"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day." Albert Einstein
Last week the year 3-6 students looked at animals and movement. The year 1&2 students will learn about it this week.
The year 3-6 students have a fun movement challenge this week - Quizzes and activities to do with movement that we have learnt about so far this term.
We looked at LOCOMOTION - how animals move in different ways - the language of movement eg soar, flitter, creep, stretch, walk, glide etc We tried to classify animals into movement types.
We also looked at MIGRATION - when animals move to different regions. We looked at the reasons for this, some of the animals that migrate, and how humans can affect migration.
This elephant is walking through a hotel lobby. The hotel was built around mango trees that the herd has visied for years on their migratory trail. So the elephant just walked on in to get to the trees.
Here is a fun little video on Wildebeest Migration.
Hands move in so many ways, and we use them a lot daily. This week we looked at how we use our hands, which hand is more dominant, how the brain controls our hands. We also looked at anatomy of a hand, and children completed a variety of choices. We looked at artist studies of hands, sign language, imagining if we didn't have hands, writing about hands etc.
Below is a fantastic story by Olivia - year 5, written from the point of view of a hand.
I am a hand. Yes, a hand. My life is tough. I am the Left hand, I live with my brother, Right hand and my master, Olivia. I awoke abruptly, I was slapped on the alarm to make the beeping noise stop. Owch! I see my brother still sleeping. Suddenly, Master sat up in bed, my brother was used to wipe sleep out of Master’s eyes. Plop! A big drop of porridge just dropped on my finger. I was then washed, I got soap in my eyes, painful. Then suddenly, I remember I have to write an essay today!! Right hand is lucky, he doesn’t have to write anything! I feel Master pick me up, Oh No! Not the nose, Not the nose! No No No No nooooo! I was shoved up Master’s nose I felt, dirty, I need a shower! A slimy booger stuck to my nail. At school, our teacher says to get the essay books out. I am shoved into Master’s desk, with Right Hand. We have started writing now, I already am in some pain. An hour later, after the essay, I can hardly move!! I guess life is better than my cousins, Left foot and Right foot, they sweat inside old smelly shoes!!
Some students watched this TED video by a neuroscientist. They asked me to share it so they can show parents. It's really fascinating - using signals from one brain to move someone else's hand!
Next week we will be looking at animals and movement.
CHESS COACHING - we have an accredited chess coach coming to school on Thursday lunchtimes again this term to run lessons. Term 3 classes start next Thursday 3rd August. This is paid for by parents as it is run by a private outside company.
Here is the info / enrolment form if you are interested.
We also have chess club on Tuesday lunchtimes in B9 - that's free but much less formal as I run it and just supervise, and teach bits where I can - I am nowhere near the skill of the accredited coaches! But any child is welcome to come to that. Parents always welcome too if you want to pop in for a game or three :)
SCRATCH CLUB - I have some wonderful year 6 boys running a club on Wednesday lunchtimes teaching scratch programming - any year 3-6 children welcome. (younger children can come too but they would need their own device). I supervise this in B9. If your child has not done scratch before here are some good easy tutorials to walk them through the basics in their own time - the first one is on setting up an account. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThryP6bINxA Scratch can be found at www.scratch.mit.edu
There is huge scope for programming using scratch - children have programmed games, presentations, animations etc I would love more girls to attend - the class is mostly full of boys - if anyone has ideas on how to get girls involved please let me know!
SHARING KNOWLEDGE - This term we are looking at the concept of movement. If anyone has knowldege that they would be willing to share with the children in any of these areas please let me know - we love visitors! You do not need to be an expert in the field - just any knowledge or interest in the area that you could share is always appreciated :) Kids get so much out of hearing accounts of real people and real experiences / knowledge / jobs (and so do I!).
Topics: Robotics; Plate Techtonics / earth movement (seismology etc); Animals and movement - how they move and migration patterns etc (vets / scientists??); social movements eg forest and bird, greenpeace, other change organisations; art movement (dance , artists, mime etc); sign language; ocean currents; animation / puppetry etc etc. If you have any areas at all that you would be willing to chat to the kids about (even other than those listed above), please get in touch. It could be as simple as chatting to one group (15-25 students) or to several groups, or a larger group of children - whatever you are willing to do. And it doesn't need to be long - the author who visited my year 5/6 groups this week chatted for about 30-40 minds with a slideshow, and then had about 20 mins of kids asking questions. You could do shorter or longer - whatever you are comfortable with.
Welcome back to another Term of School. :) This term the concept is Movement. Children will be looking at this in their regular classes too. I will be introducing a variety of topics under the concept of movement to show children links and hopefully some new ideas.
We will be looking at movement with maths (speed of things), Science (how things move), Geography, Social science, language, arts, health etc. We will also look at feelings, thoughts, different perspectives, how movement can have knock-on effects - for example, human settlements can affect migration patterns of animals. Well, that's my plan anyway! Sometimes children have ideas that mean we go in a different direction... This week we will be looking at muscles and how they help us move. The year 5&6 groups have a special visitor coming on Tuesday - nothing to do with the topic, but an author was offering to visit school groups for free, so I snapped up the opportunity! Zee Southcombe is a writer and an illustrator. She likes to encourage children to have a go and has written several books. I have a couple of her books at school called 'I am a writer' - lots of advice from authors on how to become a writer - and another called 'I am an artist'.
