WALT describe the features of natural environments.
Begin by telling students that there will be a new centre in Learning Centres this term; the geographers. What is a Geographer? What does a geographer do? Allow students to TPS with a partner. Use paddle-pop sticks to share responses. Watch a short clip that explains the role of a geographer. Ask the question again, asking students to explain the term in their own words. A geographer explores and investigates the world’s physical features such as mountains, oceans, deserts, rivers. They are also interested in the way people affect and are affected by the natural world. Introduce the text This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers. Today we are going to read this text, written by Oliver Jeffers. Refer to other books he was written. This is a story about a boy named Wilfred that has a pet moose. As I am reading I want you to notice the different environments in the story, using descriptive words to describe those environments and their features. After reading discuss the different environments in the story. Use specific terminology to describe them (mountains, oceans, forests) and the features of those environments. These are called natural environments. They are not made by anyone but grow naturally. Link to the scientists centre on the types of animals that would call that their habitat. Pose the question “What are the different features found in different environments? Highlight the different texts in the Geographers centre for students to use to describe the features of the natural environments.
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EN1-12E Identifies and discusses aspects of their own and others learning. –Develop an awareness of criteria for the successful completion of tasks. Revise learning intention. Last term we focused on what a self-regulated learner is. A self-regulated learner is someone who makes choices about their own learning and keeps their own learning on track by checking in with how they are going. During learning centres we check our learning is on track by following the ‘Together we…’flowchart. Revise the ‘Together we…’ flowchart. Explain to students to be successful learners at learning centres, we need to plan, create, share and think what’s next at our centres. At each centre, there is a flowchart poster with the headings: Plan, Create, Share, Think…what’s next? Plan – first I must read the prompt on the table and plan my idea of how to solve the problem. I need to think what is the prompt asking me to do so that I can plan my ideas. Create – after I have planned my idea, I can start creating it. I need to make sure I have the materials I need to be successful. I can create in lots of different ways. Share – after I have created my idea, I can share my idea with my peers and the teacher. I can talk about what I have made and listen to feedback from my peers and teachers. Did I respond to the prompt, what have I done well, what else can I do to add more, what can I change… Think...Whats next? – after I have finished, I can then think what’s next? How else can I made my learning more successful, is there anything else I can add or change. I need to check and reflect on what I learnt, did my idea work or do I need to try again? Last term we looked closely at what planning looks like and sounds like. Today we are going to look at more closely at what creating looks like, sounds like and feels like. After I ‘plan’ I need to ‘create’. Explain to students that we are going to have a look at a book about a little girl who thinks of a great idea and creates a ‘magnificent thing’! While they are listening to the story they need to think about the process the girl goes through. What are some of the things she does? Does she have different feelings while she creates? Read the story ‘The Magnificent Thing’ by Ashley Spires or watch the video: Think, pair, share: What does creating look like, sound like and feel like? (Use popsticks to involve students in discussion) Scaffold student responses and record on an anchor chart. Starts with an idea, using your plan as a guide, working with a team, gathering supplies, setting up a space to work, working on making or doing something slowly and carefully, reflecting on your learning and making changes, trying lots of different things, feeling frustrated if things don’t work out but persevering and trying lots of different things, choosing your best idea to share with others, feeling successful and proud once you’ve achieved your goal.
