Mapua School Thinking Skills Group (2006)

Week Nine

2006-12-06T23:28:00.000+13:45

This week we shared our awesome Invention Key Homefun.

We had to invent something to turn used water into fresh water that can be drunk again!

Check out this slideshow that shows some of our amazing inventions!

| View Show | Create Your Own

This week we looked at the "What if...?" Thinkers Key. We had fun making up our very own "what if's" and testing our buddies to see what they thought.

We have an interesting "What if" activity for homefun about having a cosmic Christmas on another planet with aliens.... we will post up some of our best stories next week :)

Week Seven

2006-11-20T17:00:00.000+13:45

What a fun session we had today :)

First we shared our question key questions, some of our favourites were:

Answer: Water
Q: What runs but cannot walk? (Kelly)
Q: What comes from clouds? (Peter)
Q: What is H2O? (Molly & Mac)

Answer: Ice
Q: What is frozen water? (Bethan)
Q: What melts into water? (Hannah)
Q: What is really cold? (Tait)

Answer: Steam
Q: What comes out of a boiling pot? (Lauryn & Tait)
Q: What is evaporating water? (Hannah)
Q: What is the only water you can't see? (Bethan)
Q: What fogs up the bathroom mirror? (Molly)
Q: What is the gas that comes out of water? (Peter)

Today we looked at DOUBLE BUBBLE MAPS and how they can be used.

We did these example double bubbles as a group. Have a look at all the neat things we thought of to compare one animal to the other!

This week for Homefun we have a double bubble map to create: comparing steam and liquid. This should prove challenging... take your time and work on it over several days :)

Our Great Thinker this week is:
Kelly

Week Six

2006-11-13T23:30:00.000+13:45

Well done Thinking Skills kids, I really enjoyed the great discussion we had today over last week's homefun task. I agree that it would take some getting used to, but recycling water is definetly something important that we may have to look into for the future!

Today we looked at another one of Tony Ryan's Thinkers Keys.
Previously we had used his Alphabet Key.

Today we looked at the "Question Key"
It was a bit of a challenge for us today because the question key confronts students with an ANSWER and they have to suggest questions associated with the answer.

We started as a group brainstorming questions that would go with the answer of "Mapua School" and then we worked in pairs. Each pair chose an answer and set about creating questions that could go with it.
This proved challenging because it is hard to ensure that the answer is exact. For example: "What is the most beautiful, flying creature?" - is the answer only butterflies!

For homefun this week you need to think about the questions that could lead to "Water", "Ice" and "Steam" as being the answers.
I can't wait to see what you think of next week!

Our great thinker for this week was:
Hannah!

Week Five

2006-11-06T16:27:00.000+13:45

Today we met once again in the afternoon while the rest of the syndicate were in singing. We all brought along our "Making a Decision" homefun sheets so we could share our ideas.

Our issue that we had to think about was "We should all drink water that has been cleaned, treated and recycled."

At the end most people decided it was a good idea provided the water doesn't have lots of chemicals in it!

Week Four

2006-11-01T21:26:00.000+13:45

Firstly, well done on your Homefun from last week, I really enjoyed reading all of your great thoughts about water! It's great that you can stretch your minds and think in SIX different ways about the one topic!

Today we had a great time sharing our thoughts and playing the attributes games from Think Shop. We are getting very good... next week we will play the game as snap and see just how good we are!

We then talked about making decisions... we make many decisions everyday... some as small and as simple as what shoes or clothes to wear! This week we had an interesting topic to think about concerning water...

"Thinking Skills Homefun"

Today group members were given a "Making a Decision" sheet. The topic we are trying to think about is: "We should all drink water that has been treated, cleaned and recycled". Our initial thoughts were that we wouldn't like to be drinking recycled toilet water!!! We will see how we all think about the idea after we have carefully considered the issue using both yellow and black hat thinking.

Our Great Thinker of the Week for Week Four is:
Mac!

Week Three

2006-10-24T20:33:00.000+13:45

I hope you all had a lovely LONG weekend!
We are not having a thinking skills session this week because of Labour Day on Monday :(
However... we do have some homefun to do so we can all be ready to go for our next session on Monday.

This week we are using Edward De Bono's 6 Thinking Hats to think in many different ways about water.
With each different coloured hat you need to think in a different way:

Black hat - negative/bad points

Yellow hat - positive/good points

White hat - information

Green hat - creative new ideas

Red hat - feelings about the idea

Blue hat - thinking about the idea

If you haven't already got a sheet you can download one here.

