Day 3 - Manaiakalani Digital Fluency Intensive Program

Today we focussed on Learn - CREATE - Share.
How wonderful this was to see what could be done within Google docs and slides.

This is truely an opportunity for students as well as teachers to become creative and to think out of the box. As we get older it becomes more and more difficult to be creative. We have excuses like: I'm too busy, no time, I am not good at art. While we are thinking of excuses not to be creative we are stealing our students' time to be creative. They are not scared to try something new. If we as teachers do not take time to push ourselves to think out of the box we can't expect the students to produce awesome projects.

Kent Sommerville, one of the deputy Principals of Point England School, shared all about being creative with Live Streaming using a video camera or, nowadays with the newer technology, a drone.
With so much we have at our fingertips the creativity is endless. What an amazing advantage are we giving our students.

Next we looked at how to use Google draw and slides in a creative way. Animations in Google draw, I think my boys in class will love this, creating something fun.

During our Create and Share time, we had to design our pepeha on slides. This was a wonderful experience for me being in this country for such a short time. I had to do a lot of research and made contact with a few Maori people. I also had to ask for some advise regarding the proper way to prepare. Thank you that I could experience this.

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The Syntax Project - NZ version that aligns with our curriculum

I found this on Facebook this morning. I am so excited to share this amazing resource with teachers This was the message by Sarah Peck on the Primary teachers page: Kia ora koutou, not sure how many of you use the Syntax Project for a sentence-level writing resource but here is the scope and sequence with NZ Year level equivalents added. All of the slideshow resources that support the scope and sequence can be found at https://ochre.org.au/ac/the-grammar-project/. You will need to register for (free) access. The materials are designed for NZ Year 0 (NE) to Year 7, however I think if you have older struggling learners that still need sentence level writing teaching, learning, review and practice then you'd potentially still get a lot out of what's on offer. The Syntax Project work has been developed by Australian teachers, for teachers, and is underpinned by work from The Writing Revolution, and the Morphology Project references William Van Cleave's work. Here is the link: ...

Impressive Writing Growth with The Syntax Project

I’ve seen remarkable progress in my students’ writing skills since introducing The Syntax Project . This free, accessible platform, grounded in the concept of colourful semantics, has been a game-changer for our young learners. What is Colourful Semantics? Colourful semantics is a method that breaks sentences down into parts, each represented by a different colour. For instance, the "Who" (subject) could be one colour, while "What doing" (the verb) is another. This visual approach makes sentence building more straightforward and fun for children, helping them better understand sentence structure. It’s especially useful for younger students as they get to grips with the basics of grammar and sentence creation. My Approach to Using the Syntax Project I began using the Syntax Project by focusing on oral exercises. Students first talk through sentences, identifying key parts like who is doing what, and where it’s happening. This has laid a strong foundation for understa...

Helping Our Tamariki with b/d Confusion: Strategies That Work

As part of my ongoing teaching inquiry into how we support early literacy—especially for those tamariki who need a bit more time—I came across this really helpful article from All About Learning Press that offers clear, simple strategies to help children who confuse b and d. Let’s be honest—this is super common and very normal for our 5- and 6-year-olds. But for some, it sticks around longer and can start to impact confidence, writing fluency, and reading accuracy. What’s in the Article? The blog post outlines: Why letter reversals are a developmental stage, not a sign of dyslexia on their own. Fun, hands-on strategies to help children lock in correct b/d formation. Practical tools that both ECE and NE teachers can easily integrate into their day. One of my favourites from the list is the “bed” trick—using both hands to form the shape of a bed (with thumbs up) to remind kids that b comes before d. It's kinaesthetic, memorable, and easy to teach. Another great one is using visual m...

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