iExplore Endangered Species Learning Story

Learner: Neha, Karleil & Justin             Learning Coach: DWilkes      Date: Term 3-4

Learning Area: iExplore (Science and Literacy)

Learning Observed

During term 3 and part of term 4, Neha, Justin and Karleil decided to collaborate together on their iExplore learning adventure.  They were inspired by their iExperience learning on animals, food webs, habitats and threats so they decide they were curious about endangered species.  During our conferences they refined their curiosity to endangered species of New Zealand and each of the learners selected 3 to find more out about and write a fact file for.  When they went to the zoo they learned more about why animals are endangered in New Zealand and around the world- what poaching meant and how pollution and habitat destruction are often the causes.  They wanted to create an awareness of how the learners at OrmPS could help endangered species in New Zealand.  They discussed how to do this through conferences and open to learning conversations with their learning coaches and each other.  They grew their capabilities at listening, negotiating and researching while they made lots of connections to their experiences and prior knowledge.  They all enjoyd the ‘animal onesie’ day at the end of the term too!

Evidence of learning

iExplore Document

Next Learning Steps

write a reflective blog process about this iExplore share all the finished products and learning with your family identify what we can do next year to extend this learning

The 4 C's

Cinquain Poem: Week 10 Learning Challenge

4 C's 

Helpful, Great

Kind, Respectful, Friendly

Greatful, Special, Reality, Secure

Respect

This is the blog post for the Week 10 Learning Challenge. Hopefully it's good enough and it makes sense.          

Chocolate Macaroons.

Chocolate Macaroons 

Prep: 25 mins     Level: Moderately Easy

Cook: 20 mins    Make: 12 filled macaroons 

Ingredients 

125g icing sugar

1 tbsp cocoa

100g ground almonds

2 medium egg whites

For the filling

50g milk or dark chocolate, chopped

2 tsp skimmed milk, warmed a little

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/ 160C fan/gas 4. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl, then stir in the ground almonds. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the dry ingredients.
2. Fill an icing bag fitted with a plain nozzle with the mixture (or put in a large food bag and snip off the corner). Pipe 24 small blobs, about 3cm across, onto the baking sheet, leaving a little space between each. Smooth the surface with a wet finger, then leave for 15 mins to dry out. Bake for 15-20 mins until macaroons feel firm to the touch and peel easily off the paper. Cool on the paper, then peel off and store in a tin for up to 1 week.
3. To make the filling, put chocolate into a heatproof bowl and gently melt over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir in the warm milk until smooth. Leave to cool and thicken a little, then use to sandwich the macaroons together.

Recipe from Good Food magazine

Movember!

This month is Movember. It sounds a little bit similar to November because Movember is celebrated for the whole entire month on November. It all started in 1999, when a group of men from Adelaide and South Australia made up the term "Movember" as an idea of growing moustaches for charity throughout the month of November. So Mr Dyer and Mr Hattie joined to do the Movember programme. So throughout the month Mr Dyer and Mr Hattie have been growing their moustaches in very weird ways, but on Week 7, Friday we had a moustache day. That day a lot of people brought their moustaches. After iBreak 2, we had a moustache parade. People which didn't bring their moustache didn't take part in the parade. The parade was so long, I got so bored. Then the parade finished and the girl and boy from every habitat that had the best moustache gets a prize. That day was so fun seeing all the people with their really, really, really funny moustaches. I wonder what Mr Dyer and Mr Hattie would look next year if they joined it again.

The NEW Seven Wonders of The World

So at school, on Friday 26 November, in Learning Habitat 1, we had Google Expeditions. There was four expeditions that everyone could choose from. There was Seven Wonders of The World, Sharks, Biomes and Indian Pow Wows. But unfortunately, the Indian Pow Wows got turned down because only a couple of people wanted to go and the man which brought all the Google Cardboard had to go to a school called Sancta Maria Primary School at 12:30 but the Indian Pow Wows finish at 12:40. If you don't know what Google Cardboard is I'll put a picture of what it looks like down below. I chose to do The Seven Wonders of The World. We were learning about the Seven NEW Wonders of the World.

The first wonder I explored about was the Taj Mahal in India. The Taj Mahal was made out of white marble and the Taj Mahal was finished building in 1653. Back in the olden days, a king was grief-stricken when the wife he loved out of the three wives he married died on the day of the birth of their 14th child. Because of the death of his beloved wife, the King made the Taj Mahal to shelter the tomb of his favourite wife of the three.

The second wonder I explored was the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China was made out of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood and other materials and the Great Wall of China was finished building in 1644. Back in the olden days, the Great Wall of China was built to keep out raiding parties of nomadic tribes, such as the Mongol, Turic and Xiongnu, modern-day Mongolia and Manchuria.  The first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, is often considered the father of the Great Wall, but even before he united the nation in 221BC, individual states built walls to keep out invaders as early as the 7th Century.

The third wonder I explored was the Colosseum in Rome. The Colosseum was made out travertine limestone, tuff or tufo, cement, tiles, bricks and marble and the Colosseum was finished building in 80 AD. Back in the olden days, the Colosseum was used to host spectacular public entertainment events such as gladiator fights, wild animal hunts and public executions from 80 CE to 404 CE.

