Term 2 Week 5

Boost 1.

The children have now finished their 'finding out' phase of their inquiries.  Much of this work has been done independently, and the kids have realised how difficult it can be to stick to finding information that helps answer their big question.  Sometimes they have found really interesting facts or information and have wanted to change their focus.  The purpose of inquiry to to strive to answer a question, and hopefully change your thinking a little.  We can't change our question or topic because it was too difficult to find information, that is not showing persistence - it's taking the easy track.  Boost isn't about taking the easy track, it's about challenging ourselves to think harder than we would normally.

We used two programmes to help sort our information.  The older children used 'Inspiration' on the laptops, and the younger children used the iPads.  There is an amazing application on the iPad which is called SimpleMind+.  It is an application that makes it really easy to make mind maps.  The children were able to sort their information into sections of relevance, so that they can make a Keynote presentation about what they have learned.  

Term 2 Week 4

Boost 2
The boys loved their Boost session today.  We continued with our Habits of Mind today, mainly persisting and managing self (overcoming obstacles).  I gave the boys a technology challenge, which really brings out their creative thinking side.  Today's challenge involved half a packet of uncooked spaghetti and 20 mini marshmallows.

Firstly, we put on our creative thinking hats and tried to think outside the box – what could we do with these items?  Here are some of the suggestions:
Make a marshmallow kebab on the spaghetti stick.
Make a back scratcher with the spaghetti.
Make drumsticks with the spaghetti.
Make an arrow
Make a slingshot to shoot marshmallows at you.
Make a nose picker.
Make a marshmallow chess set, they could be the pawns.

Practising this type of thinking is great for thinking of new ways to use old things, inventing, building and expanding the mind.

I then set a challenge for the boys, they had to make the tallest tower possible with the same materials.  We talked before we started the task,  and discussed the need for group work – what it will look like and sound like.  I was looking for things such as eye contact with the rest of the group, encouraging comments to their peers, encouraging someone to participate if they are standing back, talking with their group and agreeing on a plan/strategy.  We also talked about the need to manage your emotions/behaviour and catch yourself (or others) giving up.  We talked about what strategies we can use instead of refusing to participate.  The children loved the task and I really loved seeing them trying hard to work together.

After our tech challenge the boys couldn't wait to start playing chess.  Today we learned that sending a soldier out on it's own is not a good move, he'll be defeated.  You need to make sure that your chess pieces are protected, or 'covered' by another piece, as much as possible.  We also talked about the value of each piece, roughly speaking a queen is worth 9, a rook is worth 5, bishops and knights are worth 3 and pawns are worth 1.   This means that it is not worth taking your opponents pawn, if it means losing your queen!  It also helps figure out who won, when the game has to end early.

Term 2 Week 3

Boost 1
We have continued the finding out process of the childrens' independent inquiries.  The children have really impressed me with the amount of information they have been able to find out on their own.

We talked about the importance of using your critical thinking when looking for information on the internet, and how to check if information is accurate, or just someone's opinion.

We continued researching, adjusting our search terms in Google to get the results we are after.  Next session we will begin sorting our information.

Term 2 Week 2

Boost 2
We had a great start to our Boost 2 class yesterday. 
Firstly we looked at all the types of thinking that we will be learning about during Boost time.  We talked about the differences between Critical, Caring and Creative thinking, and also the importance of using the Habits of Mind.  To be successful we need to follow good practice, and yesterday we began working on persistence, and finding humour.  We played a game with a partner, which is designed to be difficult and make players want to give up.  We began playing the game, thinking about our own reaction to frustration and difficulty. Some children laughed to show they were uncomfortable and some children gave up playing.  We then talked about the ways that we can persist when things get difficult.  Partners were shown encouraging comments and actions to help others get through it, and we also talked about the fact that we can overcome giving up when we put our minds to it.  By the end of the game all children were persisting (and also finding a good lot of humour in their attempts to succeed).

We also began playing chess.  Chess is fantastic for a lot of reasons.  You need critical thinking to play the game, persistence to continue when you think there is no way out of check, you take responsible risks when choosing some strategies to play, and you also need to deal with losing a game sometimes.  Today was spent learning how each piece moves and the object of the game.  The boys were very impressed when they heard that chess is actually a war game and the object is to kill the king!  Chess takes a lot of practise, so if you have a chess set at home, don't be afraid to get it out and have a go.  We also have a chess club on Mondays at lunch time.

Term 2 Week 1

Boost 1
As should have been explained to you, this Boost class (Boost 1) will meet every second week on a Monday.  Your child has strength in the classroom with either literacy/numeracy or both, and this time will be especially dedicated to developing their skills and interests, while also helping them to work more independently.  Having a solid base of independent awareness and skills means that they can take on further work if required in their own classrooms, now and also in future. 

Today we embarked on independent inquiries.  The children had been asked to think of a topic or interest that they would like to find out more about.  I helped the children take this interest and form a big question for them to research over the next few weeks.  They then recorded all knowledge that they already have about the topic, so that at the end of their research they can look back and see how much their knowledge has increased.  We also made a mindmap, plotting all of the places where they can begin to look for information about their topic.  They will have a copy of their question and their mindmap to help keep them on track at home.

We will do this inquiry in specific steps, this fortnight I have asked them to just find any information that they can about their topic, and in our next Boost session we will look at sorting through that information.