Habitat's & Continents Collaborative Learning Story - July 2015

Learners: Sameeha, Cassandra, Louisa & Saniya                                             Date: July 2015

Learning Area: Science                                                                      Learning Coach: DWilkes

Learning Observed

The learners are beginning learning in the area of animal habitats, adaptations and survival needs.  During the session the learners began to build their scientific language and develop their understandings of the many ways the natural world can be represented thus communicating in science.  In matching the animals to different continents Sameeha, Cassandra, Louisa and Saniya began to recognise that living things are suited to their particular habitat.  They can recognise that all living things have certain requirements so they can stay alive.  While learning the continent song, the girls all sang along and could say the names of all of the continents and identify them on a world map.  They can define what the word habitat means and they can state which continent certain animals are found eg. panda in Asia, giraffe in Africa

Evidence of learning

Key Competencies/Vision Principles

The girls were enthusiastically engaged in all aspects of the lesson participating and contributing while demonstrating strong collaboration and teamwork.  They asked each other for help and didn’t hesitate to check for understanding with other learners or the learning coach. During the matching activity I observed excellent questioning and problem solving strategies.  Sameeha and Cassandra thought it would be a good idea to check some of their guesses on the internet.  While some of the animals were matched incorrectly to the continents, they persevered to get it correct.  They are able to make connections between what a habitat is to an animal and what a habitat is to humans drawing on new learning and prior knowledge.

Next Learning Steps

more practice matching animals to different continents review saying the names of the continents - use the continent song here reading about animals at home, visiting the zoo website or playing these games http://switchzoo.com/games/habitatgame.htm http://www.abpischools.org.uk/activescience/module2/home.html http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ey/science/animal_h/index.htm http://interactivesites.weebly.com/habitats.html

Saniya, Louisa and Yuvika's Maori Language Learning Story

Learners: Yuvika, Saniya & Louisa    Learning Coach: T.Dillner           Date: 27.7.15

Learning Area: iExperience - Maori Language Week

Learning Observed

During Maori Language week the learners rotated through different experiences to extend their knowledge of Maori words and phrases. Yuvika, Saniya, Louisa and Martina (who has since moved away from OrmPS) formed a group to work on looking at a range of Maori vocab booklets. They had to look at the pictures and use an iPad app called ‘Pic Collage’ to make a Glossary of new words. The four girls took time to select a text that they all agreed on and then took turns to use the iPad. They were inclusive of each other and understood what they needed to do to be successful. When needed, the group could choose a person to approach the Learning Coach to ask questions and clarify their ideas.

Evidence of learning

Key Competencies/Vision Principles

The four girls were collaborative when completing this task - they had to pool their ideas and justify their thoughts to the rest of the group members (Thinking & Relating to Others). They were openly curious, as a lot of the words they came across were new and unfamiliar. When a new word was encountered, they showed their wonder and awe by saying “Wow! I didn’t know that!” or sharing with another learner or a Learning Coach - “Did you know…?” (Using Language, Symbols and Text).

Next Learning Steps

Keep working on compiling new Maori words as part of the Daily 5 in Literacy. Teach another group (or family member) about some of the discoveries that they’ve made.