Friday, 31 October 2014
Halloween Dress-Ups
What fun it was today seeing all my lovelies dress up. They looked great and were so excited to show what they were wearing.
Saturday, 25 October 2014
Term 4, 2014
Our last term for the year and what a busy one it is going to be. This term I started off with 14 students (1 newbie). I began the first few day going over our routines and ensuring students are completing activities correctly - this was mainly in the Daily 5 area.
On Friday I did a mini topic on Diwali. We have 3 Indian students at our school so I thought it would be a good idea for my class to see that other countries and cultures celebrate special occasions and they sometimes don't happen at the same time as ours.
I introduced my students to the word Diwali and then explained using images to help me. We talked about the special things that we do in NZ and compared this. We then talked about the bright colours used and students then had to create their own Rangoli pattern. We also made some salt dough candles as during Diwali families light lots of candles - which links to an old story of lighting the way home for Rama and Sitas. My students used beads to decorate and then we will paint them next week. In the afternoon I invited our Indian students in to the class and they spoke about what they do for Diwali. My students also asked them questions about Diwali
Daily 5 is continuing as usual and I have added in some new activities so they don't get board. My students are independent and help each other when they have a problem - so great to see the older ones helping the younger ones. During this time I work with my guided groups.
For writing I am working with students depending on their needs and I pull students out as I need them. I really like teaching this way as I can focus on exactly what each child needs. I am continuing to use our class visualiser to show students examples of their peers work. This term I would try another example of what I observed on my school visit last term. Students say a sentence, clap how many words are in it and then get out that many counters. As they write each word they flip the counter over. This is working well for one particular student who was losing his idea, now he knows how many words to go and it keeps him focused.
In maths I am continuing with number knowledge in my warm up and then teaching the strategies with my groups. I run maths similar to writing and just pull students out depending on their needs. Below is what my room looks like during maths time - with students working on a variety of activities.
For health this term I am focusing on fire safety. We began this topic by talking about what fire is and where we have it around our home.
In physical education my focus is on athletics for the next 4 weeks. Each afternoon (if the weather is fine) we spend 20-30 minutes practicing a different skill.
On Friday I did a mini topic on Diwali. We have 3 Indian students at our school so I thought it would be a good idea for my class to see that other countries and cultures celebrate special occasions and they sometimes don't happen at the same time as ours.
I introduced my students to the word Diwali and then explained using images to help me. We talked about the special things that we do in NZ and compared this. We then talked about the bright colours used and students then had to create their own Rangoli pattern. We also made some salt dough candles as during Diwali families light lots of candles - which links to an old story of lighting the way home for Rama and Sitas. My students used beads to decorate and then we will paint them next week. In the afternoon I invited our Indian students in to the class and they spoke about what they do for Diwali. My students also asked them questions about Diwali
Saturday, 18 October 2014
Floating and Sinking - Inquiry
Wednesday
Today we began our new inquiry into floating and sinking. In the morning before my students arrived I set up a container filled with water and a selection of objects around it. I had a sign at the top that said 'float or sink'.
I didn't direct their attention to it, I just allowed them to discover it in their own time. This is one of the conversations I overheard:
"Oh what, there is a whole lot of water in here....." He inspects it closer and reads the sign, "sink or float? Oh thats easy this will sink, float, sink, sink etc"
When we started our topic in the afternoon I introduced students to the word 'float' we talked about what this was and I related this to swimming at the beginning of the year and when we were practicing. I think introduced them to 'sink' and we decided what it meant. I explained that we were going to be doing an experiment and making predictions - at this point I should have modelled what I wanted them to do (I just assumed they would remember from previous lessons - NEVER assume!)
I had a variety of objects around the room that students had to collect with their buddy and then they took them out side. I had a container set up for each pair. Students had to first predict what they thought their object would do and then second test it.
Students worked through their list and once they were finished I gave them to test 3 objects of their choice.
Once everyone was complete (I cut it a little short for some as it was just to hot outside for them) we came back in and shared what we had found. For student who disagreed we tested them in the class tub to find our conclusion.
To finish we added any questions we had after doing our experiment (I hope to add more as the week goes on):
Today we began our new inquiry into floating and sinking. In the morning before my students arrived I set up a container filled with water and a selection of objects around it. I had a sign at the top that said 'float or sink'.
