Miss T's Classroom.

In our classroom this term we are trying something different for managing our Literacy section of the day.  We can choose from 5 options each day.

Reading to Self

Reading to Someone

Writing

Working with Words

Listening.

While the students are working on one of the above, Miss T can work with individuals and groups.  So far it is going very well and we are learning to be self-managing,and  to know our goals and work towards them.

We have a time together for about 10 minutes when we learn about something in reading, writing or spelling. After that we can choose one of the above.  We spend about 25 minutes on this option, it is then back to the gathering area for another 10 minute learning session.  We generally have three choosing times each day, broken by 10 minute whole group times.

photo © 2008 Mike Seyfang | more info (via: Wylio)

As part of our unit study we are learning how to write “thick questions”  and then how to research and find information that addresses our question.  Thick questions are questions that require more than yes or no, or a one or two word answer.  We learned a thick question should at least require a paragraph or more to answer it.

We discussed plagiarism.   What is that you ask?  Well that is copying a whole lot of writing out of a book or off a web site and copying it word for word.  I have already seen a little of this is some student posts!!!  I hope I won’t come across it again.  Someone else wrote it, they own it!  IF YOU COPY IT YOU BREAK THE RULE OF COPYRIGHT.   It looks like you might have written it, but most teachers can tell the difference most of the time.

We then looked at how we might use those people’s wisdom and learning in a fair way.  We first of all note our source, that is the Title and Author of the book, or the Website that we got the information.  We then looked at how we might take notes from this, an important word here and there that will jog our memory.  Try and think, “Do I really need this word?”  pretend each word costs money. 

Later when we have explored a number of sources we can turn our notes into our own words and answer our questions in writing.  Of course we will give the sources that we used at the end.

If all we learn in this unit is to:

1) ask thick questions

2) take notes and keep track of your sources

3) turn your notes into your own writing

we will have achieved an enormous amount.

photo © 2009 Jeff Golden | more info (via: Wylio)
 

Teegan has completed an excellent post on how to comment on an Edublogs blog.  Breellen also has one that is well explained.  An excellent post for students or parents who are wanting to know what to do. Joseph has some very good pointers for writing comments and Emma has some good tips as well.

Simone has some excellent tips for writing posts.  Indeed they are excellent tips for writing.

Daniel M has written a short post telling us about what school is like in Tonga for him. Check it out.  Leave him a comment.

Over the holidays we had installed for us a new overhead projector, that will also eventually be interactive when I get it figured out!  It is fabulous.  It links to my computer straight away, which saves quite a bit of time, as I had problems with my previous one.  This latest one is actually fixed above the whiteboard so I don’t have to worry about cords etc.

Thank you to the parent(s) and Principal who worked on getting funding to put them in three of our classes. Its exciting and now we will be finding out how it can help us with our learning.

Already this morning I was able to put up a couple of paragraphs that students in the class had written and we were able to discuss them.  The print was very clear.

I can’t wait until Dad takes me hunting with his friend, Jamie again.  It takes a long time to get to the place where Jamie hunts but it’s worth the wait!  Because when we get there we have a very big walk around the old tracks in the forest, and stay up late in the tiny little Hut.  The next day we shot a rock for target practice with his 22 shotgun. I don’t mean to brag but last time, I hit the rock too.  After that Jamie looked in the forest for a wild pig or deer.   [Dad and I stayed in the Hut for this] when he came back we thought he might have  found some, but this time he didn’t.  On the last day we left and I miss hunting.

By Jordan

Every November we  do fire works, they’ve  got heaps and different kinds. There is ten shooters and these small things that you light on fire and then you throw on the ground then they spin around  and there is so much more.  But there are some illegal fire works that you aren’t allowed to set off. Last year I went to the fire works show, that’s when the fire men set off  the illegal fire works, I said wow! Thats amazing but this year I missed out on all fire works.

By Daniel H

Our class has been visiting blogs together and leaving comments. We tried to make comments that might keep the conversation going.  We went to Bright Spots, they had been decorating these fabulous pumpkins for Halloween.  We left this comment.

Our whole class watched your pumpkin making together using the digital projector.  We thought all your pumpkins were really creative, really cool.  Not many people celebrate Halloween here in New Zealand. But some people do and they have fun trick or treating.  Only two from our class did that. 5 of us went to a Halloween party.  It’s not really part of our traditions, its more of an American tradition that some people have followed here.  How long did it take to make the pumpkin creatures?  What did you do with them when finished?  How did the people in your class celebrate Halloween? This week we got together and as a class wrote some comments to other blogs. We tried to write comments that would keep the discussion going.

From there we went to Joe’s blog and read about a playstation game he was reviewing.  We replied

A few of the people in our class have played this game but nobody actually owns it.  A few of us have clocked. We just had to explain that word to our teacher. She didn’t know what it meant!!  Are there any cheat codes?  Do you ever use them? Was the last level hard for you? Do you own the game or do you play it somewhere else?  Come and visit our student blogs. 

Lastly we visited a Grade 2 blog and found they were learning about fairy tales, we left them the following comment.

Last term we did a lot of fairy tale work with Mrs Ellis our other teacher.  We did dioramas of fairy tales.  We also had to rewrite a chosen fairy tale.  This week sounds very busy for you. We would like to know how you got on with your quill writing. And what kind of feather did you use for it? Or is the quill something else?  Does it drip very much when you use it?  They used quills in Harry Potter!

If you are in to play station games you might like to visit Joe’s blog, again from the Bright Spots blog. Maybe there is nobody in our class that likes playstation. I don’t think I would! However if you do like such games, drop in on him, read his posts and leave him a comment.

“To get you visiting other blogs, do the following activity – Count out three. On the September participants page, click on the blog of either a student or a class. This is count out one. Now go to the blogroll of that student or class and click on a link to another person. This is count out two. Finally when on that blog, click on the link of someone in that blogroll. This is count out three. Now leave a comment on that person’s blog. Hopefully this is not a blogger you have already commented on. Try this activity at least three times.” Ms Wyatt.

My comment on this to students in the classroom is, try the count out, if you find you can only do a two count out thats okay. The main point is to make comments on blogs you haven’t been to yet, and also to keep up the standard of commenting. Remember our comment pointers, see can you keep the conversation going.  Don’t forget to check when people leave you a comment and reply to them if it is needed.

My cat Pip is so lazy all she does is eat and sleep. When my sister and I get home from school she has to be sleeping. Her bed says “sleeping an art”,  my Mum and Dad bought it for only five dollars,  it was a really good buy. That’s why it is so appropriate because she is great at sleeping. When my Dad comes home from work she will run down the stairs and end up tripping you up just to get food.  After that she will go up the stairs and back to sleep.  If you come to my house she will be sleeping as usual in her bed that says “sleeping is an art”.

By Emma