Professional Development: Maeroa Intermediate School: Preparing our Students for their Future - 31.08.15

Professional Development: Maeroa Intermediate School: Preparing our Students for their Future 

Monday 31st August

2pm - 6pm 

Recap: Maeroa Intermediate School mission/motto, vision, values & beliefs about learning

1. Maeroa Intermediate Learner Profile

- Where are we at?
- What have
- What has changed since our last session
- What is next

2. Sharing Session

3. Inquiry Process

- Learning Stories
- Learning Language

4. Planning

- How do we make this happen?

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John Hattie's 8 Mindframes

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Play, passion, purpose: Tony Wagner 

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“Students are the power tools of change in education. They are the most ignored and they have the most at stake.”

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Enacting the Learner Profile through Inquiry

Clarifying Inquiry

How can we:
- Model Inquiry
- Develop learning stories through Inquiry?
- Develop and model the language of the learner profile?
- Gather evidence?

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Maeroa Inquiry Model

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Stage Descriptors

Tuning In

To engage students in the topic

To gauge student interest and attitudes

To find out what students believe - (understandings and misconceptions)

To provide opportunities for students to share what they already know and believe

To introduce / clarify language

To identify gaps in knowledge and misconceptions

 To assist with planning the unit

Finding Out

To take students beyond what they already know

To challenge students’ ideas, beliefs and values

To enable students to use skills (e.g. thinking, communication, co-operation, research) and knowledge to collect new information

Sorting Out & Making Connections

To sort out, organise, represent and present information from the Finding Out stage of the unit

To provide opportunities for students to use their preferred ways of learning to demonstrate their learning (knowledge, skills, values)

Going Further

To extend and broaden the unit if appropriate

To allow students to investigate areas of personal interest

To provide opportunities for students to use their preferred learning style

To present another perspective on, or dimension to, the topic

  

Reflection

To provide opportunities for students to think about their learning — how they learnt, what they learnt and why?

To identify changes in skills, knowledge and values

To draw conclusions and make connections between ideas

  

Action

To identify what students have learnt and the implications for personal actions

To enable students to make choices and apply their ideas

To enable students to relate their learning to real-life situations

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When a person picks up an inquiry book can they?

- Tell.see/understand what the inquiry is about?
- See a shift in student's thinking?
- See interaction between people's thinking?

Student - Student
Teacher - Student - Teacher
Student - Teacher

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Professional Development 27.07.2015

Core Education: Developing the Learner Profile 

3 Reactions

- Embrace change - be flexible and adaptable to situations, environments and students
- Students want to be measured (Students are bottom lined orientated)
- Allow students to be reflective about things that happen in their every day life - we don't need to abandon formal learning but we can get this working in a much more functional way.

2 Implications

- You need to have a sound understanding of the content students are consuming, the technology and what skills we are trying to teach students (creativity, curiosity etc...)
- Understand students funds of knowledge - What do they do at home that they can bring into the classroom?

1 challenge

- The equity of providing students and whanau options in their learning + school and home collaboration.


Learner Profile (Design Principals)

Student Groupings 
'The way we group to maximize learning'

Assessment and Reporting
'...evolves to show student learning and progress'

Learning Culture
'Gauge of learning'

Curriculum Offerings
'Relevant and rich selection from NZC'

Nature of Learning Experiences
'Accessible opportunities for enrichment of all'

Pastoral Care Policy 
'Interactions that affirm expectations, empathy, boundaries'

Collaboration

A great article on Collaboration and how rare it truly is in our classrooms.

Examples:

Connecting

- Sharing resources with colleagues

- Using the Facebook group (NZ Teachers) to find and share resources 

Cooperation

- Engaging in #edchatnz discussion on twitter every second Thursday

- Planning in a team for the term 

Collaboration

- Being part of an ongoing PLG that supports, plans and communicates regularly

- Working in an MLE - planning together, teaching together, utilising strengths and supporting one another 

Learning Spaces

How can you redesign your current space?

How are you using your current teaching and learning space to the best advantage?

- Walls

- Windows

- Furniture

- Outdoor area

- Corridor 

How can you utilise your space further?

Top 10 priorities for the next few weeks

1. Collaborative Planning
2. Redesigning our spaces to utilise what we have
3. Try station teaching with a colleague (1st)
4. Collaboration for students within their inquiry
5. Trying out various teaching styles to see what works for teacher and students
6. Planning to include learner profile student outcomes - putting students into the planning deliberately
7. Talk to students about our 'space' and 'learning styles' and get their input
8. Show students the collaboration - the 'Above and Beyond' video
9. Use windows in classroom
10. Explore the idea of connecting  - connect out on Twitter

#DojochatANZ

Last night I took part in the #DojochatANZ

The chat was all about Creativity! This is something I have been putting a lot of thought into since reading 'Creativity Inc' by Ed Cutmall and attending various workshops at ULearn last year that were driving home the importance of creativity in the classroom. 

