News

Connecting and learning at our annual EdConnect Hui

On Friday March 23 a number of EdConnect Associates came together for a day of professional learning, sharing and connection.

Itâ€™s been some time since we all came together after a few years of covid interruption, so this gathering and re-connection was extra special â€“ especially because the Bay of Plenty put on a stunner of a day. Â We were lucky enough to see some of our associated in person, while some connected digitally.

A big focus of the day was around Sound Beginningâ€™s â€˜Language of Learning, Understanding it and Teaching itâ€™ framework. The team had fun working through workshop activities based on the framework, learning how the understanding of abstract language develops for children and how the approach is the key in preparing the ground for future learning success.

For more on Sound Beginningâ€™s â€˜Language of Learning, Understanding it and Teaching itâ€™ framework, see here.

EdConnect Directors Naomi Kinnaird and Bronwyn Weston facilitated the session, while associate Professor David Gilles gave a session on his new book, A Case Study of Schoolsâ€™ Application of Appreciative Inquiry, SOAR, and Strengths-Based practice as seen in a range of educational projects.

Giveaway winner announced!

We were super excited to be able to send out not one but two of the amazing LinkyThinks Descriptionary resources to a very lucky educator.

Rhea Anglesey from Auckland was the lucky recipient, who says she’s super excited to start using the resource. The second one goes to her friend Nikita.

Descriptionary is the winner of Educational Book of The Year at the Education Resource Awards UK 2022. It’s the fun, illustrated, interactive guide to describing characters, action and dialogue. Inspirational for building quality stories.

Now available for order and delivery in New Zealand! For more info or to purchase head to our shop: https://soundbeginnings.co.nz/linkythinks/

Sound Beginnings partner with LinkyThinks

Sound Beginnings is excited to be partnering with Linkythinks to bring their award winning resources to New Zealand.

LinkyThinks resources provide students, educators and parents with fresh, innovative ideas for supporting learning and wellbeing. Not only are the resources innovative and inspirational, they are award winning. The Descriptionary – Humanoids resource being awarded the Winner of Educational Book of The Year at the Education Resource Awards 2022 in the UK.

Check out and purchase LinkyThinks resources here.

Check out this video to learn more!

Elementary Word Wheel Book – 6 to 9 years

A colourful book of Word Wheels, overflowing with ambitious vocabulary and bitesize descriptive phrases. Can be used as both a teacher tool and for independent learning. Includes a FREE user guide, for lesson plan ideas, games, tips and teaching activities.

Advanced Word Wheel Book – 9 to 13 years

Pro Word Wheel Book – teens +

The PRO edition Word Wheel book is a handy reference tool, full of vocabulary and bitesize phrases, for writing academic essays, building high-level vocabulary, writing letters, speeches, articles, applications and answering exam questions with style. Suitable for teenagers and adults.

Make Your Own Word Wheel Book

Now every student can design their own LinkyThinks Word Wheel book, with the ‘Make Your Own’ edition. A vocabulary guide and editable log book for collecting, storing and memorising new words and phrases. Designed to inspire and empower children to independently collect high-level vocabulary and integrate new words and phrases into their speech and writing. A perfect companion to the other Word Wheel editions, useful for creative writing, Verbal Reasoning and general vocabulary expansion.

Storygami ®️

There are two main struggles for children when writing stories: they either can’t think of ideas, or they think of too many. Storygami®️ solves both problems! This is a unique, interactive resource to spark creative ideas & structure them into four simple steps: Let the story unfold! An origami fidget toy combined with a colouring book, Storygami®️ guides children to write a story to match the pictures, adding their own ideas along the way! Six Versions included - Alien, Scuba, Haunted House, Theatre, Time Machine, Party

Descriptionary – Humanoids edition

Winner of Educational Book of The Year at the Education Resource Awards 2022. The fun, illustrated, interactive guide to describing characters and building quality stories. Appropriate for exam preparation as well as nurturing a love of writing. Includes: Character profiles with hundreds of verbs, adjectives, similes and metaphors Illustrated guides to detailed description Funny and descriptive short stories An in-built dictionary for maximum vocabulary expansion 80 unique story titles to inspire a child’s writing Tips on balancing description, action and dialogue Guides on describing body language and emotion Large A3 book, printed on sustainable (FSC approved) paper. For ages 9-13.

How do I feel wheel

The ‘How Do I Feel?’ Wheel is an interactive, colourful emotions wheel, helping children to process and communicate difficult feelings, using words and images. Emotional literacy and self-awareness play an important role in supporting mental health. For children, both at home and at school, experiencing feelings for the first time can be confusing and difficult to explain. This product is a double-sided, foldable board (full size: 35 x 35cm), for table-top activities or wall display, with moving dials to help children pinpoint words and images that reflect their inner thoughts and outer behaviours. Comes with a user guide, to inspire lesson plans for school, as well as at-home activities. For children and teenagers. Appropriate for those with or without signs of autism. NOW INCLUDES a LinkyThinks Emotions Chart, with Emotions Wheel Sticker Sheets for logging mood & behaviour! Processing feelings / Behaviour management / Self-expression / Conflict resolution / Building vocabulary / Self-reflection / Mood regulation / Healthy communication / Empathy / SEN Support

Lucky school wins a year membership

Congratulations to Bucklands Beach Intermediate School for winning a year’s membership to Sound Beginnings.

Staff from the Auckland school attended the recent NZAIMS Conference held in Taupo, where they were in for a chance to win a whole school membership to Sound Beginnings.

The win means all staff at the school will now have access to the entire Sounds Beginnings library.

“More than 30 teachers will have free access to our extensive range of oral language and literacy resources. These resources provide the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ with opportunities to listen, observe, participate, and interact,” says Bronwyn Weston of Sound Beginnings.

Sound Beginnings partnering with NZAIMS

In mid-August 2022, a team from Sound Beginnings had the privilege of joining the NZAIMS Leaders Conference as an official partner.

2022 is a significant year in our country, as it marks a century of Intermediate schooling in Aotearoa.

The conference, held in Taupo, bought together education specialists from around New Zealand and hosted a number of exciting and thought-provoking speakers.

The team were delighted to share their knowledge, resources and practice with attendees.

NZAIMS is New Zealand’s networking organisation for intermediate middle schooling educators.

Education Week at Expo 2022 Dubai

The last week of January 2022 is Education Week. EDconnect are pleased to be connected with the Education New Zealand delegation at EXPO. This will be a very exciting week to be participating in person.