Commenting Thread

Commenting Threads is an ongoing conversation that consists of a greeting, positive feedback and an open question. The difference between an open question and a closed question is that a closed question can just be answered with 'yes' or 'no'. An open question requires a more detailed answer, which gives the reader more to think about.

Commenting Threads help the reader think about their answer, and with each comment thread, the reader can learn more. Whether it is about the current topic or the person that they have started a comment thread with.

Today, I comment threaded with Te Raumati on her Maths task. I asked 'what strategies do you think you could use, and how would you show it?'. She responded and asked 'what strategies do you know that can solve a multiplication equation?'. Once I replied, I asked 'what was the problem you struggled with, adn why do you think you struggled with that equation?'.

LI: to use open questions in a comment thread.

Statistical Investigation

 My class blogpost for statistical investigations can be found here:

Governing Topics

 My class blogpost for governing topics can be found here:

Commenting Thread

Commenting Threads are an ongoing conversation that consists of a greeting, positive feedback and an open question. The difference between an open question and a closed question is that a closed question can just be answered with 'yes' or 'no'. An open question requires a more detailed answer, which gives the reader more to think about.

Commenting Threads help the reader think about their answer, and with each comment thread, the reader can learn more. Whether it is about the current topic or the person that they have started a comment thread with.

Today, I comment threaded with Farzana on my Governing Topics. She started by asking the question 'what other topics would you pick and why'. I responded to the question and asked 'why did you choose the same governing topics as me?'. Once she replied, she asked 'What do you think it requires as a governing body to allow the community healthy?'. 

I enjoyed talking to Farzana about the different governing topics, and I learnt more about why she chose certain governing topics.

 LI: to use open questions in a dialogic conversation.

SSR Selfie

SSR Selfie is an activity that encourages the reader to summarise a text that they have read. SSR Selfie gives information about the title of the story, the author, the illustrator, the main characters, three events that happened in the story, the readers thoughts on the book, and new words the reader has learnt.

I did my SSR Selfie on a story called the Gruffalo which is about a mouse who tricks the animals of the woods so that he doesn't get eaten.

 LI: to summarise and retell a story.

Basic Facts Boxes

Basic Facts Boxes is an activity that challenges others to solve maths problems of all operations quickly. There are two challenges within the Basic Facts Boxes: Speed Demon Challenge and Brain Box.

I completed the speed demon challenge up to 100 for addition and subtraction. I answered five rows  for addition and five rows for subtraction. I got a few of the questions wrong under time pressure. I did this in three minutes and seven seconds.

LI: to remember basic maths facts.

Art Collaboration | Blending Colours

For the past three weeks, LS1 has been collaborating with each other to complete an art piece of the Gruffalo cover, which is the text that we have been using to practice the strategies inferring, connecting and visualizing.

First, we were assigned different parts of the cover to colour in. We did this art piece using pastels and an art technique called 'blending'.

We discussed our ideas of blending and what it is. Blending makes colours fade into a darker or lighter shade. Blending can also make a colour fade into a different colour.

After that, we began to colour in our part of the art. We talked to other groups about the colours and worked together to make sure the art piece matched up to fit accuratly. Groups talked to each other about the colour of the path, the grass, the trees and more.

The art piece has now been coloured in completely and is on the LS1 wall for display.

I enjoyed collaborating with other groups and learning how to blend colours. One thing I think I could improve on is knowing how to make different kinds of shades with the blending technique.

LI: to collaborate with others to finish a group art piece.

LI: to know how to blend colours with pastels.

Writing | Recount

This week we wrote a recount about our daily routines on one of the days of the weeks.

First, I chose a day of the week to write a recount on. I chose Friday. Then we wrote down key phrases and words that relate to our daily routine such as: 'brush teeth' or 'eat breakfast: cereal or pancakes'.

After that, we put our key phrases and words into proper sentences using past tense (words like jumped, talked, woke, walked), first person (words like me, I, us, we), and the structure of a recount (TREE).

Next, we proof read our work to make sure our recount consisted of a title, a reveal, events, and an ending. There should be four paragraphs for the events, each paragraph telling what happened before school, at school, after school and after dinner.

I enjoyed this activity, and found it easy to revise my daily Friday routine. One thing I think I could work on when writing recounts is making it more interesting to read instead of giving plain sentences.

