Thursday 9 May 2019

Term 2 underway

 Raranga MatihikoExcitement in my class is growing as we anticipate our class participation in Raranga Matihiko. As part of the Ministry of Education Digital Technologies for All Equity fund, the programme delivers a range of innovative technologies, as well as allowing our class to access the  Waitangi Treaty grounds and Museum, as part of our students' learning about their local history and heritage. Click on the link , if you wish to read more about Raranga Matihiko

Our onsite learning will be linked to classroom learning about looking after God's creation and Sustainability. 
We have been learning about plants, and the growth of plants. Our science learning has included growing seeds and monitoring growth; observing water movement in plants; and investigating the properties of plant materials such as wood, paper and cotton.
This term we have been learning more about how different plants are used for different purposes. Our key inquiry questions are: 
Why are plants important to people? How do different groups of people use plants in different ways

Classroom learning site

The students are gaining confidence and competence, with their use of the Kea Class Site to direct their learning. In Literacy learning most students are using the site to guide their independent learning and sensible choices about this each day. They are completing a range of reading, writing, spelling and vocabulary tasks and activities linked to shared and group instructional reading. I have just begun to introduce external links to video clips and other learning sites. This seems to be working well. The Make a Robot  site worked well. The students were able to save their work as a png which could then be inserted as an image on a google doc. Some we will be able to share on our class blog.
Because of this confidence and competence, I have now set up the Maths page with four areas of learning for students to choose from during independent Maths learning, when I am working with groups. I have included a Maths Eyes section, a Weekly Maths Challenge, a section linked to book work for practice and a direct link to e-Ako Maths. 

Change to classroom learning groups

This term I have changed the structure of my instructional groups for literacy. In Term One I had a target group that I met with every day and four other larger mixed ability groups that included the target students. This term I have two lower level mixed ability groups - one with five boys, and the other with five girls. I work with these two groups each day. I have three other mixed ability instructional groups that I work with twice a week. 
Because there is a boy's target group and a girl's target group, I have been able to make different choices of texts and tasks to engage the different students. The boys enjoy vocab games to support reading, that have pace and challenge. They enjoy having an element of competition to some activities. The girls group enjoy writing more, and are keen to take their time with tasks. I am noticing that the levels of engagement of individual students in both groups is higher than last term. Their verbal feedback on the change has been positive. The inclusion of some fringe lower level learners has provided better scope for discussion, and they are enjoying their "expert" roles. 


1 comment:

  1. Our team in Waitangi are looking forward to having you and your class as part of the Raranga Matihiko Programme. Keen to hear your reflections once you have participated in the programme. Ngā mihi, Tara

    ReplyDelete