Term 2 2014 Reflection!

My end of term reflection

WALT: evaluate our learning honestly.

This term we have not done a reflection at all! So we decided to do a reflection on the term. Here is mine.

What is an effective learner?
An effective learner is someone who listens and works hard and effect their learning in a good way.

What were the highlights for this term? Why?
My highlights were cross country because I pushed myself to not walk. My second favourite highlight was doing my writing sample because I had to work really hard and I think I produced a brilliant piece of writing.


What were your greatest challenges this term?  Why?
Probably my writing sample and my effort in cross country because I had to push myself really hard.

How are you going towards acting with integrity? Why?  How could you improve?
I think I am going very well with showing integrity because I always try my hardest to do the right thing. But honestly I could work on picking things up at pack up time.

What are your goals in our learner disposition wall?  Where to next?

My goal is get to Self agency because I want to have time to do other things as well as my priorities. 

Grasshopper tennis!

WALT: improve our small ball skills like catching, throwing, and hitting.

Description: We have been participating in a tennis programme with Big John (John Salisbury) from Tennis Manawatu. He has taught us some tennis skills that help with controlling and hitting the ball
Why? To reflect on how we are going with the tennis skills we have learnt. We will share this during our Student Led Conference.

When? Week 8
Who? The World

Task: complete the rubric with targets to show your reflection. Make a comment to the questions below?

Evaluation:
What are you most proud of and why?
I am proud of all of my work at grasshopper tennis but out of them all I am most proud of my racetrack because I have improved since our first session and can now do it with out the ball falling off my racket.
What challenged you the most and Why?
Probably the lobster activety because it was hard to catch the ball with two rackets.

Next time, what is a goal you can work towards?

Getting better at hitting the ball over the net accurately.

Buddy comment: Well done you have done a good job and I can see that you have good skills. Keep it up! Grace.S 

Heat and temperature writing.

WALT: Inform the reader about what you are writing about.

I can...	my comment:	buddy comment:	teacher comment:
state the main point in the first part of a each new paragraph	I have tried to achieve this but I am not sure weather I have achieved this or not.	I like the way you used lots of description in your writing :Kobe	You have tried to start with main points for each body paragraph.
include evidence (facts, experiments etc) to support my main point	I think I did well at this and I have tried hard to get my voice to come through.	I like this because you writing is brilliant so your voice must come through very well. :Kobe	I really like your examples and how your writer’s voice and sense of humour is coming  through in all types of writing.
explain the evidence and how it proves my main point	I had trouble doing this and it is the hardest to do but I think I have achieved this.	I like the way you have tried and you have not just given up on this.	You have tried to explain how/why your example proves your point - this is really tricky, well done.
Practise writing a linking sentence to my next paragraph	I think I need to work on linking my writing between paragraphs	I like the way  your ideas link in you paragraphs. :Kobe	Your ideas link in your paragraphs.A next step is linking between paragraphs.
infuse style: topic-specifc vocab, second/third person, present tense, transition words	I think I have done well but I need to work on this a bit more.	I like the way you admitted that you had to work on this and I agree with you! :Kobe	Great style. I wonder what other transition words. from the list you could use in an explanation?

We had to write a description about some sort of energy. I chose to write about heat and temperature and how they cannot be the same. I hope that my writing informs you of how heat and temperature are not the same and you like the strong language that I have been learning to use. Here it is.

The question is, are heat and temperature the same thing? Well they utterly most definitely cannot be! Heat and temperature are different in many ways but we sometimes overlook that. In this explanation I only tell you about some of them.

Everything is made out of tiny little things called atoms. The atoms in heat are very excited and when they touch another object the atoms in that object have a party. That is how some objects change form. When they get excited they heat up just like your body does after you have been running.

