Goal for Room 3 2009

To introduce the intersection again to individuals, especially the newcomers. Talk with the children more about the Understanding aspect as they tended to want to move round before they had truly grasped found information.

2009 Goals for Room 4

1. Continue working with small ability groups rather than whole class
2. Give more time to apply learning at the end of term.

Room 3s Inquiry Journey

It took awhile to get it set up but the children have now grasped the intersecion concept and really enjoyed having cars to move around. Some even went around the intersection twice having reflected on their question and the need for nmore indepth question/answer research. All in all a success and ready to follow up again with next year. Yeh!

Room 4s Inquiry Journey

Wow!! this term we introduced our new inquiry model. The children really enjoyed the concept of moving around the intersection and grasped the idea quickly. I chose to flag the whole class inquiry this term and focus on group questions that contributed to a whole class task. I flet that this worked so much better. The children really enjoyed watching their symbol (in this case a food picture) travel around the intersection and were able to talk about it freely.

Yay...the cars are parked and I'm ready for a holiday!!!

ICT Cluster Day 4th Dec

Another great cluster day! It was great to hear and be able to relate to other school's inquiry processes. It was very nerve racking presenting myself, but I got there in the end.
I have really enjoyed being a part of the ICT cluster this half year. I have learnt so much, and there are so many different ideas to take hold of that I want to try myself!
Also another very productive meeting with Jan yesterday, setting some next steps for next year, and outlining some things to do to help staff start the new year with a bang. Thanks Jan, for all your help and support. You rock!

Curriculum Day 17th November

We held a teacher only day today to continue our journey with inquiry and our new curriculum process. First up, Neil recapped our journey to date in regards to the designing of our Poroutawhao School curriculum. This was fantastic as it created a sense of pride and excitement within the staff at what we had already achieved in such a short time. For our new staff it gave an idea as to why we do things the way we do. We then reviewed our curriculum folders, and made some minor changes to these. I then shared our inquiry journey to date (minus a few bits as the staff were aware of most of this process), and gave an overview of what inquiry looks like at Poroutahwao School. (See back here soon to see the movie that goes with this!!)
We then continued our review of the inquiry matrix...and FINISHED it!!! (until next time anyway!) This is now much more concise and everyone is happy to try it Term 1 09 and then we will review it again to make changes where necessary. A fantastic effort, team!
The afternoon gave a great opportunity to plan for Term 1 09 inquiry. We have chosen an inquiry into why we have rules and laws, with our focus being on the applying part of the intersection.

ICT Cluster Day 5th Nov

It was fantastic to be able to have the opportunity to visit our own cluster schools today. It was very encouraging to see where everyone was up to in their journey, and to reflect on where Poroutawhao are, and to see the similarities in the processes. It was great to see inquiry models emerging and I love the way that each schools model reflects who they are as a school, and things that are important to them as a community. A worthwhile day...it also gave me some thoughts towards our own school's presentation next cluster day!!