Whats been happening in Room 1..

With the swimming season coming to an end we will have more time in class to focus on learning. This week we have continue with our learning programs in the areas of math, reading, writing and inquiry.

The children have produced some very detailed graphs in statistics in which you can view some on their blogs. They have learning intentions and success criteria for their math groups. An example is we are learning to make and label our graphs correctly. The success criteria for this learning intention was to select the correct graph (depending on the type of data – continuous or discrete), give the graph a detailed title, and lastly label the x and y-axis. The children are all proficient in collecting data for their graphs. Using the success criteria they could identify if they achieved their learning intention or not. Each child could identify the changes they needed to make on their graphs. We are moving into place value – add/sub learning this week, the children are eager and excited to learn more efficient math strategies!

In reading we are trying to infer (conclude from evidence and reasoning) what the author’s message is and using evidence from the text to justify their reasoning. Room 1 students are all capable readers yet sometimes find it difficult to comprehend the main ideas/messages the author portrays in the text. Therefore we have literature circle activities, comprehension, and word work activities that the children work on in class to aid in their own comprehension skills and strategies when reading.

Of the three writing groups, each has a different learning intention. For example one group is learning to write paragraphs (how to structure their paragraphs). A paragraph contains a topic sentence, 3 supporting sentences relevant to the topic, and a concluding sentence. The children are beginning to understand that each paragraph should have one main idea and that they shouldn’t introduce/add in new ideas into that paragraph. It is nice to see all the children really trying to improve in their writing and provide us with as much detail possible.

Room 1 children are engrossed in their inquiry learning ‘Future kaitiaki of Mahia’. They have all identified issues in our area that need to be addressed and are eager to get in contact with organisations that will benefit in the sustainability of our place, Mahia.

Keep a look out on Room students’ blogs. You will see their learning intentions and success criteria (which differ depending on what they really need to focus on in each learning area). These are vital, as the children need to understand what their learning and why, and they can also self-assess against the success criteria.

Watch this space for next weeks learning!!