Learning Loops

Our Year 5 topic has traditionally been World War 2, however, in light of curriculum changes, we have updated with a selection of BIG questions to inspire curiosity. 

Our BIG question was, How does the past affect our future?

<img style="max-width:100%" src="//cdn.thinglink.me/api/image/571046082818080769/1024/10/scaletowidth#tl-571046082818080769;1043138249'" class="alwaysThinglink"/><script async charset="utf-8" src="//cdn.thinglink.me/jse/embed.js"></script>

First of all, we shared ideas and questions using padlet and from there we took aspects the children wanted to look at more detail-the smaller loops which answer the bigger questions.

As we go through the term and more learning is achieved, work is added to reflect this. Also, as more learning occurs more questions and more loops are added too.

Hole in the Head Presentations

This year, my Year 6 class have looked at Edward Jenner, Charles Darwin and Dr Barnardo all usually following some kind of poster or biography idea for the children to show their learning. However, for Gandhi, I wanted something different.
I stumbled upon this blog post http://jivespin.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/head-in-a-hole-a-different-way-of-reviewing-learning-and-progress/ which talked about Hole in the Head presentations.

The children enjoyed this activity and it allowed for those that were less confident at speaking in front of others to feel more comfortable as the could 'hide' behind the poster.

Key Features of the Poster:

• Picture/drawing of the person's body
• Thought bubbles (could have good and bad viewpoints)
• Speech bubbles
• Name of person
• Mini-profile - age etc.

The simple structure allowed lots of creativity, especially with the speech bubbles as the children talked about Gandhi's Salt Protest. The children were able to present their information in the 3rd person or as Gandhi which really added to their work.


Using technology:

• You could use Morfo to recreate the character speaking
• Use Explain Everything to annotate around a picture or drawing and record the presentation
• Use Thinglink to bring the picture to life with lots of video and captions

Using technology in Maths Investigations

Recently, I delved into the archives to find some of the classic maths investigations which have been done many times around the world. I decided to revisit the 5 multilink cube problem, known by some as Pentominoes or Zids and Zods by others. Either way, children need to make as many different shapes as possible using the 5 cubes.
Previously, children haven't recorded their findings, have drawn them on squared paper or  my TA has taken photographs. This time, I used the app Pic Collage for the children to record and photograph this themselves. The beauty of using this app was that the children could rotate pictures on the app or physically move the shape and photograph it and compare them with their previous shapes. This was great for getting rid of duplicate shapes and also supported children visualising a rotated shape ( a classic KS2 SAT question)

Whilst this worked well for this investigation, I feel there is a lot more potential to record all the work and thinking that goes into a maths investigation. Having the 'whole picture' would really support AT1 assessment. For more problem solving resources try:


nrich.maths.org


inquirymaths.co.uk






























Possible Next Steps:

1. Export the Pic Collage to Thinglink app and add video of the children working or presenting their findings. Children could also add further pictures of any tables or graphs they have produced.
2. Export the Pic Collage to Explain Everything, children could then annotate around the picture, record a soundtrack taking somebody through their method of investigation. Graphs and tables could then be produced using the Explain Everything app.

The Power of Skype

This year, I decided to sign up to Skype in the classroom just to see what could be achieved by technology. As Twitter will testify, technology wins!

#skypeclassroom

Brazil

International Week came around early in October. Year 6, were assigned Brazil and within a few days I had linked up with a school in Brasilia. The children were shocked, intrigued and wanted to ask as many questions as possible. They particularly like the basketball style vest uniform. This half an hour, made International Week.

Mystery Skype 

I had the bug now,so we looked at Mystery Skype. A game where you answer yes or no questions to pinpoint the other school's location. There are several good blogs on mystery Skype etiquette and class planning, 

 

http://theglobalconnection.wikispaces.com/Mystery+Skype+-+What+is+it%3F

being one of the best.
We connected with @mstoalsclass in Dublin and a school in Vancouver. The latter taking 90 minutes to crack! This tested geography skills, collaboration, questioning and distilling of information- great for the More Able.
Follow #mysteryskype

Authors

I then explored the Skype in the classroom site further. There are a huge amount of lessons for you to sign up to. Keen to inspire a range of writers i my class, I found National Geographic writer @jodi_kendall
She gave the children a great insight into her career and how she combined it with photography. Her tales of manta rays and orangutans had us all hooked.
The children then wrote stories of journeys they'd taken and were really keen to post on her blog to say thank you.

http://www.jodikendall.com

Next, I found another author @mattwardwords who wrote the excellent Fantastic Family Whipple

http://fantasticfamilywhipple.com

The children loved learning about California, his writing journey and his ideas. The book itself was about a family of record breakers, the next day the classroom was awash with Guinness World Record books. All children wanted to write about obscure records, some had even written a story at home! Unheard of behaviour. 

