Teachable Moments

This is a very quick post, I have to do it now while I'm thinking about it because next time I write something I might have forgotten about it.
Our commission was delivered successfully, and the "team" are keen to make paper for the students of Chimerical School on Little Island.
What I never anticipated was the word chimerical being of such interest! They argued over what it actually said to start with (it didn't help that I'd printed it off so tiny) with my highest level reader insisting that the word was "commercial," but Jaxon, my most inquisitive student, checked the word online and was super excited about it. He went on to research the word chimera and was able to deliver almost a speech to the class after finding out more information. And there I was, thinking he might stumble across the metal band, Chimera! I must admit, that's what inspired the name of the fictitious school, but oh well.
The second unexpected learning that happened was the map coordinates I'd given, so that the paper could be sent. I'd picked a random spot just off the East Coast of the North Isand, in the ocean, not too far away but enough that it wasn't going to be considered part of NZ. This caused huge discussion, problem solving, the atlases were all taken from the shelf and every student was engaged in trying to figure out exactly where this island was located. Harper's reasoning, that it was in the Pacific Ocean, (like it was a special clue) enabled him to have a vague idea of where it might be. On the map, there is actually nothing there, and this caused quite some confusion until they remembered we were operating in the What If world!
In the end, we spent about an hour using a worksheet (I know, not my usual teaching practise, but it was all I could think of at that particular moment, thank goodness for Google!) that explained and allowed children to use latitude and longitude coordinates on a world map. It also explained North, South, East & West, degrees, and how it all worked. I was really pleased that they had the opportunity to learn about this, even though we have digital technology that just tells us everything these days, it's still worthwhile knowing how these things work, and map skills fit so nicely with Geometry!

Magnifying glass out! I could read it fine, but they got the magnifying glass off the science shelf without any prompting from me!

We shall now argue over what that word actually says!

See, you can read it ok! The bottle is only about 5cm tall.

Those tricky coordinates!

It was interesting listening to what the children had to say about how they thought it worked.

Prior to the worksheet and information being provided, the children would not give up trying to figure it out. They are a persistent bunch of kids!

All this learning that I never intended as part of our Mantle. That's what I love about it, you can go off in other directions, take time to learn other things, and go back to where you need to after. The plan is so flexible, you're not stuck to a particular exact plan or path, and you go where it takes you, the journey is the fun part!

End of Term 3 Reflection

I know I've left this until the last minute, literally. Back to school tomorrow after 2 weeks holiday. I have been meaning to do this, but I had my grandsons come to stay and didn't want to waste a moment with them!

We did heaps of art activities, went to various parks & playgrounds, Logan learnt to tie a bow and we did some baking, all vegan of course. They had so much fun just running around the yard blowing bubbles and playing with cheap copy nerf guns or creating sculptures with hedgehog blocks. I miss them so much already, sometimes I wish we still lived in Auckland.

Anyway, reflecting on Term 3...
Our fictional company, Woodpeckers, is up and running. Coby's mum made stamps with a laser cutter for us to use (with ink) so we can stamp all of our paper products. The stamps show our logo which was designed and voted for, by the children. They have all made beautiful sheets of recycled paper, all know the process and can make their own paper independently (which is great, I don't have to hover while they are producing new paper from the scraps in the paper bin) and are keen for the commission to present itself. I'm going to begin the next part of our Mantle tomorrow. The commission will arrive in a miniature (and I mean absolutely tiny) glass bottle with a message inside. They will need a magnifying glass to read it.
I'm actually pretty excited about this part, and I've got villains again, because it worked so well last time and I think the children are kind of expecting baddies to be a part of it!
I felt that by the end of last term we hadn't had the opportunity to really get into Mantle, although the company has been established and some drama happened during this time, there were so many other things going on, so I kept putting off the commission. I really wanted everyone present for that part. We did experiment with creating paper that can be planted, with seeds in the pulp. We started growing some in a tray to see if it would work, and it did! So we are thinking of making "plant this paper" gift tags to sell at the craft fair that's coming up.
Speaking of which, I got all inspired with some of the things that can be made with paracord, initially making keyrings with Logan and Dean. Well, Logan anyway. We made angel keyrings for everyone and I tried out some other ideas that I think I'll have to incorporate into Mantle somehow. Maybe they could be like little tasks that have to be completed (like when we did the escape room stuff) and then we could sell all that we create at the fair too.
In maths, I still keep going back to geometry, even though we have covered all other strands throughout the year, but geometry is just so much fun! I love that we are given autonomy with what we do and when we do it... I can't imagine going back to how I used to plan, a strand a term, and focus on one of the four operations each term in numeracy. How boring! This is way more fun!
I did have a big focus on fractions and decimals Term 3 though, and the children picked it up so much faster than in previous years, perhaps because it was always presented as part of something else we were learning about. Proof... when Lilli-Jade and Tayla both got the duck and swan question right in the Gloss test, neither child had to even really think about it, they understood the question and worked out the answer easily, YAY!
I've not done running records on all of the class yet, but the ones I have done show progress. ALL of them, so I'm very pleased about that too. I hope to complete those and the Gloss testing within the first week. Hope!
And now some more photos just because photos are nice!