Divide students into 4 groups then walk through to each centre: Authors, Mathematicians, Inventors and Explorers. At each centre the teacher points out the ‘Together we’ flowchart, reads the prompt and shows the resources at each centre. What could I create at each centre to show my learning? Author’s Centre: Make up a story (write a book, make a video or a voice recording using the ipad, create a puppet show) Mathematician’s Centre: Learning with LEGO (take photos, draw and label a picture, make a video) Inventor’s Centre: Program a bee bot (write a procedure, use voice recorder to record your instructions, draw a diagram or a map) Explorer’s Centre: Investigate the natural environment (draw or paint a detailed picture, take some close up photos and label them, write a description) After students finish the learning centres session, teacher reiterates the ‘Together we’ flowchart posters during the reflection time and asks students if they used the poster to help them with the development of their work. Where are they up to in the flowchart? Do they need to go back to the same centre in the next session to finish working on their idea? Inform students that they always need to refer to the poster every time they go to the centre. Students can;
Look back on all the work that the Artists have been doing. Allow students to TPS about their experiences in the artists centre and what they have been doing and what they have enjoyed about being in the Artists Centre. Discuss the job of an artists – As musicians we have been adding sound effects to a story, as illustrators we have been creating the front cover of texts and creating the illustrations for a text by using the story to guide our drawings. Discuss the purpose of a text (to entertain) and why we reads lots of different texts. But imagine if we had the power to change a text? As an artist, what if we could change the complication in the story so things work out differently for the character? How would we do that? Why would we do that? Display the text “The Gruffulo’s Child”. Read the text to the students, pausing as the mouse leaves the cave. Using the planning for retells (orientation, complication, resolution) discuss the text writing down the key ideas in the orientation. What about the complication? How can we change the complication of the story? Students TPS what could happen differently in the story and share with the group. How does the character now solve this problem? What will the resolution look like? In the Artists Centre use the text The Gruffulo’s Child and allow students to adapt the story complication, planning the it first and then writing it out. The explorer’s centre was very popular! Students were attracted to the centre by the earthworms that were on the table and the ‘invitation to engage’ that prompted them to explore the school garden for mini beasts. They were motivated and curious to find out more about mini beasts after their excursion to Field of Mars and were able to independently use their prior learning about insects to make connections with the creatures they discovered in the school garden. It all seemed a little chaotic at first, but after the crazy grab for the equipment in eagerness to get straight outside and explore students engaged in purposeful learning all the while maintaining that initial excitement! Through deliberate teaching choices that scaffolded student learning, students were able to make careful observations, expand their language around the topic by engaging in purposeful talk, collaborate by sharing ideas and asking and answering each others questions, and record their learning so it could be shared with others. Generally students spent 1-2 sessions at the centre. At the beginning of each session students who hadn’t explored the garden chose some equipment including magnifying glasses and bug specimen containers and spent about 15 minutes exploring the garden outside the classroom with a teacher. While at first it appeared there was not much to see, the students were true explorers looking under leaves, up trees, under the bark and in the dirt! During the 6 sessions the students found lots of ants, a spider and spider web, lots of bees in the purple flowers, a moth, a wasp, a fly and even some bird’s nests in the trees. They were able to gently and safely place an ant in the specimen jar to have a closer look. When directed to use the ‘eyes of a scientist’ to make close observations students noticed the colour, three body parts (which they linked to their learning at Field of Mars), six legs, and the way they moved around. Lots of time was spent scaffolding the students’ language and introducing specific vocabulary, such as scurry, camouflage, insect and arachnid. Many students incorrectly used ‘catched’ instead of the past tense ‘caught’ so I focused on modelling using the correct past tense and having students repeat their sentence correctly. I also demonstrated how to write this word so they could include it correctly in their writing. The students each had a clipboard and texta so they were able to write some notes while exploring. I also took a clipboard and wrote some notes about what we saw and discussed so the students could be reminded of the discussions during the session or the next session (even though they would be working with a different teacher). Once we came inside the students were eager to talk about what they saw to the students who decided to quietly observe the earthworms. We had a discussion about where to next. We talked about using the information books in the centre to find out more information about the mini beasts if they wanted to investigate further and how they could share their learning with the students in the different centres. We talked about the purpose and audience of our writing. Students could choose to write a recount about what they did outside (linked to prior classroom learning), a description of one of the mini beasts they saw, a labelled diagram or a factual text (using the information books available. The students had been jointly and independently constructing information texts in the classroom). After discussion students excitedly got to work. Most students were able to present their learning and share with others. Here are some examples of how students with very different learning needs were able to access the explorer’s centre and extend their learning by working at their point of need with teacher scaffolding. Student 1 is a very capable writer and eagerly got to work writing his first sentence. He showed me his work that included a quite realistic picture of an ant and a well-written first sentence. We talked about what he noticed the ants doing and he was able to independently add another sentence explaining the way they moved. He then came to check in again and I prompted him to write about the ant he caught and all the things he noticed about it. He was able to do this independently too. This time he added more than one sentence! When he came to check in again we talked about the clever choice to include the technical words he had learnt to describe the ant’s body. We also did some editing, focusing on the fixing the incorrect use of the apostrophe for the plural ‘ants.’ I then asked him if he could add the technical words to his picture so it could be a diagram that would give extra information to the reader about the ant’s body parts. The student was so proud of his work and shared with the other students during reflection. Checking in was very important for this student. Although a capable writer he didn’t know where to next and needed a sounding board and some specific direction to enhance his writing beyond the initial sentence with a matching illustration. Student 2 is also an independent writer. She used the learning about planning from the learning centre introduction to create a mind map of all the things she noticed and the group discussed about ants. She wasn’t sure of what to do next. We began by reflecting on her planning. We talked about the clever technical words she used 'camouflage' and 'predators', corrected the word ‘caught’ and practised using it correctly in a sentence. We then talked about where to next, after our conversation she decided that she could use her key words to write sentences. She was able to do this independently. Student 1 and Student 2 then shared their work with one another and student 2 decided to add a diagram. Student 3 has special needs and is generally unable to write independently. He was able to independently draw a picture of an ant with 3 body parts, 6 legs and antennas. He wasn’t sure what to do next. We had a conversation about what he did outside and he was very excited to talk about the ant he caught. I asked if he could tell me a sentence that he would like to share with others. He said ‘I caught a ant’. We talked about the colour of the ant and I modelled how he could add it to his sentence. ‘I caught a black ant’. I wrote the sentence on a strip for the student. He was able to read it as I cut it into words. He then independently put the sentence back together and, after a quick check in, glued it below his picture. The student was able to read his sentence correctly to another teacher. He was so happy to share his work with others. Student 4 demonstrates good oral language skills. He is also quite a good speller but a very reluctant writer. He began by writing one long run on sentence listing the mini beasts he saw in the garden. I noticed that even though he was a main contributor to the discussion in the garden and was able to describe the mini beasts we saw he hadn’t included any of these details in his writing. I explained this to him and suggested we write one detailed sentence for each of the creatures he saw in the garden, including what they looked like, how they moved or where he saw them. We talked about each of the mini beasts one at a time and he was able to compose and rehearse a more detailed sentence. He was able to rewrite each of his sentences one at a time. The following session the student published his work and added matching illustrations. Student 5 is also a reluctant writer. He has been working on learning to hear and record sounds and letter formation. He had drawn a picture of a worm and added lines to show their segments when asked to look closely and add the details he saw. After a conversation the student was able to compose a simple sentence. ‘They have lines on their body.’ He was unsure how to start writing. We wrote the sentence together. With assistance the student located ‘they’ on the word card and wrote it down. We had a conversation about they being a word you just have to remember but he can use what he knows about the word ‘the’ to help him. He wrote the word they and we practised the correct formation of the letter ‘y’. He was able to stretch out ‘have’ and record the first 3 sounds. I showed him where it was on the word chart and he added in the ‘e’. He stretched out ‘lines’ and wrote in the initial sound ‘l’. I wrote line on another sheet of paper and he copied it into his sentence. I then asked what needed to be added to make it say ‘lines’ and he successfully added in the ‘s’. We practised rereading his sentence and monitoring what comes next. We jointly worked to write the remainder of the sentence and he was able to read it back. Over the 6 sessions almost all students participated in the explorer’s centre. There were lots of examples of student engagement, self-regulation, independently making connections to prior learning and current classroom learning. Most students completed a high quality piece of work to share their learning with others.
Even though Year One have been very quiet on the blog this term we have been very busy! We have made some changes to way we set up, plan and teach during learning centres and the way we document our teaching. We have used new planning system for Year One Learning Centres. Rather than timetabling planning on a weekly basis, we have planned in a 3 week cycle in order to deepen learning for students. To better allow for responsive planning, one teacher worked with the IL to plan and team-teach the six introductions for the learning cycle. Prior to the 3 week cycle, we planned 'invitations to engage' for the 4 centres and took the time to prepare/source the resources needed. These invitations to engage essentially remained the same for the 3 weeks; however, we did to add/remove resources based on student responses. For example during the first session the students in the inventor’s centre only used play dough to create their habitats rather than using a variety of materials. We moved the play dough from the table with the ‘invitation to engage’ to the inventor’s workshop where the rest of the materials were kept. Thinking carefully about materials became the focus of our next introduction. The first introduction in the cycle focused on the LISC and new centre prompts, introductions 2-5 focused on each centre (in an order responsive to student need - based on reflections after each session), and introduction 6 focused on student reflection and evaluation. (see attached planner for more information). This planner was added to each session and emailed to staff that would be working students during learning centre time prior to the session. Set up of learning centres has also been a lot easier this way! We have set up a trolley for each learning centre that has the word cards, paper, scrapbook and sign on sheet in the top tray; centre name, LISC flowchart and writing materials in the second tray; and the 'invitation to engage’ prompt and resources in the bottom tray. This is placed beside each centre for easy set up and pack up. We explicitly taught students to pack up during the first session and follow up on these expectations each session to make sure everything is packed away properly so it is ready to use the following session. The shelves for each centre have additional resources that are not directly linked to the 'invitation to engage' but can be accessed by teachers and students during the session to scaffold/extend learning. We have noticed that these changes have had a positive impact on student learning and teacher planning! The changes have maximised student engagement by modelling deep thinking in introductions, structuring invitations to engage so that students are required to independently transfer what they are learning in other lessons to learning centres and allowing time for students to engage in critical and creative thinking by having the invitations to engage the same over a three week (six session) cycle. More students have been motivated to published high quality learning, as they have been encouraged to return to a centre if they need additional time before sharing. They have demonstrated pride in their work that they are eager to finish, share and discuss. Teacher planning has been reflective and responsive as lesson introductions have been structured to flow on from one another, building on prior learning and addressing the skills needed to successfully engage with the learning prompt at each centre – ‘invitation to engage’. They have also closely aligned with the ‘big idea’ and teaching and learning programs being taught in the Year One classrooms. The introductions have been documented alongside the ‘invitations to engage’ in a planner that was accessed by all staff supporting student learning in the centres. The ‘invitations to engage’ included carefully chosen high quality resources that were limited in number so student learning was focused and students were not overwhelmed by choice. Due to the positive impact these changes have had we will continue to implement Year Once Learning Centres using this format! Read the attached planner for a closer look at the lesson introductions and ‘invitations to engage’!