I am a huge fan of Class Dojo and have been a Class Dojo mentor for the last year. I use it daily with my students and like finding new ways to make it fun and teach my students to be accountable for their actions.

I am looking forward to taking part in future #DojochatANZ chats. They are currently every Wednesday @ 8:30pm NZDT 

Tweets from the chat:

If you want to learn more about Class Dojo click here.



“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people” 
                                                             – Leo Burnett

Stephen Graham Teaching in Room 1

Today I was lucky enough to observe Stephen Graham take my class for a writing lesson. He was teaching the students to write a piece of Expository writing.

What I loved about observing him was his high energy and the way he was with the students. No idea was a bad idea and it was obvious no one felt threatened by his in your face approach. He used lots of repetition and technical writing terms to drum into the children the importance of what they were learning. By the end of the session the students had such a sound understanding of the 'Literacy' they were learning and could all explain what a connective was, what an expository text was trying to achieve and how to put together an argument topic sentence.

I really enjoyed when he asked the students what their favourite sentence was and why. My students had to think seriously about their writing and reflect on its effectiveness. 

Today's session really helped to solidify my takeaway notes from yesterday's session.

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

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! 

Connected Educators Month - Rotorua Pass the Blog

Connected Educators Month runs for the month of October.

Each school day of October a different class will post. There is a set list of questions and small list of protocols to show our digital citizenship. The hope is to have classrooms from all across the education sector participating. 

If your are a teacher in Rotorua please sign up 

P3's Blog Post:

Estelle
Tegan
Josh

1. What school do you go to?

Mokoia Intermediate

2. What is something special about your school?

Mokoia has an amazing fitness programme that we do every morning before we start our learning. We are very privileged to be able to try out lots of different sports and represent our school at a range of events and levels. I think our fitness programme makes us stand out athletes. 

The opportunities Mokoia gives us for everything. Sport going to Aims, camp leaders, house captains, house competitions and lots of learning opportunities like Rotomaths and news team. I think our school gets along really well together because we are quite a small school.

The sports opportunities are awesome. We can try out different sports and go to lots of events. We are such a small school that all the teachers and students know us really well. Even when you do something small you get noticed for it and I like that. 

3. What is something you have enjoyed learning about this year?

I have really enjoyed speeches. It is a different type of learning from normal and I got to choose my own topic. I chose to research and talk about ivory smuggling. I discovered that the items they make from ivory were beautiful but the slaughter of elephants is a tragedy. 

I really enjoyed learning about my exploration topic. I chose to research about hostile environments. I chose Caracus, Venezuela. I liked this topic because I like researching and planning out my budget to visit there. I used IMovie to present my work and I had never used that app before. 

I liked Genius Hour. Genius hour =  we chose a topic we would do for a term. It was our passion time to create something we were interested in. I chose to make a Hunger Games P.E. game. I got to work in a group with my friends and I enjoyed all the research and effort we put into this. 

4. What do you like most about living in Rotorua?

I love that it is a small town and I know a lot of people from different schools. I like being able to go and swim at the lake and mountain bike in the forest. I am glad I don't live in a place like Auckland because it is so busy all the time and too much traffic. 

I love living on a farm. I like spring the best because we get to have pet calves and lambs. I like using my farm to train for cross country. I really like the forest as well.

Swim training with Hank. This is all I really do because I pretty much do squad training every day.

5. What do you most like doing on your computer/ipad/devices at your school to help your learning?

I like Minecraft. It is helped me with understand co-ordinates, symmetry, maths (area/volume/perimeter), visualising, explain and design new modern structures and being creative. I love using quiz up in reading time it has helped me to read faster and my general knowledge on a range of subjects.

I like Minecraft. It helps me to be design buildings and lots of other cool stuff. I also like Quiz Up because I like to challenge other people. 

I like Kodu Game Lab. I like all the programming and seeing how things work inside the programme. 

6. Is there anything else you'd like to share about yourself, your learning, your class or your school?

In our school we all work well together, we have a strong bond and that reflects in our learning because we all help and support each other. This is not something that just happens in the classroom is happens during trips, camps and out in the playground. I am proud to be a house captain and to be able to take on lots of leadership roles.

I love our class, we all have lots of fun together. We have had lots of good times in our class. My favourite subject is reading and writing. My ambition is to be triathlete and a teacher. I am excited to go and compete in AIMs games this week on Sunday for cross country and next week for the multisport. 

We have got the coolest, amazing, fun teacher. I want to be a swimmer when I am older and I want to break world records. I really like to play with a ball at break times with people in my class. 

