Wow - this term has just flown by! We have had a very exciting term doing plays, studying Zoo Enclosures and working through our Athletics programme. We started the term with a trip to the Auckland Zoo, which was enormous fun! What a worthwhile trip it was, particularly with our very focused investigation on what the enclosures needed to contain to keep the animals happy. Each child had their own animal to investigate while we were there and took photos and made notes to refer back to when we got back to class. (We took over 600 photos in total - so lots of enthusiasm!!) Once we got back to class we completed an inquiry into the enclosures and then designed our own inside a box. We then recorded our projects and talked about the features of our enclosures to explain why we had put certain things in the enclosure. This was then put on our wiki pages.
Following this activity, we read Dr Suess's book 'If I Ran the Zoo'. We drew fold up monsters (one person draws the head, passes it on to the next person, who draws the body and the next person draws the legs) and made booklets about them with details on it's requirements for food, shelter, enrichment, group numbers, etc. Using this information, the children designed and drew an enclosure for their animal and shared it on their wiki.
Lots of fun with Zoos!!
Plays have been a huge success, with the children improving their oral abilities, developing their ability to persevere with a job and improving their group work skills. School Journals have been a vast resource for this activity and we have all enjoyed their entertainment value, not to mention seeing some children shine with this activity. The children are allocated a play group on Monday, they read through the play, pick parts and read it through a few times to ensure that everyone has a good grasp of the words (play groups always contain a range of reading abilities to ensure that everyone is supported), practice Tuesday, dress rehearsal on Wed. On Thursday the plays are presented to the rest of the class and recorded. On Friday the children all watch their plays on the television and fill out a self-assessment form to determine what they are going to work on to improve their performance. I have found that the children really enjoy this activity and get a lot out of it, not just acting skills. Watching themselves on television is a far more powerful assessment than me (or their peers) giving them feedback. I have been very impressed to see children doing 'paper, scissors, rock' to decide who gets a particular part (thanks Daily5 for planting that idea in their heads!) and particular children really come out of their shells, memorise their whole parts and act their little hearts out! What an great way to learn to read in Term 4!! Again, we have shared our plays on our wiki pages, so parents get to see how their children performed as well.
We are almost into full Christmas mode (roll on December for those of us who love, love, love the Silly Season!), assessment is complete, reports are written, Santa letters were posted yesterday (Thanks NZ Post) and we look forward to receiving our replies. The Year 3s have SAS (Sleepover at School) next week, during which our Christmas tree will make an appearance and we will start making decorations the following week.
SAS is heaps of excitement with a water slide, an adventure trail, pizza and we get to sleep in our classroom - we are very excited about it and looking forward to seeing everyone in the pyjamas!! Watch this space for some photos!
What an amazing year we have all had! It has been wonderful to see the children grow and develop, academically, emotionally and physically!!
