Have You Been to Our New Blog Yet??!!

Hi everyone!

We've got a brand new blog where there's some awesome teaching and learning happening!

Check it out at:

http://room4learningjourneys.blogspot.com

We'd love to have you follow us and add comments and questions for us!

See you there!

Experimenting with Storybird

The Spook House by authors8 on StorybirdThis is a Storybird that Hamish wrote as part of our learning about Digital Storytelling.  This has been a 6 week learning programme through the Winton Gate Cluster.

A HUGE / HUGHES Thank You!!

Hi everyone
This is my last blog post.

Thank you soooooo much for the wonderful farewell you gave me on Friday.  I felt very humbled, and slightly embarrassed by the attention.

I love my gift and can't wait to go shopping!  I will shop with all of you in mind and show you what I bought when I see you next.

I am really loving the study and I it meant so much that many of you wrote cards that included your thoughts on life-long learning - WOW, you are an amazing group of learners  -and teachers.  Don't ever forget that that is what you are too - you teach your teachers as much as we teach you.  That has been one of my highlights so far this year - learning so much from all of you.

I know you are going to have an amazing year and that you will work hard for and with Mr Herring.  He has some amazing ideas to share with you and I'm hoping he'll share them with me too.  :-)

Take care and remember, no one can ever squash your dreams - only you can do that if you let someone get in your way.  Look after each other, keep living the Myross Bush Values.  Dream BIG!

Hugs and smiles
Mrs H :-) :-) :-) :-)

MARKET DAY AND BLOG VISITORS

Hey everybody!!  Are you excited about tomorrow??  I can't wait.  I think the Year 6s will break the record this year.
Can't wait to get the photos up tomorrow.  Loving your blogs - will start commenting tomorrow.  i've been a bit busy with assignments this weekend.  Will share my learning with you tomorrow - great info on blogs and blogging.

Did you also notice that we are nearly at 8000 visits to the blog???!!!  What a great way to finish the term - hitting 8000!  Very exciting.  See you tomorrow.  :-)

Another iPad link for your Analysing and Synthesising

Hey Team!
Have a look at the link below and see what you think.  What else can you add to your PMI, interviews?

http://dancallahan.net/2011/04/05/694

The Wisconsin / Myross Bush Wiki

I am so excited!  I've just had a preview of some of the keynotes being prepared to be uploaded to the wiki - they are most impressive!!  Just listening to one group explaining the Kahikatea tree and how this is where our school symbol and motto comes from and sharing with their epals what the motto is, is very heartwarming.

We can't wait to share these with you.

Vist this Wiki

Have a look at the Room 1 wiki from Grant's Braes School in Dunedin.  They have some fantastic resources on there and would love your comments.  Hopefully they will have a look around our blog - and your blogs - and leave some comments.

Have a look at the organisation and think about whether our one with Wisconsin is as fantastic.  (I know it will be once we start to add content from tomorrow - very exciting!)

http://weareroom1.wikispaces.com/

iPad Explorations! By Robbie and Benjamin

Today our class got the iPad.  We were exploring what it could do for our learning.  It had heaps of exciting math and spelling games.

Our next step is for everyone to be able to use it and decide on the benefits and uses for our learning.

Tomorrow we are going to look at an article about Grant's Braes School in Dunedin and see what they've been up to with the iPads.

We might email them to get their opinions.

Market Day

Hi, Ruby here,
www.rubyslearninglog.blogspot.com
I would like to tell you about Market Day.
Well Market Day is coming up on the 11th of April,
I am so excited.
I am in a stall with Karen,
we are selling all sorts of things like flour balloons, we are having cake raffles and so much more.
Anyway, Market day is the way we raise money for our camp at the end of the year, so that it can cut down the cost for parents.
Bye for now,
Ruby!!

Investigating iPods and iPads in our eLearning

Hi everyone
Sophie, Aleisha, Kaitlyn and Simone here.  We have created a Google-doc to think about the PMIs of using iPods and iPads in our eLearning.