Good luck, I hope this encourages you to think in SIX different ways!

DUE MONDAY!

Homefun Week 2

2006-10-18T20:23:00.000+13:45

On Monday we each shared our Water Alphabet Thinkers Key homefun. The group came up with SO many amazing words associated with water!

Some highlights were:

A = aqua (Cameron)

B = boil (Molly)

D = drain (Hannah)

E = evaporate (Mac)

F = flood (Lauryn)

G = gushing (Kelly)

H = hydrant (Mac)

L = liquid (Bethan)

M = marine observatory (Molly)

N = night dew (Lauryn)

O = oxygen (Hannah)

P = plug (Bethan)

T = tidal wave (Kelly)

X = xylem (Cameron)

Well done Thinking Skills Kids - I enjoyed reading your alphabet key work - you thought of such neat words! We will need to get you to share your work with your classes.

Mrs B :)

Week Two

2006-10-15T15:40:00.000+13:45

The first thing we did today was share the results of our Water Alphabet Key Homefun. There will be a post later this week detailing some of the best words.

Today we played a different game do do with attributes. This time we had objects and things to match. We had to use scumps to think of the many ways these two things could be similar. We came up with many interesting ideas!

The next thing we did was look at the attributes of water. We had to think about what it looks like, sounds like and feels like. We are going to complete an activity for homework to investigate this further!

"Thinking Skills Homefun"

Today group members were given their next piece of Thinking Skills Homefun (Homework)
They have until NEXT Monday to complete it and it needs to be brought to our next group time on Monday 16th October.

This week we are looking at the attibutes of WATER. We are using the y-chart to record all of our ideas about what water looks like; sounds like and feels like. This should be a great chance to use lots of descriptive words. If you get stuck think of SCUMPS and you may be able to think from a different angle and come up with new ideas.

If you've lost your sheet or need a new one click here to download a new Y-Chart water worksheet in PDF form.

Our Great Thinker of the Week for Week Two is:
Lauryn

Reminder - Week One Homefun Due!

2006-10-14T19:30:00.000+13:45

Hi there Thinking Skills Kids!

Just a reminder that your Water Alphabet Thinkers Key worksheet is due on Monday.

It will be great to see what you have all come up with!

The alphabet key is great for clarifying your thinking. You will have a good head start on the rest of the Junior Syndicate with our new topic... "Water, Water Everywhere!"

See you on Monday!
~Mrs B

Week One

2006-10-07T17:00:00.000+13:45

Today we had our first session!

First we learnt what an ATTRIBUTE was and how we can describe objects and things using these.

We used the word SCUMPS to help us describe something in detail.

Size
Colour
Use
Materials
Purpose / Parts
Shape

Then we played a great game to test our knowledge: Attribits
We had to match the cards like dominoes on the basis of their attributes.
Examples include: big/small, shape, colour, thick/thin and straight sides.
This game encourages quick CRITICAL THINKING: analysis, synthesis and decision making.
We had a great time!

"Thinking Skills Homefun"

Today group members were given their very first Thinking Skills Homefun (Homework)
They have until NEXT Monday to complete it and it needs to be brought to our next group time on Monday 16th October.

If you didn't get the homefun sheet or if you need a new copy you can download a PDF version here - Water Alphabet Thinkers Key Worksheet.

Our Great Thinker of the Week for Week One is:
Cameron!

Thinking Skills Group Members

2006-09-18T19:17:00.000+12:45

How exciting!

We are getting all ready for our group meeting next term... I can't wait :)

These are the students that will be in our group:

Room One:
* Tait
* Hannah
* Kelly

Room Two:
* Stella
* Cameron
* Mac
* Peter

Room Three:
* Lauryn
* Bethan
* Molly

I can't wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas!

Mrs B.

WELCOME!

2006-09-11T16:44:00.000+12:45

This is to be the webpage of the Mapua School Junior Thinking Skills Group!

We are starting up next term with some children from Rooms 1, 2 and 3.

Mrs B is going to be our teacher and we will meet for 1/2 an hour every Monday when the rest of the syndicate is doing singing.

Our aims are to:

think creatively

use different techniques to analyse and critically examine problems and situations

to use all of our skills to problem solve.

Students will also have weekly thinking tasks to do at home, these will be available on line, at this website. Please indicate on the permission form if you do not have access to the internet at home and I will provide a print out.

This is an exciting opportunity for your child to extend his/her thinking and to gather great tools to place in their "thinking toolbox" - tools always useful in life!

Kind regards,
Rachel Boyd