Lets celebrate in Rm 2

 Yes! we have successfully made it to the 2nd week at Level 3 lockdown and now preparing 'fingers & toes crossed' we get to return back to school on Monday 👽  The last 2 weeks have been awesome because you get to reflect on what and where things are going in your practise and how you can improve.  My highlight would be hanging out with my students via google meets and checking in with their learning and wellbeing.  We have had some awesome hangouts - with this mornings one in particular. I thought since we have gone 2 weeks in lockdown lets end it with a class party. The theme: wacky, crazy, weird, odd outfit or hairstyle. There were a few of us that braved the moment and turned up as a construction worker 👌 Aloha Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland 😍 Masked Ninja 💪 Crazy teacher 👅 and the Lady in Red 👋  We had a briefing from our Senior Management team about what to expect heading back to school next week and their updates have been invaluable to Room 2.  Enjoy the pics/vids  👀

Civil Rights Leaders 'Sketch'

A few examples students CREATE 'Sketch of their chosen Civil Rights Leader - Super impressed with these students effort in their sketch work.  Sketches include: 
Rosa Parks: 4.2.1913 - 24.10.2005
  Martin Luther King Jnr: 15.1.1929 - 4.4.1968
 Nelson Mandela: 18.7.1918 - 5.12.2013

Inquiry Presentations - Civil Rights Leaders 'Resilience'

So it started with an incident on the other side of the world which generated much conversation amongst Room 2 students.  'George Floyd' was the hot topic in our class and it was very clear that my students had formed their own opinions on the devastating incident which has now become globally recognised.  What we also noticed is the changes that are happening internationally with companies/organisations changing some of their business marketing in fear or being accused of discrimination or racism (where the conversation started from).   It was interesting to hear the types of authentic emotions that were being presented by my students and how passionate they were at what is happening outside of the world they know (home, community, school) Being exposed to what is happening around the world raised a few conversations starters - here is examples of brainstorms/new words that we did as a whole class to generate thought provoking discussions/debates/connections.

Super proud of the effort put into the presentations and the conversations had around the new knowledge that was being discovered.  We learnt so many new words as a class and were able to use those words during discussion times - also in our presentations.  A few pictures of Rm 2 presenting their inquiries in class.  Q & A's at the end also a Kahoot (Windsor won lol) Really cool quote that concluded Sofaia's presentation:

'A riot is the language of the unheard - Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate, only love can do that'.

Lockdown Return

LOL (Lockdown Online) has come to a grinding halt for most of us and we are now preparing to return back to the comforts of our classrooms - what these will look like will be the same as when we suddenly gapped our rooms that final day after the Level 4 announcement.  The only difference will be the array of sanitation stations in Room 2 (mini sanitiser bottles, reminder stickers on each learning table), visual displays alert to safe hygiene practises and reminders to wash, sanitise, wash, sanitise...........
Week 6 return and only 5 students - and very much greatful to those 5 students who returned ready and willing to share their lockdown narratives with me.  Although some continued at home for various reasons, Room 2 were ready rock n roll.  The week was full of PB4L - role playing, fun systems, team building, laughter, popcorn popping and our very own school DJ was in the mix jamming a range of sounds at morning tea/lunch time. Super Duper proud of our students and their resilience to rise above the 8 weeks of lockdown - and now we have entered into Level 1 as of Monday 11.59pm 💛.  Massive thank you to our families for trusting in our systems set in place so that your children can come back to school.  Hi Five to the MOE (Ministry of Education) for the devices and hard packs that our students received also.  Bring on the last legs of this term. 

Getting digital savvy - struggle is real 👀

Google class sites, google docs, google extensions, google classrooms, screencastify & blogging to name a few!!!! These cool tools have become my bestest friends during this lockdown (they were before) but much more appreciated since we went into Lockdown.  Even now the saying 'work in progress' is real.  So with the many digital PLD opportunities that I have attended I still need to refresh, remind and review what I am doing over and over and over again, for example - changing the access when sharing videos for others to see - the excitement was high when uploading the video, until you get that dreaded email 'jenny is requesting access' 😕 a few times I have received these emails (most recent yesterday) or my wonderful students airing out their teachers laundry 'Miss I cant access the doc 👀'.
I made these videos (image only below) for my students (and parents) to be able to navigate our class site during the lockdown.  So confident until..........you know what comes next 😯.  Until next time I will be vigilant and check check check.  #Screencastify #free