What you can do with all those gelli prints that didn't come out so great! Seriously, some of these are amazing up close!

More useful ways to use up those prints. Saw this idea on Pinterest ages ago, figured we could do something similar, though not as big as the ones they had on Pinterest. So much fun!

How cool is this!? For empty classroom day I set this up, but the children in Room 7 were keen to do this again, maybe smaller, and indoors. Science, maths, technology and art, oh almost STEAM! They could build their own tripods and set it up themselves. 

 

So the only thing I'm freaking out about for Term 4 is getting the group of Jump Jammers up to competition level for the competition in November. They think they are great already. I filmed them. They aren't! What's worse, on competition night, coaches are "invited" to get up on stage and lead a routine. Well, I almost feel that I need to get the husband to write me a note to get out of doing such things, I am so not keen on getting up there in front of everyone. Maybe I could say I hurt my ankle, or I could wear a skirt on the night and be like, "oh, no, I'm not appropriately dressed!" but probably I'll have to do it. I'm so uncoordinated I'll probably go the wrong way or fall off the stage or something. Luckily no photos or video allowed during routines so whatever happens, I wont have to worry about it being seen by even more people. I am literally dreading this particular moment.

Term 3 - Te Reo, Tuakana-Teina & Mantle

It is halfway through Term 3 already. I have a whole bunch of photos to put on so rather than write, I'll put captions with the photos.
These show Te Reo is still a regular Wednesday lesson, and as Pam and I are alternating teaching each session, I absolutely have to be organised with a prepared lesson, practising pronunciation beforehand, and gathering or making resources. I'm feeling much more confident in this area, although I do have to keep returning to previous sessions and reminding myself of what I've learnt along with the students. I can't seem to retain all of the language I teach, but I guess unless you use it consistently, it is easy to forget. We each have a scrapbook where we glue in photos, printed resources and info about each lesson to help remember what we've done and to extend in the future. Perhaps next year I'll set a goal to use each new word or phrase at least several times a day. Then it might stick! In my head.

A Matariki activity relating to the stars

String games

Cat's Cradle was a huge hit with the children.

Action songs

Fortune Tellers in Te Reo. I'd spelled seven wrong when I made them, whetu instead of whitu, luckily Pam noticed. Or we could just be Room Star in English!

Tuakana-teina is one Room 7s favourite parts of the week. Although they are working with the juniors in Room 3, and the activities they are "teaching" or learning to do together are junior oriented, my senior students really enjoy this time to work alongside the littlies! And PLAY!

Elephants!

They were a bit cute!

Woven turtles

Matariki inspired lanterns

Finger puppets

Flying owls

Our second Mantle for the year has only really just begun and will continue into Term 4. The first step or "hook" was altered from my original plan after hearing Leslee share what staff had learnt when they went to see Tim Taylor speak. Now I'll definitely have more than one hook leading in to our paper making (which I'm just so excited about starting properly, I've got some super cool things we can do with this!).

This is the image we started with. I asked the children to write a quick paragraph after studying the image, explaining what what happening in the picture.

Groups wrote on sticky notes and put their ideas on the image.

Here are a few ideas!

The discussion surrounding this image was awesome. I sat and listened to each group trying to make sense of what each person depicted in the scene was up to. Some of their ideas: redecorating, looking for gold/oil, bricklaying - it was really funny hearing them explain and justify their ideas to each other. I wonder what I would have come up with if I didn't know they were making paper. That "fish" that's being chopped up... "you can see it's a fish, there's its tail!"

