We start each week with a Monday Morning Meeting for staff. It's a time for information sharing, celebrating staff and children's achievements, laughter, building and strengthening the kaupapa foundations for our school, and a few tips on teaching, techie skills and even life. This page will be the place teachers can come back to if they want to revisit anything we covered in our Monday Morning Meetings.

It's really a page for teachers, but if you find anything worthwhile here for yourself, great.

Web Pages:

https://joshdata.me/iceberger.html

Nearly every iceberg you see in a picture or diagram is probably floating the wrong way. This was what I learned (from Megan Thompson-Munson) after sketching Biz Stone's brilliant saying about the myth of overnight success.

With some approximation, the density of ice is around 900 kg/m3, and seawater is around 1,000 kg/m3. Therefore, the fraction of an iceberg that's submerged is around ~900/1000 or 0.9. So, about 90% of an iceberg is below the surface and 10% above, which is partly why they can be so dangerous. While most iceberg pictures get this part more or less correct, most of these icebergs will be floating vertically. In reality, a tall, thin iceberg will likely topple, so most icebergs end up floating on their side, not their tips, even though we rarely draw them this way.

I remember learning about a fascinating experiment with children of different ages estimating which glass holds more water: a tall, slender one filled high or a wider glass filled to a lower level. Younger children almost always chose the glass with the higher water level as the most water, even when it was significantly less than the shorter and wider glass. I wonder if it's part of why we draw icebergs vertically, at least when we're using them as a metaphor. It's easier to grasp quantities vertically, and we commonly underestimate volume spread over a wider area.

We may still want to draw our icebergs tall and deep to make our point, but now, at least, we can do so with the knowledge that they're not like the real ones.

If you want to see it yourself, Joshua Tauberer made a brilliant draw-an-iceberg-and-see-how-it-will-float game. I recommend you give it a go so it sinks in forever (sorry).

https://calculatingempires.net/?pos=17735.87,8725.00,12.6206

https://www.6seconds.org/2022/03/13/plutchik-wheel-emotions/

Six Seconds is an interactive wheel designed to help explore the complexities of human emotions. This wheel displays eight basic emotions and illustrates how they relate to each other, intensify, and combine to form more complex feelings. Six Seconds is a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase the world’s emotional intelligence. It's a great tool for anyone looking to enhance their emotional literacy or better understand the nuances of their feelings.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/amazing-images-of-our-universe-astronomy-photographer

https://www.slayschool.com/

SlaySchool.com (http://slayschool.com) is an advanced educational platform that leverages AI technology to effortlessly convert lectures, notes, and multimedia content into dynamic flashcards and quizzes. By simply uploading their study materials—whether PDFs, images, handwritten notes, or videos from sources like YouTube—students can have SlaySchool’s AI automatically generate comprehensive, personalized flashcards. This process reduces the time and effort traditionally required to create study aids, removing a key barrier for many.

The system supports memory retention and understanding, grounded in cognitive psychology principles such as spaced repetition and active recall. Spaced repetition helps embed information into long-term memory by revisiting it at increasing intervals, and active recall promotes deeper engagement by encouraging students to retrieve information during the learning process. These features make SlaySchool a powerful tool for students seeking to improve their study habits and learning outcomes.

There are different types of hard work:

1. Outthinking (a better strategy, a shortcut)

2. Pure Effort (working longer, intensity)

3. Opportunistic (positioning yourself to take advantage of change)

4. Consistency (doing average things for longer)

5. Focus (saying no to distractions)

Each of these requires a different type of hard work.

75 Random Facts - A Series:

1. Avocados are a fruit, not a vegetable.

They're technically considered a single-seeded berry, believe it or not.

2. The Eiffel Tower can be 15 cm taller during the summer.

Due to thermal expansion, the iron heats up, and the particles gain kinetic energy and take up more space.

3. Trypophobia is the fear of closely packed holes.

Or, more specifically, "an aversion to the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps." So, no crumpets for them.

4. Allodoxaphobia is the fear of other people's opinions.

It's a rare social phobia that's characterised by an irrational and overwhelming fear of what other people think.

5. Australia is wider than the moon.

The moon sits at 3400km in diameter, while Australia’s diameter from east to west is almost 4000km.

6. 'Mellifluous' is a sound that is pleasingly smooth and musical to hear.

7. The Spice Girls were originally a band called Touch.

"When we first started [with the name Touch], we were pretty bland," Mel C told The Guardian in 2018. "We felt like we had to fit into a mould."

8. Emma Bunton auditioned for the role of Bianca Butcher in Eastenders.

Baby Spice already had a small part in the soap back in the 90s but tried out for a full-time role. She was pipped to the post by Patsy Palmer but ended up auditioning for the Spice Girls not long after.

9. Human teeth are the only part of the body that cannot heal themselves.

Teeth are coated in enamel, which is not a living tissue.

10. It's illegal to own just one guinea pig in Switzerland.

It's considered animal abuse because they're social beings and get lonely.

11. The Ancient Romans used to drop a piece of toast into their wine for good health - hence why we 'raise a toast'.

12. The heart of a shrimp is located in its head.

They also have an open circulatory system, which means they have no arteries, and their organs float directly in blood.

