How is STRIVE working in Room 1?

We have been through the stimulate part of inquiry; kids have really enjoyed looking at the books from the national library and especially seeing what damage earthquakes are and how powerful they can be. Some students have looked into volcanoes but tended towards wanting to know the connections between volcanoes and earthquakes.

I have noticed that when asked to fill our wondering wall and take aim that the questions are becoming more focused and relevant to the topic we are learning. Students are really starting to grasp what a good question is after doing the thinking hats last term.

We are now beginning to look at escape plans and emergency procedures if an earthquake hits.

Our wondering wall looks great and we hope to have some artwork up soon in relation to our house plans.

We are starting to look at “earthquake” language. I thought the students might have got bored with this and the language would have been over their heads but they have all absolutely loved it and enjoy getting their mouths around some really big words!

 

 

  

Inquiry in Room 4 has started to 'take aim'. for this i got the class to write down in their books what it is they have found interesting and they want to find out more. In addition to this our class wondering wall has also provided a space for children to voice their interest in our topic. However, further refining their topic of interest is still an area that i feel a little anxious about. Any advice or tips in this area would be greatly appreciated. How can i further facilitate children in further refining and taking aim on our topic? What other ways can i do this?

Inquiry notes 17.9.08

Minutes for Inquiry hui in staffroom
17.9.08
What is inquiry based learning?
What is good thinking around here:
In pairs discuss and draw something that symbolizes thinking?
What is an effective thinker?
Looking at Michael Pols 3 C’s
· Caring
· Critical
· Creative
We are looking at ways that reflects the way we see an animal. E.g.
Kuri- sniffs out trouble, is a thinker, bury’s his bone. This allows us to think about processes that we look at in our classroom.
Attribute listing e.g
· Size
· Colour
· Usage
· Materials
· Parts
· Shape
This can be used in class and get the students to bring an item in a bag and allow the students to guess what is in the kete.
Increasing ability to thinking.
Inquiry for next term:
Water
Island
Kaimoana
Question mapping:
Brainstorm: Give a sentence with each of these topics:
Now turn your sentence into questions
Six hats needs to be visual
Our model is Strive (Look on shared tchers inquiry section)
We must be proactive and use this at all times for our students
· S = Stimulate
· T = Take aim
· R = Research
· I = Intention
· V = Visual
· E = Evaluate
As a staff we will adapt a guideline template for our inquiry model
Six hats is our main topic theme.
Wk 1 – 2 Familiarize with 6 hats
Wk 3 – 10 Inquiry
Rumaki to present in Week 8 because of our haerenga.
Our hui closed at 4.55p.m.

Ani

Kia ora, this is part 2 of our inquiry- based learning journey at Foxton Primary. It has been 2 years since we started with the ict cluster "I can, we can". This is a blog that reflects this years journey into inquiry at Foxton Primary School.