I didn't direct their attention to it, I just allowed them to discover it in their own time. This is one of the conversations I overheard:
"Oh what, there is a whole lot of water in here....." He inspects it closer and reads the sign, "sink or float? Oh thats easy this will sink, float, sink, sink etc"
When we started our topic in the afternoon I introduced students to the word 'float' we talked about what this was and I related this to swimming at the beginning of the year and when we were practicing. I think introduced them to 'sink' and we decided what it meant. I explained that we were going to be doing an experiment and making predictions - at this point I should have modelled what I wanted them to do (I just assumed they would remember from previous lessons - NEVER assume!)
I had a variety of objects around the room that students had to collect with their buddy and then they took them out side. I had a container set up for each pair. Students had to first predict what they thought their object would do and then second test it.
Students worked through their list and once they were finished I gave them to test 3 objects of their choice.
 |
| Click on photo for a copy of sheet. |
Once everyone was complete (I cut it a little short for some as it was just to hot outside for them) we came back in and shared what we had found. For student who disagreed we tested them in the class tub to find our conclusion.
To finish we added any questions we had after doing our experiment (I hope to add more as the week goes on):
- Why do rubber bands sink and float?
- Why do some things sink and some float?
- Why does the tennis ball float when it is heavy?
Thursday
Today we were looking at why somethings float and some things float. We figured out that our tennis ball is heavy but it has air inside that helps it to stay afloat.
We found out that there is a small amount of air trapped in a rubber band that helps it to float. Once the air gets out the water fills in the spots and helps it to sink.
I found some really great interactive games online that my students could experiment with a larger variety of material. They did this in pairs, having turn about on the computer. The ones we used are below:
We ran out of time to get through all I had planned so we will be continuing our unit on Monday.
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
Liquid, Solid and Gas - Inquiry
Monday
Today we began our inquiry. This is just a short 2 day inquiry that I thought would be a good lead in to our floating and sinking unit.
I started off by showing my students a balloon - I asked them what was in it....nothing.
We started off with gas. I asked them what I could put in the balloon. They said "air". Easy. We talked about the gas and whether you could see it before I put it into the balloon. I introduced them to the word gas and explained what it is.
We talked about how water is a liquid and filled up our liquid balloons. At this point I started calling each matter a liquid, solid and gas.
We had liquid balloons and gas balloons, now it was time for solid balloons. Which of course, I already had on standby in the freezer (balloons filled with water, frozen overnight).They quickly used the words I was using to describe the balloons.
Ok, now we each had three balloons, all filled up and ready for scientific observations.They squeezed them.
Once all our balloons had been popped we came in and started discussing different types of each matter that we know. My students drew a little picture for each to help them remember.
Tuesday
For writing today we wrote about what we did with the balloons. My students had to share what they learnt and then write a sentence about trying to pop each balloon. Was really great to see some of them using the simile sentences that we learnt last term.
For our topic in the afternoon I gave my students a sheet with a variety of matters on it. In partners my students discussed what category they should go under. We then came together and went through each object until we were happy we had got it right. I had the posters available that we made yesterday and was great that my students were referring back to them.
Today we began our inquiry. This is just a short 2 day inquiry that I thought would be a good lead in to our floating and sinking unit.
I started off by showing my students a balloon - I asked them what was in it....nothing.
We started off with gas. I asked them what I could put in the balloon. They said "air". Easy. We talked about the gas and whether you could see it before I put it into the balloon. I introduced them to the word gas and explained what it is.
We talked about how water is a liquid and filled up our liquid balloons. At this point I started calling each matter a liquid, solid and gas.
We had liquid balloons and gas balloons, now it was time for solid balloons. Which of course, I already had on standby in the freezer (balloons filled with water, frozen overnight).They quickly used the words I was using to describe the balloons.
Ok, now we each had three balloons, all filled up and ready for scientific observations.They squeezed them.
They weighed them with their hands - we classified them from lightest to heaviest.
They continued observing and discussing their balloons for awhile. I was certain that by this point we would have had a popped balloon, but we didn't. So of course, the question I had been waiting for...
"Can we throw them?"
Of course we can.
They started dropping balloons and reaching conclusions...
The "gas" balloons weren't cooperating with the destruction so my students had to get creative. So much fun to be had just from popping balloons.They started dropping balloons and reaching conclusions...
Once all our balloons had been popped we came in and started discussing different types of each matter that we know. My students drew a little picture for each to help them remember.
Tuesday
For writing today we wrote about what we did with the balloons. My students had to share what they learnt and then write a sentence about trying to pop each balloon. Was really great to see some of them using the simile sentences that we learnt last term.
For our topic in the afternoon I gave my students a sheet with a variety of matters on it. In partners my students discussed what category they should go under. We then came together and went through each object until we were happy we had got it right. I had the posters available that we made yesterday and was great that my students were referring back to them.
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