Equivalent Fractions

Auckland is still at Level 2.5, which means the desks in my classroom are very spaced out with students remaining in their seats during the lessons.  We are currently not teaching in small groups, which means that I am teaching my maths class using a whole class approach. Keeping this in mind, I decided to try a more investigative approach to discovering equivalent fractions and I recorded this lesson for Manaiakalani Class On Air.

I decided it was important to start the lesson with a low "on ramp" and then progress through the mathematical stages building upon the knowledge that we had just gained (or reviewed for some). To read more about this lesson, check out my page on the Class on Air website here.  

This lesson was a fun way to have the students conduct an investigation to discover a mathematical concept. I feel that my students were able to grab onto the lesson from the beginning no matter their maths learning level and by the end of the lesson, all students were able to understand how to multiply the numerator and denominator by the same number to get an equivalent fraction.  I also realised that since each student had their own piece of paper, they were responsible for figuring out the new fraction. Since I was able to see them trying to figure it out, I was able to provide the correct amount of wait time for all students to be on the same page before moving on.

Level 2 Coding

Recently, Auckland was moved to Level 2 of the NZ Covid-19 restriction levels. This means that schools have reopened with many adaptations in place. Our students are sitting in a social distancing seating chart and they are not sharing anything once they enter the classroom setting. Their hands are sanitised every time they enter and exit a classroom or building. 

In Room 1, students have arrived back to school very slowly and I only have about half of my students attending class on a daily basis. I decided that it was a great time to introduce something new and fun to my students with a Codey Rocky coding lesson. 

I am excited to share this Level 2 lesson as one of my Manaiakalani Class on Air episodes for 2020. Please click here to see the entire lesson format, including student blog posts and an extended lesson plan. 

Class on Air: Writing From Home

With our country in Level 4 lockdown, in response to the Covid-19 epidemic, teachers are learning how to effectively adapt their pedagogy to ensure that their students are learning from home. For those of us in Manaiakalani schools, we are exploring new ways to have students participate in our Learn, Create, Share pedagogy from home. In addition, our Manaiakalani Class on Air team was challenged to begin thinking outside of the box when designing our lessons during this period of distance learning. 

This past week, our country celebrated Anzac Day as we do each year. However, this year, due to the lockdown things were a tad bit different across the country. As a result, the lesson that I prepared for my students was also a tad bit different. 

Check out my Manaiakalani Class on Air episode where students were encouraged to come up with a way to make their own poppy or poppy display around their house. After creating their poppy, students were tasked with writing step by step instructions and presenting those instructions in a creative manner on their blogs. 

Holiday Lockdown Learning Journey

 This term, we had to think of our Term 1 holidays a little differently. We were released from school a few weeks early, to stay at home in our bubbles in order to keep NZ safe from Covid-19. Our students were just beginning to settle into Level 4 lockdown life and were starting to understand what it meant to be distance learning from home. Although the teachers of Team 5 really were looking forward to a week off of school, we understood that we needed to capitalise on the learning that our students had started to be involved in while at home. As a result, some teachers on our team created our "Easter Learning Journey" directly based on former Manaiakalani Summer Learning Journey tasks. 

I hope you take some time to check out my Class on Air episode that shares this learning journey with you, along with my personal elaborated lesson plans, reflections and student blog post examples. 

2020 Manaiakalani Class On Air

This year, I decided to try something new in my teaching career, and I am a Manaiakalani Class On Air teacher. This means, that I (along with colleagues from across New Zealand) will be sharing various lessons during the year as a video. The lessons will also include a detailed lesson plan, reflection and examples of student work.

Here is a video I made telling you a little bit more about Manaiakalani Class On Air in Room 1 at Pt England School.




If you are interested in checking out my Manaiakalani Class on Air episodes, or those of my colleagues (past and present), please check out the Class on Air site.