Heat, (for a starter) is warm energy. For example, the sun has lots of heat energy which travels to earth on a wave called a heat wave. On an extremely hot day if you carefully look just above the ground you may see a fuzzy, wobbly little line. This is a heat wave. On a cold day you simply cannot. A heat wave is called a HEAT wave because it is extremely hot. This means that heat energy is hot as well. We know this because temperature is a way of measuring this warmth (and coldness).

Temperature is a way of measuring heat energy. A thermometer is something that tells you the temperature. Here are two picture's of one.

A.

 B.

Thermometer A is at a high temperature. You can tell this because the top of the coloured area marks what the temperature is and the higher the top is the hotter it is. Thermometer B is at a low temperature because the top of the coloured bit is very far down. If you count the little lines from the bottom up to the top the coloured bit then add on a ºC to the number you counted up to then you will have what the temperature is! For example, if you counted 18 little lines then the temperature would be 18ºC. ºC means degrees celcius.  If you have a fever you use a thermometer to tell how sick you are. Again the higher it is then the hotter you are and the hotter you are the sicker you are.

So therefore heat and temperature cannot be the same thing because temperature is a way of measuring wam heat energy and cannot be the same as heat.
I think I have done well and achieved the success criteria but I could improve on my links.

Integrity Sample!

WALT: communicate a message with others.
WALT: show integrity.
What? Make a Puppet Pal to show our understanding of integrity.
Why? To show what we know about integrity, to share during our Student Led Conference.
When? Term 2, Week 1 - 7
Who? The World
DESCRIPTION: We have been learning about integrity.  We want to share our understanding with others. So we made some  puppet pals with our clay figures we made on art day, to show our understanding of integrity.

What? Make a Puppet Pal to show our understanding of integrity. Why? To show what we know about integrity, to share during our Student Led Conference. When? Term 2. Here is the link to our video.  http://youtu.be/UaTjcF2XLvY . This is a photo of our storyboard.

WALT: communicate a message with others.

Create a story board showing the beginning, middle and end of our message.
I think we did really well with creating the story board because we followed it well.
Use Puppet Pals as a tool to share our message.
We did well at doing this but I  know we could probably work on working as a team.
Keep our audience engaged.
We could work on adding a bit more humour in  our video.

WALT: show integrity.

Everyone in our group has contributed evenly.
We said that everyone could act their own character but, Cooper's characters were a stone and a phone so he didn't talk in the movie.
Integrity is the main theme of our message.
We did well at this because it was hard not to do kotahitanga.

Feedback/feedforward: Wow cool movie ana, I really like how they handed the phone to  the teacher and I like the clear voices that you used as well.-Lili

Science sample!

WALT: show our understanding of how energy works. 

My friend Bella and I made a poster about kinetic and potential energy and heat energy for our science sample. We created a small door to a science lab with two questions to answer. You can only answer one of the questions. We worked really hard on it and we hope that you like it! Please leave a comment and tell us what you think!

DESCRIPTION: Each week we have been learning about a different type of energy.  For example, States of Matter, Kinetic and Potential, Radiation, Conduction and Convection. 

SC:

Gathering Data

I can gather information using my 5 senses

I can gather information to make a prediction

I can use my information to draw conclusions

I can share my findings using evidence I have gathered

Task: Make a video (no longer than 30 seconds) about on example of   

energy. i.e. States of matter, Potential and Kinetic energy, Newtons Cradle or forms of energy like Radiation, Convection, Conduction.

What makes a good poster:

- clear writing

- detail

- images

- interactive

I think we did well at putting lots of detail in in our poster and really letting other people interact with our learning. We could work on making our writing a little bit more clear and putting on photos. Overall I think we did a great job!  

Feedback/Feedforward: I really liked the way you made a colorful poster that grabs the readers attention, I also liked your description. You did a great job! 

From Hannah K 

Mnemonics.

WALT: Rote learn my spelling words by creating a mnemonic for them.

Task: To create a mnemonic for five of your spelling words.

