Showing posts with label collaborating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collaborating. Show all posts

Friday 21 October 2016

Best Digital Resource – Finalist: Nicola Stevenson, Tautoru Blog

We got an award that said we are in the finals of a competition for the best digital resource by Interface. This is because we have an awesome blog. We got excited when we heard about it [Nic especially]. We have had so much fun making the blog.   

By Eva




From the newsletter: 

WE ARE SO PROUD OF NICOLA - CONGRATULATIONS!!
INTERFACE is a magazine for ICT educators and our committed Nicola is a finalist in the ‘Best Digital Resource’ category. 

"....The standard of entries was very high and you have done extremely well to reach the final five. You should be very proud of this and the work you are doing.

We’ll be officially announcing the finalists on our website this morning (https://interfaceonline.co.nz/meet-this-years-finalists-and-vote-for-your-winners/) and in the November issue of the magazine, which comes out early next week. I’ve also attached a ‘Finalist’ logo that you are welcome to use. INTERFACE readers will be invited to review the finalists’ entries and vote for their favourite (and, yes, you can vote for yourself). These results will go towards determining the final placings.....

(From the editor)

SO PLEASE CHECK IT OUT, SUPPORT NIC and VOTE!!!!

Thursday 20 October 2016

Which Pizza will rise the most?

Shona and Susie's base groups have been learning and wondering about raising agents. We found out that raising agents make food rise. The four raising agents we have been talking about are eggs, yeast, baking powder and baking soda.


Today we experimented which pizza base would rise the most. We made two pizzas one with baking powder and one without.

Mitchell thought the pizza base with baking powder would rise the most.

Leola was curious to see which pizza rises the most.

In a big bowl we had:
- flour
- 1 tablespoon oil
- baking powder
- salt
- water

In the little bowl we had:
- flour
- salt
- 1 cup oil
- water

Then we had to put them both in the oven. We had to flatten it down with a rolling pin, a spoon or our hands.

We think the pizza needs to bake for around 30 minutes. We think it will be ready to eat when it looks stiff, a little burnt, golden brown, tan, maybe black around the edges, a little hard, crunchy or smooth.

We took a vote...24 people thought the pizza with baking powder would rise the most. 2 people thought the one with no baking powder would rise higher.

Monday 10 October 2016

Travelling Tales



We have been working on a story project called "Travelling Tales". Some of our students helped to write the story. The story started in a school in Luxembourg then was passed on to a school in Taiwan/ Taipei. It arrived with us today. We're really excited about finding out how the story will end... watch this space!

Saturday 3 September 2016

Mystery Skype with Fergusson Intermediate



Today we did a Mystery Skype.We talked with a school.We were trying to guess which school it was by asking questions. It was an intermediate school. We figured out that it was in Upper Hutt. They figured out where was our school first. It was awesome!
Fergusson was really, really clever school.
By Leola and Charlotte

Today at school we did a Mystery Skype and we had to guess what the other school were.

We found out that they were in New Zealand.
They were in Upper Hutt.
They were an intermediate school. They are Year 7 and 8. 
They are in the south of the north island. 
We are learning how to ask good questions. We had to ask good questions to find out their location.
We figured that they were Fergusson Intermediate school. 
By Cruz and Will

Today we did a Mystery Skype with a school. At first we did not know who it was but then we did. You want us to tell you how we did it? We guessed where the other school was and asked them questions to find out.  It was Fergusson Intermediate School. We prepared questions beforehand. We had to answer yes or no and then we did a video chat it was fun.

By Greta and Georgina

When we did mystery skype we first asked if they were in New Zealand they said "yes".

They found out that we were Worser Bay first.
They were Fergusson Intermediate School.
By Matilda


We skyped a different school and guessed where their school was. The other school was in Upper Hutt guessed the name of our school first.  We guessed some of the things near their school.      
We liked skyping with their school in Upper Hutt. That  school was very clever. Their school was different to our school and we still liked skypeing them.
By Molly and Violeta


Today we made contact with another school and tried to guess which school they guessed ours we lost but it was still awesome! We looked on google maps and we were so close to winning but unfortunately a very clever kid looked at nicola’s name and looked 
it up and found out what school we were. It was really fun! I want to win next time.
By Nela and Phillipa

We had a Killer whale mystery skype today with Fergusson Intermediate School. We learnt that they live in Wellington, Upper Hutt. They are one of the two intermediate schools in Upper Hutt. The time went fast.We took turns asking yes or no questions. They were clever and searched Nicola's name and found Worser Bay school :( It was awesome.
By Dylan and Jupiter

Thursday 1 September 2016

Mystery Skype Questions

We are very excited to learn that we will be doing a Mystery Skype tomorrow. It is when you ask questions to find out where the other school is. Today we wrote some questions that we can use to guess the school. 

