Last year the children regularly used the digital cameras to complete video reflections. The kids have a lot of fun creating video reflections, but they can be time consuming. Because of the time factor I often found that I was running out of time to enable the children to regularly reflect and identify next steps. I was looking for an alternative tool that could be used effectively with my year 4 class. I wanted something that was simple that didn't require the children to do a lot of writing. It had to hook them in.
Initially we used Twitter and then I would Storify the tweets. Then I came across Padlet. Padlet allowed each group to write a quick reflection from a device at the same time. The interactive whiteboard displayed the reflections like magic as each group completed their writing. To begin with I modeled and recorded each group's reflection. The children are now a lot more confident with Padlet and can now use it independently. Here is an example of how we've used Padlet in Adventure Learning.
Friday 11 October 2013
Thursday 10 October 2013
Staff Presentation and Term 3 Reflection
As part of wrapping up our professional development journey for the year we have to share at a staff meeting in Week 2 of Term 4. We've been asked to recap on our goals from the start of the year, share what progress has taken place since halfway through the year, as well as where to next (students, the school and myself). I would like to thank David, my principal for providing me with such an amazing professional development opportunity. It's not very often in a school where you are given the freedom, time and money to run with something that you're passionate about.
Staff Presentation and Term 2 Reflection
Throughout the year I have presented at staff meetings about Adventure Learning and my journey so far. This is the presentation that I shared halfway through the year.
Saturday 17 August 2013
Term 3 Adventure Learning Plans
Over the past two weeks Room 2 have been exploring what they would like to do for their Adventure Learning projects for Term 3. Their chosen topics had to challenge their thinking, be something that they would be able to work on for the whole term and if possible help to make positive change within our local, national or global community. This term we are trialing a planning template to enable the children to plan in greater depth. Each group bullet pointed their main ideas and then met with me for a student led conference. Because I teach year 4 children I personally find that when they share their ideas orally they will express them in greater depth, compared to only recording them in written form. You'll notice that their ideas of what they already know aren't all correct. I purposely haven't corrected the children as I want them to self-discover this for themselves.
Here are the topics children have chosen for Term 3
A new playground for Morningside Park
Here are the topics children have chosen for Term 3
- Designing a new playground for Morningside Park
- S.P.C.A
- Shark finning and how to stop it happening in NZ waters
- The solar system
- Factory farming
- Cooking with a focus on traditional Maori cooking
- Dubstep Dancing
Here are a couple of examples of our Term 3 planning proposals
A new playground for Morningside Park
What do you plan to do and why?
We want to design a new playground for Morningside Park. Children don’t really play on it because it’s been around for too long and it’s boring. It’s boring because there’s not much stuff to play on and it’s not colourful. There’s only monkey bars, a slide, two swings and a tunnel. People have been tagging on the playground under the bottom of the tunnel. We want to write a letter to the Whangarei District Council asking them if they can make a new playground for the Morningside School. We will send them a design of what we want the playground to look like. We think if it’s nice and colourful and no more tagging that children will want to play on it.
What do you already know about this topic?
- That playgrounds are fun to play on and it’s something to do outside.
- We know that the council made Mander Park into a cool playground about a week before Stella moved to Morningside Road. There’s a big space rocket and it used to be way too high for little kids, but now there’s a little playground for the little children.
- The Town Basin playground has got lots of things that you can play on. It’s safe because it’s got soft mats underneath the playground. It used to be all concrete.
Write down your ‘I wonder…’ questions
- I wonder how you make a playground?
- I wonder what equipment you will need?
- I wonder if we could involve local businesses if it’s going to be a nature playground?
- I wonder what the council will say?
What research are you going to do? What are you going to spend time doing?
- Looking at other playgrounds on the internet and visiting some playgrounds in Whangarei.
- Designing our playground.
- Researching some nature playgrounds.
What resources do you need? What help do you need?
- We will need builders to help us make it if the council says yes.
- We will need help with writing a letter to the council.
Factory Farms in NZ
What do you plan to do and why?
We are going to learn about the chickens in the factory farms. We want to know how an egg is made and how they force them to make them. We want to learn about this so we can help stop factory farms in NZ.
