PLC. 2.

Yesterday marked my second Professional Learning Circle with my wonderful research participants.
After having a great discussion about where we're all at with our learners, everyone was happy to maintain the original goals set on day 1.



The discussion continued and I was blown away with the insightful, thought provoking reflections that emerged. The innovative designs that were explored and examined showed depth of learner understanding and need but also alignment with the 'reading progression.'
An interesting observation of one of our learners was his reduced absenteesim and desire to hook up on his iPad to continue his 'learning.' His 'learning,' that was designed for his needs, interest and ability level... of course you want to come to school if it's not only fun but personalised and achievable at the same time!!

Shapes and beyond.

It's so neat to see how the teachers are taking the children's ability to use the shape tool and colour wheel into the curriculum. Here's an example of what went on during maths in Room 18.

No need to buy dice anymore... we can make our own!





Next step might be them figuring out how to generate a random number?

Connecting it all up... shapes to arrows and locking it down!

This week the NE /Year 1's had their 'shape' making experience. Most of the learners were able to form a rectangle with their finger but some needed a bit more support. With lots of practise it will become easier... getting that fine motor adjusted enough to drag the shape to the necessary size was tricky!

Interestingly, the learners asked if they could add lines and made a recommendation that they locked down their shapes and lines to stop them moving while they were writing!
What a wonderful bunch of 'thinkers!'




The Year 2's continued with shapes now adding a circle and arrows into the mix. We built a brainstorm as the initial construct and talked about the shapes that may be required to house the words and word groups. Once the brainstorm was completed we decided to create 5 rectangles and 2 circles on our iPads to start our brainstorm.  Making the shapes was easy but the positioning of each shape seemed difficult for most. Creating the arrows was also easy, however, the placement for direction and flow from each shape was very hap hazard and done purely for aesthetics!  This was a good learning curve for the learners... they are comfortable building shapes so can now focus on position and direction! So many curriculum areas covered in one lesson!

Shapes

So.... we can make lines.... Next step... let's make labels using the 'shape tool.' If we type our word or word groups, slide them onto the label and tap 3 x with our finger the text gets locked to the label. Two big questions... "have I used enough crazy colours" and  "why is my red text not showing up on my red label?" Once everything's sorted it must be time to write or type my story.... and my words are right there to help me.

Now where am I from again?

Are they straight?...NE and Year 1 on Lines...

The Year 2's and 3's were able to do it. The Year 2's made each line by repeating the process whereas the Year 3's learnt how to use the duplicating tool. So my question was...could the 5 year olds manage it too AND lock them down? They have had no experience using the locking tool so today we learnt how to lock down a photo, create 4 lines and lock those down too. Well... we now have lines so lets do some writing!
Could this be an activity the 'others' could create and do independently?

Can 5 year olds create their own template to work with...yes they can!!

Lines.

This week the Year 2's are continuing to learn about the tools on Explain Everything. Making 'Lines' and locking them down are on the agenda. Today Room 27 had to take a photo, crop it, lock it down, and add lines one at a time making sure they were straight before locking them down. We also christened their stylus! They had to write a little story to match their picture on their lines. By learning how to use all the tools and reiterating their use each week, the children are only a step away from creating their own activities to support their learning!