Minecraft Chat

Monday 2pm 

September 15th 

Question 1 - How does Minecraft improve/help your learning?

Question 2 - What is the best structure you have built on Minecraft?

Question 3 - How do you use Minecraft in your classroom?

Question 4 - What other ways do you think you could use Minecraft to help your learning?

Question 5 - Do you have a current Minecraft project you are working on? Tell us about it

Question 6 - How does your whanau feel about you using Minecraft in schools?

Question 7 - What device do you use Minecraft on?

Question 8 - What other games could you use in school to help your learning?

Use the Hashtag - #mckcnz

The original hastage was #minecraftkidschatnz but was changed to prevent spamming 

30 Day Book Challenge

30 Day Book Challenge

The challenge is for students to get excited about reading. I want student's to read a new book for the next thirty days that they haven't and may haven't come across. It is important for them to realize not to judge a book by its cover but by its themes/content. I encourage all of them to give their book ago, they picked it for a reason (based on descriptors).

Organisation/Set Up

- Look around at the words that describe each book

- Think about three that would interest you to read

- No one unwraps a book until the end 

- We will random name generator.

- When your name comes up, you can get up and choose a book

- Tell the class the three words used to describe your book and keep it face up on your desk

- Just because you have this book doesn't mean you are safe

- The next person who gets up can take a book and then they can choose to keep the book or steal another

- You only get one steal at the time of your turn 

- The person who goes first gets to steal at the end

- Before opening you are allowed 30 seconds to try and swap with someone if you are not happy – however swapping is not compulsory. Stealing is!

- Once everyone has a book we will open them up one by one. 

Where to next:

- Students to blog about their book

- They can take the book home and read it during silent reading time after each break for 5mins

- Added into homework rotation 

- They can swap their books once they have completed it 

P3 Reflections:

Ronan

P3's teacher contacted the National Library and asked for a load of new books. She spent time wrapping them up and writing key words on them. We returned from the weekend to a surprise, a whole lot of books were wrapped up and we got to pick our own book based on three key words. It was great we didn't judge a book by its cover. I got a book called 'Call of the Rhino'. I think it's great and I can't wait to do it again. 

Estelle

Today we had a session in the second block where did a form of  'Secret Santa' with books. 

Miss Downard wrapped up 23 books, one for each student, making the cover non-visible only writing key words from the story on the wrapping so we couldn't judge it by its cover and used the random name picker to let us pick from the books one at a time, However you were also allowed to steal, but only once because you either steal or pick from the piles of books in the center of the mat. 

Once it got to me I chose a book with the words "Dystopian, save the future and girl main lead" but this book got stolen off me by Maya so I had to pick a new book of the floor. I ended up with 'Perks of being a wallflower' and so far I am enjoying it. 

Alexa

#kidsbookchat

Today my top reading group engaged in a literary discussion with other classrooms around New Zealand. 

They were having to think critically about texts that have read and engage in discussions with peers and teachers from around New Zealand.

It was awesome to hear them getting excited with the interactions and creating a list of books they now want to read on the board.

Here are the questions below along with a storify of the chat and some pictures.

When : Monday 1 September

Time: 10am

Hashtag: #kidsbookchat

Here are the questions we are going to ask.....

Q1: What is the best book you have read this year?

Q2: Who is your favourite author at the moment?

Q3: What is your favourite genre?

Q4: Do you have a class read aloud/ novel at the moment? What is it?

Q5: What is your favourite spot for reading?

Q6: How do you find books to read?

Q7: Recommend some titles you'd like to share.

Thanks to the P3 tweeters! 

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.

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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…

Genius Hour Presentations

Our term of 'Genius Hour' is coming to a close. We have had varied results. Some student's were very successful in their endeavours while others chose to waste their time and didn't achieve the results they had hoped for. They spent Monday presenting their final projects to the class. They explained what their genius hour was, why the chose it and the process they took to get to their final result.

Student's were easily able to identify those who had had success and who had chosen an interesting topic. Student's that had wasted their time communicated that they would like to do 'Genius Hour' again because now they have seen a successful end result.

The whole topic was facilitated through reflection sheets, conferencing and planning sheets. I can see the areas that need improvement if I was to attempt to do this again.

It was a great way to start the year to see what they were passionate about, I was able to see their inquiry skills and where we need to go next. I was able to see who could work independently and manage their time. I was also able to see who works well in a group and who works better on their own. Although the final projects were not all amazing the process the students took was very successful. Most students identified 'Genius Hour' as their favourite subject and were always asking for it as a reward for finishing their work early.