Some questions we thought of:


  1. Are you in NZ? Are you in Australia? Are you in London? Are you in Asia?
  2. Are you in Wellington? Are you in Hamilton? Are you in Auckland? Are you in Adelaide
  3. Is your school in the city?
  4. Is your school big?
  5. Is your school a primary school?
  6. What temperature do you normally live in?
  7. Does your school go to year 6, 8, 10, or 13?
  8. Do you have a uniform? What colors are your uniforms?
  9. Is it a private school?

By Pippa and Leola 



Thursday 11 August 2016

Bukit Timah School have responded to our questions...



This presentation was made by some students at Bukit Timah School. They have asked us some questions too...

Sunday 3 July 2016

Connections with Asia

A Note from Nicola...



















In August, I will be travelling to Singapore with 11 other educators across New Zealand. I have been connecting with teachers from Bukit Timah Primary School and our students have been starting to learn about Singapore. This week in Tautoru, we have started to write letters to the school and I will bring these over as part of a gift.

By the time our youngest students are in the workplace, the number of middle class in Asia will have increased to over 3 billion… 60% of the world’s middle class will be in Asia by 2030. Three of the four top economies in the world will be in Asia… 1 - China, 2 – USA, 3 – India, 4 – Japan.

New Zealand’s economy is increasingly reliant on our export markets in Asia. China is our biggest export market through our Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed in 2008. We also have FTAs with Korea and ASEAN countries with negotiations underway with India.

In New Zealand itself our demographics are changing. In the last 20 years our Asian population has grown from 3% to 12% and predicted to be 21% by 2038.

An audio visual from Asia New Zealand Foundation helps to explain the Asian Century and what it means for our students – Equipping your child to thrive in the Asian Century

To better prepare our children for their future we are currently exploring how we can develop students’ knowledge, skill and understanding of Asia and Asian cultures. 



Our students have generated some questions for Bukit Timah Primary School:


What kind of food do you eat?

Do you celebrate Christmas?

What do you celebrate?


Do you get awards for your good behaviour or your learning?


How many classes do you have? How many students do you have in each class?  

Where do you learn?

What do you learn?

Do you have a uniform?

What time do you start school?

What time do you end school?

What do you guys do for lunch? Where do you eat your lunch?

How many teachers do you have? Who are your teachers?


What languages do you speak?

Do you have technology? If so, what do you use?
What materials do you use for learning?

Why are some of your building shaped like flowers?

What kind of plants do you have?

What furniture do you have in your class? Do you have desks?


What games do you play?

What do you have in your view?

What type of playground do you have?

How big is your school? How many children are there at your school?

Do you go on field trips?

Do you have menus for lunch?

We have permission from Bukit Timah School to post this clip. 

Sunday 22 May 2016

If You Learned Here Book Published...


If You Learned Here book is ready to download... 

We are so proud of all of our students for their contributions to the project. It has been fantastic to connect with other schools across the globe. 

They’ve hosted the book in Google Drive for downloading. Here are some tips for getting the book...
  • Download it on a computer.
  • If downloading on the iPad, be patient! After tapping the Download Anyway button, there is quite a delay before “Open in iBooks” appears.
  • For viewing on a computer, use Readium (for Google Chrome) or Calibre.
  • If the ePub format proves challenging, try using the PDF instead.

Thursday 19 May 2016

Helping Circle: Student Voice

Today we asked our students about the "Helping Circle"... 

This is what they said...


Kate: In the helping circle, you help each other. I find it helpful because someone is helping me.


Edward: The helping circle is cool because everyone lets everyone in the circle (everyone is included).


Leola: The helping circle is very good. By helping each other we put more detail in our writing. I ended up writing lots more.


Dylan: The helping circle is good as it helps you to learn new stuff and listen to other people’s ideas.


Adam: The helping circle gives me ideas. For example, if we had to write about fishing, other people might know more about fishing and they can share their ideas. Today I asked Ollie if I could piggy back ideas for my writing. He said, “yes”.


Hunter T: The helping circle helps me to spell words. I added more adjectives today.


Griffin: In the helping circle, I know that I can get a pencil and start adding onto my story. I gave Ridley advice to make his writing shorter. (The task was to retell a story in 4 sentences).


