The keen mathematicians in Scott's maths group are learning about fractions. We have been investigating the symbols for 1/2 , 1/3, and 1/4 and putting them into real life contexts.
On Tuesday we made play dough together that we will use to create pizzas, cookies, and other magical shapes to help us learn about fractions.
We used our our character strengths of team work and perseverance. We needed teamwork to help us follow the receipe and perseverance when the kneading became hard work or when mixing the ingredients.
On Wednesday we used the play dough to make meatballs and sausages. We invited friends to enjoy our dinner so needed to separate our dishes into even amounts. We even managed to divide our play dough delights into tenths !
As part of our arts focus this term we are learning how to respond to and annotate music in different ways. We have spent some time listening to different types of music and noticing the volume, speed and beat. This is helping us to notice how musicians create different layers of music.
We watched this video by the musician Len Lye
Then we used different colours and markings to add what we could hear in the music to an image... what could the volume look like, or the beat, or the speed that we can hear? We listened to some sounds and annotated them on the image. Here are some of our ideas.
We will also learn how to use the Garage Band app to explore how to compose soundscapes.
Teamwork is described as the character strength that helps everyone contribute to the success of the team. In Tautoru we often have a learning buddy to share ideas with and to give us feedback. During maths, we can discuss different strategies we've used or think of different ways to solve a problem.
During writing, they might help us come up with ideas and better words to write or help us check our writing goals like full stops and capital letters.
" My buddy helps me to sound out new words"
" My buddy helps me to read my writing and check it makes sense"
This way we always have someone who we can share our learning journey with whether it's a challenge, a discovery or an interesting idea.
We are spending time in class unpacking the character strengths that students are not so familiar with. At the end of last term Autahi and Tautoru roamed the school and identified strengths that they
wanted to explore more.
This week we have been sharing our ideas around the character strength - Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence. The students discussed and shared their perspectives on a number of images and if they were beautiful or not.
We agreed on terms of what a good discussion looks, sounds and feels like. The students identified that it helps to look at the person talking, to be respectful of everyone's ideas, and the importance of justifying your ideas.
We were all very excited to be back at school on Monday and it was fantastic to see students keen to get started with their learning and we had a treat for the first day back - an Arts rotation!
Students worked through three different projects, printmaking, mixed media art, and photography. We have a school wide Arts Celebration in week 5 and we are using this time to introduce and explore different arts techniques and artists.
Remember to book time for the Celebration in week 5, either a Wednesday or Thursday night or both if you wish! We will continue to focus on visual art of the next couple of weeks and then explore how to create a soundscape or musical piece to accompany our art. Lots of fun activity to come over the next few weeks!
Students loved the tactile element of this activity. A great opportunity to get mucky, sticky while creating our landscapes. Check out seesaw and the blog for future posts.
During the holiday break we ran a workshop on Number Talks. This was attended by 30 teachers and principals from 10 schools as well as Maths advisors from the Wellington region. We wanted to share what we have been doing at Worser Bay because it has a big impact on student engagement and achievement.
What does developing a Mathematical Community of Inquiry mean to us?
Mathematics is a creative and challenging real world activity.
Positive beliefs about mathematical ability are essential.
Maths has to be visual and collaborative; with time and strategies to investigate, discuss, explore concepts and reflect.
At Worser Bay School, we have been inspired by the work of Jo Boaler who is a professor at Stanford University. She provides resources and ideas to help students get excited about Maths.
"You have probably heard people say they are just bad at math, or perhaps you yourself feel like you are not “a math person.” Not so, says Stanford mathematics education professor Jo Boaler, who shares the brain research showing that with the right teaching and messages, we can all be good at math. Not only that, our brains operate differently when we believe in ourselves. Boaler gives hope to the the mathematically fearful or challenged, shows a pathway to success, and brings into question the very basics of how our teachers approach what should be a rewarding experience for all children and adults."
For a Number Talk to be successful, students need to be respectful in discussion. We have co-constructed (with our students) the rights and responsibilities for discussion in a Number Talk.
