We are having a big focus on reading this Term in Māhutonga/Matariki! It was exciting to launch this with the 'Book Club' slides. Students have been adding to it with their own recent reads and recommendations. We aim to offer new reading material to our whanau!
Research tells us that intrinsic motivation for reading comes through extrinsic motivation and creating an environment that gets young readers excited about reading. We can achieve this by engaging in conversation about what we are reading and motivate students to read. In some groups students are working towards reading for rewards, to which one student asked "is this allowed?!"
Thinking about space has been really 'mind blowing'. This is an actual photo of a black hole which we all found totally amazing. How was this photo taken? Perhaps more amazing even than that is who discovered that black holes exist? We have been wondering and imagining, channelling Newton and Einstein and asking some great explorative questions.
This is an actual photo of a black hole.
We talked about what the learning was doing for the students. Nikora felt it was creative.
"We are thinking about the possibilities. Maybe aliens are real? We don't know what else is out there".
"It's making my brain stretch", said Pippa.
Nela said that it has made her brain hurt!
We finished today's session asking some questions. Here are some of them:
What is a black hole
How does a black hole form?
What is a black hole made of?
What is inside a black hole?
How is light bent in a black hole
Where can black holes be found?
Do they affect the space around them?
How many black holes are forming around our galaxy
Wow guys! I think my brain is beginning to explode too (like a supernova?).
We will use these questions to guide our next Inquiry, using our Inquiry Flow Planner and will be getting into the deep, dark spaces of learning about this next week.
For our Inquiry, we have been thinking about different mysteries of the Universe. We wondered about the creation of the Universe and how something came from nothing. One theory that we thought about was the Big Bang Theory.
We have been developing our conversation skills. We are thinking about taking turns, building on ideas and staying focused on the question. We have been self assessing and rating ourselves out of 5.
Here are some of the questions that we came up with after our discussion:
James: Are there other life forms in the galaxy?
Will, Nye: Do we have multi universes? Does that mean there are multiple versions of us?
Nikora and Hunter: How is the universe infinite?
Pippa: In the future, will there be people that can make a vessel to go to another universe?
Taiga: What kinds of volcanoes or mountains or sculptures are there on other planets?
Chris: How many years until the next big bang?
Archie: How did humans come after the big bang?
Nela: How did all of the small rocks form into planets? How did stars form and what are they made of?
Anastasiya: How was the first person even made?
Leo, Mitchell: What was the old universe like if there was one? What did it look like?
Zac: Why did the big bang happen?
Nuala: What is the universe expanding into?
Leo: How did life get onto earth? Why not Mars?
Ridley, Eloi: What happened in the big bang to enable life? What makes life?
Zoe: After the big bang, how did planets form?
Caspian: How was the first thing created?
Evan: What was there before the big bang?
Lucy: How did life form?
Eloi: What makes the universe, the universe?
Rim: How did people get made? Who was the first person?
Theo: How did atoms create life? How many galaxies are there?
Adam: How did the big bang happen? Are scientists actually working on whether the big bang is real?
Georgia: How did everything get created? What is nothingness?
Raffy, Matilda: What does nothing look like? What was the first thing that happened after the big bang? What did the atoms create? How were all of the planets and stars formed?
Liam: What is the chance of the big bang happening again?
Clem: How did the big bang explode?
Addison: Was the big bang a scam?
Blaze: What came first?
Jasmine: What came before the big bang?
Elliot, Edward? What is dark matter made of?
Lillian: Why does the universe expand? How does it expand?
Alex: Was there an old universe before this universe?
Eva: Why do we not always see the stars?
Emily: How many galaxies are there?
Matthias: Why don’t planets collide?
Mae: How did the scientists develop the theory of the big bang?
Lachlan: What is the biggest planet? (not just in our solar system)
Finley: How was the ball of matter created before the big bang happened?
Griffin: How are religious beliefs linked to the big bang theory? What are the other creation theories?
Finn: What is dark matter? How does the universe expand when there is nothing else/ no space for it?
Sam: What was before the universe?
Kura: How small can the universe get to?
Naomi: Will our universe collapse?
Tommy, Dylan: Are we in a black hole? If we are, what happens when we get out?
Kate: How long can people survive in space?
Jake? How has the universe have no boundaries?
Ruby: If the universe is infinite, how can there be more than one universe?
Joni: Is the universe black? Why is the universe black?
Talia: Is there going to be another big bang?
Sophie: What was the big bang made out of?
Isabella: Was there people before the big bang? Was there life in the previous universe?
