Friday, 12 February 2016

Darren's Writing Narrative



Learner: Darren                Learning Coach: Mr Dyer                        Date: Week 3 - Term 1
Learning Area: Writing
Learning Observed
We have hit the ground running and are already challenging ourselves to identify what makes writing effective and how we can capture this learning in our own writing. We have identified that our best writing comes from the heart and involves sharing our thoughts, wonderings and feelings about a particular subject. We have also begun exploring ‘Show’ not ‘Tell’ to develop imagery and depth in our writing, along with writing about our sensory responses to daily events. Finally, through selecting elements of Who, What, Why, When, Where and How, we can focus on different elements of our writing in more detail.
Darren has begun to use some of the above writing techniques to make their writing #Oresome! He has the opportunity to write every day, and is involved in our author’s circles where they can seek advice and share their writing with myself and other learners. They are also invited to respond to areas for development at various stages of the writing process. It will be exciting to see how their writing develops over the course of the year starting from the example below which was one of their first pieces of independent writing.   

On a Friday, Darren contributes to our group blog. We share our thoughts, wonderings and feelings about the previous week and collaborate with the other writing groups before posting on our habitat blog. Be sure to check out these blogs when you can.
Evidence of learning
This was Darren’s first effort at writing this year. It will be exciting to see how he progresses as the year goes on.
Key Competencies/Vision Principles

Thinking - Making sense of information, experiences and ideas.
Using language, symbols, and texts - Making sense of words, numbers and images.
Managing self - knowing when to lead, when to follow and when to act independently.
Relating to others - Interacting effectively in a range of contexts.
Participating and contributing - Being actively involved in school and the community


Curious
Collaborative
Connected
Capable

Darren has begun to show his capabilities in writing even at this early stage of the year. We are connecting with events from our lives to make writing real to us. We are doing a range of independent writing and more collaborative pieces.
Next Learning Steps
Darren should continue to write from the heart and visit the Author’s circle for regular input into his writing. He is encouraged to share their writing with family members and also with other audiences at school and home.This will give him a chance to receive authentic feedback that can be used to make their next piece of writing even better.

Tuesday, 3 November 2015

Narrative Assessment - Literacy - 2 Nov 2015



Learner: Darren                    Learning Coach: Miriam Kamsteeg             Date: 2 Nov 2015
Learning Area: Literacy - Writing
Learning Observed
Today Darren was writing with me. He sat down and drew his picture. In our group we had a discussion on how many wanted to write about Halloween, so I wrote it up for the Learners to copy, if they needed that word. Darren asked me for help sounding out “group” and “person”.
Evidence of learning
IMG_1019.JPG
Darren was able to record down the many sounds he can hear in each word. I wonder if he is practising writing at home?
Key Competencies/Vision Principles
Darren is continuing to improve his Capabilities in Writing. He was able to create a story in his head and then record it (Thinking). Darren was able to settle quickly to write a story by himself (Managing Self). He was able to use many different letters to record sounds (Using Language, Symbols and Texts).
Next Learning Steps
  • Write 2, or more, sentences
  • Continue to record down all the sounds he hears in his words
  • Share learning with home.

Friday, 30 October 2015

Narrative Assessment - Literacy - 29 Oct 2015


Learner: Darren      Learning Coach: Miriam Kamsteeg             Date: 29 Oct 2015
Learning Area: Literacy - Reading Assessment
Learning Observed
Today Darren completed a Reading Assessment with me. He read a higher Blue level book called “Clever Little Dinosaur”. Darren read with 89% accuracy. This means he still needs to work at the same Yellow level for a bit longer to consolidate his word accuracy at this level. He was, however able to retell the story very well and answered most comprehension questions correctly.
Evidence of learning
IMG_1017.JPG
Darren read and retold the story. I wonder if he is doing this at home each night?
Key Competencies/Vision Principles
Darren is developing his Capabilities in Reading. He is Reading many words with accuracy (Using Language, Symbols and Texts). Darren is making sense of what he reads (Thinking).
Next Learning Steps
  • Continue to learn more Basic sight words.
  • Continue to explicitly teach sounding out tricky words.
  • Share learning with home.

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

iExplore Group Narrative


Learner: Taj, Owen, Darren and Lucy                     Learning Coach: Mr Hattie          Date: 21 October 2015
Learning Area: Learning Habitat Two - iExplore
Learning Observed
For our iExplore we are looking at gardening. We have been preparing the garden beds so that we can start using them. For this we had to pull out all of the weeds. We used this to explain what a weed does and how it effects a garden. The learners had to use shovels and gardening gloves to pull out all of the weeds. At one point Owen and Taj were working together to get a big group of weeds out. Taj had the shovel and Owen was pulling on the weed. This was great to see and they had discussed how they were going to get this difficult weed out. Taj and Owen showed great resilience and problem solving when they worked together to get out a weed. Taj had the shovel and Owen pulled on the weed. This was exciting to hear how they were going to solve their problem. Lucy and Darren had seen the boys sorting out their problem and saw that they could use the same strategy to solve their problem. This was a great connection.
Evidence of learning
Taj and Owen problem solving
Lucy and Darren making connections
Key Competencies/Vision Principles
The Key Competencies that were being used in this iExplore was “participating and contributing” as the learners had to work together to pull out the weeds. “Managing self” as we had times where the learning coach was busy helping others so the learners had to sort out any issues that arose. The vision principles that were being used was “collaboration” as the learners had to work together.
Next Learning Steps
The learners next steps are:
  • learning how and why we turn over the soil to prepare the garden for planting.
  • to plant some seeds in the garden and take care of them.