What do you already know about this topic?
- We know that they force them to make eggs
- We know that the chickens need our help and that they can die
- We know you need a rooster and a hen to make an egg or you need an incubator.
- The chicken eats the food and the food produces an egg.
Write down your ‘I wonder…’ questions
- I wonder how a chicken makes an egg?
- I wonder why they capture the chickens and force them to make eggs?
- I wonder why people put chickens in small cages?
- I wonder where the farms are?
- I wonder how we can help stop the factory farms?
- I wonder why chickens are different colours?
What research are you going to do? What are you going to spend time doing?
- We’re going to look up where the factory farms are
- We’re going to find out how chickens lay eggs and why chickens lay different coloured eggs.
- We want to visit a free range egg farm and see how they’re different
What resources do you need? What help do you need?
- An iPad for researching.
- We need to talk to an expert about factory farming and free range farming.
- We need help organising transport and a letter for our visit to the free range farm.
Term 2 Sharing Items
Term 2 Adventure Learning topics ranged from arts and crafts to comparing grizzly bears and polar bears, learning about the Tip Top factory, how to care for guinea pigs, designing and creating a fairy garden, making a new habitat for our green and golden bell frog to dance. Room 2 have learnt how to collaborate on a project, problem solve, take risks with their learning, be curious, ask questions and have discovered what they're passionate about. They've also used ICT as a tool to support their learning throughout Adventure Learning and to create their sharing items. Some children created an art board, others shared their new learning by using Haiku Deck, Google Presentations, My Story, posters, Venn Diagrams and through dance. Here are some examples of their first go at creating a sharing item.
Fairy Gardens
Green and Golden Bell Frogs
Tip Top Factory and Learning to Make Ice Cream From Scratch
How to Look After Guinea Pigs
Arts and Crafts
Boogie Wonderland
Polar Bears v Grizzly Bears
Our First Celebration of Adventure Learning
The classroom was decorated with balloons, colourful streamers and Adventure Learning posters, chalk for the Adventure Learning chalk art drawing was organised on the courts, the dance group were ready to perform and presentations were ready to be shared. Everyone was bubbling with excitement. The afternoon of our first Celebration of Adventure Learning had finally arrived. Thank you so much to everyone who supported us and came along to celebrate our Term 2 Adventure Learning projects with us.
Thursday 20 June 2013
The Purpose of Adventure Learning and Where to Next
Over the past few
weeks I've been reflecting on what I truly believe the purpose of Adventure
Learning is and what I envision my year 4 children being able to do by the end
of the year. I think that although there are similarities between how teachers
deliver this type of programme, individual teachers also add their own personal
flavour to it. This links back to our own personal teaching philosophy, as well
as what we believe will best meet the needs of our current learners.
Adventure Learning is differentiated to meet the individual learning needs of the children within my class. Therefore what I expect children to get out of Adventure Learning by the end of a term is often different for individuals or groups of children. However; the overall purpose is still to provide children with an opportunity to learn about something that they're passionate about and to develop a love for learning. There is also the expectation that children will learn about something that challenges their thinking, reflect on their learning, create a sharing item and present it.
For some groups of children the main focus is on developing key competency skills through a context that they're passionate about. Adventure Learning has been a successful way for my year 4 children to learn to work collaboratively, plan effectively, reflect on their learning, problem solve and take risks. A lot of learners have made significant progress in these learning areas, for others these skills continue to be a focal point. Alongside this the children are also developing new knowledge in a specific area of interest.
Adventure Learning has also lifted student engagement significantly. An excellent example of this is one of the boys in my class who is often disengaged with the core subjects e.g. literacy and numeracy. We have a Golden Bell Frog in our classroom. This particular child and his group decided they wanted to learn more about this breed of frog and what they need in their habitat. After spending a few weeks researching, the boys used the interactive whiteboard to put together a design for a new enclosure. Once completed, they set to work cleaning out the old tank and creating a new home for the frog. When asked what they plan on doing next to extend their learning, they told me that they're now going to learn how to use Scribble Press to create a book about caring for frogs in NZ. I thought this was a great next step as there is very little information online about caring for this type of frog. They've also talked about creating a movie and uploading it to YouTube. Two of the other boys in the group are achieving below their expected level in most areas. For these children Adventure Learning has not only increased student engagement, but has also enabled them to experience regular success with something that they're passionate about.