LI: to write a recount on one of the days of the week.

Inquiry | Scenario

This week, we found hazards, risks, and the likelihood of those risks in an activity that we did in real life. The activities that we did were making a fire and cooking smores with the fire.

First, we started by discussing the circumstances of the activities. Some of the circumstances were: we were using a brazier, we would like the fire at 11pm, the fire would be lit on concrete, and there is good enough weather for the fire to be lit.

Next, we talked about the hazards and risks, and wrote the consequences. Then we found out ways we could prevent those consequences from happening, and wrote down what would happen if those consequences elevated.

We did the same process for making smores over the fire.

Once the fire was lit, we were given a demonstration of how the marshmellows should be cooked. There were three marshmellows on a skewer and the skewer was to be held vertically through the gaps of the brazier. We then added chocolate sauce and crackers to complete the smore.

I enjoyed this activity, and I found it challenging to cook marshmellows without burning it. One thing I would like to improve or change is finding more consequences of risks. 

LI: to assess likelihood and conduct a real life scenario.

Reading | Governing Topics

Governing topics are things that parties hope to put into action when they are allowed. The two most important governing topics to me are 'education' and 'health'.

Education is about how the government should be spending money on schools and students being able to learn new and different things.

Health is about keeping people healthy and preventing sickness from spreading due to the global pandemic that has occured this year.

If I voted and could choose governing topics, I would consider looking at the topics; education and health. Education is an important topic to me because I am still in school and are being educated, and health is important to me because I need to keep myself healthy under our current circumstances.

 LI: to choose important governing topics by summarising all topics.

Measuring time | Statistical Investigation

Rounding is a maths strategy that simplifies the numbers in a problem by converting the digits to the closest one, ten, hundred etc. Addition is the process of adding a number to another number. Division shares a certain amount of something equally.

If a digit is within 0-4, people should know that the number should round down. If a digit is 5-9, the number should round up. If rounding to one decimal for example, 28.79. The last decimal digit in this number is '9'. 9 is higher than five, so 79 rounds up to 8 which represents 80. The rounded decimal would become 21.8.

Adding decimal numbers is similar to normal addition. For example, 9.23 + 2.54. People should start by adding the last decimals, 0.03 + 0.04 = 0.07. Then the tens decimal, 0.20 + 0.50= 0.70. 0.70 + 0.07= 0.77. Then the wholes are added, 9 + 2= 11. The total becomes 11.77. However, if the decimal total equals over than 100, it becomes a whole. So a number such as 0.127 would become 1.27.

Dividing a decimal number can also be the same as dividing a whole number. For example, 75.30 divided by 5. People should start by dividing 75 by five to make 15, because 15 x 5= 75. Then, 30 divided by five is 6, because 6 x 5= 30.

 LI: to investigate the units of time.

Kiwi Sport | Cricket

 My class blog post for girl's cricket can be found here:

Art Collaboration

 My class blogpost for art collaboration and colour blending can be found here:

Narrative Rewrite

 My class blogpost for Writing (narrative rewrites) can be found here:

Kiwi Sport | Cricket

This week, the year 4-6 girls were coached by Nick and Sam from Auckland University Cricket Club to learn basic catching, batting and fielding skills in cricket.

First, we practiced throwing a cricket ball up, clapping as many times as we could, and catching the ball. We continued to do this but on one foot. 

After that, we got into partners. Everybody faced their partner, and practiced catching and throwing the ball to one another. My partner and I got 65. We repeated this process, however if the ball dropped the count restarted. My partner and I got 52. We then did this again but catching with one hand. My partner and I got 47.

Next, we were sorted into a fielding team and a batting team. Two people from the batting team would hit six balls off of a T and the fielding team worked together to put the balls back onto the T. The two people batting team had to run to the two white cones that were on either side of the court as many times as they could.

I enjoyed this session of cricket, and found it fun to collaborate as a fielding team, and to challenge myself in the batting team. The purpose of this session is to learn the basic skills needed in cricket.

LI: to learn basic cricket skills.

Art | The Gruffalo

Our art task is to recreate the cover of the Gruffalo story which is the story we have been using to visualise, infer and make connections. 