Year two have become relatively confident in planning during learning centres and literacy. However, based on observation and student work samples, it was evident that students did not take their planning and expand on it during their writing. For example, when planning for a retell students would plan key phrases or words “year 2 walk”. They would then write a sentence with one simple clause without detail about the circumstance, for example “we went for a walk”. This was evident in all centres.
Therefore, for the model, it was important to show students how they can use their planning to develop robust sentences. The focus was to introduce the circumstance of how, where, and when to add detail.
Historians For historians today students will explore:
Refer to PowerPoint for more information
Review with the students what an Engineer is and the role of an engineer. Watch the clip, stopping at 0.50. Have students reiterate what was said in their own way. https://youtu.be/owHF9iLyxic
Today I am going to interview 2 students from last weeks Engineer’s Centre to find out what their experience was using the WeDo Lego kits.
Students
Goal; Students can identify the needs of animals and insects and habitat that suits their needs. We have been looking at how insects grow over the last few weeks. We have been investigating how insects grow and their different stages of development. Highlight diagrams and explanations in the Scientist Book, located in the Scientist Centre. Make reference to insects and living things. Discuss what a living thing is. I am a human. As a human I need food, water and shelter. Those are my needs. Show students an image of a house. This is where I live. My home has a roof to keep out the rain, windows to let in the light and a chimney to let out the smoke from a fire. We light the fire when it is cold to warm us up. This house suits my needs – a roof to keep my dry, a fire to keep me warm, a veggie patch to grow food to eat and running water in taps. This house caters to my needs. But what needs do living things have and how do their habitats cater to their needs? This week in the Scientists we are going to be investigating animal habitats and habitats that suit the needs of living things, such as animals and insects. Examine some images of animal habitats, allow students to share animals that live in those habitats and why (challenge their thinking Why do those animals and insects live there?). Animals and insects are interdependent with their habitats. An animal’s habitat will include enough food, water, shelter and space so that they can survive there. Show students the inquiry question in the Scientists centre; How do habitats suit the needs of living things? Refer to the types of texts located at the centre to help students in their research. Discuss ways students can share their findings; through diagrams and drawings, explanations, facts, etc.
Introduce the Artists centre to the students and the work that they have been involved in over the past few weeks. Highlight the inquiry question “How can I illustrate the front cover of a book?” Refer to the amazing illustrations that students have been working on (use the text book at the centre to look at some of the students’ illustrations. Today we are going to continue our role as illustrators but looking at the content within the text. When an author gives an illustrator a book it looks like this? (Highlight the book “Noni the Pony” with text and no images). Discuss that it is the role of the illustrator to read over the text and to determine the illustrations needed for each page to “bring the story alive”. Remember we gather information from the images not just the text. Highlight the inquiry question to the students “How can I effectively add illustrations to a text?”. Focus on the word effectively and strategies/planning you can do to add illustrations carefully and strategically. Discuss strategies students can use to begin drawing illustrations for a books;
Students
Introduce the Scientists centre to the students and direct their attention to the inquiry question on the table. In Learning Centres we have been looking at and researching how insects grow. Our inquiry question/prompt is “How do insects grow?”. On Friday we went to Field of Mars and we learned lots of information about insects, their features and their natural habitats. Show some of the images from the FoM excursion. Did you know that we have insects growing in our classroom? Show students the box of silkworm eggs and larvae. We have silkworms growing in our classroom, but they are not silkworms yet. Silkworms begin as an egg and then go through 2 stages before they are silkworm moths. Show students images from inside the box. Explain the life cycle of a silkworm using the diagram. The silkworm begins as an egg, then the egg hatches. We call this larva. The larva turns into a pupa which then turns into an adult moth. Explain the diagram life cycle and how it works. It is in the shape of a circle, meaning it goes around, just like a cycle. Tell students about how to keep and care for silkworms, providing silkworms with a natural habitat, using the leaf, placing near sunlight. feeding, etc. What else can we learn about silkworms from observations? As students work in the scientists centre talk about observations we can make, noting features and characteristics of the larvae. This intro focuses on role of writers and journalists in LC. Students and teachers will discuss: |
lc_week_5_writers.pptx | |
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Introduce the historian centre to the students. Recap – what is an historian? An historian is someone that studies/researches about the past and events that happened in the past. Researching and studying about the past helps people understand the things that happen today and that may happen in the future. Historians study artefacts and events in the past to find out how people lived long ago.