For other children it's about learning to ask purposeful questions and develop critical thinking skills. An example of this is a group of boys who wanted to learn about grizzly bears. One boy in the group then shared that he would like to learn about polar bears too. In the end the boys ended up compromising and are now comparing the similarities and differences between the two bears.
Adventure Learning also provides children with the opportunity to develop their creativity and ICT skills. One group of children are passionate about visual art. Adventure Learning has enabled them to further extend themselves in this particular area. These girls have used Pinterest to source their initial ideas, have adapted them and are now planning on creating 'how to' movies, then uploading them to YouTube.
Adventure Learning is differentiated to meet the individual learning needs of the children within my class. Therefore what I expect children to get out of Adventure Learning by the end of a term is often different for individuals or groups of children. However; the overall purpose is still to provide children with an opportunity to learn about something that they're passionate about and to develop a love for learning. There is also the expectation that children will learn about something that challenges their thinking, reflect on their learning, create a sharing item and present it.
For some groups of children the main focus is on developing key competency skills through a context that they're passionate about. Adventure Learning has been a successful way for my year 4 children to learn to work collaboratively, plan effectively, reflect on their learning, problem solve and take risks. A lot of learners have made significant progress in these learning areas, for others these skills continue to be a focal point. Alongside this the children are also developing new knowledge in a specific area of interest.
Adventure Learning has also lifted student engagement significantly. An excellent example of this is one of the boys in my class who is often disengaged with the core subjects e.g. literacy and numeracy. We have a Golden Bell Frog in our classroom. This particular child and his group decided they wanted to learn more about this breed of frog and what they need in their habitat. After spending a few weeks researching, the boys used the interactive whiteboard to put together a design for a new enclosure. Once completed, they set to work cleaning out the old tank and creating a new home for the frog. When asked what they plan on doing next to extend their learning, they told me that they're now going to learn how to use Scribble Press to create a book about caring for frogs in NZ. I thought this was a great next step as there is very little information online about caring for this type of frog. They've also talked about creating a movie and uploading it to YouTube. Two of the other boys in the group are achieving below their expected level in most areas. For these children Adventure Learning has not only increased student engagement, but has also enabled them to experience regular success with something that they're passionate about.
For other children it's about learning to ask purposeful questions and develop critical thinking skills. An example of this is a group of boys who wanted to learn about grizzly bears. One boy in the group then shared that he would like to learn about polar bears too. In the end the boys ended up compromising and are now comparing the similarities and differences between the two bears.
Adventure Learning also provides children with the opportunity to develop their creativity and ICT skills. One group of children are passionate about visual art. Adventure Learning has enabled them to further extend themselves in this particular area. These girls have used Pinterest to source their initial ideas, have adapted them and are now planning on creating 'how to' movies, then uploading them to YouTube.
At the end of the day it comes down to knowing your kids and how
to best extend their learning.
I'm always looking
for ways to further my own professional knowledge, ways to further extend the
children in my class and modify Adventure Learning to better meet the needs of
my learners. Over the past two years I've been lucky enough to visit Silverton
Primary in Melbourne, Stonefields School, GKP (Gifted Kids Programme) in
Dargaville, Island Bay School and Amesbury School in Wellington, attend the
Learning
@ School Conference both years, connect with other teachers at
EducampTT and have numerous professional discussions with staff at school, as
well as with my PLN on Twitter. After attending EducampTT last weekend there
are a couple more schools that I'm hoping to visit in the near future too. I'm
also looking forward to attending the 'It's a Learner's World' conference in
Auckland during the July school holidays. I've shared ideas with teachers who
are doing something similar to Adventure Learning, have spoken to children in
different schools to hear their personal voice and even started up a monthly #Google20timenz
chat on Twitter. I've also connected with American teachers regularly and
spoken to them about what they call Genius Hour. Alongside this, I've done my
own research online. I've read a lot written by Dan Pink and Sir Ken Robinson,
as well as watched their TED Talks. If you haven't seen 'Are Schools Killing
Creativity?' by Sir Ken Robinson it's worth watching. Ultimately I continue to
come back to asking myself where to next?