A PMI is a chart and a way of organising our thinking about a question.  We think about the Pluses or positives of an issue, the Minuses or not so positive points, and finally the Interesting or unexpected side of the issue or question.

Please click on the link below to see our thinking about this question.  We will begin to add our ideas later on today.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eqb444jhmVz4Q2cZ5RxfAmode8ZCgDL9XZI9Ho7btuI/edit?hl=en&authkey=CLq752U

Your Blogs

Hi everyone. Your blogs are looking fantastic! I love the learning that you are showing through them. It's great to see you thinking of your audience and what they need to know to be able to understand your thoughts.

Bruce, I think we have an old blog link attached to your one - oops, my mistake. Please email me your new one.

Everyone - please check that you have your comments being moderated. Some are going straight onto the blogs. Remember, Internet safety is crucial. Also remember to publish the comments after you and I have checked them - some of you must have over 20 comments to publish!!!! ;-)

Some of you also need to change the time zone of your blogs. Remember, it needs to be set to GMT+12 in the settings part - scroll right down and you'll find Wellington - click on this. (Otherwise it looks like some of you are blogging at 1.25am!!)

Keep up the fantastic work Team - you are great learners and teachers.

Inspiring Students

Hi everyone! I know I've said this before but... thanks for being such an inspiring group of students.

I loved hearing all your ideas using Socratic Questioning today Rooms 7 and 8. You are always able to see many sides of an issue and to use the Habit of Mind of Thinking Flexibly. You certainly showed that today!

I've also loved seeing the progress everyone is making with their blogs. You are adding so much that shows your learning. Remember to aim for correct surface features and check before you publish. Someone in our class did point out to me today that, because you are learning and developing in your use of blogs, that you would expect to see some errors and that these would disappear over time as you improved in your knowledge and accuracy. Great thinking Team and you are so right - another way to see development in your learning. Proud of all of you!

A Beautiful Gift from a Talented Artist

Today Cameron gave me a wonderful leaving present - a piece of his art work.

This was so special and I will value it always. It's going in my study / office so that I

can look at it while I'm working hard on my learning.

Isn't it fantastic!!

what is eLearning

What is elearning? Many people say it is electronic learning but.... not the kids in room 8.

What we thought it meant is educational learning, environmental learning, collaboration and connecting with others. I think people should think a bit harder when it comes to these things and think outside the box bit more often do you agree? Write a comment telling us whether you agree or disagree.

by Liam and Karen

Photopeach

Exploring Photopeach as a Learning Tool on PhotoPeach - discuss how this could be used to show your learning. You can turn it into a quiz by adding captions, etc. Would it be useful for our Wisconsin / Myross Bush wiki? We could use NZ music perhaps - checking copyright first though! :-)

Wacky Wednesday

Hi Team!! Great day working together with Room 7 and 8 looking at Habits of Mind, and planning Market Day.

I was soooooooooooo impressed with your ability to manage your impulsivity with the Pebble Challenge.

You showed a high level of skill in being able to define this Habit of Mind.

Miss Stewart and I think you're the best!!

A Fantastic Earthquake Wiki by Rm 1 Grant's Braes School

Hey everyone!

Check out an awesome wiki about the Christchurch earthquake and earthquakes in general. I am really impressed by what they have on it.

Their school is in Dunedin. See if you can find it on Google Earth.

Are there ideas on here that you could use on your epals' wiki? See what you think.

They'd love feedback but make sure that you use Reader Courtesy and check all those surface features before posting. :-)

www.christchurchearthquake2011.wikispaces.com

Relating To Others

Last of the 5. We'd love to read your thoughts and comments. What would you add? What have we missed? What are the skills you believe are important for our fantastic Myross Bush Learners?

We will be turning these thoughts into statements that show examples of the Myross Bush Learner.

Thinking

One of our favourites!!

Using Language, Symbols and Text

This was one of the hardest ones and we are still working on it.