Customizing Fun

Day 5 of Level 3 lockdown and I though I would share my excitement in customising my Blog Page👌 and it was supercool & fun to take it from semi bland to a great representation of my personality and character - bold, bright and bubbly 👅.  Here's a snippet - absolutely in love with all the customising options.  Pop in and check out my new look and drop a comment while your here. #Windsor

Well - 1st week of Level 3 lockdown, done and dusted and I survived although it was a very short week.  Got to hangout with my awesome class where we focussed on navigating through our class site so that we were all on the same page and each member knew where to go to access their learning.  I created 4 videos using sreencastify (this was because its the free version 5minutes max) 'gummon screencastify' 😌 still greatful to SCREENCASTIFY.

Another great catch up with my students and always looking forward to the next hangout - awesome to have other teachers join our hangouts.  Each hangout comes with a different narrative from my students - whether it relates to boredom/younger siblings/missing friends or just an outlet to reset I have learnt so much about them and myself during this whole lockdown/online distant learning experience - even better no one has had to use their WITS and no WALL OF OPPORTUNITIES have happened (we must do doing something right Rm 2)

 One of the really cool foci in our planning this week is to learn some NZSL. So that challenge has been set by next Fridays hangout each student will sign their first and last name using NZSL - so watch this space. Enjoy the weekend...........Oh yeah shot to the winning house this week.

Tik Tok Challenge

Pinch and a Punch for the first of the month - Hey Hey TGIF 👀👀👀.  So lockdown mode is going great even though I miss my class and my students - we are rolling along as best we can in our bubbles.  Not sure about you but the craze or thang at the moment to be doing is TIK TOK 👅  so one of Rm 2's PB4L challenges was to create a TIK TOK video of themselves or with family members - here is my super brave students who sent in their videos.  Not forgetting the teachers were also challenged to do the same (you will find our video up on our school facebook site 😅 (I invite you to go onto our facebook school page watch our video and chuck us a like 😊 please 😩.  Because I could some shannigan videos were also created under lockdown (some undercover) 😳 featuring me and Mr Haioti - the day of creating my videos was when I discovered PhotoBooth has special effects (I know WIP is ongoing for me). But all in all enjoy and have a laugh - lots of bravery has gone into posting these.......Take care until next post 😎

Lockdown Norm in the Haioti Bubble

Fakalofa atu everyone,

Hope we are all well despite the circumstances we are currently experiencing.  Special shout out to all our Wesley Intermediate students and their families during this time especially my wonderful students in the bestest class 'Room 2'.

Now term 2 has started we have kicked off with a 'SONIC BOOM' in Rm 2 virtually using Google Hangouts (1 of many pics of our hangout sessions).  Bit wibbly wobbly to start with trying to join a class or just even finding the link 

(all thanks must go to the teacher of Rm 2 who forgot to share the link 👀 )

After watching a few support videos (thank you FB teachers page) we got there in the end and now both teacher and students are Pro-freshional in the Google Hangout business. 

Not only have I had the enjoyment of hanging out with a swagg bunch of students - teachers get to Hangout too (over a fizzy bubbly) 😬  we have had Team meetings, TOD and the favourable 'HAPPY HOUR FRIDAYS' connecting with other staff.  Challenges for those vital house points are a fave & rave so house challenges are a must!!! We fight hard **literally** for our house points 😃

School has also started this week on Wednesday and so greatful to our SLT for holding down the fort at school with 5 of our students in attendance - so thats 1 bubble currently active at Wesley Intermediate. Shout out to Miss Siaoloa and Mr Tafea for keeping the team updated on the fun they are all having in their school bubble: photos are from today (Friday 1st of May) students enjoying a nice hot meal during break time - please note the 1metre distancing happening, woop woop!!!! Well thats it from me for now - take care in your bubbles until next post.  Koe kia 👌

DFI Class Sites - Day 5

Today was about exploring sites and developing your own class site.  In the beginning when I started my very own class site (using classic sites I created about 10 sites that didn't go anywhere) then I discovered new class sites (by accident) and went in and found myself navigating around and creating my very first first class site that I was super proud of (there was still WIP but I was more confident using new google sites than the classic sites).   This session enabled me to evaluate what was happening in Room 5's class site and make significant changes to suit my learners and the diversity in my class. 