Adventure Learning continues to evolve and I've come to understand that this is okay. It's all part of teaching as inquiry. By the end of the year I am hoping that the children in my class will not only be curious learners, but independent learners. As they continue to become more confident and familiar with Adventure Learning the depth to their projects will increase. In saying this I don't want to see Adventure Learning slotted into the same box as our whole school inquiry. Although the skills are transferable between Adventure Learning and inquiry, they remain quite different. In saying that, I still see Adventure Learning as being a form of inquiry learning. The more schools I visit and teachers I speak to, the more I realise that inquiry can be a very broad term. It means different things to different people and schools.
I'm hoping that the children in my class will begin to take on more ownership of their learning and that I will continue to see kids teaching kids regularly. As the year continues I'm certain the children will begin to reflect in greater depth and that skills developed during Adventure Learning will be more evident in other areas of the curriculum. I'm also positive that we will see an increased level of confidence with the use of the iPads, especially with creating and sharing content. Our goal is also to plan and hold a sharing afternoon for family, as well as for other classes to do a walk through. The purpose of this is to celebrate the children's learning and to make them more accountable for developing an authentic sharing item.
There’s a lot to think about when considering our next steps, but also a lot to celebrate when reflecting on how far my year 4 class have come in the first half of the year.
I'll leave you with this quote.
'Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid' ~ Albert Einstein
Adventure Learning continues to evolve and I've come to understand that this is okay. It's all part of teaching as inquiry. By the end of the year I am hoping that the children in my class will not only be curious learners, but independent learners. As they continue to become more confident and familiar with Adventure Learning the depth to their projects will increase. In saying this I don't want to see Adventure Learning slotted into the same box as our whole school inquiry. Although the skills are transferable between Adventure Learning and inquiry, they remain quite different. In saying that, I still see Adventure Learning as being a form of inquiry learning. The more schools I visit and teachers I speak to, the more I realise that inquiry can be a very broad term. It means different things to different people and schools.
I'm hoping that the children in my class will begin to take on more ownership of their learning and that I will continue to see kids teaching kids regularly. As the year continues I'm certain the children will begin to reflect in greater depth and that skills developed during Adventure Learning will be more evident in other areas of the curriculum. I'm also positive that we will see an increased level of confidence with the use of the iPads, especially with creating and sharing content. Our goal is also to plan and hold a sharing afternoon for family, as well as for other classes to do a walk through. The purpose of this is to celebrate the children's learning and to make them more accountable for developing an authentic sharing item.
There’s a lot to think about when considering our next steps, but also a lot to celebrate when reflecting on how far my year 4 class have come in the first half of the year.
I'll leave you with this quote.
'Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid' ~ Albert Einstein
Friday 14 June 2013
The first #Google20TimeNZ chat
On Wednesday at 8pm I hosted the first #Google20TimeNZ chat on Twitter. The purpose of this was to provide an opportunity for NZ teachers to learn more about what Google 20% Time is, as well as a platform to share ideas. I had only shared my idea of a #Google20TimeNZ chat just over a week ago so wasn't expecting a big turn out. It's safe to say that I was blown away by the turn out for the first #Google20TimeNZ chat. Once again I want to say thank you to everyone who joined in last Wednesday night. @Mrs_hyde kindly used Storify to collate the discussion. I've since had a go at doing it myself too, as I hadn't used Storify before. If you missed out on the first chat, but are interested in reading the discussion you can click the link below. The next #Google20TimeNZ chat will be held on Wednesday 10th July at 8 pm on Twitter. Simply join in the conversation by following the #Google20TimeNZ hashtag.
