The Fantail afternoon inquiry class have been having a fabulous time learning about ‘Planet Earth and Beyond’.

They especially love their ‘Friday fun day’ activity.Last Friday we painted the solar system on the concrete in front of the verandah. We made the sun and planets to scale and made sure that they were in the correct order.

We had so much fun and are really proud of the result.

It was cool when the Shearwaters and Pukeko’s came out of class. They gave us awesome feedback. Wow! They are amazing!

Everyone loves them so much that we are going to repaint them in permanent paint early next term so that we can enjoy them forever.

Listen out when you are near the planets. You can often hear a child singing the planet song.

What great learning we have achieved!

Here are some photo’s for you to enjoy. Please come and check the Solar System out.

In measurement this term we have been learning about area. With it being autumn we had great fun outside collecting lots of colourful leaves. When we were back in the classroom we each chose a leaf and discussed which leaf covered the most space and which one covered the least space. We then drew the outline of a tree and glued on some leaves.

At the end we gathered together and compared how much leaf space (area) our leaves took up, then we ordered our trees from the one that had the most leaf space to the one that had the least leaf space.

What did I notice?

As you worked I heard you discussing your trees, leaves, who had the biggest and smallest trees and who had the most leaves on their tree. You were using some great maths language. You were using all of the key competencies. You managed yourselves by being organised and focussed on your task. You were participating and contributing by discussing and sharing your observations. You were thinking, using language symbols and text and relating to others as you spoke to the class about your tree and leaf space. Well done, we now have some beautiful autumn trees on display in our classroom.

Our beautiful Autumn trees

Library Fantail’s Learning Story

Throughout this term we have been learning about simple machines. We have learnt what they are and how they help people make work easier. We have found out about levers, pulleys, wedges, screws, inclined planes and wheels and axles. We found out that simple machines help people to lift, pull, push, turn, split, cut or join things.
We now know that when two or more simple machines are used, they make a compound machine. Through all of our new learning we have been able to recognise how technology has changed from the past to the present and how much it has made life easier for all people. At the end of our learning about simple machines we had to make a compound machine out of recycled materials.

What was noticed?
I saw children very excited about being able to create a compound machine and the classroom was buzzing with ideas. The children used a bubble map to plan their creation. They drew pictures, wrote down their ideas and recorded what materials they wanted to use.

The time came for the children’s innovative ideas to be made. Our classroom was a hive of activity and everyone was very focused. If an idea didn’t work one way then another way was tried as real technologists do. WOW! Great reflection and problem solving was happening, stop and think, persistence, being organised, respect, communication, aiming for excellence and most of all fun! All of the key competencies were being used: thinking, using language symbols and texts, managing self, relating to others and participating and contributing. It was a fun filled morning. Everyone presented their machine to the class explaining the simple machines they had used to make their compound machine. Awesome work everyone!

Children’s Reflections:

Blake – I used ‘E’ for Excellence in “FORCE” and tried my best. I had a compound machine at the end.

Jack – I think I worked well with others sharing the materials.

Oliver – I used ‘C’ for communication in ‘FORCE’. I used my manners when I needed materials. I talked about my machine and I listened to others.

Rose – I worked well with others, shared materials and ideas and WOW! I had fun.

Bridget – I was ‘O’ for organised in ‘FORCE’ and I got my materials ready for construction.
I managed self.

Samantha – I used ‘R’ for respect in ‘FORCE’ and shared materials. I was careful when the hot glue gun was being used.

Alexander – I focused on making my machine. (Managing self.)

Maia – I was ‘persistent’ right to the end of making my machine. I used ‘stop and think’ to work out how I could use two or more simple machines to make my compound machine.

Seth – I used ‘Habits of Mind’ ‘persistence,’ ‘stop and think’ and ‘new ideas’ to make my compound machine. I was successful.

Timeka – It was a hard challenge. I worked out how I could use nearly all of the simple machines to make my compound machine.

Reuben – I had fun making every part! I got new ideas when I was working on my machine on how to put wheels on it.

Jacob – When something doesn’t work you change it. You use the ‘Habit of Mind’ ‘make it right.’

Our cool compound machines

During the Friday arts rotation the Fantail class have been amazing musicians. They have really enjoyed strumming the ukuleles. However, right at the beginning we all had to learn the parts of our instruments. Watch us use our key competencies of thinking (remembering the parts), language, symbols and texts (singing), participating and contributing (singing with the team) and managing self (being organised and pointing to the correct parts at the right time.
We hope that you enjoy our learning.

The Fantail class have been learning to use their thinking key competency.
We have been focusing on the sparkly hats on the wall in our room.
They are ‘Edward de Bono’s’ thinking hats – (turns out that many afternoon Shearwaters thought that they were invented by Mrs Chambers!!!)
Each hat is a different colour and for a different type of thinking.
Please enjoy our iMovie of us having fun at the fabulous drum show and our reflection using the six thinking hats.

This term in the Library Fantail Room we have started learning about and using Habits of Mind skills to help us become successful, independent learners.

What are Habits of Mind?
Habits of Mind are thinking habits that help us become successful at solving problems. They help us to develop our thinking skills, evaluate our learning and reflect on it. Habits of Mind complement Suburban School’s “FORCE” values in our classroom and in the playground, helping us to achieve the Key Competencies in the New Zealand Curriculum. These excellent thinking skills therefore help us to climb our mountain of learning for life.

The Habits of Mind that we are using in the classroom this term are: Persistence, Make it Right, Stop and Think, Listening, Work with Others, Create and Innovate. We have a rocket poem that inspires us to blast off into the success zone of learning every day. We hope you enjoy it.