Invitations to Play

After my first attempt at an invitation to play, I've been practising. The extra time and money I put in to make it look more "inviting" didn't really pay off. I bought a cheap $2 shop tablecloth, so cheap that when I opened it, it was practically transparent! Along with the tablecloth I bought some little plastic containers for pebbles, they look cheap but I couldn't afford the nice wooden bowls I had imagined on the table, and plastic picture frames because I decided that would provide a nice border for the children to create images inside. I'll start checking out second hand shops for more natural looking things to place on the tables but for now the cheap plastic stuff will have to do.
I think it's working out okay so far. It's only been twice more that I've set up invitations to play, while some of the class are at Sports Academy. The children are loving it. 
I am too, but...
BIG butt, so big it overhangs the chair,
I have to try not stress about the little things! Oh my goodness, I am looking around the room and it's a pigsty, and I'm thinking holy heck, how are we going to get that all cleaned up before the bell?
And the other thing I do is get all upset about "stuff" getting wasted! I try to not say anything, and let them do what they want with what is provided, but where they see just another scrap of paper, or just another vivid marker, or felt tip, or glue gun stick, I'm seeing "useful stuff that well looked after will last" because that's how I was raised. Coming from a background where as children, my sister and I had very little, we treasured everything we did have, and we looked after things. As an adult I really struggle with the whole "disposable society" thing. I save stuff because it either cost money, or took time to collect or gather. To see things being destroyed or wasted does upset me.
Today I put some items out as an invitation to play, and I had two polystyrene trays (which I'd cut into squares) to create prints with. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I was really annoyed when one of my students sat there and proceeded to bend them all in half, so they were no good for printmaking anymore. "It's just a polystyrene tray," I tell myself. But I only had those trays because my husband bought Turkish for dinner for my birthday. We rarely dine out due to his food allergies, and being vegan, we obviously can't collect meat trays.
Speaking of vegan (I'll post photos after so you can see what I'm talking about) I've had this gel printing kit for ages and never been able to bring myself to actually make the gel plate because it's made with gelatine. I decided I'd mix it up last week. Isla, one of my students, is vegetarian, and she helped me. We both sat there, mixing and gagging and carrying on, it truly smelt disgusting and we felt bad for the poor animals who were in there... but again, I didn't want to waste the kit, so we persevered, all the while holding our breath, and the result was actually pretty cool. I'm wondering if we could make one with agar agar.
While walking along the beach, I decided to collect smooth pebbles and driftwood - which ended up taking hours, for another idea I had. At least this cost nothing, and who is going to complain about walking along the beach! I'll post the photos now.

Driftwood & pebbles, a photo of a baby ladybird (ugly little thing) and information about ladybirds. I also had the hot glue gun at the ready, along with paint and frames to create within.

Some students required many pebbles!

Isla decided  this piece looked like a pointing hand

These boys saw... a catamaran!

Shaiyan created a butterfly and painted a background

Ella made ladybirds on a piece of wood

The finished catamaran, but awesome, because they were discussing balance and whether or not it will float. I had to rummage through my "stuff" to find a piece of fabric for the sail. The paint will probably come off in the water, so I told them to wait until I can find the right sealer/varnish for it before testing its flotation capabilities!

This is not an invitation, but you'd think it was! My new punishment! I'm just adding this in because I always wanted to make a sensory jar, and I saw this idea on ....Pinterest of course! I altered the poem a little. Great, now my little cherubs can calm themselves down watching some nice sparkly glitter, which takes 4 minutes 18 seconds to drop to the bottom (the children timed it several times). Unless you give it a little shake up before the last bits land! Everyone loves this, it's not even being used as time out, it's just a nice thing to watch, especially in the sunlight.

The gel plate, made from bits of animals, gross.  Also included were various bits and pieces for print making, and now they all know the rolly thing is called a brayer.

Invitation inspired by artist Chris Piascik. Check out the abandoned design, obviously child did not wish to persevere, but I'm just thinking "wasteful of nice sheet of blue paper"

Before the children got to the table! I did a couple of swirly lines to get them started / inspire / guide their thinking just a little bit!

We moved the chalkboard table that I painted last year and I put out nice new chalk and started drawing a table setting, this was a success, they kept coming up and adding to it, I didn't get a final photo though.

This print looks much more awesome in real life, it was her second one off the same plate.

Prints created so far

I'm thinking black silhouette images printed or painted over these, or maybe zentangle like designs with black vivid, or rip them up and create a collage... limitless possibilities!

Lamb of God Lyrics Stuck in my Head!

Today is International Slayer day. I love Slayer.
Today, for the first time ever, I created "an invitation to play" with a "provocation" set up on a table, and the whole time I kept thinking of the lyrics to a Lamb of God song called Redneck that goes, "this is a m.....f..... invitation..." and it's a very lucky thing that I did not start singing such things out loud in the classroom. It was still going through my head when I got home. Right now I am listening to Slayer though.
So after researching Leslee's comments about setting up invitations to play, and thinking about how such things could be used in a senior class, I decided that since I was devoting our day to calendar art, I would set up an invitation to play for early finishers if they so desired.
I chose art because that's what we were all doing anyway. I printed off a picture of Paul Klee, with birth and death date underneath, which I stuck in a frame. I printed off facts about him, and pictures of some of his artworks, including Once Emerged from the Grey of Night (1918). I placed a jar of water, sketch wash pencils, vivid markers, HB pencils, rulers, watercolours, brushes and several different types of paper, as well as textured wallpaper, on the table. I took a photo.