To find out more about #Google20TimeNZ please see
Wednesday 12 June 2013
Sparking Interest in Adventure Learning
I'm often asked by other teachers how they can start Adventure Learning in their own class. As mentioned in a previous post I spent the majority of the first term running group challenges. Following the group challenges I spent two weeks with my class looking at the difference between passions and talents, as well as sparking interest through other blogs, sharing items or photos/videos from previous years, I wonder questions, YouTube videos and by using Pinterest.
We got the name Adventure Learning from the movie Up. The name was inspired by the character Ellie and her passion for adventures. This was one of the first YouTube videos I showed my class, as they are all familiar with this movie. I then gave each child their own Adventure Book.
This year (2014) the children in my class are designing a visual model for Adventure Learning, called Adventure Island. Each group will also receive an Adventure passport where they will earn badges for visiting the different places (stages) on the island. The six badges will be designed by my year 4 class. This hooked my class in as two of the boys in my class have just started cubs and brought the excitement of earning badges into our classroom.
Scroll down for a smorgasboard of ideas I've put together that may help you to spark the excitement of Adventure Learning in your own class.
We got the name Adventure Learning from the movie Up. The name was inspired by the character Ellie and her passion for adventures. This was one of the first YouTube videos I showed my class, as they are all familiar with this movie. I then gave each child their own Adventure Book.
This year (2014) the children in my class are designing a visual model for Adventure Learning, called Adventure Island. Each group will also receive an Adventure passport where they will earn badges for visiting the different places (stages) on the island. The six badges will be designed by my year 4 class. This hooked my class in as two of the boys in my class have just started cubs and brought the excitement of earning badges into our classroom.
Scroll down for a smorgasboard of ideas I've put together that may help you to spark the excitement of Adventure Learning in your own class.
- Create a class Pinterest account. This is a great way for children to find ideas and save them for later. What I love about Pinterest is how visual it is and how easy it is to use for younger children. A lot of the children in my class who struggle to search using Google have found this really useful. Here's a link to the start of our Pinterest boards http://pinterest.com/room2smarties/boards/
- As well as having an online Pinterest account we cleared a wall in our classroom and created a physical class Pinterest board too. To start with I pinned a few pictures on the board to spark interest in different topics. The kids soon started adding to the Pinterest board and it wasn't long before we took most of the photos I had put up, down.
- We talked a lot about what our talents were, what we were passionate about learning more about, as well as the differences between talents and passions. You don't have to be talented at something to be passionate about it, but if you're really passionate about something you are more likely to become talented at it. We then wrote our talents and passions on giant beach balls.
- One morning I put a few 'I wonder...' questions on the interactive whiteboard e.g. Why do glow worms glow? How are jelly beans made? How does kiwifruit get to the supermarket? From there Room 2 went away and wrote their own I wonder questions. They came up with some awesome questions. See the photos below. If you want to get kids started with a few have a look at the Suzy's World DVDs. I've got a few of my own that I picked up at the Warehouse for $10 each. Here's a link to the DVD titles and questions http://www.suzy.co.nz/suzysworld/Videos.asp#Vol14
- Watch the Coca Cola Let's Go Crazy YouTube clip. It's an awesome clip and a great way to inspire kids to choose an Adventure Learning topic that may help someone else in the community.
- Share examples of previous children's adventure learning projects. You'll find lots of examples on my blog, especially if you visit the 'celebrating learning' label on the side of the blog.
- Start a classroom Twitter board. My class uses Twitter online, but the Twitter board has been a great way for them to connect with other children in the classroom that they wouldn't normally have much to do with. I simply wrote a tweet asking Room 2 what they would like to learn about or create during Adventure Learning time. The love any excuse to write a tweet so this was a great way to hook them in.
- Spend some time talking and coming up with ideas for what we can do when we get stuck with our learning. This was one of the most useful things that we did. At the start of the year a lot of my class thought that the best person to ask is the teacher. I asked all of the children who thought they were good at skateboarding to put their hand up. I then asked them if they wanted to learn about skateboarding for Adventure Learning if they would come to me? There was a lot of laughing before deciding that I possibly wouldn't be the best person to go to. Room 2 now know that they can ask each other for help because everyone is an expert at something, use the class Twitter board, tweet on Twitter to ask other children in other schools, use Google, email an expert, ask family etc.
