Question: What does learning Maths look like? How best will we learn? Visible Thinking and Learning @ Kunyung!

Students were asked to write on sticky notes what they thought learning Maths looked like. When the poster was finished  students discussed their beliefs and related their ideas to the Kunyung Learning Cycle. The children were able to talk about the Kunyung Learning Cycle and relate our learning cycle to numeracy.

The Learning Cycle enables teachers to reflect when planning. Teachers at Kunyung need to be able to answer these questions!

What do I want my students to know / learn? How best will they learn? How will I know they know what has been taught?

Learner Cycle

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Making learning explicit for our students in all areas of the curriculum is essential.

 

Making Connections!

Keep Calm and MAke ConnectionsGood Afternoon All!

After spending many years in schools I have seen a lot of changes……from a classroom level to an Education Department level. Some changes have been good and some ‘not so’ good but the one thing that hasn’t changed in education is the need for students and teachers to have a connection! Sometimes they have to work hard to find ‘that’ connection, sometimes it comes easily and naturally and sometimes it needs support to happen…..but it is so important that it is made as students learning will improve as a result!

Making connections to their teacher is important but so is making connections to what they are learning- things make much more sense to them when they do!

A big focus for us this year is to support and facilitate the making of those connections. Sometimes it’s making personal connections to what they are reading, sometimes it’s making connections to what they are reading to the world and sometimes it’s making connections between two different things they have read! Sometimes it’s making connections between a mathematical concept or skill and how it fits into their personal world! As we start a new Unit of Inquiry we always try and assess what students already know about a big idea and see if they can make connections to what they have learned previously. It certainly supports their thinking and helps them to then find out new information!

Parents making connections to their children’s learning is also vitally important. Sometimes that’s through coming into the classroom and joining in with learning, sometimes (like me) it’s asking questions and having discussions because you just can’t get into school!

Below I have listed the Units of Inquiry that each level will be starting in Term 3. If you feel that you have anything you could contribute to ANY of these units in any way….please contact your child’s teacher or the school office and ask for me! If you are unable to see that your expertise is in any of these fields of study it’s always good to know what your children are learning so you can still make connections and you may like to come in and help anyway…..we can always learn something new!

PREPS:

How the world works ‘Toys and games have changed over time due to technology’

JUNIORS:

How we express ourselves ‘Imagination is a powerful tool for extending our ability to think, create and express ourselves’

MIDDLES:

How we express ourselves ‘Communication in its many forms facilitates personal and global connections’

SENIORS:

How we express ourselves ‘The Exhibition’

Enjoy and keep connected!

 

Reflective Learning!

IMG_0600Good Day KPS Families!

At this time of year both teachers and students become quite reflective about their learning!

(Thank you Thomas PR for allowing us to use your reflection on presenting to the Junior School Assembly! :))

Reflections are an important part of learning these days- both in schools and the work place……………it’s no longer good enough to expect children to finish a task and put their book away. Teachers encourage students to reflect on their learning and share their thinking with others. How did you work that out? What worked well for you? How could you solve that problem a different way? What might you do next time to make your work better? What does better look like?

These kind of questions also promote collaboration (Remember this is one ofIMG_0605 the necessary 21st Century skills!)

What have we been learning and why?

How how I learnt it?

What do I need to learn next?

All three questions are on the teachers’ and student’s minds as we conclude this semester!

IMG_0606It is a Learner Profile attribute and a main concept of our IB PYP Programme!

Reflection can also be explained more academically………

  • Reflection is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with deeper understanding of its relationships with and connections to other experiences and ideas. It is the thread that makes continuity of learning possible, and ensures the progress of the individual and, ultimately, society. It is a means to essentially moral ends.
  • Reflection is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry.
  • Reflection needs to happen in community, in interaction with others.
  • Reflection requires attitudes that value the personal and intellectual growth of oneself and of other   IMG_0605s.IMG_0602 

Here are some examples of the kind of reflections witnessed this week……..IMG_0603