Sitara: What are planets made of?
Octavia: How big is the universe?
Lily: How did the planets get their names?
Cleo: What created the old universe (if there was one)?
Marnie: Did the big bang actually take over the whole universe or just a small part?
Katherine: How big was the hot spot of matter that exploded?
Molly and Ben Bi: Was there a universe before the big bang?
Stella: Was there life in the old universe?
Greta: Are there more universes out there? How could we find out?
Ollie: What was it like straight after the big bang?
Charlotte: How could a big bang create the universe?
Cruz: How many atoms are in the universe?
Ben Be, Konrad: If there was life before the big bang, what was it like?
Sabine, Mae: What caused the big bang?
Sammy: If there was a planet that had equal mass as the big bang (before it exploded) how high would the gravity force be?
Thomas: Can there be a universe within a universe?
We have arrived back at school for Term 3 ready to get stuck into our learning! We are all excited to crack on with our Inquiry and explore big concepts around space, the stars and beyond.
We began this week by having a look at gravity. We thought about what we already know about gravity (turns out quite a lot!).
We compared how different objects fall and tested out gravity (to make sure it's still working after the break). We were all very interested in this, especially when John swung a bucket of water around! We've started forming our own wonderings/questions to explore!
During the holiday break we ran a workshop on Number Talks. This was attended by 30 teachers and principals from 10 schools as well as Maths advisors from the Wellington region. We wanted to share what we have been doing at Worser Bay because it has a big impact on student engagement and achievement.
What does developing a Mathematical Community of Inquiry mean to us?
Mathematics is a creative and challenging real world activity.
Positive beliefs about mathematical ability are essential.
Maths has to be visual and collaborative; with time and strategies to investigate, discuss, explore concepts and reflect.
At Worser Bay School, we have been inspired by the work of Jo Boaler who is a professor at Stanford University. She provides resources and ideas to help students get excited about Maths.
"You have probably heard people say they are just bad at math, or perhaps you yourself feel like you are not “a math person.” Not so, says Stanford mathematics education professor Jo Boaler, who shares the brain research showing that with the right teaching and messages, we can all be good at math. Not only that, our brains operate differently when we believe in ourselves. Boaler gives hope to the the mathematically fearful or challenged, shows a pathway to success, and brings into question the very basics of how our teachers approach what should be a rewarding experience for all children and adults."
For a Number Talk to be successful, students need to be respectful in discussion. We have co-constructed (with our students) the rights and responsibilities for discussion in a Number Talk.
We have had a fantastic term of swimming at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre in Kilbirnie. We had useful lessons on different strokes and some of us got to practice special skills such as kayaking, diving and snorkelling. We also had plenty of fun times in the play pool! We are now looking forward to our Senior Swimming Sports in early term 3. He pai ki a mātou te kaukau! (We love swimming!) Check out some of our reflections on swimming and photos below:
I like swimming. I learnt how to properly do my breath stroke kick - Evie R
Swimming has been great. I have learnt how to do all the strokes with the paddles and have got more confident with kayaking - Nell K I loved school swimming because I got to do KAYAKING! At first I hated capsizing in a kayak but the more I did it I now have fun capsizing in a kayak it was so much fun - Pyrenees S
This term we did swimming and I learned how to stand up on my board (kinda) it was fun and I learned a lot from the lessons on how to surf - Talia TS
Swimming was really fun. I've got better at my breast stroke and I still need to work on my arm circles in freestyle - Olivia C
I liked swimming because I am in a group with my friends but after we get to play and its really fun because we can play tag and be sea creatures - Rhosyn F At swimming, I learnt swimming on my back, freestyle and duck dive - Sam M
James and Nicola's Whānau group (with Neil stepping in!) retold the tale of how Maui discovered fire. We did this through the medium of puppets!
First we got into groups and retold the legend. Then we got back together to share, before planning and discussing what we needed to make. We asked, how did we want to do it? What characters will we need? How will we make the settings for the scenes and the backing music?
Everybody played their part in creating the artwork for the show, as well as telling the story. Some were on stage during the performance and some recorded their voices. We also made the background music using GarageBand.
We have made a joint commitment in Matariki for the upcoming holidays… We are all going to read a book these holidays!
The ‘Rules’:You can read a book (doesn’t have to be a chapter book).Think about what you loved about the book? What made it so amazing? Who else would like it?
Our readers!
When we return in Term 3 we will share our book with each other to get new recommendations for our next read!
There were some great discussions about fair tests, largely around counting the seconds or using a watch or iPad to time. We have some budding scientists at work!
