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.