room+10

March --I have set up the coaching program for the power point book. I found that now they are using the book there are no questions or interuption to me. they go straight to the experts for help if they need it. I now want to us eit for how to save work.

March- I have used the easi speak microphone to record the evidence of understanding behind a topic based peice of work. The children made shield to represent them and positive self worth. See link below. http://westgoreschoolroom8.wikispaces.com/Self+Worth I found their ability to express their ideas wasnt hindered by their ability or will to write which often assessment is. It gave me a clear understanding of their level of knowledge and grasp of the concept. they were also very keen to use it.

March- After a self assessment of our oral langauge program for the term the class decided a clear need was to use more maori language and learn more words. When asked how we could do this. One boy suggested putting the words on our wiki and using the easi speak to record the correct pronunciation and then they could learn the words. I hadnt thought of this. It showed me that the children have more and better tech ideas than us and its worth the risk to ask them and go with it. This link shows our page.http://westgoreschoolroom8.wikispaces.com/Maori+Vocabulary

March- My reading program has been given a lift wiht ICT- the children are writing book reviews on power points when they have finished a chapter book. There is a bit of competition between my top readers to get books read so they can do powerpoints. they have to sequence the main ideas of the story and follow a book review plan which covers my objectives to. This has given a bit of a buzz about reading. I sometimes use it as a guided reading group activity for the lower groups to work in pairs to make reviews and when they are doing it they are fully engaged.

March- I have found kidspiration a good way of doing post guided reading tasks it is the same as they would do on paper and at first it was slower but as they got use to the program they sped up and although the results are the same they are more engaged and happy while doing it. I dont have to stop my guided reading group to check they are on task or re direct conversations which I might have to do if it were a paper task. one example was with my octopus group. i asked them to to a time line of main events. the quality of work produced from kidspiration was far above the paper versions I have had on other books and having no interuptions or having to hassel them to get back to work. So much easier and better quality.

March 22- we used you tube videos to act as stimulus for discussion on what communities were. It brought about much more to the point discussions and showed them experiences they couldnt experience themselves. It was a great lesson and really focused them into comparing what they saw. I also used You tube video as an example of a roller coast ride. the children really thought they were part of the ride, watching it on the big screen. the quality of thier personal writing was great. they went on to record them on easi speak and put them on our wiki.

April 3- We have used a graph web site to show different graph formats and sharing it through the projector means they could all read and interpret the different forms of graph.

April 3- I have enjoyed using encarta with reading groups for extra research after reading. i like it because the children can be left unsupervised with out the worry of what they might find if they were researching on the wider web.