Thursday 25 September 2014

Life long learning - Tweet of the Week

Thanks to everyone who took part in our last chat for term 3. I was impressed by the quality of learning and thinking about the learning that was shown today. There was a student teacher taking part in one of the classes today, hopefully she'll go back and share Kidsedchatnz with all her friends studying to be teachers!

As usual some really good tweets were being sent, plus some of you were making a real effort to connect with other classes. Congratulations for making the most of Kidsedchatnz.

I loved the quotes and advice that were being sent today and because of this they feature strongly in the tweet of the week slideshow. Well done to all those who are mentioned.

Have a great holidays, stay safe and we'll see you all back here next term.

Monday 22 September 2014

Term 3 - Being a life long learner

 


Term 3 is almost over, we've had 10 weeks of hard work and plenty of great fun with Kidsedchatnz. Our topics have included reading, gaming, science and family, I've learnt some amazing things from all of the children taking part and it is always proving to me how important it is to be a learner. In class, my children are teaching me how to build things on Minecraft and I'm always learning ways to be a better teacher or parent, but all of this requires hard work.

This week I have three challenges for you before taking part in Kidsedchatnz:
1 - Find or make up a great quote about learning, make it into a poster or meme and share it with us on Thursday.
2 - Talk to another child and identify what they want to be learning in 10 years? Why?
3 - Ask an adult about their learning, what are they learning and how does this make them feel.

Your questions for this week:
  1. What have you learnt about in term 3? Has it been easy or difficult to learn? Why?
  2. What is something (eg a sport, hobbies, cultural etc) that you have learnt outside of school? Why do you do take part in these activities?
  3. What words would you use to describe term 3 for you and your class?
  4. What praise has your teacher given you this term?
  5. What has been one challenge that you have faced in term 3? How have you beaten this challenge?
  6. Did you have any goals for term 3? How did you achieve them? 
  7. What advice do your teachers, friends and families give you about learning? What does it mean? Share any posters or memes you have made.
  8. What goals or aims do you have for term 4 and how do you plan to achieve them?
  9. What do you think you will be doing in 10 years and what will you be learning?
  10. What does it mean to be a life long learner and why is this important?
Your moderator this week will be @Reidteachnz. See you all at 2pm Thursday.

 

Friday 19 September 2014

Week 9 - Tweets of the Week

What an awesome chat yesterday all about reading!! It was great to see so many kids from all over NZ buzzing about books and sharing their love of reading with each other. This week the tweets of the week go to the children who came up with creative places around the world that they would love to read! 









Looking for an exciting book to read over the school holidays? Check out these books that were suggested by other children on Kidsedchatnz yesterday. 



Awesome Holidays Reads!! - Video Maker

Thank you to those classes who shared books and book trailers they have been busy creating. Check them out below.




By Jonty @Palmysquad


By Finis @Palmysquad


A Minecraft book in the making by an awesome bunch of @Rm1HNS kids. 

Monday 15 September 2014

Week 9 - Reading!!

Kia ora everyone! My name is Simone Gentil and I'm going to be moderating our Twitter chat this week. This week the topic is READING!! Make sure you check out the questions. There are also two reading challenges that you can complete before Thursday. 

1.    Why is reading important to you?
2.   If you could be any book character who would you choose to be and why?
3.   What are some good strategies to use when you are reading and get stuck on a tricky word?
4.   What is your favourite reading activity to do in your class?
5.   Did you create an eBook this week? Share a link to your ebook. We would love to read them!
6.   What book did your teacher share with you? What was your favourite part?
7.   Suggest a book that would be great holiday read. Tell us why it’s an awesome book.
8.   What things happen in your class or school that encourage or celebrate reading?
9.   If you could choose anywhere to read in the world, where would it be and why?
10.  If you could change a book, which book would you change and how would you change it?

This week there are also TWO READING CHALLENGES that you can complete before the Thursday Kidsedchatnz chat. 

CHALLENGE 1

Create your own ebook and upload it to your class blog. You will have the opportunity to share your book during the chat.  A list of all ebooks shared will be uploaded to the Kidsedchatnz blog after the Thursday chat!

Note: if you don’t have iPads or tablets in your class you could create a paper book and take some photos of your book to share. 

CHALLENGE 2

Ask your teacher to read his or her favourite book to you. One of my favourite books is Scaredy Squirrel at the beach. I will be sharing this with Room 8 this week. You may also like to share your favourite book with a buddy or your class. 

Friday 12 September 2014

Tweet of the Week

Thank you everyone for a wonderful Kidsedchatnz about Science! It was great to see everyone sharing and talking about all the fantastic things you have been doing in Science this year!

So who won Tweet of the Week.....

Here are some tweets that stood out for me...

And Tweet of the Week goes to....

Sunday 7 September 2014

Week 8 - Science Superheroes

Nanogirl is New Zealand's own science superhero and she is working hard to encourage more children to learn about science. Recently she was the star of What Now, she has visited many schools and often talks to teachers about science in the classroom. Why does she think science is so important for us to learn about?

This week is all about Science and to get you excited about science here are 2 great videos from Nanogirl. You could also watch Nanogirl on What Now by clicking on this link Nanogirl on What Now The times she is on the show are minute 9:48, 18:10, 42:52, 1:10:33 and 1:40:47.



Nanogirl has also conducted a project where she did 100 experiments in 100 days with kids from around NZ, this can be seen here. I highly recommend having a go at some of these experiments this week, either at school or at home with your family. I can't wait to try the Super Taster experiment from Day 55 with my class at Henderson North School.



I hope you can all manage to do an experiment or two, make sure you take photos or videos, and watch the Nanogirl videos before Thursday.

Our questions will be as follows:

Q1. Why do you like learning about science and doing science experiments?

Q2.  What science problems/questions do you really want to solve or answer? Why?

Q3. Nanogirl likes taking natural objects (like the broccoli in the video) and copying their superpowers. What cool superpower would you like to copy from a natural object?

Q4. Nanogirl likes 'Fracture mechanics' or breaking something to see how it works. What would you like to break to see how it works?

Q5. What science have you done at school this week and what did you learn? Make sure you include photos or videos.

 Q6. What science topics have you done at school this year? What did it make you wonder about the world?

Q7. What is the most amazing thing you have learnt doing science at school or home?

Q8. Why do you think it is important to learn science at school? Do we do enough science at school?

Q9. What is the next science experiment you want to do at school? What do you think will happen and why?

Q10. Do you use any Apps, websites or books to help you learn about science?

I can't wait to talk to you all on Thursday. Now where did I put that dry ice...

Friday 5 September 2014

Tweet of the Week!

Thank you everyone for another fantastic Kidsedchatnz yesterday! There were 550 tweets recorded and again we had a few new classes taking part. 

Anyway who won Tweet of the Week? It was a tough choice but Pascal decided to give it to....

Tuesday 2 September 2014

Week 7 - Family

This weeks Kidsedchatnz is all about family. Our families play a huge part in who we are and who we will become. To prepare for this weeks chat, talk to mum, dad, uncles, aunties or grandparents to learn about your family, both past and present. Try to find some interesting stories or facts that you might be able to share.

Try to watch these videos before the session to understand more about how important families are. 


Please remember not to name family members during the chat. Refer to them as Mum, Dad, brother or sister etc.

1. Who makes up your immediate family? (No names, just people ie mum, dad, brother, 2 sisters etc)
2. What position were you born in your family? Oldest? Youngest? Middle? What's it like being that position?
3. What is special about your family? What do you love about your family?
4. Would you prefer to be in a big family or small family? Why?
5. Do you have any family traditions? (Holidays, fun activities etc)
6. How often do you spend time with your grandparents? Do you think it's important to spend time with them?
7. What's the best piece of advice a family member has given you?
8. Share a story about your family. What's something interesting or funny we can learn about them?
9) It's father's day on Sunday, can you send a special message to your dad?
10) Just for fun! Make a poem, sentence or story using these 3 words: Gathering, Proud, Cherish.

Throughout the whole chat, try to ask questions about others families. Maybe look for someone who is similar to you (youngest of 3 kids, only boy/girl in the family etc) and see if they feel the same way about their family as you do. Or ask questions of others who come from a larger/smaller family to try to find out what it is like for them.

Most importantly, talk to your parents/grandparents to find out as much as you can about your family.