In the historians centre this term we will be examining artefacts to help us find out more about the past and how the artefacts were used. In the historians centre we have this artefact (old phone). Our job as historians is to ask questions and to examine so that we can find out more. We can also use other learning/knowledge to help us make links and figure out clues about something.
TPS – Have students turn and talk, sharing an “I wonder” about the artefact.
Make a list of “I Wonder” statements on the whiteboard. This can help guide us as we examine the artefact and keep us on track. Watch how I can turn my “I wonder” into an inquiry question.
Question predications?
To share our understanding of the telephone we can draw a picture of it and label the different parts. We can also write information about the different parts and what they are used for.
In the historians centre this term we will be examining artefacts to help us find out more about the past and how the artefacts were used. In the historians centre we have this artefact (old phone). Our job as historians is to ask questions and to examine so that we can find out more. We can also use other learning/knowledge to help us make links and figure out clues about something.
TPS – Have students turn and talk, sharing an “I wonder” about the artefact.
Make a list of “I Wonder” statements on the whiteboard. This can help guide us as we examine the artefact and keep us on track. Watch how I can turn my “I wonder” into an inquiry question.
Question predications?
- What is it? How do you know?
- How does it work?
- How do you call people?
- How does it ring?
- What is the box for under the dial?
- Do you carry it around with you in your bag?
To share our understanding of the telephone we can draw a picture of it and label the different parts. We can also write information about the different parts and what they are used for.
Students were so excited to be engaging in Learning Centers this week after quite a lengthy break due to learning from home and COVID-19 restrictions! The students remembered the learning expectations for working in the centres and eagerly shared them in an animated discussion. It was obvious how excited they were begin engaging in the centres.
To begin the term the centres will continue to be explorers, mathematicians, authors and inventors. The invitations to play will be based around the current learning that is happening across the curriculum in classrooms with a focus on the writing and science unit, researching/observing a variety of animals and writing information reports and consolidating prior learning with a focus around quality literature and retelling.
I collected the students work samples from learning centres on Monday to see how students were going and some of the things I noticed while looking through the students work samples were:
To help students complete a piece of work they may need to spend two sessions at the same center, working on the same invitation to play. Teachers could keep hold of work that students have begun and encourage and motivate them to return to the same centre for 2-3 sessions to complete a task. This may include working through ideas, drafting a response and preparing a published copy to share with others. It may be written: creating a poster, book, fact sheet etc.; digital: creating a video, photo story etc; or artistic: creating a model, collage , painting etc.
To assist with this I have written a short comment on each students work suggesting where to next for them in the next session. They may need some help to read these on Monday and some support following on with the tasks. As well as this there were also some general things that I noticed at each center too that could be a focus for teacher scaffolding on Monday:
In the author's center most students had read/listened to a story and started to plan their recount using a picture for orientation, complication and resolution.
On Monday students could:
In the mathematician's center most students had one solution to the problem and showed their thinking with pictures or a number line. There were lots of number reversals though!
On Monday students could:
In the inventor's centre most students had worked collaboratively to create a map of a zoo with animals/paths/facilities.
On Monday students could:
In the explorer's centre some students had chosen an environment and started a picture or begun writing a sentence but many seem to need some assistance to show their thinking/learning. Perhaps we could add some simplified books/posters to this center for students to access. If you have any other ideas to support the students to access this center and get excited about their learning please bring them along!
On Monday:
Hopefully allowing the students to continue at the same center for another session will give teachers the opportunity to scaffold the students to complete and enhance their thinking and allow the students to act on feedback to complete a high quality piece of work that they can share with others.
Since we are keeping the invitations to play the same for the next couple of weeks it would be good to focus the introductions on these prompts to extend student learning in each of the centers.
