Our Visible Thinking Routine for the last 2 weeks have been centred on the Olympics.In the 1-2s we have continued GENERATE SORT CONNECT ELABORATE with a focus on Sports and the Olympics as part of our inquiry into how countries get along.

GENERATE  First we generated our ideas by having the children think different kinds of sports and brainstorming their ideas and drawings onto paper. We then brought all the class together and put all their ideas on a large anchor chart.

SORT   Our next lesson was where we came together to put all the sports we had on the chart into groups. Children worked together to sort their sports out.

CONNECT. Now was the time to make connections. What are our groups and what relates them to each other? Groups are connected together in many ways but we leaned towards types of sports played at the Olympics and from there we looked at water sports , team sports etc. The students came up with many different connections. Of course some sports could be in two groups which leads to the idea of Venn Diagrams.

ELABORATE  Students were asked to focus on the Olympics and Sports and elaborate on one area. They used iPads and laptops to research working in teams of two (or three) They  then presented their work to other students in the grade. Students looked at many different areas including sports, sports persons and even the Olympic Torch itself

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F-2 Maths Booklet

For those parents who couldn’t make it to our fabulous Family Maths Night here is the booklet. Full of games you can play at home.

At Ripponlea PS we’ve been looking at Visible Thinking to enhance the students learning. In the 1-2s we have just begun work on a Visible Thinking Routine called GENERATE SORT CONNECT ELABORATE. Our focus will be on Sports and the Olympics as part of our inquiry into how countries get along.

Earlier in the term 1-2C had a trial run with the routine where we looked at Healthy Living.

GENERATE Firstly the students brainstormed their ideas by writing and drawing different ways in which they stared healthy. They recorded their thoughts both in words and pictures and then brought them to the class where we recorded their answers.

 
SORT  For our next lesson we returned to all the ideas we had written down on our giant piece of paper. Children were then asked to sort them into categories in small groups. What kind of categories was up to them. The groups then came to the floor with their ideas which were discussed with the whole class. We then put the answers on another large poster.

CONNECT  For the next part of the routine (and our third lesson) we came together to work out how all these ideas we have are connected. As a group we decided that we connect everything in the form of a pie graph. Children working in groups made pie graphs to share with the class.

ELABORATE

By now the classroom was full of ideas. As an elaboration on the idea of healthy living we decided to make posters for the classroom highlighting a particularly activity that would lead to healthy living.

As our first extended Visible Thinking Routine I feel it was very successful and the students not only enjoyed themselves but gained a different insight into healthy living.

It was good to know that watching the footy on the TV on a Saturday afternoon is good for because it makes you happy. Reading a book or a comic makes your mind healthy. We talked about the amount of sleep we need and how much fruit to eat. Well done 1-2C

 

Next we’ll look at our SPORTS Visible Thinking Routine.