Hackschooling Day 3

Our morning reflection:

What’s gone well?	What’s been a challenge?	In future…
Changing our tote tray system
No one’s been in yellow all week because the kids are in charge		The Rainbow people could put kids in yellow if they’re talking
Sorting our the classroom because it all happened really quickly, everyone was on to it
	Super-long conversations when we’re making decisions – too long waiting for our turn on the mat	·   Say the person’s name before you pass them the Talking Mouse. ·   Once we’ve made a decision, we’ve made a decision (we have to accept it). ·   We could start our class hui again and make decisions once a week (with a notice board for ideas) ·   Try not to go off on tangents ·   Try to solve problems quickly ·   Be quiet, listen to each other and it’ll be faster
Fitness because we’ve fitted it in each day
	When we were tidying up, the mess was getting a bit overlooked and the class got really messy
Our class has worked has a really good team because everyone’s helped each other
	People are ringing the bell too often to get the class’ attention	This should be the Rainbow person’s job Think do I actually need to ring the bell? before you ring the bell
	Some people change the noise level because they feel like it	This should be the Rainbow person’s job – if someone else is finding the noise level a problem, they should tell the Rainbow Person
	It’s been hard to adjust to smaller tote trays	Choose a red tote tray
	It’s been hard to adjust to all the decisions
	Taking the roll in the morning takes too long	Could we all sit at our desks so we don’t waste time?
	Packing/tidying up took too long (20 minutes)	·   Tidy up quicker ·   Don’t make such a big mess in the first place

Idea	Aliya, Laila, Eve, Niamh	Breea, Lola. Tama, Jamieson	Jamie, Brendan, Nolan, Harry
Weekly learning timetable	Teacher creates a plan with Must dos and Can dos – we can do that at any time we like in the day, we just have to get everything done We should choose when we eat, not play	We should have workshops for all learning areas – kids could run them Some could learn in the REACH style	karakia etc roll fitness writing morning tea reading maths tidy up lunch roll novel afternoon: inquiry, golden time
Library/ books system	We should all bring our own books to share so we can have new books in our class We could have recommendations for books Longer library visits, fewer visits		Organise books according to the size of the books
Decide how to decide!	Vote in a class hui Amy should get the class’ attention when kids want to say something to the class		1. Vote 2. Split up and talk 3. Noticeboard 4. Class hui 5. Groups, then convince other people to your side 6. People vote by convincing people 7. Teacher decides 8. Rainbow people decide 9. Will it be fair? 10.             Is it more efficient? Why/Why not?
Learning buddies	Change seats but have no learning buddies	We don’t need learning buddies – kids should just move around if they want to. We should sit in our seat permanently. If we choose our own LB we’ll just choose a friend, If we go by the pattern we’ll always be with our friends.

Idea	Luca, Dot, Saoirse, Francesca, Peta	Jet, Noah, Mahinaz, Sofia	Joe, Cody, Meline, Ella
Weekly learning timetable	We should all do the same subject at the same time – we can work independently on games then Amy can work with us one at a time or in groups	Different workshops for writing, maths, reading that kids can sign up for. If kids want to write at maths time, they can. Kids can learn different subjects at different times during the day. Workshops with Amy/ work independently	Like Nolan’s group When we do maths – some people could stay with Amy and others could learn independently. When independent workers come back they could share their learning and discuss the process Kids could run workshops for each other Workshops for maths/ writing/ reading – kids could suggest workshop topics Afternoons: research hackschooling and do Inquiry
Library/ books system	We shouldn’t move the bookshelf because it’s in a good place – there isn’t a better place to move it to. New reading books – school fair money or kids could buy some at the school fair because lots of people have read the books that are there.	New books more regularly	Get new books every 2 weeks (from the school library) so everyone has a chance to read the old books When you’ve finished with a library book, you could share it around. Inquiry book box We could write our own stories and put them on the library shelf
Decide how to decide!	Class hui once or twice a week		Class hui once or twice a week
Learning buddies	Choose your own because we know who we can work well with

Hackschooling update

This week we've learned a lot about democracy. It takes a looong time!

On Tuesday we watched Logan La Plante's TED talk about hackschooling and asked, What is school? What is it for? Why?

Logan La Plante says hackers are people who challenge or change systems to make them better. We came up with our own definition for hacking:

Then we talked about what we'd like to keep in/change in/remove from our class.

