Sketching Faces

As part of our discovery unit we are discovering how to draw our faces uses correct positioning. We looked into a great video which showed us where our eyes, ears, nose and mouth need to be positioned on the face to look right.

These are some of the examples to show how we are getting on.

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Blended ELearning 2013

Why - What is the purpose of eLearning

Engagement, motivation, learning for the future, skills, catering for different needs, fine motor skills, differentiation, challenging, teaching stays fresh, communication, parent and school connection, students as learners as teachers, excitement, quality of work, incentive, draws them in.

 

What difference will this make for our students

Students will be engaged, better results, structure, learn to follow processors or instructions, future skills, motivation, responsibilities, pride, differentiation for students, caters for all students at all levels, connect with wider community and world, instant, blogs, wikis, authentic audience.

 

Future Learning Short Documentary -

 

Virtual Learning Network

 

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Twitter Wall

Today we began our "Twitter Wall" this is a way to promote positive comments and engagement within the classroom and between our students. It's interactive, engaging and teachers many skills.

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Word App

Great Word App. A heap of different word activities and 3 level settings. You choose the activities that you want to play. Very child friendly.

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Blogging - Collaborating with the WORLD and sharing our success.

We began blogging today. Every child in my room is creating their own blogspot today. It's a slow process but it will be a rewarding one. The purpose of the blogs is so students can begin to create a record and profile of themselves and their journey through school, also as a way to share work and respond and reply to feedback. Many people have spoken about the need for students to share work to a wider audience as a way to remain focused and motivated by their own learning. Blogging is a perfect way for this to happen as students are able to share work and have people from any place on the planet comment about it and give them feedback on this work. 

First and foremost we (Room 8) will be giving the feedback and learning how to write posts and respond to comments constructively. 

My big hope is that the students will continue to use these blogs long after they have left Room 8 and even Kamo Primary School. 

Spelling Homework

This year parents, with the iPads in the classroom we are using a spelling app to learn, teach and test our students on their spelling words. The children will be using the spelling city app everyday to learn their words rather than the traditional notebook. In the past very few students have remembered to bring back or get their notebooks signed. The iPad will change this. Although the app requires an internet connection to use the activities the students will still be able to learn their words at home in a traditional way i.e. Read the word out loud, cover/hide the word, say the word again OR Read the word out loud, cover/hide the word, Write the word out.  Repeating this is important for the word to stick, so DON'T allow your son/daughter to only do each word once, have them repeat each word multiple times. 

If you want to look at the lists or activities log onto https://www.spellingcity.com  or click here for my homepage and class lists https://www.spellingcity.com/BenSoole/ . If you want more information just come in and see me. 

To find a list just click on the "Find a list"  button then type in "Soole" and search by teacher. This will bring up our lists. 

Have fun learning their words with them and remember to explore the other spelling, language and word activity apps that are loaded on the iPad. They don't all need an internet connection. 

The simple things

These are the basic things that any beginning iPad user needs to know about. Have a play with the keyboard and the buttons, you won't blow it up !