Peter Jackson Hopefuls

Teaching is one of the best jobs in the world I say!

Yesterday a team of teachers from our junior/middle team were exploring the use of the 'Trailer' feature in the iMovie App at an E-Time professional development session.  The final result is above.

It is so inspiring to see staff arrive back from a session like this so enthused and motivated (in the last week of term too).  No doubt they will be hatching ideas and plans for their classes over the term break to motivate and inspire the children in their classes just as much as they were yesterday.

One of goals with the integration of this technology is to try our best to focus on the creative uses of it.  This is a great example of how we could use it in this way.  Reading? Science? Writing?  The potential is huge.

Check out the trailer-I think it will make these ladies famous!!

PuppetPals-First Try

One of our Year 7 student's shared this PuppetPal movie with me this afternoon.  This was her first try at using it.  I was suitably impressed that I thought it was worth sharing via my blog.  I enjoy seeing children who have taken the novel they have read, in this case 'The Hatchet' by Gary Paulsen and share their learning in such a fun and engaging way.  In this case the student has not only learnt alot about reading but she has also problem-solved her way through presenting this piece.  I know her next production will be that little bit better too.

App to Try

Last week as a staff we had our very first iPad Breakie, a voluntary professional development session to introduce a new iPad App or generally share some of the cool things we can use them for in the classroom.

I think it is a great idea to share some of these Apps with the wider school audience too.  So here goes for this week.

This week I want to share with you the app, 'Draw Something'.  If you have played the game 'Pictionary' then this App attempts to do something similar with the difference being that you are playing with someone else who is online.  I think this a fantastic way for children (and adults) to exercise their creativity while also learning some new vocabulary and putting their spelling skills to the test.

There is a free version of the game, as well as a paid one, and it can be used on both Android and iOS (Apple) devices.

This is also a relatively safe environment to introduce children to the concept of social networking which is increasingly becoming more and more accessible for children in all sorts of forms.  Remember is always a good idea to know what your children are doing online and who they are communicating with.

All you need to get started is a device to run the App on and an email address.

House Olympics-It's Not All About Reading & Writing!

One of our focus areas this year is to raise the profile of our school houses and student leaders.  Today the senior students organised and led an Olympic House Day.  It was brilliant to see our senior students leading so effectively and the students having so much fun in their flash new house shirts.

I know schools place huge importance on the learning areas of reading, writing and maths, as we do at Swannanoa, but these days provide opportunities for students that are difficult to replicate in the classroom.  The students develop valuable confidence from their interactions, becoming more familiar with each other and building a culture of support, mutual encouragement and working together.  These are vital components of any school that make a massive contribution to how students perform academically.

Well done senior students, I look forward to our next house day.

Building Confidence by Leading Learning

I visited Room 3 today and saw what I thought was a great example of an older student building their own confidence by leading a learning activity.  The Room 3 students love this time each week when Ami visits and reads to them.  I was so impressed with her questioning skills, they were simply brilliant!

First QR Activity-Cool Stuff R8!

The reading groups in Room 8 are getting creative with how they can improve their reading achievements. I have worked with groups to generate QR Codes for the short movies they have made as part of their reading activities.

The students have been so motivated and have had such rich discussion about the text that I wanted to share this learning with you all.

I know our movie-making skills will only get better!!

The QR Code below will be put on the back of the 'Hunger Games' novel they have been reading for next year's students to enjoy.

Wonder what this is all about? What is a QR? Get the QR reader on your smartphone and scan the code below to find out!