Goal Setting

Today Rōpū Ngaio did some more assessment for learning. This time we were writing our next steps based on our self assessed eastle writing.

First we looked at our lowest number in our writing rubrics. Then we looked at the next scale up and added this as our next step to get up to the next writing level. 

This was really motivating for students who then used their set goal to improve their next piece of writing. 

When we finished our improved writing we tickled pink the features we improved.

Most people chose structure and language as their next step. Tamara chose punctuation for her next step.

Growing Pīngao Seeds

Today we used the yoghurt pots to plant our test batch of pīngao seeds. We mixed fertilizer and sand before filling the pots and then adding a few seeds. We then sprinkled a little sand over the top before adding some water. Students decided if they wanted to care for theirs at home or leave at school. Watch this space to see how they go. We are hoping they will be ready for pricking out in around 8 weeks.

Germinate

Today we we were looking at the word germinate. Without prompting, Sam (who was unsure of the meaning) opened up his chromebook and typed it into an online dictionary. What awesome self directed learning, well done Sam!

Maramataka

Yesterday Whāea Kaiya told us about Maramataka. So we did some research and found  a cool website that tells us which phase the moon is in. Māori follow the moons phases to help with identifying patterns in our wellbeing. By following the moon's cycles we can be more in tune with our own well being and the well being of the land. We followed the moon's cycle on Friday as it was in Tirea and moving to Hoata, which meant we should start preparing our raised beds for our Pīngao seeds. We dug out the old beds and mixed fertilizer and sand while another group fertilized and watered the fruit orchard. What an amazing group of students I have!

Who did you help today?

 

Yesterday Lewis from Sport Northland came in to see what we have been doing in Rōpū Ngaio. He is helping us with our online Pātākā Kai project and showed us a cool website called who did you help today? First we looked at synonyms  for help and community to build our vocabularies, then we built critical questions. We finished by looking at level 2 achievement objectives for Health and Social Studies. The students started to choose the ones that interested them. These will be the basis of our learning for this project.