Brain Gym 10/3/2017

Readings and Handouts from the day click here

ENERGY: Do I have the energy to learn? If not, i need to sip some water. 

CLEAR: Am I thinking clearly? If not I need to Brain buttons (massage hollow / hand on stomach)

ACHIEVE: Do I feel like moving? If not, I need to do some cross calling / Cross the midfield - Left hand right leg

LISTEN: Can I listen easily? If not, I need to unfold my ears

POSITIVE: Am I ready to begin? If not, I need the hook ups (tongue on top of mouth, legs crossed, arms crossed with thumbs pointed)

Rock from Side to Side, tip of your toes to heels of your feet, reach up high, touch your toes. 

Vertical tracking helps with adding numbers in a column and general organisation. 

- Tap below the lip. Hand on stomach. Move eyes up and down. 

- Tap below the lip. Hand on back. Move eyes far away and close in

- Tap below the lip. Hand on stomach - Hello foot, Hello world. Lean over and look at your foot then look up at the sky as far away as you can. 

Tuakana teina

The following is an excerpt from the te reo maori TKI website. It highlight the importance of this process in traditional maori society and how it can benefit all learners with the bi cultural context of New Zealand schools.

The tuakana–teina relationship, an integral part of traditional Māori society, provides a model for buddy systems. An older or more expert tuakana (brother, sister or cousin) helps and guides a younger or less expert teina (originally a younger sibling or cousin of the same gender). In a learning environment that recognises the value of ako, the tuakana–teina roles may be reversed at any time. For example, the student who yesterday was the expert on te wā and explained the lunar calendar may need to learn from her classmate today about how manaakitanga (hospitality) is practised by the local hapū.

Below is an example of something I organised where Tuakana Teina is taking place - at our Schools Top Team Day. This is where Senior Students run activities and lead the children in learning different skills and games outside the classroom. 

House Captains Fundraiser - Campbell Robertson

HOUSE CAPTAINS

Another example was the fundraising for a local child Named Campbell Robertson from Midhirst Primary. This was done through a Sausage Sizzle with the School Council. Here we have 3 of the house captains presenting the cheque to Campbell's sister with the school thanking us for this.

Community Project with Children

COMMUNITY PROJECT

2 boys worked on the project under my leadership as a community based task for the St Andrews Church. For a full story as published on the front page of the Stratford Press, click on the following link http://www.nzherald.co.nz/stratford-press/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503390&objectid=11805185

School Council

SCHOOL COUNCIL
Using the School Council of elected Children from each class to raise money for different organisations is something that is required of me.

The most recent example was the cans for good promotion with the salvation army and watties

This collected 240 Cans of food which Watties matched the contribution. 

Maths Tiers

Tier System

As part of the Maths PLD project, our teachers have been working on getting the children involved in the Tier system where we can break children into 4 Tiers and track progress:
Tier 1 - At and Above Students
Tier 2 - Just Below Students and identified as our target students
Tier 3 - Well Below Students
Tier 4 - Well Below students who have an I.E.P

From this I have developed a system where teachers and teams will be able to comment on targeted children and collaborate.

To view Year 7/8 Tier Children on the link click here
To view Year 5/6 Tier Children on the link click here
To view Year 4 Tier children on link click here

Maths Leadership 2017

Maths Leadership 2017

2017 T.O.D was a maths focus with 2 key outcomes.
1. Analyse 2016 End of year data so teachers know where children are and what Tier's the children are in based on our new system
2. Create rich tasks in teams that will help with formative assessment

Julia and Kylie as P.D Facilitators helped me lead the rich discussions that took place in teams and drilling down further into the data