Welcome to the Exploration Station blog for 2020. Mrs Lee teachers here and each class will visit the station during the year. We are looking forward to working together and learning lots of exciting and new things this year! Check our blog regularly to see what we have been up to. We would love to read your comments.
It's a day here in New Zealand where we take time to remember those that have served our country. Our bubble will be listening to the dawn service at the bottom of our driveway. If you'd like to hear the dawn service you can find out about it here.
In 2015 we commemorated the 100th year since the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Soldiers) landed in Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Since then New Zealand and Australia have fought side by side in other wars too. Here's a timelapse of the dawn service held at the Auckland war memorial museum in 2015. The music playing in the video is called the last post.
Learning at Home
Wow, there are some awesome marble rolls that have been recorded on the MakerEDNZ Flipgrid!
Well done Kayva your marble roll was very inventive!
If you're a year 3-6 learner you can check out the Flipgrid here, you'll need to sign in with your Sunnyhills account. Remember you can also comment on the marble runs other people have made, make sure your comments are kind and thoughtful.
Anyone can participate in the challenge the instructions for year 3-6 learners are in the links to their Exploration Station classrooms on the learning at home tab on this blog.
Year 1-2 learners I have added the instruction video to the learning at home tab on this blog and you can email your creations to Mrs Lee if you would like me to add them to this blog or to the Flipgrid.
I hope you got a chance to enjoy the beautiful sunshine we had yesterday!
Here's a video update from Mrs Lee
SHINE Online
For those of you that are learning at home and using your device online remember to SHINE online. We've looked at the I and S parts of SHINE online so far this week. Let's refresh your memories about the H part. H in SHINE Online stands for Helpful and Smart. Helpful and Smart is thinking about how we might use resources other people have created when we're online.
There are so many amazingly talented people around the world that share their creations online. It is important that we give them credit when we use their creations as part of our own creations. Some artists even allow us to use their work without giving them credit. This is called copyright-free work.
Pixabay and Photos for class are great websites for copyright-free photos, cartoons and other images. There are other useful copyright free sites listed on the resources page on the Exploration Station site.
Learning at Home
Remember there are Exploration Station challenges on the Learning at home tab on this blog. Watch out for some new challenges coming next week.
Hopefully, this reaches you just before the morning is finished. I hope you and your bubble had a wonderful Tuesday.
Here's a video update from Mrs Lee
SHINE Online
It's great to see so many of you following our SHINE Online guidelines. Remember our SHINE Online site is always available if you want to check it out.
The S part of SHINE Online is super important it's all about being Safe and Strong when you're online.
Are you being Safe and Strong?
Learning at Home
If you are looking for some Exploration Station learning remember you can click the Learning at Home tab at the top of this blog and find a few challenges to do. These are optional, they are just there for you to try if you'd like to.
Blog Comments
Have you made a comment on the Exploration Station Blog? Have you made comments on your class blog? This video explains how to do that if you're not sure.
Last term the classes that visited the Exploration Station started looking at the I part of SHINE Online. This part of SHINE Online is all about searching and finding information, making sure we check with a trusted adult before using new online resources and getting the help of a trusted adult to figure out if online information is real/true or fake/not true.
Changes to Blog Posts
You'll notice today that the class and specialist blogs are now only showing two posts at a time. This is to help with the time it is taking for some of our videos to load. You can still see all the posts. This video explains how to do that:
I hope you've been looking after you and your bubble over the weekend. Here's a video from Mrs Lee.
It's been amazing to see some of your marble rolls over the last few days. If you haven't tried out this challenge yet you still can. It's on the Learning at Home tab on this blog.
Remember if you're a TeXpert you can also try out the TeXpert challenge.
I'll put another Maker challenge and a SHINE online challenge up later this week for you.
If you're having trouble with your device or need help with your GSuite account you're welcome to check out the TeXpert site here and fill in the help form.
Wow, some of you have been super busy creating marble runs today. I was chatting to Mr Davidson - the creator of MakerEdNZ and he is also super impressed with the creations you've posted. Making a marble run can be really frustrating, I'm sure there was a little bit of time in the pit for these learners. They all managed to use their GEMS to get them out.
You can only see the videos on the Flipgrid using a school login so I thought I'd post them here so everyone can see your amazing work. Please add a comment to this post about the creations these learners have made. If you're in year 3-6 you can also make a video comment that is positive, helpful and thoughtful on these amazing creations. You can do that by logging into this Flipgrid with your Sunnyhills account.
Check out the slide deck below to see the creations:
Welcome to Friday. Here's a quick update from Mrs Lee
Try not to lose your marbles like Mrs Lee did... don't worry I managed to find them all again once I'd finished the video.
I hope you're enjoying your learning at home. You are very welcome to check out the Maker challenge for this week on the Learning at home tab. It's all about marbles.
I'm going to have a go at making a marble roll with my bubble today, I'll share how we go on the blog tomorrow.
Here's the link to the TeXpert site again in case you need some help with you device or your Google account
I hope you had a great first day of term 2 yesterday. Check out another quick video from Mrs Lee below.
If you're having any technical issues don't forget to check ou the TeXpert site for help and fill in the help form if you can't find an answer you need. Remember there are special Exploration Station learning at home challenges in the learning at home tab on this blog. There are special challenges for our TeXperts too.
Well done Cimone for being our first brave TeXpert to put her video on both of our TeXpert Flipgrid topics.
I hope you've been looking after you and your family over the Easter break.
Here's a quick video from Mrs Lee to say hi and welcome back to term 2
Remember if you need some help with your device check out the TeXperts site. Please fill in the help form if you can't find an answer on the site and I'll do my best to help you.
Distance Learning at Home
Here is the MakerEdNZ March challenge you could try over the next few weeks.
Year 1-2 learners
You're welcome to email Mrs Lee a photo of your creations. You won't be able to add to the Flipgrid as you don't have a GSuite account.
Year 3-6 learners
I've added this challenge to your Exploration Station Google Classroom. Including the link and how-to videos for Flipgrid. The links to the assignment for each class are in the slide decks below.
Note: If you can't access the Classroom please let Mrs Lee know by filling in this form: Sunnyhills Learners IT Help
TeXperts
You have an optional challenge too. Click the TeXpert logo to go directly to the challenge in our TeXpert Google Classroom.
Note: If you are a TeXpert and you can't access the Classroom please let Mrs Lee know by filling in this form: Sunnyhills Learners IT Help
