Animal Habitat, Digitise It Learning Story - August 2015

Learner: Vivian                                                                  Learning Coach: DWilkes       Date: August 2015                                                                       Learning Area:  Science

Learning Observed

This term the LH1 learners have been learning about animals, adaptations and habitats. Vivian has been building her language and developing her understandings of the many ways the natural world can be represented.  Vivian is able to recognise that living things are suited to their particular habitat and can discuss the adaptations of specific animals and used her curiosity to research the adaptations for her selected animal the Owl.  She recognises that all living things have certain requirements so they can stay alive and could identify these for owls.   Vivian was fortunate enough to go on a field trip to the zoo (with her mum too!) where many animals captured her curiosity.  She used the learning from the zoo trip to create a creature using the www.buildyourwildself.com wesbite.  She needed to create a habitat that would be suitable for an owl.  She opted for the ‘Digitize It’ option knowing that he wanted to design the creature habitat in a new digital tool to develop her capability at using it.  She went through a rigorous design process that involved connecting with information through researching to create a fact file on the Owl, drawing a draft diagram of what the habitat would look like and then creating it in a digital tool of their choosing.  Her GOOGLE DRAWING was a good representation of what she initially planned with some modifications.  Ask her to show it to you!   Vivian collaborated well- listening to other learners and asking questions. When it was time to share their learning, she presented her habitat with some confidence to the Learning Coaches and learners in LH1.  You can see her assessment here.

Evidence of learning

Next Learning Steps

write a reflective blog post about the learning and share with parents create a product of their learning eg. google presentation to show all of the steps create a more detailed diagram with labels that is represented in the final product practice presenting so you are prepared- why don’t you present to your family?!

Vivian's Collaboration Learning Story - July 2015

Learner: Vivian                      Learning Coach:   DWilkes                Date: 22-07-15

Learning Area: Key Competencies (Collaboration)

Learning Observed

On our first day back in Term 3 we had a super day of “Collaboration” immersion activities.  While the learners worked on the Collaboration Challenge in mixed ability, mixed year level groups they collaborated on a variety of tasks which encouraged discussion, problem solving, perseverance and teamwork.  It was great to observe Vivian as she was very engaged in the tasks, demonstrating patience, sharing and teaching others.  I noticed that Vivian took a lead during the ‘crocodile’ challenge.  She calmly demonstrated and explained her ideas, welcomed ideas from others and took turns.

Evidence of learning

Designing a kiwi habitat           Using Pic Collage to collect evidence    Using teamwork to master a challenge                 Designing a float

Key Competencies/Vision Principles

Right from the start Vivian embraced the challenge demonstrating collaboration strategies such as asking questions and making decisions together.  This activity challenged her and her team to develop their problem solving skills (Thinking).  She definitely related well to others and managed herself to maximise their collective learning.

Next Learning Steps

grow capacity for collaboration by working with a variety of learners practicing asking questions use a new digital tool like Storybird to write a collaborative story focusing on the learning of the activity rather than racing to get it finished, she needs to take her time and be thorough when researching to answer