13. Amy Poehler was only seven years older than Rachel McAdams when she took on the "cool mom" role in Mean Girls.

Rachel was 25 as Regina George - and Amy was 32 as her mum.

14. People are more creative in the shower.

When we take a warm shower, we experience an increased dopamine flow that makes us more creative.

15. Baby rabbits are called kits. Cute!

Techie Tips:

Instantly Create Cool Slideshows

If you have 100s of vacation photos and videos on your that you want to showcase to

someone, instead of boring them with a swipe right to view photos and videos one by one

technique, use this trick to showcase your media in a cool-looking.

Open the Photos app on your, select the photos and videos you want to showcase on

your, click the options button in the bottom right corner and select from the menu.

That’s it; your slideshow will be available instantly, coupled with nicely arranged photos, cool animations, and matching background music.

You can also set custom themes and background music for the slideshow and even pick your favourite songs from your Apple Music library.

Trigger phrases for full-screen effects (+ A Secret Effect)

If you’ve been using ‘Messages’ for a while, you’d likely know that you could send your

messages with full-screen effects like Fireworks, Celebration, and Lasers to amplify your

messages’ emotions.

To add a full-screen effect, after typing your message, long press the button <

Tap on ‘Screen’ < Keep swiping left until you find the perfect effect < Tap on ↑

to send the message along with the effect.

Sketchplanations:

Parallax is the change in the apparent position of objects from different viewpoints. For example, from one viewpoint, a nearby house may appear in front of a hill, and from another, it may be in front of a lake. Objects at different distances appear to move by different amounts. As you move between viewpoints, say when driving along a road, nearby objects move past you quickly, while distant objects appear to move by slowly. This difference in motion from near to far objects helps us determine how far objects are away.

I remember learning parallax from video games, like Sonic the Hedgehog on the old Sega Mega Drive. As the character moves in the foreground, elements at different distances in the background move progressively slower, creating a sense of depth. Saturation and contrast change with distance, also known as atmospheric perspective.

I also enjoy observing parallax while looking out of a train window; nearby hedges and trees race by, buildings in the middle distance move more slowly, and distant hills or mountains barely seem to change. It's fascinating how our brains interpret this relative movement to judge distances.

One of the more intriguing applications of parallax is stellar parallax in astronomy. The basic geometry of parallax allows us to measure the distance of (relatively) nearby stars by observing relative shifts against the background of distant stars. Here's how it works: we observe the stars from different points in our orbit around the Sun. As a result, the stars appear to move relative to each other. By measuring this apparent shift, we can calculate the distance of the stars.

Heteronym:

Spell it the same, but say it differently.

For a long time, I’ve kept my ear (and eye) out for heteronyms: words that are written the same but said differently. Homonyms are easy to spot - things like chip (food, processor), or bark (dog, tree) - but heteronyms are sneaky and you don’t notice them as easily. Fiddly things like windy, present, read, or close.

It always strikes me that they must make English a pain to learn—“What do you mean read can be said as red or reed?! How am I supposed to know that?!”

A few other common ones (try to spot both pronunciations; it’s a little like the old out-cube/in-cube Necker illusion): bow, does, dove, import, lead, project, refuse, sow, tear, minute…

Article:

Simple Strategies to Retain Everything You Read

fs.blog/reading/

One of the benefits of reading is that it allows you to master the best of what other people

have already figured out. Of course, this is only true if you can remember and apply the

lessons and insights from what you read.

Reading is a way to discover new ideas. The question is, how do we do that well?

The goal is to use our time efficiently.

In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area)

who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.

Charlie Munger

Quit Books

My philosophy with reading is simple: Skim a lot of books. Read a few. Immediately re-

read the best ones twice.

Good writing is effortless reading. Bad writing, on the other hand, feels like a chore. Good

writing is felt instantly. It is packed with ideas and insight and has a certain momentum that compels you to keep reading.

Quitting a book is not as easy as it seems. We’ve been taught our whole lives to finish

what we start, and that anchor prevents us from moving forward. A book we are no longer

interested in often sits on our nightstand, serving as a visual reminder of what we need to

finish before starting something new.

When it comes to reading, you don’t need to finish what you start. You can quit.

Once you realize that you can quit without guilt, everything changes.

Reading a great book twice is better than reading ten average ones. All the time you

spend reading something bad comes at the expense of reading something good.

Skim a lot of books. Read a few. Immediately re-read the best ones twice.

Levels of Reading

Reading the words is the easy part. We learned how to do this in elementary school. However, reading the words is not enough if you want to retain and apply what you have learned.

The first lesson of reading comprehension is that not everything needs to be read the

same way. Tailoring how you read to what you read saves you time and increases

retention.

Some books deserve a skim, while others deserve your undivided attention.

How much effort you put in relates to what you’re reading, why you’re reading it, and how

interested you are.

How to Read a Book explores four approaches to reading (from easiest to hardest).

1. Reading to Entertain — The level of reading taught in our elementary schools.

2. Reading to Inform — A superficial read. You skim, dive in and out, get a feel for

the book, and get the gist of things.

