Thursday, 29 August 2013
Monday, 26 August 2013
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Mr Spicer's birthday
Today was the birthday of our Grounds Manager, Mr Garry Spicer. We snuck outside when he wasn't looking, lay in wait and then when he appeared, sang Happy Birthday to him. We hope you had a lovely day Mr Spicer and may your evening be full of gifts and cake!
Speeches
This week the students have been working hard on speech writing.
They needed to:
The process has been
2. Group the similar ideas together so they will make sensible paragraphs.
3. Begin writing.
4. Put ONE idea into a sentence (not cram three ideas in!)
5. Follow that sentence with ONE or TWO sentences which add detail to the idea and explain how/ why it connects to the topic. (How/ why does that idea make skateboarding fun?)
6. Tick each idea off on the plan once they have written about it.
Difficulties have been:
1. Coming up with ideas.
2. Sorting them into groups.
3. Writing one idea per sentence.
4. Remembering the whole topic (fun) not just 'facts about skateboarding'.
5. Thinking of ways to connect ideas to the topic (why/ how does that make it fun?)
6. Writing correct sentences.
No matter how well or badly they will have written the speeches by the time we finish, I am confident every child has worked hard and learned something valuable! They can feel proud of their efforts.
They needed to:
- Think about the purpose (to describe/ inform/ entertain/ convince).
- Think about the focus. What is the EXACT topic? For example 'Skateboarding is fun. You should try it!' isn't just writing facts about skateboarding. It's explaining how/ why skateboarding is FUN.
- Think about the audience.Who are they writing for? Will people understand what they mean? How can they make their ideas clear?
The process has been
2. Group the similar ideas together so they will make sensible paragraphs.
3. Begin writing.
4. Put ONE idea into a sentence (not cram three ideas in!)
5. Follow that sentence with ONE or TWO sentences which add detail to the idea and explain how/ why it connects to the topic. (How/ why does that idea make skateboarding fun?)
6. Tick each idea off on the plan once they have written about it.
Difficulties have been:
1. Coming up with ideas.
2. Sorting them into groups.
3. Writing one idea per sentence.
4. Remembering the whole topic (fun) not just 'facts about skateboarding'.
5. Thinking of ways to connect ideas to the topic (why/ how does that make it fun?)
6. Writing correct sentences.
No matter how well or badly they will have written the speeches by the time we finish, I am confident every child has worked hard and learned something valuable! They can feel proud of their efforts.
Watch this space!
In order to look after bees, the class have planted sunflower seeds. Apparently sunflowers have a lot of nectar, so are popular with bees. We hope so! Watch this space for developments as the seeds hopefully begin to grow. You can be sure no spray will be going near these plants!
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Being creative
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| The kids all take a turn at drawing and we see where it ends up. This became a snail (sort of). |
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| Danny couldn't quite decide what to do. Spot Josh photobombing! |
 | |
| For this one I told them they had to try to make a sea creature. It became an angry crab wielding an axe and wearing a boot! LOL |
Monday, 5 August 2013
Goals and commitment
To reach a big goal, you have to achieve little goals.
To meet a 4 week commitment, you have to do the task 5 times a week for 10 minutes a time. Ideally this will be EVERY week night, but if you can't fit it in, you need to think of ways to fit in at other times or on other days.
First thing in the morning? On the way to school? At the weekend?
Meet the little, day by day goals and you will be able to meet the bigger goals. Success takes commitment and effort!
Look at this again. Which comment do you want to write by your goal?
Monitoring goals
The students have been asked to use the goal comment sheet posted in our blog, to follow up with how they are doing at meeting the commitment they made to a 10 minute task.
Anyone with the internet at home is expected to comment at home each day after they've done the task.
Those without the internet can do it at school the next day. Please support your child to meet their commitments. This is a really important skill to learn.
Anyone with the internet at home is expected to comment at home each day after they've done the task.
Those without the internet can do it at school the next day. Please support your child to meet their commitments. This is a really important skill to learn.
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Interesting
...that when students are asked to CHOOSE a task to do each night for ten minutes, a week later, some have FORGOTTEN what they chose, and are not following through with the commitment at all.
This task is to teach all sorts of skills (see Homework Term 3) and repeated below as a reminder.
What will you be learning?
You need to learn to STICK to commitments (you WILL find 10 minutes a day!)
You need to learn why you PROCRASTINATE and find ways to push through it.
You need to learn to do things that are HARD for you.
You need to learn ways to MAKE them easier (follow the Deep Practice instructions below.)
You need to learn you can STICK at tasks, even when they are hard.
You need to learn to overcome FRUSTRATION.
You need to learn you can THINK about what you need to do to improve your skills and ASK for help if you need it.
You need to be willing to be BAD at them, so you can get GOOD at them.
You need to learn that it's okay to TAKE LEARNING RISKS.
You need to enjoy SUCCEEDING!
I will list the tasks everybody chose on this blog and be asking them to comment regularly.
This task is to teach all sorts of skills (see Homework Term 3) and repeated below as a reminder.
What will you be learning?
You need to learn to STICK to commitments (you WILL find 10 minutes a day!)
You need to learn why you PROCRASTINATE and find ways to push through it.
You need to learn to do things that are HARD for you.
You need to learn ways to MAKE them easier (follow the Deep Practice instructions below.)
You need to learn you can STICK at tasks, even when they are hard.
You need to learn to overcome FRUSTRATION.
You need to learn you can THINK about what you need to do to improve your skills and ASK for help if you need it.
You need to be willing to be BAD at them, so you can get GOOD at them.
You need to learn that it's okay to TAKE LEARNING RISKS.
You need to enjoy SUCCEEDING!
I will list the tasks everybody chose on this blog and be asking them to comment regularly.
Saturday, 3 August 2013
Which step have you reached today?
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