Quickwrites with Storybird

Moana Learning Hub are a collaborative learning space, with 54 learners at Wainui Beach School in Gisborne, part of our Tairāwhiti cluster.   The learners have been using Storybird for their digital quickwrites.  When reading the blogpost on their class blog you will see that their topic for their quickwrite was 'There's a monster in my.....' and each person had the same 100 words to use.   It is good to read the reflections of Storybird and the process of quickwrites from the teacher and learner perspective.  This blogpost shows another way to share writing in an engaging way that is achievable for all. 

Turning Children's Artwork into a Digital Story

Team Maunga are Year 1 and 2 learners at Ohaeawai School, way up in the Far North, part of the Kaikohekohe cluster.  This blogpost is a great example of how children's artwork can be turned into a digital story that can be shared with a wider audience through their class blog.  There is a clear process from simply using a shared book to then creating their own artwork, based on Dick Frizzell art, to turning it digital with iMovie.  It is great to hear the children's voice recorded and added to their pictures.  Head over to their class blog to listen and leave a comment.

The Gruaffalo - Stop Motion Animation

The Junior Takahe learners at Wesley Primary School have been reading the story of 'The Gruffalo'.  As part of their learning of how to retell stories using describing words, they have created scenes for their Gruffalo story.  They created a diorama as a backdrop for their animation and built their characters with playdough to retell their story in a creative way.  Head on over to their class blog to check out their video clips and hear them retelling the story.   This is a great post to see how our younger learners are creating and sharing in different ways.

Credit + Sangeeta Alluri

Magic School Bikes

Te Maunga are Year 1 and 2 students at Ohaeawai School, part of the Kaikohekohe cluster in Tai Tokerau.  Te Maunga have been very creative with utilising their school bikes as part of a movie to  share their learning around their inquiry topic - Up, Up and Away.  On their class blogpost you can read about their learning process and watch their exciting video clip.  A great example of green screening and movie making to share learning in a different way. 

Credit +Kariene Gardner

Te Karere o Tautoro

The incredibly talented and created Year 6, 7 and 8 students of Tautoro School have put together a news item in Te Reo Māori.  They have shared the story of their Tupuna, Maui and how he fished up the North Island of New Zealand in a very creative way using a variety of techniques.  Check out their news item - Te Karere o Tautoro and make sure you leave them a positive, thoughtful, helpful comment.  I am impressed that they have used Te Reo Māori but have given english subtitles as well. A lot of work across a huge variety of curriculum areas within this activity.

Te Karere o Tautoro

Credit +Tracey Simeon

Crazy Critters Alliteration at Ohaeawai School

Team Awa, Year 3 an 4 learners at Ohaeawai School, have been creative with alliteration.  They have been reading a big book 'The Crazy Critters Cooking Convention' which is full of great examples of alliteration.  They have worked collaboratively to create their own alliteration story based on the same theme of critters.  They have used Google Slides to put together their story and then Screencastify to add their voices reading out their story.  Check out both the Year 3 and Year 4 stories on their class blog.  Great examples of collaborative creativity.

Credit - +Alicia Craig

Holiday Recount Writing through Google Maps

Year 5 and 6 students at Kawakawa School have used Google Maps as a tool to share their holiday recount writing.  You can check out where they went on their holiday through the map as well as read their story by clicking on the pointer.  Students have been able to add images to their stories as well as their text.  A great example of using Google Maps in a different way and providing another opportunity to Learn, Create, Share using the Google Suite of tools.  Check out their map on their class blog and be inspired by their stories.

Credit - +Sally Chatfield

Book Reviews through Fake Text Messaging

Year 6, 7 and 8 students at Lake Brunner School have been writing narrative stories and creating books.  As part of their learning they are reviewing and responding to each others stories.   They have been thinking of other ways they can present and share their reviews and had a go at exploring Fake Text Messaging as a way to share their review in a different way.  Check out their example on their class blog.

Fake Text Message Generator.
Credit +Sarah Jakeaway

Winter and Summer Solstice

Year 7 and 8 students at Panmure Bridge School have been learning about the Winter and Summer Solstice.  They have created animations using Google Slides to share their learning.  This is a great example to show learners how they can use their smart searching skills to create a reference slide at the end of their slideshow that shows the websites that they have collated their information from. There are two examples shared on their class blog.