And as an afterthought, added a tin of watercolour crayons as well.
Isla finished her calendar art and asked what the table was set up for. I bit my tongue, tempted as I was to start singing. I said she could play with whatever she liked there, if she wanted to. After quite some time she started to paint pictures of pineapples (her favourite, she always put pineapples in her artwork when she can!) and other fruit. She then painted a background inspired by In the Style of Kairouan which actually looked pretty cool on the wallpaper sample. She cut out her fruit pictures and glued them on, then moved on to another piece inspired by Once Emerged from the Grey of Night. Meanwhile, a group of three boys joined her at the table. They were keen to paint too. I was interested to see what they would choose to do.

They each took a sheet of cartridge, and proceeded to draw, then paint in watercolour, not something inspired by a Paul Klee piece, but the image on the tin of watercolour crayons! They didn't even open the tin, which you can see in the image above.
So there you go, they did play! Just not how I expected they would.
I will do this again, next time I will add more variety and choice of media, and maybe several artists but choose 1 theme. I'll have a think. It was pretty easy to set up and they were totally engaged in what they were doing which was nice. But then it is probably just this group of kids, they enjoy and are interested in everything!

Mantle Off Track but Terribly Fun

I have a whole bunch of photos so I'm going to have to sift through and locate the most relevant ones to tell the story!
Mantle has kind of morphed into a huge problem solving almost escape room type thing which the children are loving and I'm having heaps of fun putting together.
My initial plan has gone way off track but that's ok because the learning that's happening is amazing, everyone is fully engaged, and the other curriculum areas are being implemented as well.
While trying to figure out how I could bring in a few pre planned "tensions" I had a moment that went like this...
I was intending to give the "company" a cloze reading activity using a newspaper article about sneakers made from ocean plastic, but it just didn't fit with who they (the company) are, why on earth would they be doing cloze reading activities? The phone went ring ring (that was me saying "ring ring, ring ring") I picked up the phone (which is just two pieces of pvc pipe stuck together) and had a conversation with ... Great Aunt Myrtle! I made it up as I went along and the children were all so excited, like it was real, and Great Aunt Myrtle has evolved into a crazy but helpful old dear who has a liking for puzzles and mysteries.
It turned out she had spilt her cup of tea on the article, so the company had to figure out the words from a code and put them in the right places. The clues started off simple enough, but whenever anyone looked like they were almost there, I found I could draw it out a little further by adding in extra problems to solve along the way. The class loved it so much, they wanted to do more of the same the next day. So I invented Polly Ethylene, the evil, devious owner of a plastic bag manufacturing factory. We had to hack her "acebook" account and shut her down as she had a large group of followers who were opposed to not having the option of plastic shopping bags at the supermarket (for various ridiculous reasons, some of them real) but it turns out she also has an evil plot to do more environmental damage, and unethical plans for the future, so our company have been working through a whole bunch of clues and riddles to discover the evidence that will lead to her arrest.  The clues have involved so much awesome maths and literacy, and the children are so into it! They managed to find the box with the plan, which had a combination lock on it. They succeeded in opening the lock, only to find the evidence in a jar with another lock! The evidence once they crack that lock is in code too, and the clue for the code was in the box but they can't figure out what that clue is for... yet! It's been so much fun, and they've discovered morse code, braille, binary and semaphore, worked with fractions, time and measurement problems, grids and coordinates, place value, plus had to solve lots of riddles. And I'm having so much fun watching them problem solve and work together!
It's funny, Murgatroyd, the original pretend person we were dealing with who started us off with our first commission, has kind of faded into oblivion. I had to send a pretend email from him to the company the other day just to remind them of his existence and that he does actually have expectations that we have agreed to meet! But there is nothing like an evil villain to make things more exciting!

The first code, the one that started it all!

Fake email... printed paper stuck over the computer screen!

Binary code giving them instructions as to where they might find the next clue

This was from a really cool app I found. It took them a while to solve, another photo further below you can see properly...

And once they had gathered all three digits, it was only a matter of time before they got the right combination

Everyone wanted to have a go!

Oh no, another combination lock!

Turn it and look at it on an angle, it says look under the chair. There were sticky notes under chairs, only one gave the actual clue though.

This riddle took quite some time to figure out and resulted in every book being removed from the bookshelf. Great Aunt Myrtle had to call and give a little hint.

The novel we are currently reading as a class, Holes.

Yes, I actually lined up the text and cut out all the little windows