Term Two!

Welcome back to Term Two! This term promises to be as busy as usual but hopefully will feel much more settled without all the short weeks.
I am introducing the students to a more flexible learning programme this term which should give them more opportunities to learn at their own level and to make choices regarding when they do things and how they do them. However, this doesn't mean that class becomes a free for all and kids just do what they want! There will be set learning intentions and set amount of times for each subject, but students will be able to choose how their day looks and what part of the learning is right from them. I'll be introducing this new way of doing things to the students tomorrow and over the next week. Hopefully they'll come home and share it with you. I'll be looking for feedback from the students over the next couple of weeks. Feel free to ask any questions or come and see me for more information. Over the next few weeks I'll share some links to research that backs up this approach.

This term we continue to investigate refugees. We start by looking at this really interesting poem that shows two points of view and should provoke some great discussion.


Our writing unit is based around learning about writing persuasive texts and our maths will be focusing on aspects of fractions, decimals and percentages.

Tech this term will be running in two blocks - Thursday and Friday of Week Two and then Monday, Thursday, Friday of Week 3. More information about this will be shared with students this week. They will be involved in either robotics or enameling and jewelry making. Both have outside experts taking the groups which will be fantastic.

Have a great week.

A Real Life Refugee Comes to Visit!

Wow!
How lucky were we today with our visit from Sam, a refugee who came to New Zealand from Cambodia?!
Sam shared his story of being a week old and spending 31 days being carried by his parents through the forests from Cambodia to Thailand and then spending 7 years living in a refugee camp before getting his name pulled out of a ballot and being sent to NZ on his own, where he lived for 5 years without hearing from his family or even knowing if they were alive!
The children listened intently and then asked some fabulous questions, not only about Sam's life, but about ways we could help refugees.  I'm sure they'll have lots to share with you tonight.
The children are currently finding out more information about refugees and next term we will look into how a small group of Year 7 and 8 children might be able to help make a difference for refugees in NZ.  It's a fabulous opportunity for us to develop empathy, and understanding for those that are different to us and it links nicely with choosing kind and not being judgmental.


Here's a couple of short videos from this morning.....

End of Term 1

We've made it to the last week of what has been an unusually mucky term. I, for one, am looking forward to Term 2 and a far more settled term!
This week kicks off with athletics - weather dependent - postponement is Tuesday. We have been having regular athletic skills practice with Olly from the Run, Jump, Throw programme, so we should be good to go.
The rest of the week will consist of continued learning around the Commonwealth Games. We will be using a maths lens to look into the numbers around the Games and then using this to investigate our wonderings around the impact the Games is having on the Gold Coast.
As you know, we have been reading Refugee this term and we are nearly finished this amazing book. We are incredibly lucky because we will be having a visit from a real-life refugee called Sam, who has made New Zealand his home. He is coming to talk to the class on Thursday morning. A big thanks to Kim Watson for organising this visit for us. I will post about the visit afterwards.
Lastly, a reminder, that we love getting comments on our blogs, so please keep them coming.
Have a great week.

 

Learning with the Commonwealth Games

Today we starting looking at the Commonwealth Games - what we already knew and what we wanted to know. This lead to some fairly low level - closed type questions from the kids. For example - When did they start? How many countries are in it?
I introduced the Social Sciences Level 4 Curriculum to the kids and explained that we needed to think much harder and much wider about what we wanted to know if we were going to meet the demands of the Curriculum.
After some discussion around society, people, cultures and communities, etc we came up with something that was worthy of Year 7 and 8 learning....

What -

We are learning about the impact the commonwealth games might have on the Gold Coast.

Why -

So that we can learn to think carefully and understand about issues in society and how they impact on all of us.

From here students will move into small groups and take this big idea and turn it into a smaller idea that they choose. They will be encouraged to think about things like - sustainability, waste, organisation, finances, impact on people, environment, etc.

It would be great if you could have some conversations at home around the impact - both positive and negative - as this will help students decide what aspect they wish to investigate.

Week 9 Update

It's all about the Jubilee this week as we have 4 days until kick off. Students this week will be involved in planning, organising and show-casing some of the learning that goes on in the class and some of the opportunities that weren't around 25 years ago. We will be showing our chicken journey and things like Toko TV, the drone, the 3D printer, the robot and the science trolley. During the Jubilee, those children that are helping, will be explaining and demonstrating how these things work.

Thank you to those parents and grandparents that commented on their child's learning on their blogs. It really helps the children lift the level of work output when they know that others will see and comment on it.

Reminders

* If your child is participating in the Weet-bix Triathlon on Wednesday please make sure the office is aware that they will be absent from school.

* Run, Jump, Throw skills session on Wednesday

* Those going to the EPro8 Challenge will have notices sent home today that need to be returned asap.