If you're wanting to read more about Adventure Learning/ Google 20% Time here are some links, as well as a couple of authors that are often referred to when discussing Google 20% Time.
- Sir Ken Robinson - The Element (book)
- Sir Ken Robinson - Are Schools Killing Creativity? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
- Dan Pink - Drive (book)
- Dan Pink - interview about Google 20% Time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa7_3T-q5ZQ&safe=active
- 10 reasons to give Google 20% Time a go in your classroom http://goo.gl/ZoLgr
YouTube clips
Monday 3 June 2013
#Google20timenz
Over the past two and half years I've been trying to connect with other teachers in NZ who are doing Google 20% Time or something similar in their classrooms. It's proved to be more challenging than I expected. I was lucky enough to visit Stonefields School earlier this year and see the awesome work they're doing with Breakthrough Learning. It was great to be able to spend some time sharing ideas with @Chrisbradbeer. We also spoke of how there were still very few primary schools running something similar to Google 20% Time in their schools.
As a result I've created #Google20timenz. #Google20timenz is an opportunity for other NZ teachers to connect via Twitter once a month, to discuss Google 20% Time in education. The first #Google20timenz Twitter chat will take place next Wednesday 12th June at 8.00 pm. The focus question will be: 'How can we effectively introduce Google 20% Time into our classrooms?'
I'm not expecting a huge turn out on the first night. However; I'm hopeful that the more I can get the word out via Twitter, Educamp and through my PLN that the interest will continue to grow.
You can find out more at http://google20timenz.weebly.com/
As a result I've created #Google20timenz. #Google20timenz is an opportunity for other NZ teachers to connect via Twitter once a month, to discuss Google 20% Time in education. The first #Google20timenz Twitter chat will take place next Wednesday 12th June at 8.00 pm. The focus question will be: 'How can we effectively introduce Google 20% Time into our classrooms?'
I'm not expecting a huge turn out on the first night. However; I'm hopeful that the more I can get the word out via Twitter, Educamp and through my PLN that the interest will continue to grow.
You can find out more at http://google20timenz.weebly.com/
Term 1 Group Projects
As mentioned in the previous post, the first term was spent doing Friday group challenges. The purpose of this was to teach the children how to work collaboratively, compromise, problem solve and take risks. It was also an opportunity to explicitly teach Room 2 how to plan effectively and reflect on their learning. An example of this was our Mexican Fiesta challenge.
For our Mexican Fiesta Room 2 were told that their Friday challenge would be to make nachos. Each group was told that they would be given nacho chips, grated cheese, mild salsa and guacamole. They had to work out how to put the ingredients together to make nachos. In our classroom we also have a mini kitchen with a microwave and small oven, so they were able to melt the cheese if they wanted to. What would appear to be a very simple activity proved quite challenging to a classroom of 7 and 8 year old children.
Each group had to discuss in their group what they thought the best way to make nachos would be. There was a lot of debating and finally some compromising. Once they all agreed they began to work on their plans. Examples of these can be seen at the bottom of the post. The most important thing as a teacher is to step back at this point. One group came up and told me that they were going to put the grated cheese on the plate and melt it in the microwave. It would have been very easy to step in and tell them that they needed to sprinkle the cheese on their nacho chips and then melt it, but this would defeat the purpose of the group challenges. I simply asked the group what they would do with the cheese once it was melted on the plate. They gave me one of 'those' looks and told me that they would spoon it onto their nacho chips. I told them to give it a go.
Room 2 had a lot of fun making nachos. I think it's safe to say that this was their favourite group challenge, possibly because food was involved! After making and eating the nachos each group reflecting on their learning. The group that melted the cheese on the plate decided that next time they would do it like one of the other groups and melt the cheese on top of the chips. I asked them why and they said that when the melted the cheese in the microwave it all stuck together, so it wasn't as easy to spoon onto the chips as they had thought. From observing other groups they also came to the conclusion that the cheese melted better in the mini oven than in the microwave too. Each group was able to identify what went well and what they would do differently next time. If time allows, it's also a great idea to get each group to share back with the rest of the class. Room 2 has also learnt to add more detail to their reflections. To start with when answering the question 'what went well?' they would write 'it was yum!' The response to 'what could you do differently next time to improve it?' was often nothing. We've spent a lot of time discussing what it means to reflect on our learning and why this is important. A lot of modelling and reflecting together as a class also took place in the first term.