First, we were given different areas of the picture to colour in using pastels. We discussed a method called 'blending' where we use different colours to create a type of shading that makes the picture more detailed.

Then, (in groups) we started to colour in the picture. There were certain exceptions to our art such as: black pastel comes last because it is the darkest colour, use a paper towel to blend colours and use a cotton-bud to blend small areas of the picture.

For this task, we worked together with other groups to make sure that the end result would fit together.

This activity is two weeks worth of art.

I enjoyed this art lesson very much and I think the art piece came out very well.

LI: to collaborate and complete a group art-piece.

LI: to practice blending colours using pastels.

Basic Facts Boxes

Basic Facts Boxes is an activity that challenges others to solve maths problems of all operations quickly. There are two challenges within the Basic Facts Boxes: Speed Demon Challenge and Brain Box.

I completed the speed demon challenge up to 100 for addition and subtraction. I answered five rows  for addition and five rows for subtraction. I got a few of the questions wrong under time pressure. I did this in three minutes and seven seconds.

LI: to remember basic maths facts.

Māori Language Week | History

Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori is a time in September when New Zealanders can use Te Reo Maori in their everyday lives.

The theme for Maori Language Week is 'Kia Kaha Te Reo Maori' meaning 'Let's make the Maori language strong'.

This activity informs about what Maori Language Week is, and how Maori Language Week began. Roughly 30 years from now, people signed a petition to make Te Reo Maori a more recognizable culture and language.

Credit to the information source: New Zealand History.

LI: to learn about the history of Māori Language Week.

Writing | Narrative Rewrite

To rewrite a narrative, people often use ideas and features from an original text to create a new story that can fit with the events in another story.

The following questions are used to give the writer an idea of what they are rewriting. The questions are: 'who would the character meet the fox/owl/snake?', 'what would the fox/owl/snake say?', and 'what is the Gruffalo's favorite food including the fox/owl/snake?'.

The mouse was changed into a beetle because they are both prey and are similar characters. The greeting has been changed to "What will it be? Come have lunch high up in my tree". The Gruffalo's favorite food has been changed to "owl creme" because it rhymes with 'stream'.

Rewriting a narrative helps the reader engage in creative thinking and being able to rewrite a story that makes sense and can flow with an original text.

LI: to rewrite a narrative.

Inquiry | Risk Assessment

This activity is based around understanding the possible risks, hazards, consequences and the risks likelihood within an event.

First, we recapped what risks and hazards are. We informed that hazards are things that can cause harm to people, property or the environment. We also informed that risks are the possibility that a hazard will cause harm to people, property or the environment.

Next, we made our own safety action plan on a simple activity. We wrote down what the activity was, the class level, the number of helpers, the number of students and the location of the activity. For every 10 students, there is one helper.

After that, we gave answers to the question 'What could go wrong?', 'What could cause it to go wrong?', 'How could we prevent it?' and 'Whose responsibility is it?'.

Then, we thought about writing the emergency plan which is the process if the risk were to elevate to a more serious situation.

We found this activity challenging to come up with multiple hazards, risks and consequences. The purpose of this activity is to be able to recognise the likelihood of a risk within an activity and the consequences if that risk were to happen.

LI: to assess risk with in a simple activity.

Maths | Measuring Time

Rounding is a maths strategy that simplifies the numbers in a problem by converting the digits to the closest one, ten, hundred etc. Addition is the process of adding a number to another number. Division is the process of sharing an amount of something equally.

If a digit is within 0-4, the number should round down. If a digit is 5-9, the number should round up. If rounding to one decimal for example, 21.76. The last decimal digit in this number is '6'. Six is more than five, so 76 rounds up to 8 which represents 80. The number would become 21.8.

Adding decimal numbers is similar to normal addition. For example, 9.23 + 2.54. People should start by adding the last decimals. 0.03 + 0.04= 0.07. Then the tens decimal, 0.20 + 0.50= 0.70. 0.70 + 0.07= 0.77. After that the wholes are added, 9 + 2= 11. The total becomes 11.77. However, if the decimal total equals over than 100, it becomes a whole. So a number such as 0.154 would become 1.54.

Dividing a decimal number can also be the same as dividing a whole number. For example, 75.30 divided by 5. People should start by dividing 75 by five to make 15, because 15 x 5= 75. Then, 30 divided by five is 6, because 6 x 5= 30.