This week the focus was on the mathematics centre and how to tackle the open ended problem. The following weeks should focus on the other 3 centers. Some ideas for the following weeks could be (but are certainly not limited to):
The invitations to play will be changed in the coming weeks and it would be ideal to display completed student work samples of high quality at the center. This way other students will have an opportunity to engage with a previously presented task, the new invitation to play or an idea of their own using the available resources.
To begin the term the centres will continue to be explorers, mathematicians, authors and inventors. The invitations to play will be based around the current learning that is happening across the curriculum in classrooms with a focus on the writing and science unit, researching/observing a variety of animals and writing information reports and consolidating prior learning with a focus around quality literature and retelling.
I collected the students work samples from learning centres on Monday to see how students were going and some of the things I noticed while looking through the students work samples were:
- There was a variety of independent work and collaborative work. This reflected the learning I observed during the session - There was lots of purposeful talk and sharing of ideas to collaborate in pairs or small groups.
- Most students had engaged in the task but did not have the opportunity to complete their work. Ideally most students should have a completed piece of work (although not necessarily written) that is ready share with others at the end of each session.
- Students engaged in some centres more productively than others. They seemed to respond to the invitations to play in the inventors and mathematicians centres more successfully. I was wondering if this could be because the tasks were more open ended and inspired creative thinking and purposeful talk. I am wondering what changes we could we make to the prompt questions/resources to further engage students in the author's and explorer's centres.
To help students complete a piece of work they may need to spend two sessions at the same center, working on the same invitation to play. Teachers could keep hold of work that students have begun and encourage and motivate them to return to the same centre for 2-3 sessions to complete a task. This may include working through ideas, drafting a response and preparing a published copy to share with others. It may be written: creating a poster, book, fact sheet etc.; digital: creating a video, photo story etc; or artistic: creating a model, collage , painting etc.
To assist with this I have written a short comment on each students work suggesting where to next for them in the next session. They may need some help to read these on Monday and some support following on with the tasks. As well as this there were also some general things that I noticed at each center too that could be a focus for teacher scaffolding on Monday:
In the author's center most students had read/listened to a story and started to plan their recount using a picture for orientation, complication and resolution.
On Monday students could:
- Reread their chosen text
- Draw/finish drawing their plan
- Write/edit the retell (assist students to use word cards/editing cards and story books to correct spelling and punctuation)
- Publish their retell so it is ready for an audience! (This might be typed into laptops and printed out, made into a little book, using different materials to illustrate eg. Water colours etc.)
In the mathematician's center most students had one solution to the problem and showed their thinking with pictures or a number line. There were lots of number reversals though!
On Monday students could:
- Check their work and use a hundreds chart to check and fix their numbers
- Show at least three different combinations to make 12
- Try making another number and writing a word problem to go with their thinking - Read the book 'One is a Snail, Ten is Crab' to further encourage thinking about larger numbers!
- Investigate if they can make an odd number and explain what they notice
- Publish their thinking using pictures and labels, number lines, algorithms or photos and post it notes.
In the inventor's centre most students had worked collaboratively to create a map of a zoo with animals/paths/facilities.
On Monday students could:
- Finish their maps
- Add a key
- Add a timetable to show zoo keeper talks
- Explain to someone how to use their maps and record the instructions on the iPad.
In the explorer's centre some students had chosen an environment and started a picture or begun writing a sentence but many seem to need some assistance to show their thinking/learning. Perhaps we could add some simplified books/posters to this center for students to access. If you have any other ideas to support the students to access this center and get excited about their learning please bring them along!
On Monday:
- Students may need help accessing the texts: They could collaborate in pairs/small groups to read part of the text together or read the captions to get information from the pictures. The teacher may need to read the text for some students to help them access the information.
- Students could write one interesting fact
- Draw and label a picture of the environment
- Publish their work to share with others (use water colours, collage, recycled materials to make am environment)
Hopefully allowing the students to continue at the same center for another session will give teachers the opportunity to scaffold the students to complete and enhance their thinking and allow the students to act on feedback to complete a high quality piece of work that they can share with others.
Since we are keeping the invitations to play the same for the next couple of weeks it would be good to focus the introductions on these prompts to extend student learning in each of the centers.
This week the focus was on the mathematics centre and how to tackle the open ended problem. The following weeks should focus on the other 3 centers. Some ideas for the following weeks could be (but are certainly not limited to):
- an aspect of mapping and looking more closely at how to read and use a map of a local zoo, using and creating a key, reading or creating a zoo keeper talk timetable to accompany the map for the inventor's center.
