowledge and topics we have covered this year.

I found a PDF copy of all the images in the book and ran them off. Each time we come across a new image in the book I pin it up on the wall for students to analyse. Each morning as I have come in students' have been crowding the wall discussing the images and sharing their predictions with another. It is awesome to see and hear!

Students also are beginning to create a web of the characters. They are drawing relationship lines between them explaining how they are connected and writing adjectives around them. They will continue to add to these as we read.

P3 are loving the book so far. Some have gone home and read ahead (Couldn't stop them with any amount of bribing) and even I am struggling to not read ahead.

Episode One: 'The Block P3'

'The Block P3' has kicked off this term!

Say goodbye to what was once a boring measurement unit and hook students in with Minecraft, movie making and tons of creativity. 

The challenge was set, students at to form teams to compete in 'The Block P3'

Criteria:

Teams of 2-4
Pick a team name
Pick a team colour
Choose a team motto
Design a team poster
Film a small segment for the trailer to 'The Block P3'

Once students had completed the assigned tasks they began to design their own visions.
I set no criteria at this stage. We simply brainstormed what was necessary in a house and what was extra. I made it very clear to students that the more they added to their houses the harder the maths would be (some did not listen to this instruction and have made it rather challenging for themselves). I told students that the only math requirement for this section was that they had to have the perimeter written down for each room.

As they bought their maps to me to check I sent them off to check if their rooms were to scale. One student came to me with a child's room that was 4m long and 3m wide. I told that student to get rulers and map it on the classroom floor. She quickly realized this was much to small, this sparked a great class discussion about scale and students began wandering outside to pace out the size of garages, swimming pools and all the important man cave.

Once students finished their own maps complete with perimeters and to scale they sat down with their teams. They shared their maps and discussed the pros and cons of each persons design. They had an A3 piece of paper and began mapping out their team design. As they did this I asked to begin thinking about the criteria that we would need to judge these (we will be co-constructing the judging criteria next week).

They are aware that although they are designing their vision they know there will be alterations made based on the challenge that is given to them each week.

They will get their first challenge next week and will have to create a video of their room to add to their blogs as their episode. The winning room each week will feature on this blog and be shown to the other class that is competing as well.

How to differentiate this unit:

Give different groups different challenges based on their ability.
One group may have to design a lounge with a perimeter of 25m but it can't be a perfect square.
The next group might be working with the area of 15m squared.
It is up to you how hard or easy you make this unit for your students.


Next steps

- Students to design and build their first room based on the challenge criteria
- Students finish to filming their trailers
- Co construct the judging criteria

Also check out Mrs Hay's class and their Block adventure:

'The Block P2'

Blackout Poetry

Another amazing freebie from teachers pay teachers.

Check out the prezi at this link - Click me

My students loved this!

They loved it so much they have asked if it can be part of our guided reading rotation. 

It is perfect for everyone and everyone can be successful with this poetry lesson.

I photocopied random pages from Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Divergent and Maze Runner.

All books they are familiar with, I did this so that the language they came across would have relevance and meaning to them.

We didn't practice on newspaper like the Prezi suggested, we just got straight into it.

Each student found an anchor word (a word that stuck out to them) and shared their anchor words with a buddy.

They then began hunting throughout the passage for more words that could help bring that anchor word to life.

They were very excited as they found words to make their poems work, this was quickly followed by frustration when they knew what they wanted to say but couldn't find or make that word happen.

This was a great activity for students to think about their vocabulary and share their poems with their peers without fear of judgement. 

Pros:

My lower readers and writers can create amazing poetry in a non threatening way

My top readers and writers are pushing themselves to think outside of the box to come up with illustrated poems

Students are all excited to share their poems with no fear or judgement (I believe this comes from them not actually writing the words but sharing what they 'found' in their passage)

Cons:

You need start in pencil (We didn't) and box around the words large enough that when you use the vivid it doesn't cut any of your words off

We didn't have enough black vivids - make sure each child has one

Next time I need to remember to discuss grammar 

Examples of some completed Blackout Poetry by P3 students:

White teeth

Oval Eyes

Dark Skin

Standing waiting for him

He looked inside to see the strange boy

Harry and Hermione drew their wands at the silver cat

Silence spread in cold ripples 

Then somebody screamed

Old and thin

Dark lord had tears pouring down either side of his snout

Violently Harry sped forwards

Pointed his wand at the unsteerable invisible barrier

Death Eater shot a curse

So close

I'm coming Harry, I'm Comin! 

Hoot Server

A final video of our nearly completed Hoot server! 

Hoot (Minecraft)

New Minecraft Project!

P3 begged and begged until I finally gave in and said yes we can start a new Minecraft project.
Last year I did a similar project with  'The City of Ember' and it was hugely successful. We used the novel to help visualise and create alternate endings to the book.