Task description: We had to create a mnemonic for five of our spelling words. A mnemonic is when you chose a word and then make a sentence with the the first letter of each sentence, spelling out the word. For example,  Fiona Let Us Find Feijoas Yesterday= Fluffy. I used five of my words (ranted, cried, radiant, panted and aroma) and created one for each of them. Aroma is my favourite because it is true that All Rumors Only Make Arguments, but maybe I could improve the one for ranted.

What I learnt: by using a mnemonic that makes sense, then it is easy to remember the mnemonic so you can spell the word.

 Here is a picture of mine.


I think I did well at creating mnemonics that make sense and are appropriate. Peer feed back: I think you have made up great mneonics, you have also done a great desciption.

Maths Sample.

WALT: Use our five times tables to solve mainly six, seven and eight times tables.
In maths we are learning to solve tricky times table questions like 17x6, using our simple 5 times tables. For example, if the question was 6x16 you would go, 5x16+1x16=96. So the answer is ninety -six.
We had to do a difficult maths sample to show we know how to use this strategy. Here is a photo of mine.

The success criteria is to be able to understand and use this strategy without any trouble.
I think I have achieved this because I understand the strategy and can use it easily if I need to. Peer feed back: I think you have worked hard and understand what you are doing and how to work it out. Grace's comment:)

Hot and cold!

We have writers notebooks. A writers notebook is a place were you store all your ideas, so later on you can go back, and make storys out of them. In our writers notebooks we had to make a page about hot and cold things. Here is a picture of mine.

Spelling prioritie.

I had to make a spelling pyramid out of the first five of my spelling words. A spelling pyramid is when you chose a word and you write the first letter at the top of the page. Then you write the first two letters bellow the first letter. You repeat this over again, each time adding on a letter until you get to the   whole word. Here is a photo of mine.

Learning partner pic collage.

We had to make a learning partner pic collage about what a learning partner is for. My learning partner is Grace S. Here is ours.

Math graph.

We are doing timetables. We are practising our basic facts by doing tests. The first level I passed easily and then the same for the second then I didn't get them all right so I had to stay on the same level. The next time I got them all right so I could finally go onto the next level. Here is a picture of a graph I use too record my scores.

Solid, liquid and gas

In science we are learning about solid, liquid and gas. We were given a work sheet to do. I got an amazing twenty-three out of twenty-three. Here is a picture of our difficult work sheet.

Spelling test!

The whole poutama did a spelling test in their whanu classes. There were two pages and three hundredwords that you need to know to be able to write and read. I got twelve wrong. Here are some photos of my spelling test.

I think I did well because I got more right than I thought I would. I could improve on remembering easy words because I didn't remember some words.

Raffle for a ride writing report!

This is my first draft of my writing about Raffle for a ride. This draft is in my writing book. I have worked extremly hard to get this finished, here it is.

(P.S: The stars mean this goes here!)

Bookapedia task 5, How might Auggie be an inspiration to others?

WALT: make inferences to better understand the author's message.

SC: use clues from the story to make connections beyond the text.

Task: How might Auggie be an inspiration to others?

Brave because he made the desicion to go to school. Perseveres because he never complains about the vists to the hospital he just gets on with it. He shows kindness because he supports his family and friends and others. Character because he believes in himself. He shows this by picking himself up when someone puts him down. For example, when he has the bleeding scream problem he doesn't stop going to school. 

I know he inspired others in the story because they awarded him " the Henry Ward Beecher medal to those students whose quiet strength has carried up the most hearts." People chanted his name, patted his back, high fived him and appluded him. This shows that they thought he deserved the award.

I think the author wrote this book to inspire others and to show that just because someone looks different or behaves differently it doesn't mean that they aren't the same as you on the inside, "Don't judge a book by its cover!"

I think I have achieved the success criteria because I have infered that Auggie was an inspiration to others from things the author wrote.

Swimming sports!

