Inquiry Update - Week 2 Term 4

What? How to improve oral language and critical thinking skills

Why? Extension group, but still need to be able to express themselves intelligently and with confidence. To extend their thinking skills.

How? Paideia Seminars, rich experiences, links with theme for the Term

End of Term 3: Y5&6 completed Stop Motion movies, x2 Paideia Seminars

Focus for Term 4: Science focus on the Physical World. Researching info about UV light and its effects on our skin and on the Earth. Skin cancer and Global Warming/Climate Change. Making UV sensors with Ray Shah (scientist). KPMG Trip focus: Dance and Drama theme - Pop Up Globe theatre.

Inquiry Update - Week 10, Term 3

Extension Group Reflection snapshot - End of Term 3, 2019


Year 5&6 Extension:

Museum Trip over 2 days. Focus was on exploring digital technologies. VR experience was enjoyable for students. Based on ‘Something in the Water’ Inquiry theme - creating a Rocky Shore ecosystem. Coding with Dash robot - recording information about sea creatures and playing back during coding.
Stop Motion DLO’s being created - based on a theme around water or the ocean.
Film Festival movie created - students collaborated to create the script and plot for the movie. 

One movie created for 'The Outlook for Someday' competition. 

x2 Students featured in Kea Kids News on HeiHei website (Episode 6).

Term 3 Paideia Seminar.

Year 7&8 Extension:

Created movies about sustainability as DLO (Digital Learning Object) for the term.
Film Festival movie created - collaborated to create script and plot.

x2 Students featured in Episode 5 of Kea Kids News on HeiHei website. 

Term 3 Paideia Seminar

Example of student research task: Year 5

Students were put into small groups of three. Each group had to research information related to the theme for the term. This group was asked to research from the point of view of a 'Scientist'. Other groups included the 'Conservationists, Environmentalists, Teachers, Eels and Maori Tribe.' The students were asked to look at each issue from the perspective of their group name e.g. Maori or Conservationist. This would provide an interesting point of view or point of argument during the Paideia Seminar.

Inquiry Update - Week 5, Term 3

Inquiry Focus: To improve oral language skills and critical thinking skills.

Four weeks have gone by in Term 3, and it feels like the Extension group have covered a lot of ground. Yet I also feel like not enough has been achieved.

This term all classes have a movie due for the upcoming Manaiakalani Film Festival. Both Extension groups have now planned their movie. Filming will hopefully begin sometime this week for the Year 5&6 group. The Year 7&8 group will be busy for the next couple of weeks planning, scripting and filming their movies for 'The Outlook for Someday' movie competition about 'Sustainability'.

Last week the Year 7&8 Extension group were lucky enough to attend our third trip to KPMG (Manaiakalani Sponsors) on Thursday. This included a visit to Sustainable Coastlines which is an organisation committed to raising awareness about the impact of pollution on our oceans, rivers and lakes.

It's been a busy term so far, and there is still more to look forward to later in the term.

Coding with OMGTECH!

Students were lucky to have a session of coding with Zoe from OMGTECH! The students learnt how to use lines of code rather than blocks of code (e.g. Scratch) and it involved a bit of problem solving. Their task was to programme a robot so that it would navigate its way through a maze without touching the lines. Students were also given the opportunity to explore the Minecraft programme.

Year 5&6 Paideia Seminar Term 1

The first Paideia Seminar for the Year 5&6 Extension group was held last week. It was postponed last term due to some students being involved in sports championship playoffs. The topic was around the theme of Eels, Maramataka (Maori Lunar Calendar) and the issue of pollution.

The outcome was typical of past experiences. The students were shy to share ideas at the start. They Year 5 students were more reluctant than the Year 6 students who had a year of experience in comparison.



Half of the Year 5 group only spoke once with some prompting and encouragement. A couple of Year 5s spoke more than 5 times. The Year 6 group were more confident and dominated the conversations.

Most responses consisted of the students responding to a question that was asked by the teacher. Only in the second half of the seminar did the students tend to piggy back off the ideas of others and begin to expand on their own statement.





Next steps: 
- Provide strategies and opportunities for the Year 5 students and some of our Year 6 students to build their confidence and increase their level of participation.
- Provide more resources and tasks around speaking, listening and thinking e.g. more tasks where students have to research a topic and then present to the class.

Term 1 Inquiry Reflection

This is my Inquiry Reflection for Term 1. We met in our Inquiry groups during our staff meeting to share our reflections on our Inquiry journeys so far.

Year 5&6 Extension visit to Eel tank with Mr Vogt

The Year 5&6 Extension group was very lucky to have visits from two eel experts Dave Cooper and Mahu (Ngati Paoa) this term. We are grateful to Mr Vogt for organising these visits as it relates to our inquiry for the term. Mr Vogt was also present for both visits to introduce our guests and to help direct student learning. The visit to our school eel tank was definitely a highlight for the Extension group.

This movie shows highlights from the Year 5&6 Extension group visit to the eel tank for the second time this term with Mr Vogt and Mahu.

Year 5&6 Extension visit from Dave Cooper

The Year 5&6 Extension group had the privilege of having eel expert Dave Cooper visit us during the week. Dave shared his knowledge about Longfin Eels and how they migrate over long distances (Pacific Ocean near Tonga) to spawn before dying. The students had the opportunity to ask lots of questions and found out some interesting information about eels.

My Inquiry in 2019

This year the core learning area that I am inquiring into is Reading. Language acquisition is the lens that I intend to use. My main goal is to focus on exploring the use of a range of strategies to extend reading and critical thinking skills. I am also interested in finding out more about how elements of gamification can help to improve student learning and engagement.

I'd like to find out more about how gamification can help students to learn more about challenging topics (social, historical, political) e.g. the Treaty of Waitangi. I'm interested in using online games to boost learning and engagement. I'd also like for the students to create their own digital games to help others.

I will continue to use Paideia seminars, blogging, student DLO’s and presentations as a way to assess learning, language acquisition and critical thinking skills

Year 5&6 Extension: Term 1 focus on Eels and Maramataka

So far we have had a visit from Dave Cooper an eel expert. We have visited the eel tank and have started animations based on Maramataka (Maori Lunar Calendar) and eels. The students have also been introduced to the Paideia method (Socratic discussions).

Year 7&8 Extension: Term 1 focus on Gamification and the Treaty of Waitangi

So far we have explored some of the issues surrounding the signing of the Treaty. The students will be using the technology design process to design a prototype of an educational game (digital or non-digital) based on the Treaty of Waitangi.