This year with Hoot we will be using it in a similar way. I like the students to be able to take meaningful notes and then use those notes to support the design process. Once they have completed the town they will use it to give a guided tour, retell a chapter and recommendations for the novel.

Students have been keeping specific notes about the characters and settings we have been introduced to in the story.

Coconut Cove:

- Golf Course – 18 holes and a driving range 

- The camp of Mullet Fingers was off the golf course through a small forested area

- Roy’s House 

- Roads + Bus Stop + Bus 

- Police station

- Mother Paula’s Pancake house Construction site - Caravan, big fence and 4 dogs

- Auto parts yard - Ice Cream Truck

- Garage - Bike Repair

- Trace Middle School - Classrooms, cafeteria, teachers lounge, car park, bus bay

- Beach 

- Dana’s House - has a front porch

As they kept these notes they began developing a birds eye view map of 'Coconut Cove' the town from 'Hoot'. Once students had finished this we had a class vote on whose map they thought was the best depiction of the town.

No students have seen the movie so they were only going from description and and their imaginations.

Josh's map was the map the class chose as the best to use as a guide.
I printed out a copy of his map for each student to put into their reading book to help with planning out the city

We initially all went onto our own class server together but discovered that it was pointless until the roads were completed and each part of the map was plotted out because everyone was just building in random areas.

We nuked the server and started again. This time the roads groups went onto our class server first. Having a class server has been awesome, I have set it up to only allow 28 players (my class + myself) and they need my IP address to get on and this changes each day so no one from other classes can get on. I also have to have my direct server open on my computer for it to work, so no one can 'sneak' on during class time.

Once the roads are finished students will begin construction of their chosen buildings.

We will be blogging more about this process and students will be reflecting on their own blogs as we get further into the story.


UPDATE 10/9

Here are some pics of the buildings students have completed so far. We are aiming to be done in a week and then begin filming.

Blog Reflections

Last week 1/2 my class went to Devon (Sports Exchange) and the other half stayed behind at school and organised/ran a tabloid sports day for the remaining students at school.

Once my students came back I had them reflect on their week. I was impressed with the length and content of their reflections.

I am aiming to have them put more work and effort into their blogs. Last year I pushed the use of their individual blogs and whanau engagement/interaction. The class I have this year are very sporty and take on a lot of extra curricular activities, it is very rare that I have a full class because of this. It has been hard to manage their blogs because of this. Some students have lots while others seem to have very little.

Alexa's Reflection:

Rawinia's Reflection:

Estelle's Reflection:

Casey's Reflection:

Tegan's Reflection:

Geometry Towns Assessment

I am always looking for new and fun ways to assess my students understanding.
They hate tests and I don't enjoy marking them, however they love using ICT and art.
This was a brilliant way to assess their understanding of geometry at the end of our unit.

I stumbled across the resource on TPT (My holy bible of resources)

Students had spent the term learning geometry vocabulary and concepts.
They were given the initial planning sheet and used their books/knowledge/computers to compile a glossary of terms with examples.

Students then completed a draft copy of their final map, the used this copy to communicate with me each feature of the map and how they had meet the criteria for the task.

Student's then began a final copy. Once completed the students glued the criteria and the first draft onto the back of their posters before laminating.

Student's then each took turns at presenting back to the class one aspect from their poster.

I would recommend this resource to all teachers who want to spice up their assessment process!


Pros:

- The vocabulary language used in discussion during the task was outstanding
- The student's didn't realize they were doing an assessment
- They had fun, it was hands on and suited to all learning styles
- They look fantastic on the wall and the back of each poster has all the learning
- Student's were all proud of their final product

Cons:

- This took way longer than I had originally planned, I had to hold a few catch up sessions
- Some students hadn't realized that you could integrate various features and their maps become quite hard to decipher

Puarenga Tabloids

Mokoia Intermediate left for Devon (Taranaki) on Wednesday. Puarenga learning centre was down one teacher and about a third of the students. We decided that we would have our students run their very own Top Town type games for the rest of the school.

This was a three day inquiry process

___________________________________________________________

Day one:

Students elect a manager and vice manager - these students are in charge for the three days. All group leaders to report to the managers at the start and end of every session.

Students to opt into which group they want to work in for the three days.

Options:

- Media (Reporting, photography, video)
- Activity (Deciding and organising the events)
- Planning (Timetable, groups and all organisation aspects)
- Marketing (Making posters and flyers to advertise to school, contacting businesses and parents for prizes)

Once all students were in a group, each group elected two leaders.

Now our leadership team was complete.

These leaders had the responsibility of guiding the team and reporting to the two event managers.

Groups began the planning process.

We looked at previous Top Town events to give stimulus for ideas.

Day two:

Continuation of the planning process, finalising how the day is going to run.
All groups working with each other to ensure all aspects were covered and that the deadline would be met.

Day three

Event set up
Practice run through

Whole school assembled to be briefed and the events began.

