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! 

Teach Meet NZ Presentation

Teach Meet NZ for Connected Educators Month

I was asked by the lovely Sonya (@vanschaijik) to be a presenter for Teach Meet NZ in October because it is connected educators month.

I was a little apprehensive at first because I had never watched or been part of an online presentation and didn't know what to expect. I decided that I had to just jump in head first and give it a go.

What's the big deal about Minecraft?

Teach meet NZ presentation from kasseylee11

Sonya was lovely and helpful during the practice sessions and she taught me a few tips and tricks with using Google Hangout. Such as using the toolbox to add your twitter feed, how to screenshare and how to use the Q & A.

In the practice sessions my presentation was timed at 6 minutes (double the allowed time). I had to spend some time rearranging my speech to still be able to say what I wanted to say in way less words. This was great for keeping my thinking succinct.

On the day I was ridiculously nervous. I practiced my presentation at least ten times to make sure my time wasn't over three minutes. I had managed to get it down to 2:58. That right there is success!

I loved being a part of #CENZ14 and the Teach Meet NZ crew. All the educators who presented were fantastic!

As I was listening to these great educators I was tweeting out all the great content that was being presented.

TeachMeetNZ was an awesome way to network with other educators. At Ulearn I was able to meet some of the other presenters and discuss our experiences. 

Overall my experience was fantastic. I recommend it to everyone and anyone who gets the opportunity to participate in one of these, even if it is just watching the broadcast.

Transcript for my presentation:

What is the big deal about Minecraft?

It is incredibly simplistic

Appropriate for all ages

There is no goal or end, basically the game is a giant sandbox encouraging construction, creativity, exploration and survival

Minecraft is a basically an online version of Lego and it is a fantastic learning tool

So why do kids love it?

And the bigger question is why should teachers?

Minecraft covers the key competencies in the New Zealand Curriculum

Thinking – Students have to think constantly about what they are building and what their next steps are

Using Language, Symbols and Texts – Students are using rich language to discuss their projects. They are using words like mods, spawning, griefing and crafting to communicate with their peers

 Managing self – students set their own time frames alongside setting their own agenda and goals and they manage themselves to ensure they meet them

Relating to others – Teamwork and collaboration happens within the game and outside the game to support the learning

Participating and contributing – Students participate and contribute to the Minecraft community when they build amazing creations and share them with their peers

The simplistic graphics allow anything to be possible. They can build on a small scale such as building their dream classroom or on a large scale replicating an Ancient Egyptian city.

They dream it up and then they build it

 Students work together to create complex and elaborate structures. Often this will involve a planning process where a committee of students get together to develop a plan. While in the planning process students engage in rich discussion to bring their vision to life.

Minecraft experts step forward and become the leaders in the classroom

The game has built in social structures with LAN worlds and a chat function.

Players have access to Wikis, blogs, websites and message boards. They share tips and upload elaborate videos detailing the amazing things they've learned to build.

 Students are constantly reflecting on their creations.

They are willing to take risks, make mistakes, fix them and continue this forward thinking process.

It is important for students to be able to identify the learning when using Minecraft

I encourage my students to use their blogs to reflect on projects and share their designs

These are just some of the values that Minecraft can teach students

Minecraft is fun – Students don’t even realize all the values and skills they are learning. However they are engaged and contributing positively to the learning and classroom environment.

The following are all successful ways I have been able to use Minecraft in the classroom.

My most successful Minecraft project has been the recent fictional setting of Coconut Cove from the Novel Hoot. Students created maps, models and worked in teams to create a detailed replica of this city to scale using the setting description from the text.

I encourage you to allow your students to be the experts. Open the door and allow students to co-construct the path alongside you.

Minecraft and gaming is taking over the classroom. So come and join the movement!