Harper's Discovery

Today Harper shared some awesome news.

Here is a video of Harper sharing news.

She discovered a Woolly Mammoth has been found in a swamp.  It is 39 000 years old!  The scientists think the Woolly Mammoth probably died in the swamp by drowning.  Then it froze.

We did some RESEARCHING

Israa had a book with some information about Woolly Mammoths that she shared with us.  One thing we discovered was
That Woolly Mammoths lived in Alaska, Canada, Siberia and Northern Europe.

Then we looked on Google and found this article with a video of the Woolly Mammoth.
We learned that to do a Google Search we type in a question and then Google gives us lots of links that might have the information we are looking for.

We also discovered that sometimes Google gives us links that are not so helpful so we have to be WISE to figure out which information we are looking for.

Woolly Mammoth Discovery

Finn used his inquiring mind to to ask a great wondering  He wondered if Mammoths were mammals.  To find an answer to this, Israa looked in her book and we looked on Google.  We all decided that YES, mammoths were mammals - this means they had warm blood like us.

Miss Israa, the teacher

Today, after lunch, Israa asked if she could read some stories to the class. I was excited by this idea! Israa did the most amazing job of sharing her books with the class. She asked questions, she invited different children to come and read parts of her stories an even gave out house points! Israa, you made me very proud today.

Happy Birthday to the Queen

We had lots of fun making a birthday cake for the Queen and singing happy birthday to her!

We made a very delicious cake and decorated it before we ate it.

We are excellent cooks :)

During discovery time we also did lots of things to celebrate the Queen having a birthday - have a look at our cute crowns and high tea!

Thanks to Israa for taking these photos too.

Israa's Amazing Machine

Today Israa drew this amazing machine that uses fantastic forces.

I love your thinking Israa

Wordle Fun

Briannah, Riley B, Miles, Ava and Israa have been reading about wolves.

They thought about all the words they could use to describe wolves.

They tried to think of interesting WOW words.

Then they turned their words into wordles.

Have a look at these links.

Ava's wordle

Riley's Wordle

Miles' Wordle

Israa's Wordle

Briannah's Wordle

The children had to think about the words they would use then they had to decide on a layout, font, colour and shape.

Movie Making Update

Our movies are coming along rather nicely!

Today it was very exciting as several groups wrote the script for their movies.  I was very impressed with the language the children used and also with the way they were able to write in a way that suited a movie.  I scribed the scripts while the children dictated their ideas.

We discovered we needed some props.  Today some children started to make props.

We also discovered we needed some extra costume pieces.  The children had a great idea to email the parents from our class to see if anyone could help.

We are looking for a mouse, hippo and shadow master costume.  We also wondered if anyone has any plants we could use for a jungle.

We also practiced how we need to move and how we need to speak slowly and clearly when we are doing our movies.

We had a lot of fun.

This clip is a sneak peek at one of the movies we are making.
This movie starts Briannah, Ava, Miles and Israa and it is directed by Bryn

Movie Making Progress

Today we did lots of work on our movies.

We got together with the other people in our groups and we began talking about things like voices, costumes, plot and character descriptions.  We made some pictures of what we imagine our characters will look like and identified some key characteristics.

Bryn was busy directing his group of actors- Israa, Briannah, Miles and Ava as they were having a rehearsal of their movie.

I loved the feedback that Bryn provided to his team.

Riley's group had a great idea.  Part of their movie is set in the Cashmere hills so Riley was keen to take his group to Victoria Park to film so of their movie.  When Riley suggested this we were all very excited but we also realised it posed some problems too.

Riley shared the problems with Mrs Simmons and with our class.

Then we did some problem solving together.

The children suggested lots of ideas

• Mrs Pelham could take the children in the car -  but what would happen to the rest of the class? - they could have a babysitter was one suggestion
• how would we get to Cashmere hills?  the children thought we could use google maps to find the way
• we could use green screen filming and add a background of the Cashmere Hills
• we could use English Park hills to look like the Cashmere Hills
• we could ask Riley's Mum or Dad to take us - but we would have to ask Mrs Warren first and the parents of the other children too

The children then went on an adventure to English Park.  The discovered the hills there were pretty good and they think they could probably use those hills to do the filming.

Our next step is to start writing scripts for the movies that are not yet written and then to work on our costumes.  We are feeling very excited!

I am particularly pleased with the way the children are embracing this inquiry learning.  They are driving the direction of this learning and it is so exciting!

Titanic effort

Briannah, Israa and Miles worked hard to make this movie on the iPad.
They began by reading lots of titanic information in books, on the computer and old. They asked experts and shared their learning with us.

Then they did lots of great work in their books to plan this movie. They even filmed it themselves!  It's is the first time they have had a go at this type of learning and they made some interesting reflections for next time they try.

They discovered you need to stand still when you are filming and being filmed. They also discovered you need to speak in a clear voice to be easily understood.

Over the next few weeks these children will make more movies to improve their technique.

What outstanding wise learners they are.

Titanic Learning

Today Israa, Miles and Briannah started to read a book about the Titanic.  

After they read their reading book they did some more research using the computers and books.

Have a look at them learning.

After they had finished doing some discovery the children wrote something they learned about the Titanic in their reading book, then they thought of an interesting question they could discover the answer to.
Over the rest of this week these children will prepare a movie on the ipad so they can teach the rest of the class about the Titanic.

We discovered Riley and Cillian are Titanic experts.  They were very helpful at sharing information with Briannah, Israa and Miles.

I can't wait to see what they come up with next!