Uncategorized – Page 7 – Imagining Aberdeen

Hunting for Treasure!

Over the last two weeks we have been on a treasure hunt. We have been searching for learning treasures.

‘The treasure maps showed us what we were good at and bad at learning.’

– Nicola

We used our treasure maps to identify the learning skills we were good at and used a lot as well as those we found harder.

When we thought about how this activity made us feel, we used adjectives such as fun, peaceful, joyful and calm.

Abigail found that this activity reinforced what she had already learned in previous weeks which was a helpful reminder.

We agreed to try and use one of the treasures we found harder but would like to get better at this week.

Plotting for learning treasure

‘We have been plotting learning treasures on our map. If it is like me as a learner we put it on the left of the island. If it is not like me as a learner we put it on the right.’

‘I make a plan when I’m in my house and my mum says “tidy up your room”. I gather all toys and put them in a pile where they belong. At school I’d make a plan when using timetables. If I was doing 2 x 1, I would draw out two squares and then write 1 in each of the squares. I can then add them up. Making a plan helps me get everything done. I also use watch and learn a lot. When I was five I came to Scotland. I couldn’t speak English. I watched everyone else and copied what they were saying. This helped me learn.’

Daniels

‘I like to work things out carefully like maths and writing. If I am doing 8 x 8 I’d use my brain and my fingers to count it out and get the right answer.’

Owen

‘I listen and understand how others feel. When other people don’t know the answers I know how they are feeling; sad, stressed and angry. I’d give them a number line if I was doing maths. This can help them.’

‘I do not get on with others because sometimes I get annoyed by people and annoy them back. This then gets us into trouble by the PSA, teacher or Head Teacher.’

‘Making a plan is not like me. I usually never come up with stuff in advance. I need to work on this as school work could be easier if you knew what I had to do.’

Katrina and Dexter

‘I don’t keep going when doing maths. I skip the hard questions and go onto the easy questions.’

Leah

We have made learnometers

‘These are our learnometers. They show what helps us learn and what gets in the way of doing our best.’

‘My AHDH and autism get in the way. Whenever I try to get on with work I get hyper for no reason. I find it hard to listen. When this happens to me I go crazy and walk out the classroom.’

‘Art helps me cope with being at school. That and P.E. is what I like.’

‘Lunchtime helps me because I am always hungry. Food refuels my belly and gives me the energy to learn.’

‘When people listen to you it helps me learn. It makes me feel good that they are listening. I feel important and special.’

‘Being in a good mood in the morning helps me start school. If you’ve woken up and are happy, it makes me ready to start my day.’

‘People shouting makes me go off my work as it annoys and disturbs me.’

‘My friends help me learn. Working in a group is great as we can help each other with ideas.’

Learnometers: A closer look at learning

This week we did learnometers. ‘One side which is nice things and one side which is not nice things.’ These things are ‘things that stop you from learning and things that keep you going.’

– Keira and Megan

‘You can do the good things and not the bad things [because] when we’re doing bad things we’re stopping people from learning.’

– Jnr and Megan

I learnt ‘to listen to instructions and don’t talk when your not supposed to.’

– Hana

Also, ‘don’t talk over other people.’

– Jnr

We agreed that learnometers can be a helpful reminder of the tools we have to help us learn and they can help us see what can make learning difficult. We also learnt that if we do the helpful things then we get to do more activities we enjoy.

Looking at learning: what helps us and what hinders our learning?

This week at Riverbank we were making learnometers.

‘A learnometer is a thing to show how we learn and what makes it difficult.’

– Wes and Daniels

On one side of the board we wrote what helped us to learn and on the other side we wrote down things which got in the way of learning.

Some of the ideas we came up with include:

‘Don’t distract people while they’re working or laugh at them.’

– Megan

‘I learned lots of different ways of listening.’

– Pyper

I learnt ‘how to fix a (drawing) mistake I made.’

– Dimi

Hopefully these are something we can refer back to if we need a reminder of tools we have to help us learn and to decrease distractions.

Resilient, reflective, resourceful and relationships

‘We described ourselves a the characters, what is like us and what is not like us. I described myself as the reflective person because I think carefully about something before I do it. I did sound a bit like Ruby, Rebecca and Robert. I picked Ruby because I think that I am exactly the same. I always ask questions and know where to look for answers but if I can’t find what I need I ask for help. I am like Robert because when I have completed one challenge, I like to challenge myself again.’

Reece, Cadhla and Sophie-Lea

Learn-o-meters at Tullos

We learned all about how learn-o-meters can change our feelings. A learn-o-meter has a good side and a bad side. The good side is what helps us learn and the bad side is what makes learning difficult.

“If you don’t want to speak you can point to how you feel at school.”

Harvey-Lee

“I felt a bit scared at the start but at the end I felt quite good because it wasn’t so scary.”

Leah

“I felt like I could do this bit but then I couldn’t so I asked for help and that made me feel happy.”

Krista

“I felt like I was going to take ages and then it didn’t. and that made me feel good.”

Harvey-Lee

Learning Characters visit Riverbank

Today we have been looking at some people with different learning personalities.

This was a fun activity because you learnt how to describe yourself and what your actual learning personality is. When we looked at the cards our personalities where kind of the same. Some of us were very like one character and others of us could relate to two or three!

Making learning selfies

‘We have drawn ourselves in the middle of our learning selfie. Around the sides we wrote who is important to us, what we like to do, we we have learned in our lives and what we would like to learn.’

‘My mum is important to me because she takes care of me and cares for me. My mum helps me to learn. If I really need help she is always there for me.’

Manisha

‘I like to watch Youtube, Starwars and play Monopoly. I play this with my mum and dad. On Youtube I watch gaming videos. Last time when I was watching Minecraft I learned about outer space.’

Vakaris

‘I have learned how to read already. Reading is fun and you need to be able to read to help you work and do everything in school.’

Teagan S

‘I’d like to learn French because I haven’t properly learned it yet. It would be good to have just incase I go to France. I’d also like to learn how to swim because it is fun. I feel happy in the water. I’d like to learn before I turn 10.’

Annie

Spring brings change!

In March the Imagineers visited Hazlehead Park. They made 3D daffodils to celebrate the change in seasons and mark the coming of Spring. The Imagineers reflected on their experiences as Imagineers and wrote what they think has changed for them in the past year on their daffodils. They also considered what they still think needs changed in their home, school and community.

‘Being more confident, speaking to adults more and having a say is what has changed in my life’ said Imagineer Demi-Leigh. ‘We made a daffodil to write what we can still change. I said school can get better by asking pupils for their ideas’ Imagineer Malachy.