After spending a large portion of the first term on group challenges, we then moved on to sparking enthusiasm and ideas for independent topics. Here are some of the photos from the Mexican Fiesta challenge.
For our Mexican Fiesta Room 2 were told that their Friday challenge would be to make nachos. Each group was told that they would be given nacho chips, grated cheese, mild salsa and guacamole. They had to work out how to put the ingredients together to make nachos. In our classroom we also have a mini kitchen with a microwave and small oven, so they were able to melt the cheese if they wanted to. What would appear to be a very simple activity proved quite challenging to a classroom of 7 and 8 year old children.
Each group had to discuss in their group what they thought the best way to make nachos would be. There was a lot of debating and finally some compromising. Once they all agreed they began to work on their plans. Examples of these can be seen at the bottom of the post. The most important thing as a teacher is to step back at this point. One group came up and told me that they were going to put the grated cheese on the plate and melt it in the microwave. It would have been very easy to step in and tell them that they needed to sprinkle the cheese on their nacho chips and then melt it, but this would defeat the purpose of the group challenges. I simply asked the group what they would do with the cheese once it was melted on the plate. They gave me one of 'those' looks and told me that they would spoon it onto their nacho chips. I told them to give it a go.
Room 2 had a lot of fun making nachos. I think it's safe to say that this was their favourite group challenge, possibly because food was involved! After making and eating the nachos each group reflecting on their learning. The group that melted the cheese on the plate decided that next time they would do it like one of the other groups and melt the cheese on top of the chips. I asked them why and they said that when the melted the cheese in the microwave it all stuck together, so it wasn't as easy to spoon onto the chips as they had thought. From observing other groups they also came to the conclusion that the cheese melted better in the mini oven than in the microwave too. Each group was able to identify what went well and what they would do differently next time. If time allows, it's also a great idea to get each group to share back with the rest of the class. Room 2 has also learnt to add more detail to their reflections. To start with when answering the question 'what went well?' they would write 'it was yum!' The response to 'what could you do differently next time to improve it?' was often nothing. We've spent a lot of time discussing what it means to reflect on our learning and why this is important. A lot of modelling and reflecting together as a class also took place in the first term.
After spending a large portion of the first term on group challenges, we then moved on to sparking enthusiasm and ideas for independent topics. Here are some of the photos from the Mexican Fiesta challenge.
The start of independent projects
Over the past two Fridays Room 2 have started working on their own 20% time projects. Prior to starting their own topics we spent a lot of time focusing on how to ask challenging questions, what to do when you get stuck with your learning, discussing talents and passions, as well as sparking interest through sharing what previous students had done, YouTube clips, photos, student interviews etc. I'm currently putting together a blog post of how I initially inspired children to find their own passion and learn about what excites them.
I also spent the first term organising Friday group challenges. The purpose of this was to teach the children how to work collaboratively, compromise, problem solve and take risks. It was also an opportunity to explicitly teach Room 2 how to plan effectively and reflect on their learning. An example of this was our Mexican Fiesta challenge. Please see the separate blog post about Friday group challenges.
I have 28 children in my classroom and seven different Adventure Learning groups. I wouldn't have any more than this with my year 4 class, as it becomes increasingly challenging to manage. It's probably also important to note that I have a full time teacher aide on a Friday, as well as a student teacher in the classroom at the moment. The teacher aide is permanently attached to a child in my class that is visually impaired. However; it still means that she can help support a group.
Adventure Learning topics this term currently include groups working on the following things:
I also spent the first term organising Friday group challenges. The purpose of this was to teach the children how to work collaboratively, compromise, problem solve and take risks. It was also an opportunity to explicitly teach Room 2 how to plan effectively and reflect on their learning. An example of this was our Mexican Fiesta challenge. Please see the separate blog post about Friday group challenges.