- model using a contents/index page/glossary/diagrams in an information big book and using the information gathered to create a labelled diagram of an environment and the animals who live in it or a book with facts about each animal etc. for the explorer's center.
- linking learning about retells in the classroom to the authors centre and modeling a different way retells could be presented: using puppets, felt boards, puppet pals on the iPads etc. for the author's center.
The invitations to play will be changed in the coming weeks and it would be ideal to display completed student work samples of high quality at the center. This way other students will have an opportunity to engage with a previously presented task, the new invitation to play or an idea of their own using the available resources.
Today in Learning Centres in the Mathematician's Centre, we are looking at using different strategies to solve a mathematical investigation. Today’s investigation involves us looking counting the number of legs on animals that Noah saw in the Ark. With this investigation, we have been given two prompting questions. Students are to think about different animals and the number of legs that these animals have that will equal a total of 12 legs.
A demonstration of the task involves drawing the different animals and then selecting animals that the total number of legs will equal 12. Using a number line from 0 to 12, demonstrate how we can use the jump strategy to help solve our problem. Select the animal and count the number of legs that the animal has, using your response, show how to use the number line to then jump that amount. Repeat with other animals until we reach 12 legs. Remind students that the question asks us to find different answers, this means that there is more than 1 strategy we can use to solve this problem. Remind students that they can use other materials to help with their counting such as the abacus, counters, number line, tens frame, models of animals and pictures. Students are to come up with as many responses as they can. Students to carefully think about the animals and how many legs that animal has. Students can extend their thinking by increasing the total number of legs.
Reflection
Students at the Mathematician Centres, all had a go creating different ways to make 12. They used a variety of strategies to count such as counters, a number line and tens frame. Some students chose to write the animal’s name and the number of leg’s that animal has next to its name. other students chose to draw the animals and write the numbers underneath and accompany their work with either a tens frame or number line. Students discussed whether animals such as a snake, kangaroo and gorilla had legs or were their arms part of their legs and whether a tail was considered a leg too.
Reflection
Students at the Mathematician Centres, all had a go creating different ways to make 12. They used a variety of strategies to count such as counters, a number line and tens frame. Some students chose to write the animal’s name and the number of leg’s that animal has next to its name. other students chose to draw the animals and write the numbers underneath and accompany their work with either a tens frame or number line. Students discussed whether animals such as a snake, kangaroo and gorilla had legs or were their arms part of their legs and whether a tail was considered a leg too.
Today in learning centres we will be looking at the picturebook 'No More Noisy Nights' by Holly L. Niner. In the picturebook, No More Noisy Nights, Jackson moves into a new home, each night since he has moved in he faces a problem: he cannot go to sleep because of noises that various characters make. Each morning, Jackson asks these characters to stop making those noises to which they always reply, 'What should I do?' So each day, Jackson spends that day finding a solution to the problem and as each problem is solved, Jackson's nights become better and he finally is able to sleep.
After watching the view, inform students that in Learning Centres today, we are learning to find a solution to problems and to never give up. Jackson was determined to get a peaceful night's rest and for him to achieve this, he had to help each character solve their noise making problem and as he solved each of these, he finally reached his goal.
Today we are learning to find a solution and to never give up.
Miss Mohamed
Today we are learning to find a solution and to never give up.
Miss Mohamed
This week I will focus on the Journalists Centre, summarising what journalists do in the real world. We will discuss how journalists can have many different opportunities to be informative and investigative all around the world.
One such role that Journalists have is writing book reviews. What is a book review? What is the purpose of a review? Why do people read reviews? Explicitly tell students what a book review is. Students TPS about why people read book reviews and the purpose of writing a book review. Students will see that these reviews are published in newspapers and magazines. Using the Countdown and Blast Off student magazines, show students the section titled “Book Shelf” and highlight that these articles are reviews about books that the journalist has read.
“A book review is a summary or retell of the book, without giving away the ending. Journalists also give their opinion of the book.”
With the help of the students make a list of criteria that you would need in a book review to allow the reader to decide if he/she wants to read that book. Using a recently read book in the classroom begin to address the different criteria using the text. Inform students that this is the planning phase and once all criteria have been addressed you can begin to write it formally.
Students have been reading a number of quality texts for their Premier’s Reading Challenge and this is a great opportunity to share those texts with others and given their opinions on the texts.
One such role that Journalists have is writing book reviews. What is a book review? What is the purpose of a review? Why do people read reviews? Explicitly tell students what a book review is. Students TPS about why people read book reviews and the purpose of writing a book review. Students will see that these reviews are published in newspapers and magazines. Using the Countdown and Blast Off student magazines, show students the section titled “Book Shelf” and highlight that these articles are reviews about books that the journalist has read.