Story Tellers

World Book Day arrived, a great group of people based in Florida known as the Sunshine Storytellers offered to read us a story. We had a 3-way Skype call with another school in New Jersey, amazing. How they all laughed when they heard how cold the UK was.

Topic Work

Using Skype this term, we have connected with two schools in North-eastern India and have learnt lots about their areas, language and how their school operates. The Indian national anthem sung in Hindi was a highlight. Importantly, my children could learn about expectations, attitudes and tolerance, things that are difficult to teach in the classroom.

               My class

The view in India


Skype Thoughts

For some Skype calls it can take a few days or weeks, so allow enough time.

A lot of the other schools we Skyped had small groups ranging from 10 to 20, for fairness, most of my calls were with all 60 year 6 children. It works much better with a small group, more jobs and greater involvement.

Practise getting the children to present and speak clearly.

Get a microphone!

Check the broadband connection, some of our calls have been a tad slow which can quickly frustrate 10 year olds.

Make sure you it is clear what your call focus is, it can become slightly one way at times.

The Skype safeguarding is excellent.

Time difference can lead to some early or late calls but they're worth it.

Skype Ideas

We need more British schools online so connections can be more regular without interfering with the school day.

Authors, poets; where are you? 30 minutes during a poetry week would really add another dimension to a schools work without costing a fortune.

Museums and galleries would be another excellent addition, particularly for schools who are unable to visit some of our national collections in London.

Guided Reading/Book clubs with other classes

Sharing writing on a similar topic

Performances- poetry, dance, class presentations on a topic 

Maths challenges-particularly open ended problems

Olympic style sports challenges

Mystery Number - similar to mystery Skype but with guess the number type questions. Eg. Is it an odd number?

Interviews with each other

Hotseating of a character

Sharing learning

Tour of your school

 

I'd love to hear any more ideas and it would be even better to connect with you.

@mistercollard

Coding the Taj Mahal

Coding; I thought we ought to get this ball rolling. I knew some of my boys had attended Code Club, some couldn't spell coding and some were handy on an ipad so @Hopscotch was the obvious answer. Our topic was India so our goal was a Taj Mahal in code. Here's how it went:

1) Human Coding - In pairs the children had to guide their 'robot' partner around the playground with some chalk. This got them into the idea of an algorithm and also showed how comfortable they were with the mathematical language needed.

2) Hopscotch - I introduced the children to hopscotch and showed them a few basic functions and have them the target to create a square. Those that were quick were then challenged to create more complex 2D shapes or experiment with colour, size etc.

3) Circles - The next challenge was to draw a circle. The children experimented with many different ways of programming a circle and using the repeat functions.

4) Taj Mahal - We looked at some outline drawings of the Taj Mahal and discussed the shapes that were used in the construction of building. The children, now armed with programmer skills, began to code, some drew a basic shape, some created backgrounds and some added a title.

The most encouraging part of the whole experience was the speed in which some children went home and downloaded Hopscotch. On Monday, I was greeted by a host of iPads brought in just to show me how much better their work was. 

Coding; everyone is talking about it!

Thinglink for Non Chronological Reports

This week is Creative Arts Week at school. My Year 6 class are going to look at poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Before we delve into his poems and perform some ourselves, we are going to learn about his background, beliefs and what makes him passionate about writing.

We are going to create a non-chronological report about him but I want it to reflect his passion for creativity and multimedia, so we are going to use the app Thinglink.

http://www.thinglink.com/scene/495336546740731905

http://www.thinglink.com/scene/502225511313833985

I used Pic Collage to create the picture using words as subheadings related to the pictures. I then used this in Thinglink to add other text about him, video of his poems and other pictures which show his work in more detail.

Super Reading

It seems that this year's KS2 Reading SAT will be a whistle stop tour through various texts in an hour. No savouring a piece of excellent prose or reflecting upon the delights of a well executed simile, it's skim reading time!

To prepare my children for this, I decided to use a range of text excerpts which they read in class, I gave them a time limit of 5 minutes and they then had to summarise the text in 3 sentences. This helped them to find the main points of the text, explain themselves succinctly and experience a range of texts over a short space of time.

The next step, would be to use the excellent classtools.net http://www.classtools.net/twister/

Fake Tweet application to write a summary of the text in the 140 characters permitted. My children enjoyed it and it was far more bearable than yet another practice test.