I have 28 children in my classroom and seven different Adventure Learning groups. I wouldn't have any more than this with my year 4 class, as it becomes increasingly challenging to manage. It's probably also important to note that I have a full time teacher aide on a Friday, as well as a student teacher in the classroom at the moment. The teacher aide is permanently attached to a child in my class that is visually impaired. However; it still means that she can help support a group.
Adventure Learning topics this term currently include groups working on the following things:
- Group 1 is learning a new jump jam dance. One of the girls in the group regularly attends dance classes so she has taken a lead role in this group. At the moment they're using the DVD to learn the dance moves. Once they're more confident they plan on only using the music, then teaching the new song to the juniors during their fitness time.
- Group 2 is a group of boys who were interested in learning about grizzly bears. Another boy in the group wanted to learn about polar bears. They've now decided that they will learn about both types of bears and compare their similarities and differences.
- Group 3 is another group of boys who wanted to learn more about our Golden Bell frog. They plan to learn more about what this particular frog's diet and habitat is. Then they're going to design a new habitat for Lucky, our pet frog. One of the boys in another group had a large fish tank lying around at home and so his family has kindly donated it to the classroom.
- Group 4 are learning about how to make ice cream from scratch. The student teacher knows the manager at the Tip Top factory in Auckland so this week the children emailed him to ask some questions. They're also going to have a go at making their own ice cream and then modify the recipe.
- Group 5 are interested in learning about guinea pigs. They're currently learning about what they eat, how to set up a cage for them and how to look after them properly. They've asked me if once they've learnt about how to care for them if I can bring my two guinea pigs in. They're planning on looking after them for a day. Initially all the girls knew was that guinea pigs drink water and need a cage. They've learnt A LOT already.
- Group 6 are interested in crafts. They've used Pinterest over the last couple of weeks to come up with some ideas. They've selected a craft and are now modifying the design to create their own final product.
- Group 7 are working on designing and creating their own fairy garden.
Here are some of the photos from Adventure Learning on Friday.
Tori emailing the manager of the Tip Top factory with her group's questions.
Bianca using Pinterest on the interactive whiteboard to find ideas for her own fairy garden.
Reading about how to care for guinea pigs and writing down some notes.
Using Pinterest to find and print some photos of wire crafts.
The boys finding out information on a Golden Bell frog's habitat.
The dance group working on learning the dance moves to a new jump jam song. Look at that timing!
Tumai surrounded by books about frogs! He's also using Scribble Press to start putting together some ideas for his book about caring for Golden Bell frogs.
Shannon finding out exactly what flavours of ice cream Tip Top makes.
Love the looks of concentration in this photo! These boys are writing down their 'I wonder...' questions about grizzly bears and polar bears.
Sunday 2 June 2013
Sparkler sessions and opt in sessions
Sparkler sessions have typically run at the beginning of an Adventure Learning session. A sparkler session is when a child shares a new skill or tool that they have learnt or discovered. This may be a new iPad or iPod app, how to use Google Earth, a website, new skill on the cameras or something about blogging. A sparkler session can run any where between 5-10 minutes and is student led.
Children generally sign up to lead a sparkler session. Initially only one sparkler session will be run at the beginning of a session and all children will tune in. Where I would like to see this go is for either 2-3 sparkler sessions to be run at the same time. It provides more children with a leadership opportunity and also enables the other children with a choice of which session they opt into.
The other way to do this would be to allocate the first or last 20-30 minutes of Adventure Learning to opt into a sparkler session. Again, the purpose of this would be for children to teach children new skills. A class message board would be set up to enable children to share what they need help with and/or what they feel they could help others with. Similar to Ignite or Educamp in a way. This would also be a great way to expose children to different ways to create and share content. I plan on giving this a go either this week or next week so will reflect on how it went afterwards. Opt in sparkler sessions will be recorded using the digital cameras to provide children with a resource that they can access at a later date. All sparkler sessions will be available for children on the student drive.
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