“A book review is a summary or retell of the book, without giving away the ending. Journalists also give their opinion of the book.”
With the help of the students make a list of criteria that you would need in a book review to allow the reader to decide if he/she wants to read that book. Using a recently read book in the classroom begin to address the different criteria using the text. Inform students that this is the planning phase and once all criteria have been addressed you can begin to write it formally.
Students have been reading a number of quality texts for their Premier’s Reading Challenge and this is a great opportunity to share those texts with others and given their opinions on the texts.
YouTube video: Sesame Street: Kermit and Elmo Discuss Happy
This week we will be using the puppet theatre in learning centres. Students have not used this in year 1 yet, so the introduction to it will be based around the questions; what is a puppet show? What does it look like? Engaging students in this discussion will allow me to gage what they know about puppet shows and help me with my intro moving forward. Using pre-selected puppets, I will show students the plan I created for my puppet show previously. I will show students the main features they must have, for example characters with names and a story line with perhaps a problem that gets solved. Linking this to story-telling, show students that being a puppet means you have to change your voice and be that character.
I will demonstrate a few correct, then incorrect ways to use the puppet theatre to role play their script. Explain that all puppet shows have a script that says the character’s name and what they say, showing an example.
I will be using students to come up for an impromptu puppet show and. We will be analysing whether they change their voice and become that character. Setting the kids up, I will go through the rule of using the puppet theatre, along with examples of when they are ready and not ready to perform.
This week we will be using the puppet theatre in learning centres. Students have not used this in year 1 yet, so the introduction to it will be based around the questions; what is a puppet show? What does it look like? Engaging students in this discussion will allow me to gage what they know about puppet shows and help me with my intro moving forward. Using pre-selected puppets, I will show students the plan I created for my puppet show previously. I will show students the main features they must have, for example characters with names and a story line with perhaps a problem that gets solved. Linking this to story-telling, show students that being a puppet means you have to change your voice and be that character.
I will demonstrate a few correct, then incorrect ways to use the puppet theatre to role play their script. Explain that all puppet shows have a script that says the character’s name and what they say, showing an example.
I will be using students to come up for an impromptu puppet show and. We will be analysing whether they change their voice and become that character. Setting the kids up, I will go through the rule of using the puppet theatre, along with examples of when they are ready and not ready to perform.
This Week in learning centres, our focus will be on extending the thinking, imagination and composing skills of students in the dinosaur centre. Play a Elmo clip about dinosaurs and how to role play being a dinosaur. Discuss how dinosaurs can behave, eat, play, live, make a home and how to role play being a dinosaur using the model toys, sand and equipment. Introduce the idea of designing your own dinosaur park to students. Model how to create different homes for different dinosaurs in a giant dinosaur park. Students can use fences to section off different areas of their dinosaur park. They can make land areas using sand and add trees and rocks and hiding places for different types of dinosaurs. Model how to design, draw and make the dinosaur park using the design grid and toy dinosaur models. Students draw their park onto the design grid. Model how to play in the dinosaur park and create your own dinosaur hunt around the various areas of dinosaur park. Students can role play, draw and write about their dinosaur hunt on a story map to explain their trip. They may want to give their dinosaur story map to a friend to follow around their dinosaur park and find where their dinosaur is hiding.
Students may also want to design their own dinosaur for their park and decide on a name and what the animal eats and how it behaves. Encourage students to use their imagination, talk about their designs and creations and draw and write about their park and dinosaur hunts. Encourage role play and lots of language by referring to the provided books, information sheets, pictures and word cards.
Watch the following clips about dinosaurs as a hook and model for students:
Sesame street- Burt and Ernie imagine dinosaurs
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Sesame+Street+Dinosaurs&&view=detail&mid=8699753681D140107CE68699753681D140107CE6&&FORM=VRDGAR
Elmos world- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9FbEhcUvq0
Students may also want to design their own dinosaur for their park and decide on a name and what the animal eats and how it behaves. Encourage students to use their imagination, talk about their designs and creations and draw and write about their park and dinosaur hunts. Encourage role play and lots of language by referring to the provided books, information sheets, pictures and word cards.
Watch the following clips about dinosaurs as a hook and model for students:
Sesame street- Burt and Ernie imagine dinosaurs
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Sesame+Street+Dinosaurs&&view=detail&mid=8699753681D140107CE68699753681D140107CE6&&FORM=VRDGAR
Elmos world- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9FbEhcUvq0
Author
Blog about our K-2 learning centres, written by teachers and for teachers!