Winter and Summer Solstice by Sanujan and Joshua

Winter and Summer Solstice by Ofa and Jeremiah - these boys have used their creative thinking by using the Lions and All Blacks Supporters gear for their characters.

+Robyn Anderson

Creating Paper Planes

The Year 1 and 2 students at Ohaeawai School  have been learning all sorts about air pressure.  They have built paper planes to experiment with what happens to it using pressure from different air forces. They have used YouTube video tutorials to follow instructions on how to create a paper plane.  A small group of learners have put together their own video explaining how to make a basic paper plane.  A great example of rewindable learning.  Check out their video on their class blog.  You will read that they have also written step by step instructions as well, meeting the differing needs of different people - some who prefer to follow written instructions, some who prefer a video tutorial.

Credit - +Sarah Jane Stevenson

Matariki Stories

Room 2- Year six and seven students from Edmund Hillary School spent the final parts of Term Two learning about Matariki and associated myths, stories and legends. Learners focused on their language use and retelling techniques, alongside the visual impact of storytelling in a digital format.

Some students recorded audio in the background to help build the story and have a greater impact on the reader's senses. Students used other digital stories online to help them in their design and construction of learning. Below are some screenshots of the images used to retell the stories. Head over to the class blog to view their short films and to leave your positive, helpful and thoughtful comments.

Credit - Sue @ Edmund Hillary

Scrumptious Sentences by Myer at Tautoro

Myer-Layla is a Year 5 student at Tautoro School, part of the Kaikohekohe cluster in Northland. Myer has been learning about different sentence structures and has worked hard to create a Powtoon to explain compound, complex and simple sentences.  Myer has called her Powtoon - Scrumptious Sentences and I am sure other learners will learn from Myer.  Head over to her blog to check out her Powtoon and give her some feedback.

Narrative Writing - Partly Cloudy

Chelsea is a Year 6 student at Lake Brunner School, part of the Toki Pounamu cluster in  Greymouth. Chelsea has been working on writing a narrative story and has chosen to use The Literacy Shed as inspiration.   Chelsea has been creative in sharing her narrative writing through creating a video clip of herself reading out her story alongside the text and pictures.  Head on over to Chelsea's individual blog and check out her video.  Remember to leave Chelsea a positive, thoughful, helpful comment.  A great example to share with both teachers and learners to encourage telling stories in creative ways.   You may also like to check out how +Sarah Jakeway has presented all of her learners narratives on her class blog.

Creating Accessible Links - Visible Teaching and Learning

Sue Glen @ Kumara School has created an innovative way for her learners to share learning with her - the digital hand in folder.  From her class Google Site learners have direct access to their 'File Cabinet'.  The blogger logo takes them straight to their individual blog whilst the folder logo takes them to a Google Spreadsheet.  The Google Spreadsheet gives each learner a sheet to paste in the links to their learning for Sue to access.   Once the students have copied in their link, it is able to be colour coded - red = ready for feedback - orange = feedback received - green = work complete.  This could be a great tip for other teachers who are looking for succinct ways for digital hand in.  Here is the link to a viewable copy of the File Cabinet that can be copied.

Examples of Rewindable Learning

+James Hopkins is the Manaiakalani Outreach Facilitator within the Ako Hiko cluster.  At a recent Leaders Professional Learning Group James has collated examples of Rewindable Learning from teachers.  James has recently added these links within the Ako Hiko Cluster Site.

'Often the challenge with creating rewindable resources for your learners is simply knowing where to start. Below are a selection of links to resources created from 2015-2017 in the cluster. If reusing anything, please make sure you are crediting the original owner. If unsure of copyright, check school policy and seek permission first.'

School	Year level	Teacher	Link	Brief Description
May Road School	4/5/6	Vasa Key	Blog	Educreations video of a fractions of number lesson.
Owairaka District School	5/6	Kristie Mills	Slides	Simple slides detailing the steps and processes for division.
Wesley Primary	3/4	Sam Bound	Slides	Maths modelling book
Owairaka District School	5/6	Rachael O’Shea	Doc	Captured student’s words as alternatives to ‘said’
Waikowhai Primary	5/6	Shiralee Sands	Slides	Setting up maths problems for a buddy
CTK	5/6	Billy Hadnett	Slides Slides Slides Slides	Digital modelling books for maths groups.
Wesley Primary	5/6	Phil Margetts	Slides	Toolkit
Hay Park School	4-6	Christina Fortes	Folder	Digital modelling book templates
Waikowhai Primary	1/2	Miriam Lane	Blogpost	Kawa of care example for junior students
Wesley Intermediate	7-8	Andy Crowe	Slides	Reciprocal reading guide.