Many gifted children fear making mistakes. Either they have perfectionist tendencies, or if they'fail' at something they may experince imposter syndrome (the feeling that they are somehow a 'fraud' and probably not really gifted).
This week we used the America's Cup races to discuss failure / mistakes. We talked about how we feel when we make mistakes, the fact that people all handle this in different ways, and most importantly what we can DO if we make a mistake or if something doesn't go to plan.
We looked at items that were invented by mistake - silly putty, iceblocks, potato chips, microwaves etc. 'Mistakes are the portals of learning'.
We read a great little book called 'Beautiful Oops', which is all about making the most of our mistakes - changing them into something good.
At Quest last week we looked at changing the world. Firstly
we discussed strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in the world. I love
hearing children’s opinions – often they think about far more than we realise. Ideas are from years 1-6 students (5-11 yr olds). The future of the world is in good hands with these kids I think! 😊
(I can change the world)
(make more friends, stop littering, take care of the rainforest)
Strengths
People and places:
We have a home. We’re friendly. Collaborating. My family and
my mum and my friends. A home. Cars. Nice people. Random acts of kindness. Free
stuff for homeless / foster children/ poor people. Foundations. Me. Good
people. Tall Buildings. People helping others. Kindness. Adopting animals.
People who care. Family. Friends. Happiness. People being kind. Kindness and
caring. A brain. Fun. Family. Smiles. Mr da Vinci. Mrs Thompson. Teachers. Shelter.
Where we live. School. Friends. Life.
Activities / interests:
I can do art. I go to Quest. Boxing and All Blacks!
Swimming. Japanese video games and arcades. Technology. T.V. Science. Food. Chocolate.
Books. Education. Pie. Football. Music. Good schools. Playgrounds. Electronics.
Quest. Pokemon. Reading. Quest.
Learning. Fudge. Math. Space. Moon. Art.
The environment:
Having the earth. Animals. Plants, trees. Ocean and wind and
trees. Eco friendly stuff. Nature. Trees. Eco-friendly groups. Solar panels.
Rubbish bins. Wind power. Geothermal power. Hydroelectric power. People
planting trees. Looking after the environment. How we care for animals. Sun.
Trees. Land. Water. Plants.
Weaknesses
People and places:
People throw rubbish. People kill things. Donald Trump.
ISIS. North Korea’s president. Sadness. All Superpower countries. Bill English.
Trump. People who are NOT NICE. Bad people. Robbers. Being hurt. Bullying.
Beggars. Mr Trump. Cruelty / abuse. Terrorists.
Disease. Not everyone is kind.
Activities:
Guns. Bombs. Memes. Shooting. Stealing. Wars. Money. WW3?
More war in that poor country. T.V. Money. Food. Vegetables. School. Being
inside. Fighting. No food. Square eyes
and device addiction. I can’t read books. Getting out of bed. I can’t ride my
bike really well.
Environment:
Rubbish in the sea. No trees. Pollution. Logging. Global
warming. Death. Pollution. Cutting trees down. Cutting down trees for money. Car
pollution. Littering. Land fills. Litter. The sun melting the ice and flooding
the world. Rubbish. Green House gases. Animal cruelty. Litter. Pollution.
Extinction of animals. We leave rubbish. Floods. Leaving rubbish.
Opportunities
People and places:
Vote out Trump. Have a different NZ Prime Minister. Give
more respect. Donate. Living on Mars? Make houses smaller. I can change the
world! Make more friends. Give kindness to the world. More homes. Show
kindness.
Activities:
Lego shop. Bikes. Double decker car. Stop everything bad!! More
technology. Stop doing wars. Don’t use petrol cars. Get kids to go outside. Be
sporty. More free wifi. Time to do stuff. Not as much electronics. Less people
playing on devices. Jobs. Play outside more. Stop battles.
Environment:
More animals. Whales. Stop oil ships from killing whales! Stop using palm oil. Use less paper. Stand for
trees. Plant more trees. Pick up rubbish. Recycling. Eat bugs. More medicine
plants. More animals. Stop cutting down trees. Don’t use electrics as much.
Stop polluting the ocean. Do not put rubbish on the ground. Don’t waste water.
Re-use. Take care of the rainforest. Stop littering. Plant more plants.
GIFTED AWARENESS WEEK 12-18 JUNE 2017 Each year in NZ, the week around 17th June is dedicated as Gifted Awareness Week - a week to take the opportunity to raise awareness about gifted children and their needs. Why 17th June? Because that is the birthday of Professor George Parkyn - an academic who was very important in Gifted Education in NZ - the first to achieve international recognition in the field of gifted education. He was founding Patron for the NZ Association of Gifted Children. I take this opportunity to raise awareness amoung teachers about gifted children's needs, and also to chat to children about what 'gifted' means to them. I know it's not a word that everyone is comfortable with, so it is very informal. Parents might like to take the opportunity to read a blog, watch a free webinar, write their story to share anonymously, or other activities on offer. Here is a link to what is going on this year for Gifted Awareness Week. https://nzgaw.jimdo.com/ This week at Quest we are going to look at changing the world. Can kids make a difference? What do we think we could change / improve? This is a huge subject and we are just going to touch on it briefly. I think it is important for children to feel empowered and realise that if there are things that are bothering them, they can make a difference. Last week we looked at things we can / can't change - lots of great discussion. We had fun changing our voices / actions to pretend to be someone else, and also talked about our changing feelings / emotions. A question for you - what three things would you change about our world, and why?
