Book Battle Quiz 2017

Keeping within the promotion of the library and reading I was able to take 2 teams of 4 to the West Auckland Book Battle held at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. 

I had amazing support from four parents who were able to come and support their children (and more importantly provide transport!)

I was so impressed with the students' general knowledge of books and literature. 

The students had a lot of fun participating in this event.

Team B placed 2nd! They won a box of books for the school library and a Westfield voucher for themselves. 

These students came back to school totally buzzing from the experience, and were proud to stand at Whanau Time to share about it later on in the week. 

Community Engagement Through Poetry

My class spent a lot of time perfecting their haiku poems. The focus was Word Choice, which was especially imperative with the limited syllable count in the haiku structure. 

We published them on a Poem in my Pocket template, and presented them to members of our community at the local shops.

It was awesome to see my class wanting to engage with members of the community, and being brave talking to new people. 

They read their poems to people before letting them keep their original poems. 

It was a pretty delightful experience for us all. Lovely to see all the smiles from both my students and adults. 

Math/Fraction PD

Fractions with Linda and with Bryony from Waitakere College

Discussed common misconceptions in students understanding of fractions and how to teach.

Eg. 2/5 + 4/5 = 6/10

1/2 = 0.2

1/4 is bigger than 1/2. 

Bryony reminds us that teaching that fractions are equal parts is so important for students to understand from the very beginning.

Idea:
Fold a piece of paper in half. Cut out a border from a blank piece of paper. Cut strips from the middle bit. Use to show and visualise halves, quarters etc. Can put equipment in the sets so they can see 3/4 of a set of 12 etc.

For teaching and introducing decimals go to NZ Maths and download the decimats.
NZ Maths Decimats

Bryony introduced the double number line for teaching ratios. Possibly stay away from the 1:2 ratio as students just think it's half.

Looked at Mixing Colours - Pink Book Number 7, Pg 50. Ratio's and colours.