Using iMovie to share research

As part of our Money Matters unit children researched New Zealand money.  Each student had a specific coin or note to research, from the past or present.  One group also researched the history of New Zealand money.

Students put their research notes into a group shared google doc. After they were done researching they collaborated on writing a script for a news broadcast or game show to share their findings about money.

When they had finished their scripts and had practiced a couple of times, they filmed their production and then used iMovie to publish it and then upload it to YouTube.  

A poster was created with task information and QR codes for students and classroom visitors to scan to watch the movies.

Students also added the link for their video to their own blog, as well as a link to their collaborative google doc that they used to write their research and script.

See the class blog for more details. >>LINK HERE<<

The following day, we revisited our videos and discussed how we could improve upon them. See the class blog for the new and improved news broadcasts. >>LINK HERE<<

Gaming for learning

Students used the Motions Math Pizza iPad app to learn how to run their own business. They worked together collaborating on their pizza business to see which group could earn the most money in half an hour. This app allowed them to put their learning about good, services and production into practice.

When we were finished playing we compared our profits and discussed what we had learnt about running our own business. 

Blendspace lesson for Tessellation

I shared this google doc with my class on which they found  the link to the Blendspace lesson on Tessellation.  The children worked independently through the lesson, watching videos and completing activities.

One of the activities was to create their own tessellation pattern using Google Draw.

The second activity was to watch a YouTube movie on making their own tessellation template by following instructions.  Most of the children were highly successful and everyone reflected on if their pattern worked or not.

Peer assessment

Room 3 are reading Room 17's blogs and completing their peer assessments on google docs.  

They then shared the google doc back to the student they assessed.  

They also posted a positive comment on the student's blog. 

An excellent way to share our learning outside our classroom and receive feedback.

Coding

A good article about coding.

Cool Tools to Help Kids Learn to Code

Movie Making and Collaboration

The children are learning two skills in this digital and collaborative innovation.  They are learning to collaborate and work with children they don't usually work with, as groups are made at random.  They are also learning how to use iMovie so that in the future they can use it to demonstrate their learning.

This is a link to the children's first day of movie making in class.

This is the link to the children's second day of movie making where they used storyboards to create their movies.

Maths with Scratch

Paul Crowhurst came and taught our class how to use the Scratch coding programme. Coding is like learning how to write a good book. We all know how to play computer games but we don't know what goes into making those games. Coding teaches us that.  We are learning how to programme our 'sprite' to make a rectangle and a triangle. It's harder than you'd think!!  The children really enjoyed it!