Ormiston Primary School » Habitat 2

LH2 is Feeling Clucky!

Diana Wilkes — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 03:18:27 +0000

School Chickens

In term 3, LH2 had the opportunity to incubateand hatch baby chicks in the habitat lead by Miss Morgan. We had a variety of different eggs, some were even green! The learners thought that maybe the green eggs would be boys and the brown/white eggs would be girls, but we had to wait to find out. We waited for 3 weeks (21 days) and after what felt like a very long time we had our first 2 baby chicks hatch and they were both black. The excitement was overwhelming and before we knew it we had 2 more little baby chicks, this time yellow. The learners helped to feed and care for the baby chicks until they were big enough to go outside and all the learners got to have a turn at holding them; “they are soft and fluffy”, “they feel scratchy”, “they feel likes tiny needles on my hand”. Term 4 started and it was time for the chicks to move into their new house. LH2 were so excited to move the chicks into their new coop, but the chicks were a little bit nervous. Now we have 4 healthy chickens living in a coop at the school. We are all very excited for them to start laying eggs so we can continue our explorations further. Every morning the learners go out to say good morning and feed the chicks. They have become a very popular addition to the school and are always referred to by their names: Bumble, Shadow, Lila and Spraddle.

Little Bo Peep!

Diana Wilkes — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 08:20:57 +0000

The Learners in LH2 and LH4 were treated to a really immersive learning experience in Week 9 when Little Bo Beeps (http://littlebopeeps.co.nz/) travelling petting zoo visited our school. The learners were able to interact with a range of animals including:

a pig with 11 piglets
a rescued battery hen
a donkey
a pony
a calf
a goat
a rabbit
2 alpacas

The learners learned how to care for and behave around animals. It was a fabulous hands on, informative experience where our OrmPS children were able to learn about the various animals. Thank you Little Bo Peeps!

Pirate Week & Animal Onesie Day

Diana Wilkes — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 20:47:22 +0000

The learners in LH4 and LH2 had an amazing ‘Pirate Week’ of learning which culminated in a fun dress up day and a wicked treasure hunt! Learners enjoyed their pirate ship and the themed approach to their learning and surroundings! In Habitat 1, they had an animal onesie day with a gold coin donation. This raised almost $60 which the learners donated to the SPCA. The LH1 learners spent a great deal of time during the term learning about animal adaptations and habitats. Each of them designed and created an animal habitat after their fantastic visit to the zoo. The ‘animal dress up’ day was an opportunity for learners to engage in the themes of learning from this term with a real focus on collaboration. The learners really enjoyed that the Learning Coaches dressed up too!

OrmPS Learners Present…themselves!

Diana Wilkes — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 01:31:14 +0000

Learner Led Conferences:

In addition to the reports which our Learning Coaches for the learners who have been with us since Term 1 (available online in the learner’s learning pathway), all learners and their families had an individual ‘Learner Led Conference’ in Week 11 with a Learning Coach. Thanks to all the families that attended their child’s Learner Led Conferences. It was pleasing to see the confidence that our learners are already demonstrating when sharing their learning. We received a lot of positive feedback about these conferences. A big thank you to all of our educators who prepared the learners for these learning celebrations. This type of conference is for the learner to discuss their progress and achievement with their family, guided by a Learning Coach. We are so proud of all of our learners!

We encourage all of the families to continue to visit the learning pathways and blogs as an ongoing opportunity for your child to formally discuss their next learning steps and what they are already capable of doing in their learning.

LH2 goes moo!

Diana Wilkes — Fri, 15 May 2015 08:20:44 +0000

It was fantastic to see the first learning adventure occurring outside of our school on Friday, despite of the weather. Learning Habitat 2 learners visited a working farm in Clevedon as a part of their investigations into ‘making connections’. My thanks to both the learners and the parents that helped on Friday. It is great to see the support from our community. We loved CONNECTING to our environment, people and places!

LIFE Education

Diana Wilkes — Thu, 07 May 2015 07:55:13 +0000

The Life Education Mobile Classroom was on-site on May 4-5th. The classroom is air-conditioned and equipped with sight, sound and aroma technologies and three-dimensional film technology that make learning in the mobile classrooms, a fascinating experience.

All learners had two sessions in the classroom with the Life Education educator. The topic that the educator covered was around food and nutrition and being connected to what we eat. Learners learned about digestive system, types of food and how to make good choices. Each learner received a sticker and a booklet so they can continue the learning.
If you want to find out more information about Life Education, here is a link to their website.

Learning Pathways- connecting with families

Diana Wilkes — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 07:01:54 +0000

Every learner at OrmPS has a Learning Pathway (all our staff too!). You may know these better as ‘ePortfolios’ but to us they are much more than that. The Learning Pathways are a place to put artefacts of learning, but they are also a place for learners to reflect, assessments to be held, learning coaches to communicate/coach learners and essentially become a living online scrapbook. We also envisage the learning pathways to ‘go’ with the learner to their next school- they own them. As the learners grow their capabilities they take more and more ownership of them. An important note for families is that the narrative assessments, or learning stories, can be found in the child’s blog which is linked from the ‘My Progress’ page. Please ask your LH1 child to show you theirs. When we have our learner led conferences at the end of the term, you will have an opportunity to see your child use this to show you their learning and ask our learning coaches any questions. Please feel free to contact Mr McNeil, Mrs Bush or Ms Wilkes if you have any questions in the interim or your child’s Hapu or Shape learning coach.

googlios – our Learning Pathways

Diana Wilkes — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 10:01:44 +0000

We are very excited to share that each of our learners will be using an ePortfolio at Ormiston Primary School which we call their Learning Pathway. Each Learning Coach will have one as well. This is the place for learners and learning coaches to share achievements and record experiences as they grow within Ormiston Primary School. Learners will celebrate learning, document their understandings and gather their educational milestones. Learners, whanau and learning coaches will use the Learning Pathways as a vehicle for communicating progress and next steps. It will contain evidence of the journey that honours our past, celebrates our present and provide direction for the learner’s future learning at OrmPS.

By John Dyer

Fun with Furnware Furniture

Diana Wilkes — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 04:12:12 +0000

On Tuesday, January 27th, we had our first opportunity as Learning Coaches to explore OrmPS and our Learning Habitats. It was great to see the development of the site and just how close we are to day one! One of the most important aspects of our visit was to move the amazing new Furnware Furniture into the spaces. This provided us with freedom to set up the Learning Habitats in our collaborative teams with a workable layout for our first day. We are super pleased with the flexibility and mobility of the furniture so we can redesign the spaces as needed for different learning purposes. Each of the Habitats is looking outstanding and we are all very excited for day one!