LI: to investigate the units of time.

Reading | Making Connections

Connections are similar ideas between the reader's experiences and the text being read. The three types of connections are text to self, text to text and text to world.

To make a text to self connection, the reader takes an idea or event that has happened in a story and compares it to something similar that has happened to the themselves. For example, the mouse is fearful. A connection the reader could make is a time the reader had also been fearful.

To make a text to text connection, the reader takes an idea or event in a story and compares it to a similar idea in a different text. For example, the mouse is easily distracted when following a butterfly. A connection the reader could make is a time the reader had also been easily distracted.

To make a text to world connection, the reader takes an idea that has happened in a story and compares it to a similar event that has happened among the world. For example, the fox is gullible. A connection the reader could make is a time the reader was also be gullible.

Making connections is a helpful tool in reading because it allows the reader to connect their experiences with a text and use prior knowledge to link similar ideas.

LI: to make connections.

Reading | Visualizing

My class blogpost for visualizing can be found here:

Mr Wong's Maths | Multiplication

My class blogpost for Mr Wong's multiplication for maths can be found here:

Writing | Setting Description

My class blogpost for setting descriptions can be found here:

Basic Facts Boxes

Basic Facts Boxes is an activity that challenges others to solve maths problems of all operations quickly.

I completed the basic facts boxes up to 100 for addition and subtraction. I did five rows for addition and five rows for subtraction. I got a few of the questions wrong under time pressure. I did this in three minutes and seven seconds.

LI: to remember basic maths facts.

SSR Selfie

SSR Selfie is an activity that encourages readers to talk about their understanding of a book. Non-fiction books include facts about the topic and the most interesting thing that the reader has learnt. Fiction books include information about the main topic and three things that happened in the story.

My SSR Selfie is about a book called Electricity. It is about what electricity does and how it works. It also explains how electricity is used and collected. This is a non-fiction graphic novel about the science behind electricity. 

LI: to summarise and retell a text.

Writing | Setting Description

A setting description describes what a place looks, smells, feels, and sounds like. The setting description is about the deep dark wood in 'The Gruffalo'.

To describe the feeling of something, people use adjectives such as: hard, soft, rough. This allow the reader to understand the physical texture of something.

When describing the sound of something, people use adjectives such as: loud, quiet, quickly. It allows the reader to understand the concepts of the sound.

To describing the look of something, people use adjectives such as: grey, bright, old. The reader can understand and visualise the colour, the texture, the quality of that thing.

When describing the smell of something, people use adjectives like: stinky, cold, fresh. The reader can understand the and the scent of something.

By using the senses in setting descriptions, it gives the reader more of an idea about the setting. It also allows the reader to connect with the setting because there is more information being given.

LI: to write a setting description.

Inquiry | Assess Likelihood

This activity is based around understanding the possible risks that different circumstances can cause, and identifying how likely that risk is to happen.

First, we discussed the five different levels of likelihood. They are: low, likely, possible, elevated and extreme.

Then, we were given a range of different situations that have a possibility of risks. We identified how likely the risks were to happen by using the five different levels of likelihood. We also listed risks that could happen.

After that, we came up with our own situations and discussed the likelihood of a risk. Then we wrote down the risks that could happen.

We enjoyed this task and found it difficult to identify the right likelihood of a situation. The purpose of this activity is to understand how likely a risk is to happen by knowing the circumstances of a situation.

LI: to assess the likelihood.

Reading | Inferring | Fact or Opinion

I learnt about fact and opinion. For this activity, we used inferring and prior knowledge to make facts and opinions.

First, we discussed what facts and opinions were. A fact is something that a character did, and opinions are why we think the character did that.

We then came up with facts and opinions all four main characters in the gruffalo story. The opinions are keywords. We used inferring to find out the opinions and our prior knowledge to find facts.

After that, we did character traits for the four main characters. The character traits include who the character is and described two characteristics of a character (including an example of that characteristic). Character traits also summarise the information.

From doing this activity, I understand that inferring uses clues, keywords or phrases from a text to find out more information that wasnt stated or explained.

LI: to infer.