Our school did swimming sports at the lido. There are two different kinds of races we could do, the width races and the length races. The width races are when you do races like flutter board races or noodle races. You race the width of the pool for those and for the lengths you race the length of the pool (25m). In the lenghts you have to race kids your age in races like frestyle and   I did three out of three of the lengths. We were set a reflection about swimming. Here is mine.

WALT: Evaluate our learning honestly
Task: Reflect on your efforts at swimming sports day
Success Criteria:

• ●  Use an image here.
  
• ●  Answer questions honestly.
  
• ●  Use correct spelling and punctuation.
  

●  Ask your learning partner to write you some feedback. Remember Austin’s Butterfly.

1. What are you most proud of at swimming sports and why? I am proud of being chosen to be in the house relays because that is the biggest achievement in swimming that I have ever achieved.
2. What was a challenge and why? I was challenged by the fact that I was sharing a lane with Amy in backstroke because Amy was hitting me in the face.
 3. How did you show kotahitanga? I cheered on my team and my friends which encourghed them to keep on going.

4. What do you want to improve on next time and why? I want to be able to go faster in the water because then my legs and my arms will become stronger and I will become more fit! 

ANZAC!

WALT:What does ANZAC mean? Find facts to support why ANZAC day is so special. Present this in a creative way on your blog.
I found out about the poem called In Flanders Field by John McCrae. Then I wrote it out and decorated it and drew some pictures of things that you might have seen in the war. I also found some facts about ANZAC day and used all this to make a poster. This infomation about the poem which is on my poster.

On ANZAC day we wear the poppy to remember those who died to save our country and Britan. The reason we wear the poppy is because in Turkey were they died there are lots of poppy fields and most of our soliders died in them. There is a poem called In Flanders Field written by Canadien, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae who died of pneumonia in January 1918. John did not live to see the end of the war. He wrote In Flanders Field when one of his friends died in battle, later on another officer found it and sent it to a magazine to be published. The poem describes how the poppies grow back quickly beetween the graves of the soliders. This is why the poppy is a symbol of rememberance on ANZAC day.

We also had to watch this http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2842158.htm and answer the question: Do you think children should be allowed in ANZAC parades? Why or why not?

I think children should be able to walk in ANZAC parades because they should be able to show that they are thankful to those who died to save our country. Children need to grow up knowing the history of their country because if they don't people will forget what happened and why so many people died and the courage of those who were in the terrible wars.

Mean, median and mode with Bella

One of our priorites this week was to go onto a website and figure out the mean, median and mode of some data. The mean is when you add all the numbers up and divide the answer by the amount of data. The median is when you put all the numbers in order from smallest to largest and the middle number is the median. If there are two numbers in the middle you add them together and divide the answer by two. The mode is the number that repeats the most, if there is no number that repeats the most then there is no mode. I worked with my friend Bella to figure out the answer to this question.

Bookapedia task 4, Julian wasn't expelled by Mr Tushman why is thisgood or bad.

WALT: consider alternative viewpoints to better understand the authors message.

SC: compare different character's points of view to form opinons.

Task: Do you agree with Mr Tushman's decision not to expel Jack? Why or why not? 

I agree with Mr Tushman. Mr Tushman must have known that it was out of Jack's character to hit another student. He would know this because Jack is a great student and has a cool personality and  has never been in trouble before. I  know this because Mr Tushman asked for Jack when he wanted three good students to help Auggie out and show him around the school.                                         

I think I have achieved the success critearia because I have formed my opinion by looking at Mr Tushman's point of view and then Jack's view point which is that he thinks he did the wrong thing even though Julian did deserve it.

                                                 

Decimals!

In class we are learning about decimals. Decimals are numbers within whole numbers. If you divide a whole number by ten you get tenths (0.1), if you divide a whole number by a hundred you get hundredths (0.01), if you divide a whole number by a thousand you get thousandths (0.001) and so on and so on. Workshop nine was set a task in their maths book. Here is a picture of my task answers. I could answer them all so I think I can understand decimals.