Measurement Workshop - Wednesday 23rd November 2016

Resources:

Staff Meeting - Te Reo - Tuesday 22nd November 2016

Probability Workshop - Wednesday 16th November 2016

Activities

Staff Meeting - POI Review Part 1 - Tuesday 15th November 2016

Looking back at our Programme of Inquiry for this year and reflecting on what worked well. Now that we have completed these inquiries what could we change/refine?

Game of Awesome - Literacy Resource

Game of Awesome is a card game for 3-6 players designed to engage and inspire kids to tell stories and learn to write. Playing the game helps students generate ideas quickly which they can explore, expand and then write stories about.

The basic game has been produced as four sets of cards containing topics, themes and ideas that students years 5-8 will find interesting, involving and often ridiculous! The cards can be used independently or mixed and matched to create new combinations and infinitely more ideas.

Last week, Room 8 learnt how to play the Game of Awesome. I moved about the room and joined in with groups as their games progressed. At each group, we found the learner's were responding positively and allowing their creativity and imaginations to flow. There are many humorous cards, and to put them together and share the story/sequence of events, that the 'judge' chose, was often hilarious. I came up wth a way to challenge them further, by choosing two cards, rather than one. We then used our knowledge of the game to teach another class in our team how to play.

Here are some pictures of our session teaching Room 9...

Te Aroha Focus - Term 4

Focus is an opportunity for teams at Berkley to share their learning with the rest of the school.

Last week I was a part of the collaboration process of getting the Te Aroha focus together. As a team, we discussed what our learners could share with the rest of the school. Their are a few unspoken rules about putting on a focus and one of the main ones is: Do not repeat what another team has done! This is pretty self-explanatory and the majority of Te Aroha learners wanted to present something completely new.

Our team teachers collaborated and came up with a range of ideas to present to our respective rooms and hand over ownership to the learners.

My class were really excited to work on skits that retold Berkley's 2016 events/adventures. Together, the learner's and I decided to focus on two different skits: Our team Rainbow's End Trip and The Culinary Challenge.

Collaboration and communication were the key to successfully creating the scripts and making sure all learners from our class were participating. There were a range of ways learners could participate, such as: technicians (working on lighting and sounds), props (bringing on and removing props from the stage), hosts etc.

I was really pleased with the way most groups came together, shared their ideas and brought the scripts to life. The organisation was quite stressful! Rachel created a really fantastic video, along with backing music, that showed images of Te Aroha learners throughout the year, and events that the whole school participated in.

Rachel taught Caro and I how to insert audio and videos into a powerpoint. Caro and I worked together to add suitable images/audio/videos for the backdrops (projected onto a white wall in the Cultural Centre).

Te Aroha learners pulled off a really funny, attention grabbing Focus. There were loads of laughs and moments that other learners could relate to.

Gail Loane Observation - Monday 7th November 2016

Measurement Workshop 1 - Area, Volume and Capacity - Monday 7th November 2016

Activities:

Staff Meeting - Tuesday 1st November 2016

This meeting was a really fantastic opportunity for teachers to talk about their nominations of a range of learners from across the school. As a staff, there were positive discussions about Berkley learners and their achievements, both inside and outside of school. Many were previously nominated for the Altrusa award, and have been put forward for the Principal's award. 

I feel really privileged to be a part of such a supportive and talented community here at Berkley. There are so many learners deserving of a Principal's Award. It will be great to see their achievements and successes celebrated at the end of year assembly.