* School is closed next Tuesday after Easter.

Check Out Your Child's Blog

We have finally found time to get some of the awesome learning we have been doing, up on our blogs. Students should have posts and videos about their Waitangi Day learning,  a presentation about Averages - Mean, Mode and Median, a piece of art related to our book Refugee, and a metaphorical poem about themselves. Despite all the short weeks and interruptions they have been working really hard and I am proud of them all. It would be great if you could find time to comment on some of the learning your child shares on their blog. 

Refugee art - dictator facts 

Matthew's Metaphor Poem 

Metaphor Poetry

We have been learning about literal and figurative language in class recently. Students have looked at different types of figurative language and have discussed when and how they might be used.
Then we focused on metaphors in more detail. We have written a poem about us as a class, using metaphors to describe us.
Students are now writing their individual metaphor poem - so look out for that on their blogs.

Room 6 is a Toyota Hilux racing through tough terrain,
flicking mud at other cars with all 31 kids in the cab and
Mrs Hancock driving.

Room 6 is a pine tree with each branch representing
a person climbing through the challenges.

Room 6 is the local pub bringing everyone together
and SHOUTING free drinks.

Room 6 is a lamb and beef sandwich with Watties
tomato sauce, NO 50% less sugar and sausage and
bread to top it off, NO cheese.

Room 6 is a Hunting and Fishing singlet and
shorts with red band gumboots and an ammo belt to TIE
us all together.

Week 8

Wow would you believe we actually have a full week of school this week! It's been such a mucky term, that it will be a novelty to have a uninterrupted week of learning!

Last week during math we began a unit on Averages - mean, mode and median. This week I will introduce 'range' as the last of the 4 types of averages. Students will be demonstrating their learning by completing a short presentation and sharing it on their blogs.

Last week we also finally finished our Waitangi presentations. These will be uploaded to blogs this week as well. The presentations weren't as high a quality as I would have liked but the learning the children gained about the Treaty and Waitangi is evident, so that is the main thing.

I was really proud of all the Year 7 and 8 students on Friday during our school triathlon. They all completed their own triathlon and then went and helped the Year 1 and 2 students to complete theirs. They were true Toko Learning Stars with their participation, their attitudes and their willingness to help.  So well done to everyone!

    

This week we get further into our poetry unit and start putting those figurative language features that we learned about last week, into practice. We finish off averages in math and start working through what our class will present on the Jubilee open evening in our class.

Have a great week.

Week 7 Update

Hopefully everyone had a nice long weekend and enjoyed Taranaki Anniversary. This week is of course another short week - seems to be the theme this term!

In math we will be learning about averages - mean, median and mode. We will be doing this through our chickens. We will be weighing them and then using the weights to work out the different types of averages. A way to help at home would be to ask your child to explain the three types of averages, that will help check their understanding and make it clearer in their minds. There is a video that has been shared to all the students that explains averages. 

In writing we are beginning a figurative language unit based around the poetry of Iain Sharp. We will be unpacking and learning about the different types of figurative language and then writing poems about ourselves based on them. 

Both the figurative poems and an explanation of averages should be up on student blogs by the end of the week, or early next week. 

Reminders

* Turnbull Cup - Wednesday night for those involved 

*  Run, Jump, Throw - Wednesday 

*  Basketball Trials - lunchtime Wednesday and Thursday 

* Triathlon - Friday 16th 

* Union Meeting for teachers is on Wednesday afternoon - parents are asked to pick up children at 1.30pm. If you are not able to pick up your child earlier there will be some staff here to look after them. 

Week 6 Update

It's a short week in the class this week, with Swimming Sports on Monday and Teacher Only Day on Friday.  But during the 3 middle days we will be investigating how our Maths Hub works in greater detail and learning more about how our learning game - Prodigy - works. In reading we continue to get deeper into our class book, Refugee, and in writing we begin a short study on one of the three dictators that impact on the story. We are also still reading a chapter a day of Make Your Bed, which we continue to link to our Learning Stars and our class treaty.
Our Waitangi drama's are coming along and should be shared next week. The prop making was taking over from the script writing, so we have put prop making on the back burner until groups actually have characters and a script!
Our chickens continue to be popular, in fact the class think we should have several 'snuggle time' sessions timetabled into the day. We are still waiting for our leg bands to arrive so the real learning can begin.

Reminders 

Swimming sports is on Monday for all Year 4-8 students. Toko tops, black shorts need to be worn and  togs, towels, water and food need to be packed.
Town pool boat safety on Wednesday again. We are back at school by 1pm, so students that want hot lunch can still have one.
Friday is Teacher Only Day and the following Monday is Taranaki Anniversary.