Maths Taster Menu's

I came up with these to help learner's self direct their follow up learning based on their individual needs.  Each of the following Google Drawings has links to both games and how to videos to support learning in a variety of Maths concepts.

The following are two examples of taster menu's which students use to fill their gaps in knowledge.  This has been a really good way to motivate students to understand their own learning.  Students access these 'Taster Menu's' from our team site and can use them as part of their individualised follow up programmes in Maths.  

Some of my more able students are now going on to make their own personalised Google Drawings of Maths Maps with links to specific tasks, games and learning tutorials that support their individual programmes.

Room 15 Reading Slides

My reading planning is again done with the students in mind.  I spend time planning on a format which will be utilised by students via our team Google Site.  

Each group accesses their slides document where each week a new slide is put up with the link to the text and any relevant follow up lessons.  This is used sometime in conjunction with the guided reading text and also is run alongside the Daily 5 which as a team we have come up with to target specific gaps we notice in our children reading.  

This is an example of the group slides for Reading.

Room 15 Writer's Circles

In Writing we are using Google Docs to provide each child with a Writer's Circle.  This is a mixed ability model where the site links each Writer's Circle Doc to the relevant group members.  They all write in a table within the document and this lets them construct their own writing while observing and sharing motivation, ideas and feedback with their group peers.  

Here is how I have set up my Writer's Circle Docs.  They all link back to the site and students can also access them directly from their own Drive folders.  

Student Motivation and Learning through Google Sites

This year my team and I have utilised Google Sites to give our students the opportunity to view and be more actively involved in our planning.  

Up until recent years Teacher planning was exactly that... a plan that the teacher primarily used to guide their daily lessons.  It is slowly changing and becoming more relevant to share that documentation with students so that they have increased ownership in what they are learning and also gain understanding into what goes into planning and assessment of the content they are being delivered.

Enter Google Sites... The Mighty Kauri Team

At May Road School we have a team site which has an interface which shows 'buttons' which lead to other curriculum pages.  These buttons were simply made in Google Draw and connected to the relevant hyperlink.  

From this page students can go to the curriculum area they are working on and access their class pages.  These are designed to suit each class and will link to their group docs and planning for the week.  

Maths, Reading and Writing pages all link to classes and then onto groups within classes.  As teachers we are tailoring our pages to suit our students.  This might include specific websites, follow up tasks, reading logs, student voice forms, homework links etc.  

Our planning is kept very simple and I spend time making the docs that the students will utilise rather than working on a single doc that it just to inform me.  Teachers are intelligent people and it often baffles me how much work we are expected to put in to writing down what we will teach.  

Planning smarter for and with students is the way to go.  It gives them ownership and understanding of what they are learning.  It also builds their digital capabilities using tools such as sites and it becomes a working document that is integrates curriculum for enhanced digital learning.

Student voice is possibly the best way to see if what we implemented made any difference.  Through administering my class a Google Form survey there were able to share their reflections about Google Sites and sharing their learning. (excuse some of the spelling)