Maths Inquiry Focus Term 2

 

Room 10 was a hive of collaborative learning today! Students tackled math problems in groups, their voices buzzing with concentration and encouragement. Multiplication tables became their secret weapon, allowing them to whiz through problems involving familiar numbers. For trickier word problems, they switched gears to the reliable repeated addition strategy. The key was in the wording – students became detectives, searching for clues like "altogether" or "in total" to identify if repeated addition was the best approach. The supportive atmosphere meant no one was left behind. If someone stumbled, a classmate was there to offer a friendly reminder or share their own thought process. By the end of the lesson, not only had they conquered the math problems, but their teamwork and communication skills were outstanding!

 

Teacher Only Day.

The day began with a captivating Panmure Bridge School Kapa Haka Group performance. Then to the Tamaki College Samoan cultural dance group, enriching the atmosphere with vibrant traditions.

Teachers then gathered in various workshops following the performances to learn from their peers, sharing best practices and innovative teaching methods. The collaborative spirit and cultural celebrations made it a wonderful and enriching experience for all involved.

My first workshop was Animating Poetry. I see how incredibly time-consuming animating can be due to the meticulous process of creating each frame. Hundreds of thousands of images are produced for just a few seconds of animation. This detailed work requires patience, precision and fine-tuning to achieve smooth and lifelike motion​. My animation is of a tui flying into my Google slides and into the sky of the image of a tranquil garden.

TOD Panmure Bridge School

The teacher-only day was a great event highlighted by an inspiring keynote speaker, Dr Craig Hansen who shared insights on artificial intelligence, illustrating how innovative AI applications can transform educational practices. His presentation was filled with mind-blowing information, showcasing how AI can personalize learning experiences, enhance student engagement, and streamline administrative tasks. His expertise and vision for AI's role in education inspired the audience to possibly integrate these technologies into their teaching methods.

Maths Inquiry Focus Term 1 2024

Inquiry into Maths 2024

How do I engage and support our less confident learners to show their understanding of word problems?

 

Team 4 Art Rotations.

Team 4 had so much fun during our Art Works Rotations. We made music beats, dances, photography and painting. In Ms Tumahai's class, we go to paint an emoji of how we were feeling at the time. 

Inquiry Action Plan

 

Fake food budget photoshop

 Task Description: today in Cybersmart we learned how to use Remove.bg to create our own photoshopped images. Here is a fake image of me drinking a coffee at the Coffee Club. 

About me in Google Draw

                              

This week, during our cyber smart lesson with Mr Goodwin,  Room 11 learnt how to use google draw. We learnt to resize images, use different shapes and fonts, and use google search to find images that relate to who we are.

   

Google Draw

 As part of our classroom cyber smart learning, Mr Goodwin taught us all how to use google draw by drawing this fishbowl using the shapes and the curser line to draw rocks and seaweed. 

Mask on Mask off

 

In a mask on World, the students are finding it difficult to hear and understand instructions.  It's becoming quite exhausting trying to breathe through the mask, give the instruction the first time only to have to repeat it. My students can't see my facial reactions, so they can't see whether or not I'm happy or sad. 

We can't sing unless we are outside and we all know our kids loved to sing. 

I'm done reminding the students over and over throughout the day  " Nose to Chin" so now I say " If your mask has slipped down passed your nose then pop it back up" and this seems to be working better. 

There are so many complications in our mask on World, but our safety is important and for the time being, we must continue to do what we know and have been told.

In a mask off World, I want to see our kids entertain us again with their singing and performing, our kids shine in this area. I can't wait for this to happen. If we are happy and safe then we are learning. In small groups. We are able to be closer to each other. 

Success!!!

My inquiry question: how can an integrated approach to reading and writing impact learners decoding and reading fluency?

The students have done really well in the last 2 terms. They have been successful in learning strategies to help work out unknown words. Learning the correct sounds of alphabet letters was vital. When the students learned the sounds and correct letter names, we continued with blending sounds by repetition before reading. The success of this is the reading support from Helen and the Quick 60 program run by Irene. Having a process and daily routines for reading and writing preparation helped the student focus and be ready.  Giving students the tools and resources continue to help and encourage them to keep learning after they have read with the teacher. Sharisse and I made our own EEs and resources that would help the students continue practising what they had been learning from the morning's lesson.

The video shows just a few of the activities the students can do after reading. They don't do EEs at this stage. The video shows 2 students reading:  the day's focus was to fix our own mistakes when reading doesn't sound right or look right. 

My site page has Quizlet, which is a word program the students have access to from Helen. Hands-on activity which has a link to the activity they can do after reading with the teacher and Reading eggs. The Essential word list is also featured on the site as a reminder to learn these words at school and at home. 

I'm absolutely proud of all the students. I have worked them extremely hard in the last 2 terms and they continue to make small steps with every reading session. 

From one of the students:  " We're reading blue books, I've never read the blue books before I'm super excited!"