Izar: The helping circle helps me to write and helps me to concentrate.


Charlotte: The helping circle helps me to know what I’ve done and I can give ideas to people who don’t have ideas.


Liam: In a helping circle, you get to connect with different people and it’s interesting to see what they do in their writing. We can make changes or cross stuff out.


Jupiter: The helping circle is a good activity for people. It is a good way to learn new words that people use.


Kirsty: The helping circle helps me to listen to other people’s descriptive words . I can use them in my writing. It helps me to spell the whole of the word. Raffy helped with spelling today. I could help her too. She showed me how to skip lines.


Rim: In the helping circle, some people give me inspiration. They tell me their stories. While we are reading, we are correcting.


Ridley: The helping circle helps us to spell words we get stuck on.

Monday 9 May 2016

If You Learned Here: Worser Bay/ Tautoru Pages

We have come to the end of our project, "If You Learned Here". We have put together the pages for the global ebook. Our students have worked really hard to contribute to the project and they should all be very proud of themselves. We're all looking forward to reading the book... Watch this space!



Find out more at: ifyoulearnedhere.weebly.com

The Helping Circle

We have been reading a poem called, "Our Town" by James K Baxter. This week we will be writing our own version of the poem. As a group, we brainstormed places that we could write about and then we went off to work on our own brainstorms for our poem about our chosen place. 



At the end of our writing session we worked in a sharing circle. We read our brainstorm to a buddy and they read theirs to us. This is a great opportunity to edit and improve what we have written.  




Students have been helping each other to brainstorm what they can see, smell, touch, feel and taste in their chosen place. 

This links with our school focus about being connected. 



This is the poem that our students have been reading:

OUR TOWN

By James K Baxter

The town was usual enough; it had

A creek, a bridge, a beach, a sky

Over it, and even a small tin church

I never went to. My brother, my cousins and I

Did what boys do- dozed in the hot

Schoolroom, made bows and arrows, dodged the mad

Boat builder, crept like rabbits through the black

Under-runners with a weak torch,

Burnt dry rushes, wrestled or swam


Doing nothing important.

Sunday 8 May 2016

Connecting and Collaborating

Our focus this term is collaborating. Our Year 3 students have been helping our younger students to use Google Apps for Education (GAFE). Our Year 1 and 2 students have their own folders in our shared account. We are writing for our project, "If you learned here." We had a great morning connecting with people that we don't usually work with.

Friday 29 April 2016

Rock Pools from Around the World: UPDATE


We have had a few people adding to our presentation, "Rock Pools Around the World" If you would like to contribute, please add some photos to the PRESENTATION: ROCK POOLS








Wednesday 13 April 2016

If You Learned Here. Theme 4: Our Reading

Theme 4 of "If You Learn Here" focuses on reading. We have made a short movie about books that we like to add to the project. We have also started book reviews (watch this space)...
Find out more: http://ifyoulearnedhere.weebly.com/

 





Thursday 31 March 2016

Rock Pools Around the World

As part of our inquiry, we are finding out about rock pools. We would like to compare and contrast the rock pools close to us with rock pools from around the world. Can you help? Do you have relatives and friends that live close to rock pools in other places. We would love to hear from them and find out more about what is out there. 

Thanks,

Tautoru Kids

You can add to this presentation: 

Thursday 17 March 2016

If You Learned Here: Our Classroom Trailers


We have been making movie trailers for our global project, "If you Learned Here". This week, we are thinking about our classroom and what we learn at Worser Bay. 

Thursday 10 March 2016

World Premiere: If You Learned Here- Worser Bay Style

This is us enjoying the playground when working on the movie.
We are involved in a global collaboration project called, "If you learned here." We are excited to introduce our movie about Worser Bay School, introducing ourselves to the other schools around the world. You can see the 2016 videos here: 


Tuesday 1 March 2016

We have been asking questions for our research...



As part of our inquiry into rock pools, we have been thinking about different animals that live there. We have been working in groups to ask questions about an animal of our choice. 

We have begun to put together links to different sites for the students.

Find out more by clicking the links below (we will be adding to these as our inquiry progresses):

Generic Resources for the Rocky Shore

Crabs


Mussels


Jellyfish


Sea Anemones



Wednesday 2 December 2015

Hour of Code: Star Wars Blocks

Today we took part in "The Hour of Code" We had to work together collaboratively to work through the different levels on the Star Wars course. Some juniors and seniors worked together to get through the levels. 

We worked as a team to complete the levels

You can find out more at: https://hourofcode.com/nz


We got certificates for completing the course!