Taylor Writes: Why Collaboration is Best for Learning

Collaboration.

When it comes to learning in the classroom, collaboration is the best, right? That is why I have chosen  to collaborate , and hopefully, if you are one of the “no -  to - collaboration” people, then this is the piece of writing that will convince you to collaborate.

When collaborating, you gain new knowledge and also, share prior knowledge with others giving you the opportunity to improve your idea. This means that when working with  a group, you will share your knowledge, and also, gain more knowledge from others in the group. Since having this reason here, we all share lots of knowledge, because we learn more from our friends than our teachers (no offence). Sometimes when your teacher teaches something so hard, you just lose focus, but when you teacher says for you to think about what it means in a GROUP, your friends might break it down for you and before you know it, it’s like a walk in the park.

My second reason for why collaboration is best is because you get more work done when you are working cooperatively. This is meaning that when alone, sometimes, you might  distract yourself. When with others, or in a group, you don’t get distracted, and instead, do more work, and with more people with you, the more work done. For homework, me and some of my friends work together for homework. We got more work done than the other times I worked by myself.

My final reason for why collaboration is best for learning, is because you can develop skills that you need when you go to highschool - you might go to a school where you hardly know anyone so it is good to have good social skills and make new friends. What I mean is that if you are on your last year at school, working with others will help you develop more skills you will need for college. I have worked with groups, and so far, I have many skills, and am ready for next year.

When you think about the word collaborating, what do you think it means? Well,  hopefully this explanation has said it all. Maybe you will think of collaborating as something better than what you thought before. So now you can collaborate with others in your everyday life.I  will choose to collaborate

Improper and Mixed Fractions

Today, Room 8 worked together to improve their knowledge about improper fractions and mixed fractions.  They worked in groups to create improper fractions using fraction pieces and then had to rearrange the pieces so that they represented mixed fractions.   

Mary-Jane Investigates - What is Room 8's Favourite Beach in Auckland?

Mary-Jane wanted to find out what Room 8's favourite beach in Auckland was.  She collected data by interviewing Room 8 students.  Here is her completed Pie Graph.  We didn't realise how popular Mission Bay was!

TPS SCIENCE FAIR

Today, Tamaki Primary School celebrated our topic of 'Discoveries' with a science fair.  All 10 classes shared their discoveries that they had made from throughout the term.

Here are some photos from the event!

Jennifer, Chasity, Willy and Taylor Write a Song!

To help practice their spelling words this week, the 'Tamaki Quartet' wrote this song!  Willy was inspired by an ad he saw on T.V and through the power of Google Docs, these students collaborated to write this song.  They recorded it today.  Here is the final product!

Taylor, Willy and Chasity's Homework Task: How to be a good Room 8 Student

For homework, students had to write an explanation to explain how to be a 'good' student in Room 8. This was Chasity's explanation. We definitely have a lot of students like this in our class!

Hello there my fellow student,

Room 8. It has had a history of good students since 2009. As you are reading my explanation, you will, by the end of this explanation, know how to be a good student in Room 8. So, read on student, if you dare...

First of all, you will need to show you're interested into learning, being eager to learn. Not just saying "Yes" to everything, ignoring, making noises, nodding when you actually didn't pay attention at all, and so on. What does this mean you ask? Well, this means that the teachers have expectations for the students (or you, if you are the student), and since you show interest in learning, your report could be nicer than last years. Doing this, you could have a good reputation for your teachers.

Secondly, if you want to be a good student in Room 8, you would have to be able to self-control and self-manage. This means:  

• Not getting others in trouble, and also, yourself in trouble
• Doing your work and finishing it on time, but let's face it, some of us will get interrupted during the time.

Doing this, you will end up with many work time gone and free time here. This also means you could increase the amounts of blogposts you currently have.

My third and last point on how to be a good student in Room 8 is all about the new students. This means if a new student is in your class, well, put your hand up! It will go well, talking to them, having a chance to show them the school, the playground, the field, the wall, the hall, etc. Doing this, you will end up with a good friend, who you have known since their first day.

Since you have read my explanation, you are now able to store this knowledge in your mind, knowing on how to be a good student in Room 8. This includes:

• Having an interest in your learning and being eager to learn.
• Being able to self-manage and self-control.
• Becoming the new student's friend by showing them the school, getting to know them, and many more.

Now, you should know what to do, go get'em tiger!

Mehi, Jennifer and Maopa teach us colours in Samoan