Wrapping up our body inquiry

We have spent a long time exploring what our bodies can do, what the parts are and how our bodies work.  Upon finishing our inquiry we thought it would be a good idea to go back to our original body part posters we made and see if we had any new ideas about what some of the parts were and where they were in our bodies.  We had some laughs.  Some of us had put the small intestines in the head, thinking it was the brain. 

We took all the parts of the body off, and placed them back on in the correct locations.  We were able to see what we thought at the beginning of the inquiry and what we had learned.  It was cool to see our new learning!  

We had some good discussions, explaining our thinking and helping each other remember the new information we had learned!

Further Taking Action and Positive Health

As further Taking Action from our Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies inquiry we took a class walk last Thursday.  Before we set off we talked about the benefits of our walk and why we were doing it.  We were doing it to try and stay fit because through our inquiry we learned about our bodies and what they need to stay healthy.  Exercise was a big thing we uncovered.  We also found out that it makes us feel good too.  It helps us to concentrate and get our energy out.  

Our body inquiry fitted in perfectly to Positive Health--one of the domains of the Positive Education framework. 

"Positive Health--The Positive Health domain focuses on supporting students and staff to develop sustainable habits for optimal physical and psychological health. With the inextricable link between physical and psychological health, we know that practising mindfulness and resilience techniques will promote greater health outcomes. Mindfulness and resilience are also supported by the quest to help students to develop broader healthy behaviours in terms of exercise, nutrition, and sleep." Geelong Grammar School Positive Education Model 

Before embarking on our walk we discussed our mindset and how the uphill part would be hard.  We talked about what we might say in those hard moments. There were lots of, "This is hard, but I won't give up," "My body is getting stronger," and "I CAN do it!"

This is a visual we have in the class that we often check in on to make sure we're in the right frame of mind to begin something.  At times we catch ourselves thinking like the bottom of the steps, but every time we practise saying things closer to the top we get motivated to do it.  This helped us on our walk.  

We are planning to keep up the outdoors and the exercise and are hoping for more trips to the beach in the next few weeks! Thanks to all the parents who came to help!

This was the route we walked and the distance (it's in miles, but it's about 1.4 k).  There was very little complaining and along the way we stopped to check out our amazing view, taking a moment to have gratitude for where we live and we listened to the birds and spotted herbs.

ASB Sports Centre

 

The ASB Sports Centre 

Strengthening our bodies with perseverance.

On Tuesday Autahi went to the ASB sports centre where we used perseverance to build our muscles and minds! For some of us, this was a new experience so we had to use our bravery and resilience to try something new that we may have been nervous about.

  

We started with Futsal! We each grabbed a ball and practiced ball skills. Stopping the ball was a challenge but we used resilience and perseverance to keep trying and we all got the hang of it in the end!

Next we split up into groups to tackle athletics! we ran relays and played line tag. We had to use a lot of teamwork and took turns running and jumping over the hurdles so that everyone could get a turn.

Floorball was a crowd favourite, we all worked on our ball skills and some of us showed leadership and good judgement when hitting the ball to our team members. 

Last but definitely not least was gymnastics! This activity was a new experience for everyone! We had to use judgement and bravery to use the gym equipment safely while still having fun! We all took turns so that we all got to try everything, we encouraged each other to be brave when we felt worried about trying something new.

Thanks to the wonderful parents who helped out! We couldn't have done it without you all!

Neuroplasticity!!!

We have been learning all about our brains! Did you know that you can work and grow your brain?  Doing new things and challenging things helps your brain to grow and helps you to learn!

 We have been watching these videos and learning about how we can change our brains and how none of our abilities are fixed.  We can get better and better at anything we try, if we put in the time, hard work and really believe we can do it.

We have been looking out for people growing their brains at discovery time.  This is when we notice people trying something NEW or working on something they find a bit hard or know they need practise with.

Here are some people keen to grow their brains!

Trying some puzzles and working together.                  Playing a shopping game that involves using                                                                                            our memory and taking turns.

Creating Brain head-bands--thinking about our brain but also practising fine motor skills like cutting out!



Practising sorting Ch and Sh pictures so that when we see the letters together in our reading we remember the sounds they make.

Using magnets to sort by colour and by number.

This stack of lilly pads is 11 lilly pads tall and it is almost as tall as me! We have 1 more lilly pad to put on and it will be 11 + 1 =12!

Making shape cakes.  We are noticing squares, triangles, circles and diamonds! 

We are stretching and growing our brains in so many ways! Stay tuned for lots more around how we are growing our brains!

What's Happening in Discovery Time

When we are not doing small group guided work or whole group activities we are learning through play and discovering.  This discovery time is wonderful for a number of reasons.  We explore inquiry ideas, practise different skills and consolidate things we are learning.  We often see this consolidation through games of "school" or in the activities that are being chosen.  Have a look at what we've been spending our discovery time doing so far this week. 

This game was one of Doctor.  The girl on the left was the doctor (linking to our inquiry of the body) and she was "diagnosing" her patient using this number chart (consolidating number patterning we've been doing in small groups).  The chart told her how many medicines she would need to take, what foods to eat and how many brothers she would have in the game! The two negotiated the rules, who was playing what role and built on their oral language around a number of different curriculum areas! 

Toy Tuesday and what we do with the Toys

During our discovery time on a Toy Tuesday, our toys are allowed to accompany us in our play.  Here are some great ways kids use their toys in their learning.

These two decided to use one of the toys as a template to make other puppets and to create a scary pop out game using the tubes.  They did all the drawing, designing and creating themselves and then went around playing their game with others.  There was so much innovative thinking happening.  They were measuring, drawing, cutting, trialling and changing.  They had so much fun, created something new and did it all on their own engaged and empowered the whole time.

Playing School

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These guys were playing school.  One of the girls was the teacher and she was showing how to do handwriting on the little whiteboards and then the students practised writing on the big whiteboard.  This was self-chosen and consolidating of the handwriting we had been doing in small groups.  Teaching others is often one of the best ways for us to process and fully learn something. These guys were doing that within their play. 

Discovering around our body inquiry

Searching the room for different body words, having a go at reading them, looking at the picture and practising writing them.

 More Doctor going on near the x-ray machines.  The Doctor is consulting with someone with a broken arm.

Bone X-ray art.  Exploring what the inside of our hand might look like using cotton buds and glue.

And that is just a snip-it of all of the wonderful, self-directed learning that goes on during discovery time through our play!