Sing, sing a song...

Class 20 had a great day today! As reading was winding up Deborah and Nature began singing a story we had co-constructed a few weeks ago. They not only videoed each other singing but made sure they used each others device---aware that by doing this meant they were capturing and saving themselves on their own device. They then shared on the TV asking politely if they could go first. It was a real joy seeing them take charge and experiment with their prior learning. Interestingly, Natures first attempt had her forgetting her lines half way through. She stood back in class so she could see the story and followed along reading 'some' of the words as she sung and completed the song. By saying 'some' I am summising she was picking up on the words she knew and was able to continue by filling in the gaps of the song using her memory.

Nature 27 Feb from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Deborah 27 Feb from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Today Ilaisaane asked if she could do the EE activity with the numbers to 5 AND record it. Ilaisaane presented on her first day of school as extremely shy and every day would cry as soon as mum left. Her oral language is very soft and in most cases unclear. Her recycling of language is usually incomplete with only the major or easier words being verbalised. For her to ask today was a very big step... not only for her learning but also her confidence!

Ilaisane to 5 from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Explain Everything + More!

Today we took another step into 'Explain Everything.' Using the above pictorials we had the children access their Google Drive to retrieve and work on a pre-formed EE sheet. By using the strip the children easily accessed their work, completed the task and after using voice recognition saved their work as a video to share on Air Play. Tipene was able to continue his counting on his own, after initial prompting, once he realised he had pressed the record button!!

Tipene from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Kahurangi was able to go away and work on his own- recording and then sharing his learning.

Maths Kahurangi from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

New App: 'Explain Everything'

Today we used 'Explain Everything' (EE) for the first time. Karen and I discussed how we wanted it to work within a lesson, what features were the priority and how we planned to roll it out. As photography has been our focal point we decided to go with that feature first. Our old template was used to build a new pictorial showing the learners each step they needed to; take a photo, draw on that photo, voice record the process and play it back. Maths was chosen as the area of focus using a micro group at the table to introduce the app. The intention was to work on numbers that come before and after. Following the pictorials, the learners took a photo of a number, selected the pencil, wrote the numbers on either-side, voice recorded their (with prompting where necessary)and played the process back. The children really enjoyed the process and when the first DLO was played back the look on their faces was priceless as they heard their voice and watched their picture evolve! Karen and I both marvelled at how well it went, both agreeing that we, so far, feel very comfortable with the introduction of Apps slowly and using only those that link and build to support others further down the line, e.g. the camera and understanding of what makes a good photo!!

Next step: Google drive has been enabled on all the student iPads so we can share pre made projects on the iPads. This will open up a whole other line of learning!

Let's share and build on those ideas!

Todays story was built around an oral brainstorm motivated by a picture of Pt England kids playing in the sand. Words and ideas were gifted and meanings explained to begin the thinking process and also at odd times throughout the sharing time. Each learner was given the opportunity to 'think and prepare' before they 'shared.' As the stories were shared they were recycled continuously so everyones story was memorised. Interestingly, each child added on something a little different to their own idea/story by using what they had heard from the learners preceding them on the mat. It's easy to see which sentence was the first one shared!

Today we designed a story around a picture from last years picnic. I gifted ideas and words to the children and we went with a basic story. As we sung the children added in more bits and pieces to make their story more interesting. Listen to this wonderful story from a group of children who had difficulty holding a sentence 2 weeks ago!

Picnic Time from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Atlanta shines

Atlanta 17/2/14 from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Atlanta shared her story today both on the mat with her friend and on the iPad. A real break through!

Our sharing time is blossoming!

Ilaisaane 17/2/14 from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Our Little shadow reader came out in to the sunshine today!!

The Class Sings!

Class 20 from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

After two days of building and recycling a co-constructed story we filmed the children singing our new story. The nice thing about today is that all the children who started on day 1 now have the confidence to sing and act with the class. They have retained the story, which was quite a large chunk for many of them and on top of that they learnt a new word...'Paddock.' The new children (2 days at school) are still a bit lost!

Nature 10 Feb from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Kahurangi 10 Feb from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Today we did a 'think, pair, share' about the weekend. This is the first time we had attempted anything like this so the children were a bit unsure. Four of the children were able to share but their partners were unwilling to share. With teacher support and prompting all but one were able to share. The stories were recycled as a class and then written in the children's books. While some children were writing others were sharing their stories with some support. An interesting twist in both Blog samples is a little girl who shadowed the children during their oral story time. She was able to fill in the 'others' gaps, however, would not attempt her story... A WORK IN PROGRESS!

Casshius 7 Feb from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.
Casshius was reluctant to have a turn but after watching his peers came to the board. He attempted the story and with teacher support he quietly repeated each word after he heard it.

Kahurangi 7 Feb from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Today we began building evidence of the children's Oral Language. Each learner was given the opportunity to share in front of the class a story we had co-constructed and built into an action song which was recycled over 2 days. Kahurangi confidently sung the story back to the class and identified many of the words. The learners were filmed on an iPad to keep it as normal as possible.

Goal: Introduce the stylus pen.
All pens were named  and housed in a named holder.
We gave very specific instruction on the delicate tip, how to hold the pen,  and the named 'house' they needed to live in.
The first use was after a photo session during maths where the children were to collect a specific number of objects, photograph it and come back to the mat to share on the Apple TV. All the children took turns to use their stylus while following the visual directions from the previous day. All the children were able to follow the 'sharing' directions with 2 not needing them at all. The pens were all treated appropriately and housed back next to the child's name. We have come to appreciate the need to move slowly and reiterate the previous days learning to consolidate.

On discussion with Karen we have decided to collect video for evidence of and for a starting point for oral language acquisition. 
This evidence will be collected on the friday of the first week of school and at the end of each term.

Processes

Today we went over the procedure for taking a photo again. The class walked over  the field with the instruction they had to take a photo of their friends and the horse next door.


Todays Goal: To show the learners visually the process to share their photos on the Apple TV.

Each icon was showed separately on individual A4 laminated sheets. The steps were also displayed on the iPad. Each leaner was given the opportunity to share on the Apple TV using the visual process to prompt them. Each child successfully shared all their images. The process will now be displayed in a continuos horizontal line on the wall for quick referral for learners.

Update: During maths the learners were asked to select a number and count out the correct number of objects to match. They would then share these pictures via AirPlay. One of our learners was so clever they would continually share their photos bumping off those whose turn it was.
New Rule:  Courtesy:  Only one person at a time on AirPlay.... check to see who is on and wait your turn!

Class 20 kicked off with 5 children. All children are english speakers except for one boy from Burma who is ESOL. Our first day was mainly getting to know the children and letting them get to know their new environment. Reading, writing and maths were attended to as well as iPad focus time. Three out of the five children had had previous experience with an iPad.

Goal: To establish opening the iPad, selecting the camera and taking a picture.

The learners were shown how to hold the iPad safely and where highly scaffolded as to the steps needed to take a photo. Instructions were clear, concise and very tight. The camera icon was shown so the learners were clear as to which button to press.

We ventured outside and photos were taken of the park and  adjacent bulldozer.
Back in class the photos were streamed on Apple TV and discussed.

We walked the children through the process of sharing and at this point we decided we now needed more icons to display in order to support the sharing process.  This had crossed our minds earlier but we wanted to wait and see exactly how much visual support would be needed.