Sharing the Learning Journey - Seasaw

Rua parents and whanau, on Friday, I sent home sign-in sheets so you can access Seasaw. Seasaw is an e-porfolio of your child's learning and allows you to share their learning. 

If you haven't already joined, hunt for the sheet in your child's bag and join now. Let me know if you can't find the access sheet or need an extra one - more than one person in a family can join up.

What will I see on Seasaw?

Teachers and children can add items to Seasaw. In the first weeks at school the students have been learning to take photos and videos and upload them to Seasaw. They have also been learning to comment on each others work. (At school we can see everyone's work but at home you'll only see your child's work, or work they have done in a group). Making comments on other people's videos has made us all better at our own filming.

Assessment Information

This last week I've begun looking at what the children know in maths and reading and setting next learning steps for them. I've shared these on Seasaw. Over the next few weeks I should complete running records and maths checks for each child. I've also been talking to the children about what they enjoy at school and what they would like to get better at.

Our Exciting Learning

Our new focus in maths is measuring and our new science focus is light and shadows. Last week we combined this to look at how long our shadows were. Most of the children have taken a photo of this activity and added it to Seasaw, along with a comment about what they were doing.

Things we are proud of or times we have challenged ourselves

A huge focus of our learning is on the Key Competencies. This term we are looking at Managing Ourselves - taking risks with our learning, being independent, and caring for our possessions and our classroom. We are also looking at Relating to Others - working with new people, teaching and learning from others, and being kind, caring and respectful to others.

New things we have learnt, or things we have taught others

I always tell the students that in Rua, we have 28 students and 28 teachers. This term our focus for Passion Projects/ Discovery Time is teaching others something new and/ or learning something new from our classmates. This week we will be looking at how we learn best, and what a good teacher can do to help us learn.

I'm on, now what should I do?
I love Seasaw! I trialled it last year and got great feedback from parents. Many said it gave them things to talk about (you know how you often ask your child what they did at school and the response is "I dunno, nothing.") And the exciting thing is, research shows, that children whose parents are involved with their learning, achieve much better at school. This doesn't mean spending hours drilling them on homework, instead all you have to do is talk about what they've been doing. Or, if you're looking at the posts when your child is not around, you could leave a question for them. They can respond the next day in writing or reading time. Reading and writing on the ChromeBooks is hugely motivating for many children.