Senior Projects

Term 1 2018

The context for the majority of our learning in Term One has been our big idea of ‘Community’. As well as the posts below, this learning has also involved:

• Exploring the Treaty of Waitangi.
• Children identifying the communities they are part off.
• Children exploring and defining what makes a community successful.
• Children completing an inquiry about a community of their choice by following through the research cycle.
• Children completing a project about making a community a better place.

Throughout this time, the children have also completed a wide range of other literacy and numeracy learning tasks.

Throughout the term, our children have also all actively participated in…

• Weekly Sports Rotations.
• Weekly Syndicate Singing.
• Senior Syndicate Triathlon.
• Overnight Camp at Rangi Woods.
• Water Safety Programme at the Lido.
• School Powhiri and School Assemblies.
• Life Education Sessions.

Building Routines and Expectations

We believe in empowering children to manage and lead their own learning.  In order for children to do this successfully, we have to build routines and set high expectations for learning and behaviour right from the start of the year.

This learning has involved:

• Supporting children to make the best choice for their learning. For example: Where is the best place for me to learn? What learning should I complete first? How can I ask for help with my learning? What do I do when I think I have finished?
• Exploring Digital Citizenship and developing a ‘Digital Citizenship Treaty’. Given that our spaces are 1-1 digital, this is crucial for ensuring the children understand they are trusted to make good choices when they are using a device for their learning until we have a reason to believe otherwise.
• Developing children’s knowledge and ability to use Google Apps for Education. Our spaces do not function effectively without this software. This is how our children access and complete a range of their learning tasks.
• As the year has progressed, children have learnt how to plan their day on their own weekly timetable. This allows children to have the choice about when and what learning tasks they complete. (This was not new learning for all children.)
• Children are developing an understanding of the workshop model for new learning. This approach gives children the opportunity to be self-directed learners, by choosing to attend the workshops that are best for their learning. (This was not new learning for all children.)
• Co-constructing the Writing Process and the Research Cycle as children completed their first inquiry for the year. These processes are explicitly taught in Term One so children can apply this learning throughout the year.
• Getting ready for learning and systems for cleaning up at the end of the day.
• High expectations have been clearly communicated to learners. Our goal is for all learners to make one year’s progress in one year. This goal is personalised to every child’s current achievement levels. For learners to achieve this they need to be giving their best every day.

Building a Learning Culture

We strive to create a culture in our spaces that has a focus on learning. We explore the concept of learning, what it means to learn and how we learn best. The children have been actively involved in establishing the learning culture in our spaces. By ensuring the children are part of the decision making process, we create a learning community where our children feel a sense of belonging and ownership. As part of this focus, we have explored our new vision, learner competencies and values.

This learning has involved:

• Children completing learning surveys to develop an understanding of themselves as a learner and to allow teachers to understand children's’ learning preferences.
• Exploring our new vision, learner competencies and values.
• Co-constructing a class treaty that reflects the learning culture.
• Creating a class name and logo that reflects the learning culture.
• Beginning to explore the concept of a growth mindset and the learning pit to allow children to understand the expectation that they need to be challenged and willing to take risks if they are going to grow as learners.
• Completing regular reflections on learning.

Building an Environment for Learning

For the last five years, we have been co-constructing the physical environment for learning with the children in our spaces. The year, one of our classes used the theme 'House Rules', one class used a construction zone theme and one class used a movie theme, encouraging the children to be 'Directors of Learning'. The children were actively involved in setting up their physical environment. By ensuring the children are part of the decision making process, we create a learning community where our children feel a sense of belonging and ownership.

This learning has involved:

• Children completing learning surveys to identify their own preferences and the different preferences of the learners in the space.
• Children designing floor plans based on the information from the surveys and reflecting on their effectiveness.
• Children collaborating to set-up the furniture in the different areas in the classroom.
• Reflecting on the effectiveness of the spaces and making changes.

Building Positive Relationships

Our big idea for Term One is ‘Community’. We have been taking the time to get to know each other at the beginning of the year! We believe in building positive relationships so learners feel valued and happy at school. 

This learning has involved:

• Daily informal conversations between children, teachers and parents. 
• Children getting to know each other by collaborating to complete a range of team challenges, often with a group of children who are not their friends. 
• Children and teachers completing profiles and creating artworks which tell a story about their strengths and passions. 
• Children crafting a piece of writing e.g. Our class is lucky to have me because...
• Children and teachers sharing personal news through ‘What’s On Top’. 
• Children attending our overnight camp at Rangi Woods and participating in a range of individual and team challenges. 
• A range of other learning e.g. Fragments of Evidence Home Learning Task. 

Our New Vision: Engage. Explore. Empower.

We are very excited about our new vision statement, learner competencies and values! Throughout the year, we will share our journey with you as we strive to bring our new vision alive in our classrooms and develop our competencies and values as part of daily learning and teaching.