Genius Hour Projects:

Bradley & Ash - Research about characters in 'Assassins Creed IV'
Tanner, Kyle, Michael, Bryce & Hunter - Create a working theme park in Minecraft
Ronan & Cameron - Design & create an electric rubber (initially - create a storage compartment for a jeep)
Casey & Marnie - Invent two new chocolate flavours
Maya - Design a Harry Potter app
Rawinia - Deisgn and create a jewellry box
Senna & Cassidy - Create a blog about harp seals
Tegan - Create a fitness board game
Devon - Create a blog about caring for rabbits
Daniel & Thomas - Reupholster classroom chairs/redesign classroom furniture
Anthony, Cole & Matthew - Create working fast food restaurants on Minecraft
Shaurye - Showing the class how to create a book on Toondoo
Tanner, Sacha, Alexa & Estelle - Creating a P.E. game based on the Hunger Games, designing costumes for the arrival and a reaping ceremony.

If I was to do Genius Hour again I would have a stricter focus and facilitate certain students more, e.g. - you need to fill a need by creating a product, or you need to design a prototype, test it, reflect and then present a final product. 

P3 have been discussing the idea of Genius Hour being all to do with our class YouTube channel. They want to make episodes and videos that are educational and entertaining (e.g. Kid President) on things they are passionate about. 

Depending on the time table for next term will determine whether or not this is a feasible activity. 

Netball Noho

Last Friday night Whaea Liana, Whaea Te Aorha and myself spent the night at school...with 36 girls!
We decided what better way to build tikanga and whakawhanaungatanga than have a noho.

We began the night by having the girls set up their beds (in the staffroom) and sort out their kai for our pot luck dinner. Then we set up the hall and began the night with two guest speakers, 1 spoke about commitment and all the qualities needed to be a netballer and the other spoke about respect on the court from the perspective of an umpire.

Next we played team building games, did some jump jam and the girls in their teams presented a little skit. We all sat down together and had a lovely dinner with dessert dropped off by a very lovely mama. To the end the night we did our clean up and watched 'The Gabby Douglas Story', this is an amazing movie about an African American gymnasts character, determination and how she overcame all the obstacles that could have stopped her from becoming an Olympian.

The next day we woke up around 7am and the girls went for an hour run. We sat down together and had breakfast before commencing our big clean up. We went through the sporting code of conduct and had a round of sheriff - each girls gets a chocolate bar, the teachers have an opportunity to fine anyone for anything they did while at the noho, e.g. - snoring. Then the student's without a chocolate have an opportunity to fine and finally everyone who is fined goes around and defends their case. This was a very cool way to end our noho.

Overall it was a huge success. There was a very relaxed vibe and the girls definitely bonded with each other and us as their coaches.

P3 Book Club

P3 are avid readers!
They love to read and are always on the lookout for new and exciting books.
Children's literature is one of my biggest passions. I love getting my students excited about reading.
That is exactly what book club has done for my class. I carefully selected 5 books at varied levels and on varied topics to get their interest. I made sure to choose mostly books that are in a series to encourage student's to continue to read after book club is complete. The bonus was also that two of the books are going to be coming out at theatres this year!

We do book club twice a week. Our reading programme consists of  2 sessions of our novel study, 2 sessions of book club and 2 sessions of guided reading based on their ability (grouped). This way I am covering independent, guided and intensive comprehension in my reading programme.

The books I chose were:

- Divergent
- The Maze Runner
- The Recruit
- Holes
- Gone

I also had audio books for Divergent, Maze Runner, The Recruit and Holes. This was a huge hook in for most students, who were begging to listen to their books while they completed other work.
To counter this I made sure that students were also reading along to the books on their computer at the same time. We use an app called 'Readium', student's are able to load the books into their readium library and read at their own pace.

I created a clear sleeve for students with set tasks in each sleeve.
Students worked through these tasks in order:

1. Create a title page for your book
2. Answer the 'At Beginning' reading questions for your novel
3. Visualizing concept poster
4. Asking questions concept poster
5. Predicting concept poster
6. Main character poster - specific physical and personality traits
7. Tagxedo on their blogs about the books
8. Participate in a literacy circle with your book club peers

* Divergent book club - google maps activity to map out locations from the book.

These are the activities we have done so far, I am constantly trying to spice things up and adding new activities to their folders.

Students have already started recommending books for next term. I am so pleased with the results of our book club. Please recommend any other amazing books in the comments below!

Recommended book club books for term 2:

-      Harry Potter

-      Tomorrow When the War Began

-      The Seekers

-      The Hunger Games

-      The Host

-      The Rangers Apprentice

-      Enders Game

-      Inheritance Cycle (Eragon)

-      Roald Dahl Month (All Books)

-      The Book Thief

-      The absolutely true diary of a part time Indian

-      It’s kind of a funny story

-      I am number four

-      The city of ember