Students PMI in groups and individual reflections in class.

___________________________________________________________

Pros

- Seeing students step up into leadership roles
- Completely run by the students
- Ran smoothly on the day
- Students had fun and all were involved
- Planning group had covered all bases and stood out as being exceptional
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Active engagement for majority of students
- Year 7s led and well as year 8s. Year 8s responded well to younger leadership
- Students proud of the event


Cons/Improvements

- Didn't run entirely smoothly - early on organisation was under pressure
- Event managers were tied up with the minor issues instead of being the total overseers
- Needed a more structured time table/map for where each group goes next
- Behavioural students pushed the boundaries
- Very stressful on teachers to let go of the reigns and allow the students to make mistakes and fix them by themselves (huge learning curve for me!)

Literacy Shed

Another amazing website to use to enhance writing.

Literacy Shed

My student's loved this. I asked one of them to choose a random number and then selected the corresponding thumbnail that went with this. We found ourselves on the ghostly shed page. 

I played the class the video clip without the sound. 

This started a big class discussion about how the character was feeling, what was happening, what sound must have been happening in the background and lots of other great questions. 

We watched the clip twice and students made notes about what they thought was happening.

They then used these notes to rewrite their version of the story.

Once they had written their own versions of the story and shared with the class, we watched the short story with sound.

Student's loved this writing exercise and have been begging to do another one, except this time they want to try it with only hearing the sound and not seeing the visual.

The website has great teaching points and content. 

Here some examples of student's work from this session:

Student 1:

The Escape

I shuffled carefully out of the unzipped tent, the night was cold but beautiful. My bare feet skimmed the soft dirt as I slipped them into my boots. I reached into my pocket, well half pocked and clasped my bony fingers around my unlit cigarette. 

I started walking through the dark forest, the stars look exceptionally amazing tonight. As I walked I noticed a long winding jetty with a wooden boat tied to the end. I gingerly stepped onto the boat and started paddling, the moonlight glimmering on the lake. I lay on my back and pulled out my cigarette.

Student 2:

What Happened?

I've been planning this for as long as I can remember, but as the cool air nips my nose I feel a shiver slide down my spine. I quietly get into my shoes and creep across the leaves.I walk to the jetty, I feel like something is watching me, I shake it off and carry on. I climb into the boat, drift for a bit and start my journey .

I look around and see this is the place and stop, lay my head back and pull out my cigarette. My parents still don’t know I smoke and I plan to keep it that way. I look out into the night sky, beautiful. Something rocks the boat, I sit up and look around, nothing, so I lay back down. There it is again, I sit up a second time as the boat rocks violently, that’s it, I start to row but I see I'm going nowhere. I sit back this is hopeless I sit back and write in my book 'Help Me' that’s when the last rock makes everything go black     

Student 3:

Is this the end?

I made my way carefully out of the tent, stepping over everything in my path. The fire is still blazing, red hot embers flying in the air. I wrap my hands around the lantern, clutching it, my heart pounding. My hands have suddenly gone cold and clammy. I ignore it and carry on.

The forest is alive around me. The trees are whispering and leaves rustle quietly on the forest floor. I keep walking until I reach the lake. The moonlight shimmers on the lake, as I step out onto the dinghy. I row out to the middle of the lake and stop there. I lay on my back, gazing at the endless stars of the sky. I light my cigarette and take a deep breath in. 

A splash sounds in the still night air. I stand up uncertainty on my face and worry in my eyes. 

Student 4:

Quetico Lake Mystery

I crawl out of my tent, my feet sinking into the soft soil, the heat of the camp fires flame fills the camp ground. I slip into my fur boots and start walking as quietly as possible into the dense forest, not knowing the foreign dangers that lie ahead. I tip toe along the jetty and crawl into the boat at the end, I use my kerosene lamp to light my cigarette, get out my book and start to paddle.

I decide this is a good spot, roughly around the middle of the lake. I rest for a while, my cigarette in one hand and one behind my head, not knowing this would be my last night under the stars.

“SPLASH” the boat starts to rock, sending ripples through the moonlit water, I start to worry I lift my lamp and hold it above the water…

Storybird Website

Today in class P3 had a play on the website Storybird.
I set very little guidelines. I told them they were going to write a picture book and that they could spend some time selecting the artwork to tell their story. They had not done a brainstorm or done any pre-writing. They used the images as a guide to sequence their story and then built on their stories from there.

We only spent one session on their stories and they came up with a range of different topics and story types. Some wrote humorous short stories. some created sophisticated pictures and other created how to guides.

They then had a buddy check and edit their work for spelling errors and missing punctuation. I still need to conference with each student on their story because when they presented there were still minor errors.

I was very pleased with the quality of work and it is definitely a website I am going to use again.

Tegan's Sophisticated Picture Book



Casey's Rhyming Tale



Tanner's How to Guide



Marnie's Funny Tale