Wacky Web Tales to Support Writing

Sally Chatfield and her group of year 5 and 6 learners at Kawakawa School have been learning about parts of speech.  They used a website called 'Wacky Web Tales' to create their own wacky tales.  As the students are creating their tales they are needing to use different parts of speech - noun, verb, adjectives, plural nouns, singular nouns etc - the website gives support for students as to what each of these are.  The students have created some wacky web tales and they have been shared on their class blog through a Google Slide and links.  This blogpost shows another way of sharing student writing on the class blog other than a stream of text.  It gives the reader the opportunity to choose the writing they would like to read.  It also gives students a place where they can read all of their classmates writing from one central place.

Credit - + Sally Chatfield and her Room 2 learners

Falling into Space - Sharing Art Digitally

Art is part of the everydayness of creating in any learning environment.  The vibrance of art is what strikes me when I visit classrooms.  I recently visited Ruma Tahi's blog (year 5 and 6 learners) at Kaniere School and was taken by their fantastic artwork - 'Falling into Space'.  Whilst looking through their amazing artwork I realised yet again, the true value of blogging and sharing, as I said in my blog comment to them, the only way I get to see their artwork is by them sharing it on their blog.  I don't have the option (easily) of jumping on a plane and flying to the West Coast to visit their school.   It is great that Michelle, their teacher, has thought about digital ways to share their artwork.  A great process of Learn, Create, Share.  How do you share the artwork in your class?

Credit - + Michelle Phelps and the students of Ruma Tahi




https://rumatahikaniere.blogspot.co.nz/2017/03/falling-into-space.html?showComment=1491445534477#c801998288032035429

Robots and Friendship - Videos to Prompt Writing

Clarelle Davis, a Year 3/4 teacher, at Point England School has been using short video snippets as a strategy to engage her learners in retelling stories in their own words.  The students worked on their stories over a number of days and were able to respond to feedback by adding detail and editing their work.  They also created a picture of their story to share on their blog accompany their writing.  Clarelle's students used Pixlr to create their photos but you could also use Google Drawings if your students are familiar with this tool.

Check out their Robots and Friendship stories and artwork from their class blog.


Jack (2013) from Quentin Haberham on Vimeo.

Credit - +Clarelle Davis

Critical Literacy - Reflective Blogpost

Ashley is a year 5/6 teacher at Tamaki Primary School and is part of the 2016/17 cohort of the Manaiakalani Digital Teachers Academy.  Ashley has taken a deep look at the Manaiakalani recommendation that teachers include more critical literacy in their programmes.  These recommendations have come through from the Woolf Fisher Research undertaken, you can read the executive summary here.

In this blogpost Ashley shares what the recommendation includes and what she aims to include in her writing programme to focus on these.  Ashley then shares the strategies she used for the teaching and learning and the workflow they went through learning together.  Ashley's blogpost is a powerful example of reflecting on teaching practice, implementing good teacher practice to fit the research and reflecting again on how the process went.  A great blogpost for all teachers to read and unpack.

It is great to see the photos and the video clips the students have created to share their learning.

http://ashleyschellingerhout.blogspot.co.nz/2017/02/wide-deep-critical-literacy.html

If using film to motivate writing interests you, check out Sandy Lagitupu's 2016 Spark Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher Inquiry.  Sandy's inquiry was based on the question: How to use film to improve writing achievements for students?  Sandy's has shared her inquiry findings at ULearn in Rotorua, with her teaching team and has now created a video clip enabling it to be shared wider.  In the movie Sandy shares the results from the easTTLe writing data.  It was awesome to see the shifts for learners!  Remember to leave both Ashley and Sandy comments on their blogposts.  

Credit - +Ashley Schellingerhout +Sandy Lagitupu 

Coding with Scratch Junior

Karen Belt and her year 3 learners at Pt England School have been exploring coding with the Scratch Jnr App on their iPads.  They used Scratch Jnr as a tool to share the stories they had written in a creative way.  The students drew the backgrounds and characters for their stories and set about coding their stories!  Check out their coding and their stories on their class blog.  You can also scroll through their individual blogs to see more of their coding creations.  Great examples of coding with our early learners in an authentic way.  A good post to share with junior teachers utilising iPads to support learning.

Credit - +Karen Belt