The Journey in Year 1 -

Building Capacity in Year 1

This can be broken down again into a few mini areas of focus :)

1. How do I empower 6year olds with the elearning skills of risk taking, collaborating, communication, problem solving, critical thinking?

2. What do I do with the 5 iPads I just convinced my principal to buy??

What i learnt.... Never underestimate a 6 year old yet alone 31 of them!

Coming to me in January from a very traditional and structured kindergarten setting 31 fresh Little faces looked at me as though I must be the keeper of all....

How was I going to empower them to become creative thinkers, problem solvers, risk takers, knowledge creators.... All the skills I had embedded into my pedagogy from years of teaching Year 6 and being a part of elearning projects??

We started small... And I mean really small!

- let's retell the story of Hattie and the Fox as a class and film it. They were so excited and overwhelmed by the fact that we designed masks and set up each part of the story. From there, well there was really no stopping them! We begun to have mini-video homework projects and they started to bring videos from home. They would ask if we could film different stories that we read and what other things they could use to retell. From this we developed one of our literacy tasks to be retelling stories using different equipment and then showing them to each other. We started to take pictures of them as well.

I suppose the next logical step would be to get the students to use the class camera and flipvideo to record themselves retelling independently!!

This blossomed into many projects including;

Image of the day: We start each day with a new image. It could be about anything. I usually pick images that inspire them to think or are in some way connected to the work we are doing that week. I have even taught maths concepts through image of the day... very sneaky I know!

The students love to come in and as we get ready to start the day have chat or a reflective thought about what and why this is the image of the day?

Once I forgot and they begun to talk about what the blank screen meant to them. Some said that it made them have a sense of emptiness and wonder whilst others said it was a new beginning or fresh start. They are truly amazing!

Photographer of the day: Each day a different student was given the class camera and asked to take photos (10-15) that showed our learning journey for that day. At the end of the day I would upload the images and as a class we would decide on which image best represented our learning journey. This started with great gusto and enthusiasm, however became very time consuming and difficult to manage. I now have the camera on my desk and the students know that if they see a 'remarkable moment' they can capture it and it is placed on our website (I'll get to this later!!).

After the experiences with image of the day and photographer of the day I realised that my students didnt really know how to take a photo at all! So form that I designed our Term 2 Visual Arts unit on digital photography and how to go from ordinary to extrodonary. We ended the unit by going to the local park and being professional photographers for a day. Once back at school one of our parents printed the images for us (very lucky) and the students judged the best images.

I will hopefully add some pictures to show you how amazing these little photographers are!!

They take great pride in their classroom and their classmates.

Class Website

Due to their amazing skills and love of an audience (nothing like their teacher) we decided to have a class website. After much discussion with many of the Ceolli team and my ever growing PNL I decided to use Webbly.

And a group of Bloggers was born!!

We have only had our class website for a Term and already they are addicted to blogging and commenting about their learning. As well as the students I have added an area for parents to add comments also. Here is a sample...

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:20:59

Hello Year 1, Mrs McLaughlin and Mrs Irwin,

Firstly I would like to congratulate Mrs McLaughlin and Mrs Irwin for all of their outstanding hard work, dedication, time, knowledge, passion and education that they have instilled into our year 1 children. Your efforts and commitment to our children are greatly appreciated.

Secondly, I believe the year 1 website is fantastic because it allows parents, families, friends and grandparents to view what our year 1 children have been learning and performing throughout the year.

Finally, to all of our year 1 children. It is excellent to see how hard you all have been working and developing. Learning looks like a lot of fun and it's wonderful to see you all happy. Well done year 1!! Keep up the great work and I look forward to viewing more of your great learning adventures.

Kindest regards

Marlaine

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:18:23

Hi Mrs McLaughlin & Mrs Irwin & Year 1 kids,

This blog is great for all the year 1 kids, parents and teachers.

The last couple of days Joe has been looking forward to getting on to the computer and showing us comments he and his friends have made on the blog. It is great for their basic reading, writing and learning.

The kids get a real kick out of reflecting back on comments they have made on the blog!!

We look forward to watching the progress of the webiste/blog for the rest of Term 4.

Can't believe this is their last Term of Year 1! Great work guys :)

Kind regards,


Lou Hogan

I will post some student blogs shortly.

iPads in year 1

At the beginning if the year I was given 5 iPads to use in year 1.

I will only place a snap shot here as a few posts will be dedicated to this particular journey!

Let's play to play

Let's play to learn

Let's learn to learn

Let's help others learn

Looking back now... The best thing about all of this is that my students have grown to embrace all of the ilearn skills I thought they would struggle with... they are amazing problem solvers, who no longer ask me if they can sharpen their pencil. They are creative thinkers who are embarking on Discovery Time this term. They are knowledge creators who lead class meetings and run expert afternoons. They are communicators and collaborators who take risks and feel supported by their teacher and their peers. They are empowered to find solutions to problems and find problems within the classroom. To have a voice and choice in the organisation of their learning and learning space, to have a go and be creative.

xox

A