 

Maths | Statistical Investigations

Statistical investigations gather information and data about a topic to learn more about something. Time is an ongoing sequence of events happening.

This statistical investigation was based around measuring how long an activity takes to do, and being able to convert times to median, mode and mean.

Mean is a times average, median is the middle number, and mode is the most popular number.

A group has done a statistical investigation on the ping pong ball activity. They measured how long it would take to get a ping pong ball inside all of the cups three times each.

After they measured the length of their activity, they converted the times into a mean. They also found the median and mode for all the times.

LI: to investigate the units of times.

Statistical Investigations

My class blog post for statistical investigations (Mr Ogilvie's maths) can be found here:

Commenting Thread

A comment thread is a continuous conversation that uses the comment function. A comment thread consists of a greeting, positive feedback and an open question. Open questions are used to continue the conversation.

I started a comment thread on Te Raumati's blogpost about the Gruffalo Character Descriptions. She explained that her task was to create a character description that tells about the appearence, personality and experiences of a character.

LI: to use open questions in a comment thread.

SSR Selfie

SSR Selfie is an activity that encourages readers to talk about their understanding of a book.

My SSR Selfie is about a book called I Survived: The Sinking of the Titanic. It is a graphic novel book that is about a young boy named George who experiences the sinking of the titanic.

LI: to summarise and retell a text.

Inquiry | Hazards and Risks

We learnt how to identify the risks that hazards can cause. We used our prior knowledge to understand this activity more.

First, we talked about identifying what hazards and risks are. Hazards are something that can be used to cause harm or pain, and risks are the possibility that something will happen and cause harm or pain.

Then, we focused on finding four hazards at home, four hazards at school, four hazards in sport and four hazards in our community.

After that, we worked on identifying the risks that the hazards cause. We put our understanding of each risk and hazard into a slideshow.

The slideshow shows what the hazard is and the risks that the hazard can cause. The hazards are: sticks, keys, students, cleaning spray, siblings, toaster, pets, open windows, mud, mouthguard, arrow, oxygen tank, dust, gas, wet grass and floods.

This purpose of this activity is to use prior knowledge to understand the risks that hazards can cause.

LI: to demonstrate prior knowledge.

Writing | Character Description | Visualizing

A character description creates an image or picture by giving information of the characters appearance, experiences and personalities.

The appearence description tells about what the face, hair, body, and the clothes look like.

The experience description gives information about where they live, their friends and family, their interests, hobbies or talents, their secrects or special achievements. 

The personality description explains what kind of person they are, what they say, what makes them different or interesting and how they behave.

The purposes of writing a character description is to practise visualizing a character, and practise using literal and figurative language.

LI: to write a character description.

Reading | Visualizing

Visualizing is a reading strategy that is creates an image or picture in your head by understanding a piece of text or description.

The Gruffalo story activity describes a certain part of the gruffalo story so that others are able to visualize and draw that part of the storyline using their understanding.

The Nogard activity describes features of an animal so that the audience is able to try visualize and draw what they understand of the description, to figure out which animal it is. A Nogard is dragon spelled backwards, so the activity was describing a dragon.

To visualize, readers sometimes start by reading or listening to a text or description, so that it gives them an idea of what kind of image to create in their head that follows the information they have been given.

Visualization is a helpful tool in reading so that others can create an image using the information in the text to understand what is happening. It encourages the audience to use creative thinking.

LI: to visualize parts of the story.

Maths | Statistical Investigation

Time is the ongoing sequence of events happening.

The median is found by organizing a range of numbers from least to greastest and finding the number in the middle. However, if there is more than one middle number, the two numbers are added and then divided by 2. For example: 2, 3, 4, 4, 5. The median is four.

The mean is found by adding a range of numbers together and dividing the total by how many numbers there were originally. For example: 4+6+5= 15. 15 divided by 3 is 5. The mean is five.

The mode is found by organizing a range of numbers from least to greatest and finding the most popular number (the number that appears the most). For example: 3, 4, 5, 5, 6. The mode is five because five appears the most in the number pattern.

The statistical investigation below shows that five people tested out measuring time by skipping. They measured how long it would take to skip 50 times, 5 times each. After they measured the length of their activity, they converted their times into a mean. They also found the median and mode for all times.

LI: to investigate units of time.