Even though there is still room for improvement I am super happy that Room 5's class site is a collaboration of my ideas and my students.  We have tried to include in our site things that are valuable to each individual in our class.  We have captured the diversity and cultural richness that is embedded and authentic in our class through cultural events, language weeks and family links to our school community.  Cultural identity is very important in Rm 5 and this is reflective in our site.  I super greatful that what I have learnt in this session I have been able to apply and constantly make any changes necessary that make our site engaging.  Watch this space Rm 5's class site is 'moving on  👌up'

Computational Thinking: - Day 7

Today was really cool - we had a facilitator from OMGtech

come through and talk to us about 'The future of tech'.....We were able to go through future digitech ideas which were really cool but some of them a bit bizarre - The best part of the session was being able to test out our coding skills using the Scratch app.  I found this a bit hard but I think with more active use of the Scratch app I will become more and more confident.  One of the activities we got to do in small groups was creating a circuit (with a few supplied resources) that will help fend off 'zombies during a zombie apocolypse'.  It was cool having a hands on activity and the thinking behind it - getting the lightbulb to work was also a bonus for me 👀 Thank you OMGtech for a cool presentation.

Signed, Sealed & Delivered - DFI Exam Day

Wow - so today I get to say HOORAY, YIPPEE, DONE & DUSTED - today was 'EXAM DAY' 😀 and I am super proud to say that I passed (was a bit doubtful when I got up to the sheets part) but here is the evidence:

Although I had missed 3 sessions in total I still was able to go through the slides and do some revision so that I was not too far behind when I returned back to the next session.  It was quite nerve racking (and I can only imagine how it must feel for my students during testing time, or my own children sitting exams) at one point I had to sit on my hands because they were shaking so much (due to google sheets & youtube questions). During these questions I had 'nearly' made some vital mistakes but remembered what Dorothy had emphasised at the beginning of the exam 'READ THE QUESTION' - so after a few 'read the question moments' I am glad I chose the better answer/option.  With being a bit more digital confident and being able to navigate the google tools better I think this was also a major factor in me passing the exam.  The biggest hurdle was the youtube channel - a cross eye moment happened but then another Dorothy lightbulb moment was remembered 'this magic tab called **review later**' and that is exactly what I did - so glad 👌.  I found the class sites easy only because I have been using class sites more confidently in the last year or so, and most of the questions I was able to easily navigate what I needed to do.  Super greatful to Gerhard and Dorothy for all their support and help throughout this journey in shaping me to be a better practitioner in using the Learn, Create, Share model to enhance the teaching and learning experiences for my students.  Awesome collaboration Cohort 3 - we rock!!

Week 1: Niue Language Week 2019 'Tokiofa, Ofania, Mokoina e vagahau Niue'

Fakaalofa atu all - back into DFI after being MIA for a minute. Week 1 was a busy week at school with Niue Language Week getting ready to take off with Monday formal opening ceremony - with a guest speaker Faama Viliamu Co-ordinator for 531PMN News Niue, also a guest performer - Choreographer for dance troupe Fiti Lose Miss Shevalyn Poimafiti.  It was awesome to see some of our grandparents/parents there to support their children.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday was tabloid traditional games during lunch.  Some of those traditional games were 'toume - niuean skis' 'sikeka-good ole stilts' 'olo fua niu-bowling using coconuts', 'volu niu-coconut scraping' and 'toho toua-tug o war'.  Great fun had by teachers and students.  

Then Friday came around and we were fortunate to have one of our relievers Mr Frank Haioti come back and organise a umu demonstration with a few students getting the hands on experience on prepping a Niue umu.  Our closing ceremony was just a good as our opening, where we had another guest speaker 'my mom' and a few of our niuean parents/families present at our formal assembly. We had class performances and than the grand finale by our Niuean Cultural group.  Our girls gave a beautiful performance and our boys wrecked that stage with the NIUE TAKALO 

(War dance).  The highlight though was the opening of the umu (could smell the food from the hall) and the shared lunch.  All the hot food was brought straight out of the umu straight onto the table 👀 We had so much food from umu foods (niue dishes), salads, freshly baked coconut bread, drinks and curries. 

We sat down to enjoy our lunch with Wesley Intermediate staff, students leaders, parents and friends.  The were entertained by our parents with a few traditional niuean celebration songs to end our lunch.  Although I missed session 5 I was able to use google sheets for our budget, google hangouts so that students could see what was going on at the umu site.  Overall was a awesome week - bring on 2020.  Massive shout-out to Wesley Intermediates senior management team who supported our week from beginning to end oue tulou!