Class OnAir 2025 Episode 1

This is my first Manakalani Class OnAir lesson for 2025. In this lesson, we dive into figuring out the author's message. There is lots of talking, thinking and creating. It gets a little messy/real in the best way, but it is full of great learning.

👉 Watch the episode here!

One child's acceleration

Today in our staff meeting we selected one child that has made accelerated shift this year and highlighted how we used Learn Create Share to support this shift. Below is a brief "impact burst' about one of my children.

A challenge with create tasks

This term my maths class has been studying measurement. This lesson involved the children estimating and measuring distances then comparing the difference between them. It aligns with my CoL inquiry as it has a hands on/materials and a create element to the lesson. Being a hands on and a create based task made for high student engagement which was great to see. Unfortunately high engagement doesn't always mean learning. One challenge I find with create activities is the children get so caught up in the create aspect of the task and neglect the actual content of what they are creating. Often leading to videos with mathematical examples that are not accurate or clear.

This was a Google Class OnAir episode. For a full lesson plan, reflection and examples of the children completed activities please go here.

Fraction Challenge - Google Class OnAir episode

The learning intentions for this lesson was to participate 100% as a member of a group and to visually represent a fraction of a whole. I chose this create lesson/activity as a way of concretising my kids fraction knowledge. Click here to go to my Manaiakalani Class On Air site where you will find a detailed lesson plan, a reflection of the lesson and an example the the kids final product.




This lesson highlighted to me how effective create lessons are in engaging the children. I was delighted to see one boy who struggles with maths and often disengages really light up when doing this activity. It was the first time I had seen him genuinely engage in a maths activity.

Decimal Place Value - Popsicle Decimals - Google Class OnAir episode

Below is a video and reflection of a place value lesson I recently did with my children. As mentioned in an earlier post I was challenged to use materials as a way of building the children's decimal place value knowledge. This was my first attempt. To see examples of the children's finished work please go to my Class OnAir site.

Reflection
I found this lesson a bit of a struggle. Some of the children were reluctant to engage, maybe because they thought they were beyond this however evidence from their classwork and GLOSS test indicates otherwise. This lesson highlighted to me how important materials are for teaching decimal place value. With using materials the children quickly latched onto the idea that 1 popsicle stick represented 1/10 so 3 popsicle sticks represented 3/10 and so on. It also made it easier for them to add decimals together. The next steps involve removing the scaffolds and getting the children to work with tenths without the popsicle sticks

Independent and dependent clauses - Google Class OnAir episode

The Video
There were two learning intentions for this lesson.
1) Identify independent and dependent clauses.
2) Identify the subject and the predicate

This lesson was precursor to a lesson on complex sentences. In order to understand complex sentences kids had to have a good understanding on independent and dependent clauses.  The episode starts with the kids spotting the difference between two different clauses. This then leads into a whole class lesson about clauses in particular independent clauses. The video wraps up with footage of the children participating in the subject/predicate activity and also features children working on their presentations. Please visit my Google Class OnAir site for a detailed  lesson plan, reflection and examples of the kids work.

Times table creations - Class OnAIr episode

This is my latest Manaiakalani Google Class OnAir episode. Recently my class have been focussing on learning the time tables. This task was designed to consolidate their learning of recent weeks. Visit my Google Class OnAir site for the lesson plan, reflection and examples of the children's work.

The Video
The learning intention for this was to create a rap, song or poem and to participate 100% as a member of a group. The start of the video shows the whole class introduction of the task and then moves into a small group session where the children check in with me. At the 4 minutes you see some of the children reflecting on the task. This lesson/task came about after the class had been making a conscious effort to learn the times tables over a number of weeks.

Talking Points - Class OnAir episode

The Video
The learning intention for this lesson was to participate in a group discussion by actively listening and speaking. In the video you see the children being introduced to the activity and having their first discussion. In the last minute you see the children being introduced to the reflection activity. The group was intentionally put together with children who wouldn't naturally speak their mind in a group setting. To see a detailed lesson plan, reflection and examples of the kids work please visit my Google Class OnAir site.

Explanation writing - Class OnAir episode

The Video

The learning intention for this lesson was to plan & write a piece of explanation writing using the T.I.I.C (Title - Introduction - Information - Conclusion) structure. In the first part of the video you see a whole class lesson where I am recapping what we had covered in a previous lesson, and I also introduce the explanation writing plan. The second part of the video shows me working with a group of children as we go over their plans to then start the process of writing using the writing template. To View the detailed lesson plan and reflection visit my Google Class ONAir site.