3. Reading to Understand— The real workhorse of reading. This is a thorough

reading where you chew on things and digest them.

4. Reading to Master — If you just read one book on a topic, odds are you have a

lot of blind spots in your knowledge. Synoptical reading is reading various books

and articles on the same topic, finding and evaluating the contradictions, and

forming an opinion.

Reading takes effort. Choosing where and how to apply that effort makes the difference.

Choose Books Worth Reading

The most important thing when it comes to reading is selecting great inputs.

Just as it’s harder to make healthy choices if your house is full of junk food, it’s difficult to

get great insights from bad writing.

If you’re like most people, you’ll naturally be drawn to newer writing. New books, for

example, are full of appeal, marketing, and … empty promises. While a few new

books might prove valuable, most will be forgotten quickly after you finish them.

One way to filter books is through time.

Time filters out what works from what doesn’t. And there is no need to waste time on

books that don’t last. Time sorts the books worth reading deeply from the ones that

should be skimmed or ignored. Most of what you need from new books (skill

development, recipes, etc.) can be found quickly and easily online.

Reading time is limited and should be directed at the knowledge that accumulates and

compounds rather than something that quickly perishes. One surprising benefit to reading books that stand the test of time is that I’ve stopped reading the news.

Read old books. Read the best ones twice.

Think about it this way: if you read an old book and hit on insights that still resonate as

true, you know they’ve been true for a long time, and they will continue to be true in the

future.

Reading Speed

Reading speed is a vanity metric.

In the real world, no one cares how fast you read or how many books you read last year

or last week. All that matters is what you absorb and apply.

Reading one great book slowly is better than quickly skimming one hundred average

books. A good book, like a good wine, deserves to be savoured. Find something worth reading, then chew on the ideas slowly and deeply.

The Simple Note-Taking System to 10x Retention

The single biggest change you can make to get more out of the books you decide to read

deeply is the blank sheet method of note-taking. It took me years to develop this system,

and it will multiply your comprehension ten times over. I don’t say that lightly. I’ve tested it on thousands of people.

The blank sheet method primes your brain for what you’re about to read and shows

you what you’re learning.

Here’s how it works:

1. Before you start reading a new book, take out a blank sheet of paper. Write down

what you know about the book/subject you’re about to read — a mind map.

2. After you finish a reading session, spend a few minutes adding to the map with a

different colour pen.

3. Before you start your next reading session, review the page.

4. When you’re done reading, put these ‘blank sheets’ into a binder that you

periodically review.

Why does this work so well?

The blank sheet method primes your brain for what you’re about to read, offers structure,

and reinforces that you’re learning.

When you first start with a blank sheet, you’re forced to search your memory and put on

paper what you know (or what you think you know) about a subject. As you read, you see

that understanding grow as you add new knowledge to the foundation.

Not only will you add new knowledge, but equally valuable, you’ll remove things you

thought you knew that turned out not to be so.

Reviewing what you know about a subject, as well as what you have already learned

before a reading session not only improves memory and recall but helps layer and

connect ideas.

Most of the early connections come from putting the authors’ raw material onto your

foundation. If you don’t know anything about the subject before you start, don’t worry.

You’ll be able to borrow the scaffolding from the book to get started.

As your fluency in a subject grows, you’ll start connecting ideas across disciplines,

disagreeing with authors about specific points, and even developing your own ideas.

When you’re done with the book, put the page into a binder. Review the binder every few

months. This last step is essential for establishing deep fluency and connecting ideas

across disciplines.

Conventional Note-Taking

Forget the teacher who yelled at you for writing in your book when you were a kid. You

bought this thing. It’s your property. Write in the margins. Make it yours.

Here is a very simple process to take notes while reading:

At the end of each chapter, write a few bullet points that summarize the main idea or

specific points. Use your own words and not the authors’. Try and connect it to

something in your life — a memory or another idea. Also, make note of any

unanswered questions you had while reading.

When you’re done with the book, put it down for a week.

Pick up the book again and go through all your notes. In a lot of cases, reading your

notes will be as good as reading the book again.

On the inside cover, write out the main idea of the book using your own words. If

you find yourself stuck, review your notes. (This is called the Feynman Technique).

Writing is the process by which we often discover we don’t know what we are talking

about.

You can even make a custom index with themes or topics on the back cover.

(Optional) Copy the excerpts by hand and put them on the back of your blank

sheet from above, or type them out and put them into Evernote. Tag accordingly.

The point of both conventional notes and the blank sheet is to connect new knowledge to

old knowledge and point out gaps in your understanding.

Writing about what you read is the key to turning the experience of reading into

knowledge you can use. Writing is reflection. Reflection is the key to learning.

Reading More

You can’t get where you want to go if you’re not learning all the time. One of the best

ways to learn is to read.

Reading habits don’t need to be complicated; you can start a simple 25-page-a-day habit

right now. While it seems small, the gains add up quickly.

Above all else, remember that just because you’ve read something doesn’t mean you’ve

done the work required to have an opinion.

Matariki Day Photos: