Rāmere, te 26 o te Hūrei 2024
Orewarewa whenua, puāwai māhuri
On the fertile ground of Orewa, the sapling blooms
Have something to share? Get in contact with one of our Across School Leaders – we would love to hear from you!
[email protected] Te Ao Māori
[email protected] Hauora
[email protected] Future Ready
[email protected] 21st Century Learning
[email protected] Structured Literacy
Te Ao Māori
After a big term 2 celebrating Matariki, our Te Ao Māori rōpū has another busy term ahead. We are are holding our annual leaders hui at Te Herenga Waka o Orewa Marae, our Local Tū Māia Kapa Haka Festival (Friday Week 8) at Orewa Primary and Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori in week 9 (Māori Language Week).
Annual Leaders Hui – Te Herenga Waka o Orewa Marae
Our annual Leaders hui will involve all of our principals and leads of Māori attending a workshop with Kereama Nathan titled ‘Local Māori Place Names, re-defining kura Identity and location’. We will also collectively look at our progress against our key strategy document, Ko te Rautaki Reo and explore ways that we can work towards meeting our shared goals. This event is a highlight on the calendar and something we have been doing since 2019.
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori
This is a national annual event that we will be collaborating across the motu. Your leaders of Māori will already be thinking and planning for how you might best celebrate this beautiful reo/language. Get involved, come up with how you can use more reo at your kura and at home. Karawhiua! Give it a go!
A.I. and the Classroom Teacher
Have you considered that AI can act as a virtual teaching assistant for you in the classroom?
AI is making its presence felt in the world right now, and often we are not even aware of how it impacts our day-to-day online activities. In the classroom, AI cannot legally be used by students younger than 13 but teachers have access to numerous programmes that use AI and we can use it to support our classroom practices.
Some of the applications of AI can include:
*Helping to cut down on planning time
*Differentiate content quickly
*Re-word and improve texts
*Create images/questions/scripts/lessons/poems/math problems/movies and much, much more.
The advantages of using AI are great – it saves time, gives you a starting point for generating ideas, finds or creates information very quickly (less than five seconds in most cases!) and the limits are only as wide as your imagination. On the other hand, often the created texts are not quite as you want them to be and require either some editing or asking the AI to redo the attempt. It still takes a human brain (and always will, in my opinion) to check for accuracy, truth and if the generated result is fit for purpose.
I’ve listed some AI generator sites below this, and many commonly used websites, such as Canva and YouTube, have their own AI functions now as well.
If you would like to discuss this further contact Lesley Carruthers – [email protected]
Podcast: AI can be a teaching partner
https://barkleypd.com/blog/podcast-for-teachers-can-ai-be-a-teaching-partner/
Website AI’s:
Some of the most recommended AI generators for teachers seem to be… Google Gemini, Claude, Magic School, Eduaide, Twee, Almanack.ai, Questionwell.org, Conker.ai, Goblintools – a neurodivergent tool.
Generative AI for Educators
As a teacher, Google knows your time is valuable and student needs are broad. With Generative AI for Educators, you’ll learn how to use generative AI tools to help you save time on everyday tasks, personalize instruction, enhance lessons and activities in creative ways, and more. Check out more information including training on how best to use Google resources in AI to support your learning programmes. Check out the Link here.
Maths Week/Wiki Pāngarau 2024 – sign up using this link
Monday 12 August – Friday 16 August
A DIFFERENT ‘VIEW’ ON HUNDREDS BOARDS – Cindi Meyer Orewa Beach School
Maths is back in the spotlight with changes to the curriculum and Kahui Ako PD.
At a recent Maths Workshop with Jo Knox, she shared some great thoughts around how we view hundreds boards – literally.
The discussion began with a question :
Why do our 100’s boards end with the tens?
We teach our students that making a 10 is a ‘bundle’ and it changes its place value.
So why not start with the 0 / 10’s?
Using this site, https://mathsbot.com/manipulatives/hundredSquare you can choose how to set up your hundreds board.
Click on numbers to make them disappear – a great class activity for skip counting practice, place value, adding and subtracting.
How could this impact learning?
- When counting on from 10, students can see the place value – 10 and 1, 10 and 2. The ‘10’s stay together on a line, helping guide place value.
- This is particularly impactful for subtraction : when counting back over a ten (eg 32 – 5), we count back to 30, then jump back a line to the 29 – indicating the change in place value of the tens.
Amazing Ways to Help Others with Hauora / Wellbeing
- Parenting for Positive Self-Worth
Parenting Tools that Work! Hosted by Steps Forward in association with Silverdale Community Trust. Led by Kim Wyatt (3E coaching). 6 sessions in local Silverdale.
- BE KIND to your MIND, BY Julia Grace.
Julia Grace is an award-winning, International Key-note speaker who combines her lived experience of depression and anxiety, with mental health solutions that she teaches worldwide. Her Book, Be Kind to your Mind is “A journey of Mental Health & Wellbeing with practical tools for the Wobbly Days”.
Watch this 9 minute video (from 2023) where you can learn what Sloth Days are and the kind of beautiful person Julia is.
Be Kind to Your Mind: New Book by Julia Grace
Julia begins her book with chapter 1A – Saddling Up A Chihuahua.
Sounds intriguing? It really is. I am personally beginning my journey with Julia’s book and her humour, sense of reality, and activities are really engaging.
Having met Julia in person, I can honestly say she is one of the most genuine, caring, inspiring women I have ever met. I cannot recommend her work highly enough.
- Youth Mental Health First Aid Aotearoa course. A Te Pou production. Presented and Facilitated by Julia Grace & her husband.
If you have the chance to take this course, go for it! It is a 2 day intensive course which has interactive components, teaching, information, steps to take to approach, and assist a young person and lead them to appropriate support. This is an incredible opportunity to normalise Mental Health conversations in our communities, families, workplaces, teams and incidental events.
If you would like to ask questions, find out more about these resources, or hear more personal experience with these 3 resources, feel free to contact [email protected]
Developing Vocabulary to Increase Comprehension
There has been a lot of focus on the word recognition aspect of a structured literacy approach to teaching reading. It is important that we also consider language comprehension development as well.
A student’s vocabulary is considered to be one of the biggest factors that will influence their comprehension. How many words a student knows can affect reading comprehension by up to 50% variance. A student from a language-poor background may have heard thirteen million words by the time they get to school compared to a student from a language-rich environment who may have heard thirty million words!
Planned read-alouds are an excellent way to develop vocabulary with your students.
Try incorporating a read-aloud into your programme.
This can be done in small snippets over a few days or a week.
- Select a story that your students will find engaging. The text should be above the students’ independent reading level, and should not be a text that they are expected to read themselves.
- Find three to five vocabulary words that most students won’t already know the meaning of. Try to focus on words whose meanings are essential to understanding the story.
- Introduce the story by activating any background knowledge that is necessary for understanding the story.
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- Teach new vocabulary
- Say the word and have the students say the word
- Show the word in print and have the students write the word
- Discuss word parts
- Provide a student-friendly definition
- Use the word in context
- Ask the students to use the word
- Display the new vocabulary words in the classroom. Ask the students to listen for the new words while you read, and give a thumbs up when they hear them. Tell the students to listen while you read because they will need to be ready to answer questions. Read the passage without stopping, modelling fluent reading.
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- Guide a discussion of what was read.
- Ask students to retell what happened to a partner
- Encourage students to use the new vocabulary in the retelling
- Use the student responses to write a main idea statement
- Ask an inferential question that requires synthesis of knowledge not directly found in the story.
- Reread the passage and review the meaning of the new vocabulary words. Stop at each vocabulary word and ask students to say the word and give a definition to their partner in their own words. Ask students to tell their partner a sentence that uses the vocabulary word – either spoken or written. Use sentence stems or sentence starters as needed.
- Review and retell. Briefly review the meanings of the words. Have students talk to their partner about the story. Encourage students to include the new vocabulary words. Briefly review the main events and ideas from the story. This might be done by restating the main idea statements from each section of the story.
- Challenge students to use the new vocabulary words throughout the day. Ask students to share examples of hearing or seeing the new vocabulary words in use. Have students write about the story, using the new vocabulary. Ask students to summarize the story for a partner.
Kāhui Ako Hui Dates – Term 3 2024
Thursday 15th August – ASL @ Wainui School – WSL @ Orewa College 3.30pm
Thursday 29th August – ASL @ Dairy Flat School – WSL @ Orewa College 3.30pm
Thursday 12th September – ASL @ Orewa Beach School – WSL @ Orewa College 3.30pm