We decided that we wanted to hack our classroom, both the physical environment, and the ways we run the class. The kids are making lots more of the decisions and self-managing more than the teacher. Yesterday we got rid of lots of the things we don't need in our classroom, changed our tote tray system and moved lots of books around. It got pretty messy!

Whenever we want to make a decision about something, we listen to each others' ideas and then have a vote. Today, in groups, we're making plans for how we want to organise our classroom and our learning:

We're going to present our ideas to each other and then we'll have a vote.

This afternoon we're putting any furniture we don't need anymore outside, and having an inorganic rubbish collection with the other classes (V2, V6) who are also hackschooling this week. We'll go around and look at what each other has discarded and see if we'd like to use anything they don't want anymore.

Mahuri Term 4 Newsletter

Kia ora parents, caregivers and children,

Term 4’s looking like our best yet: Rongoā Māori workshops with Enviroschools Rongoā expert Arihia Latham, Athletics day, the school fair, kids-as-experts-workshops, visiting William Kentridge’s The Refusal of Time at the City Gallery (for the Y4s) and creating a shadow pageant, swimming (for the Y3s), a student-led Amazing Race, walks to identify local native plants for Rongoā Māori, Zoo sleepovers, democratic classrooms, making kawakawa balm, walk to Red Rocks, hackschooling, school picnic, percussion jams…!

U-Learn conference

Last week Shanon and Amy A travelled to Rotorua with six other teachers from school for the U-Learn conference. We heard some fantastic international academics and New Zealand practitioners who gave us lots of food for thought that has inspired us to keep developing our teaching and learning practice. In M13 we are looking at how our classroom can be more democratic, handing over as much power as possible to children. Check out the hackschooling TED talk, posted below...

Inquiry: Rongoā Māori

Through the context of Rongoā Māori, we will explore the physical and chemical changes that occur to substances when they are mixed, heated and cooled. We’ll get hands-on, identifying and classifying local native plants, learning about their medicinal uses, and creating our own balms and other kinds of Rongoā Māori medicine. Enviroschools Rongoā expert Arihia Latham will come and run workshops with us in the Learning hub to teach us about Rongoā practices. Our reading and writing programmes will integrate with our Inquiry learning.

Our maths focus areas this term are Number, Problem Solving, Basic Facts, Algebra, and Statistics – probability. In physical education we will focus on athletics.

Music: percussion

We are running a music rotation this term – each class will spend 2 sessions with each teacher in the team, across the term. From rākau to sāsā to Stomp beats, we’ll be drumming and exploring different elements of rhythm, beat, and percussion.

Parent help

If you can support our class programme with either regular or one-off parent help, we’d love to hear from you. Spelling testing and reading with children are particularly useful ways to help. We always welcome parents visiting to read a favourite book or share some knowledge or expertise; even if you’ve already read to the class, we’d love you to come back again!

Home learning

A reminder to return home learning folders to school on Mondays. Each Monday children will bring home a new list of ten spelling words, an updated Reading log (if needed) and basic facts to be learned off by heart during the week.

Dates this term

Tuesday 21 October                         Rongoā Māori workshops in the Learning Hub

Wednesday 22 October                   Whole School Athletics Day at Wakefield Park

Thursday 23 October                       postponement day for Athletics Day
Friday 24 October                            Whole School powhiri, 9.15am

Monday 27 October                          Labour Day

Saturday 1 November                      School Fair

Tuesday 4 November                       M13’s trip to the City Gallery

Wednesday 5 November                 M12’s trip to the City Gallery

Thursday 6 November                     M14’s trip to the City Gallery

Tuesday 11 November                     Southern Zones Athletics

Tuesday 2 December                       Mahuri inquiry exhibition, 9am – 10.30am

Thursday 4 December                     Day walk to Red Rocks

Monday 8 December                       Amazing Race

Wednesday 10 December               M12 & M13’s zoo sleepover

Thursday 11 December                   M11 & M14’s zoo sleepover

Monday 15 December                      Whole School picnic

Tuesday 16 December                     Portfolios come home

Thursday 18 December                   Poroporoaki, last day of school

Thank you for your ongoing support. As always, if there is anything you would like to discuss regarding your child’s learning, please get in touch to make a time to talk.

Ngā mihi,

Shanon, Adele, Ximena and Amy

Hackschooling

a democratic classroom

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