The fourth wonder I explored was the Chichen Itza in Mexico. Chichen Itza was entirely made out of limestone and was finished building in 1200. Chichen Itza was made as a village for people to live not a  pyramid as what I thought. I know this because I searched up on the internet just to check a little bit about Chichen Itza.

The fifth wonder I explored about was Petra in Jordan. Petra is made out of sandstone but people didn't bring the sandstone to that place the sandstone was there the whole time. Petra was carved out of the sandstone and was finished building in 312 BC. Back in the olden days, Nabatean, an ancient civilization built the famous, stone-hewn city of Petra so that the sun would illuminate their sacred places like relating to the sky spotlights.

The sixth wonder I explored was Machu Picchu in Peru. Machu Picchu was made out of heavy granite stones and was finished in the mid-15th century.Most archeologists  believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often mistakenly referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas" (a title more accurately applied to Vilcabamba), it is the most familiar icon of Inca civilization.

And the last wonder I explored was Christ the Redeemer in Brazil. Christ the Redeemer is made out of soapstone and reinforced concrete and was finished building in1930s or 1920s. Back in the olden days, a Catholic priest called Pedro Maria Boss was the first to suggest to build a large religious monument to honour Princess Isabel, but th project wasn't approved. The second proposal was approved and people made a week called Monument Week to attract donations and collect signatures to support the building of the statue.

Because we had five more minutes left, I looked a little bit into the coral reefs. I think this part was from the Sharks Google Expedition. What I saw was so many coral reefs and two of my favourite things about what I saw about the coral reefs was that there was a giant sea turtle statue underwater and that there was seaweed farm underwater too. Because I couldn't find a picture of a turtle made out of rock underwater, I just chose a turtle.

This the seaweed farm.

This is the turtle.

So that was my experience of the Google Expedition. I've used Google Cardboard before at GAFE which stands for Google Apps For Education but I've never been on a Google Expedition. It was so much fun learning about The Seven Wonders of the World. I gratefully thank the man, Maru who brought all the Google Cardboard so everyone in the learning habitat could have this experience. Thank you Maru! So that's all I've got to say about my incredible Google Expedition about the Seven NEW Wonders of the World. Goodbye.

Taanvi, Jahnavi and Neha's Trash to Flash Learning Story

Learners: Taanvi, Jahnavi & Neha      Learning Coach: T.Dillner           Date: Term 4, Week 6-10

Learning Area: iExperience - Technology

Learning Observed and Vision Principles

In the second half of Term 4, all of the OrmPS learners have been participating in Trash to Flash - turning old used items into something new and usable. All of the LH1 learners began this journey by spending time looking on the LH1 Pinterest account. Everyone selected a category that they were the most interested in. Taanvi, Jahnavi and Neha all selected Girls Fashion. They were curious about making an elephant pendant from an old fork. However, before they could make this, they had to go through a test run with the Design Thinking Process. As a group, all of the Girl’s Fashion and Pets & Animals learners made ladybug fridge magnets. The girls then took the template we used as a larger group and the personalised it to their pendant creation, demonstrating their capability with understanding the design process. Collaboratively, they shared this template and filled it in on Google Slides.

Evidence of learning

Taanvi, Jahnavi and Neha with Jessica, Johanna, Ashmira and Divya and their Ladybug Magnet prototypes.

Next Learning Steps

Add some photos to your blog of your final creation in Week 10. Reflect on how successful your planning was, as well as how well you felt your final product turned out. Make another prototype showing changes and improvements to the design.

Rudolph Cupcakes

Rudolph Cupcakes

Prep: 35 mins                             Level: Easy

Cook: 30 mins plus cooling.       Make: 12

Ingredients

200g butter, cubed

200g plain chocolate, broken into squares 

200g light soft brown sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

1tsp vanilla extract

250g self-raising flour

For the icing

200g plain chocolate, broken into squares

100ml double cream, not fridge-cold

50g icing sugar

For the reindeers

12 large milk chocolate buttons (best if you use Cadbury Dair Milk Giant Buttons)

24 white chocolate buttons

12 red Smarties

Black icing pens

Mini pretzels, carefully cut in half horizontally 

Method

1. Get started: Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Gently melt the butter, chocolate, sugar and 100ml hot water together in a large saucepan, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool a little while you weigh the other ingredients.

2. Make your cakes: Stir the eggs and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl, and stir in the chocolate mixture until smooth. Spoon into the cases until just over three-quarters full. Bake on a low shelf in the oven for 20-22 mins. Leave to cool. 

3. Ice the tops: To make the icing, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Once melted, turn off the heat, stir in the double cream, sift in the icing sugar and mix well. When spreadable, top each cake with some icing.

4. Have fun decorating: Position a milk chocolate button on top of each cake, then 2 white chocolate buttons above it. Use a little icing as glue to stick a red Smartie onto the milk chocolate button for a nose. Then use your icing pens to draw black dots on the white buttons for eyes. Stick 2 pretzel top halves into the top of each cake for antlers, and stick the bottom half of a pretzel under the Smartie for a mouth. These cakes will keep in a sealed container for up to 3 days, but we doubt they’ll last that long!

Recipe from Good Food magazine.