Whānau Day - Tāne and the Baskets of Knowledge

On Friday, we had our first whānau day of the year. This is an opportunity for mixed groups working together across the school and fostering Tuakana-teina Positive Relationships. Tuakana-teina is a concept from te ao Māori. It refers to the relationship between an older (tuakana) person and a younger (teina) person. It is when an older or more expert tuakana (brother, sister or cousin) helps and guides a younger or less expert teina. These roles can be reversed at any time as we see some of our younger students as leaders.

In our groups, we learnt the story of Tāne and the Baskets of Knowledge. We expressed our learning in lots of different ways. Ask us what we learnt...

Here is the story of Tāne

Place Value - Multiplying and Dividing by 10, 100 and 1000

The whole school is having a big focus on Place Value. What Is Place Value in Maths? Place Value is the basis of our entire number system. This is the system in which the position of a digit in a number determines its value.

As part of our Place Value focus, we are learning about multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000.

Using Place Value Charts

We have been using Place Value charts to help us to divide by 10, 100 and 1000. This helps us to see how the digits change in value.

A trick to help us to remember how many places the digits need to move is by looking at the zeros in 10, 100 and 1000.

For example, there are 3 zeros in 1000, so we need to move the digits 3 places to the right to divide by 1000.

x10 - 1 zero move 1 place
x100 - 2 zeros move 2 places
x1000 - 3 zeros move 3 places

Example 723 ÷ 10

We made movies to explain this:

By Cara and Esmé-Rose

By Willa, Willow and Nikita

By Tui, Alice and Samuel

 

By Zen, Aotea and Locky

 

By Soma and Henry

City and Te Aro School Visit.

 

Māhutonga Matariki had a fantastic visit to the city this week. We took notice of the impact people have on their marine environments, in particular how much of Wellington City is built on reclaimed land and the fact that there are no natural beaches left in our urban space. 

We also noticed all the words and poems which are scattered across the waterfront. We found a poem by Denis Glover whose poem Drift we used as a writing model this week. 

Wellington Harbour is a Laundry

The harbour is an ironing board:
flat iron tugs dash smoothing toward
any shirt of a ship any pillowslip
of a freighter they decree

must be ironed flat as washing from the sea.  

Then we walked REALLY QUICKLY up to Te Aro School. They greeted us with a Mihi Whakatau. Then we played games and made a whole lot of new friends. Here they are!

The Tug of War

Te Aro students sent us some comments about the visit.

It was so much fun being mixed up with the students from Worser Bay. I caught up with some of my old friends from gymnastics. If we caught up again with them I’d like us all to learn a new game together. John, one of their teachers, said we might visit them and maybe play in the rock pools at Worser Bay and possibly sail.   – Izzy

 

I enjoyed that we had lots of visitors and that the girls won on the tug of war three times. There were so many of us up on the turf. I made three new friends. It is so much fun having another school visit us. – Kala

 

I got to meet so many new people on Wednesday. I decided to go for it and ask people their names. I think that maybe a longer session together would have helped me to meet more new people. – Jay

 

I liked that both groups of children got to meet new people. We began as strangers and then we became friends. They said quite a different karakia from us. – Bentley

 

I liked making new friends. I wish they had arrived earlier in the morning. I would have so liked hanging out for longer.   - Dezon

             The Football

          Climbing the goal posts. Who is that kid?

                          

                         And what we do best; hanging out with friends in trees!

 

                                     Kupe, Hine-aparangi/Kuramārōtini and Pekahourangi 

                              On the waterfront.

Learning to Think and Observe Like Scientists

 We have been learning about what a metre looks like, making good estimations or, as we call them, GUESTIMATIONS! This connects to our work on place value, looking at the units (centimetres) which make up a metre. Next, what does a metre squared look like and; what can it be used for?

Junior scientists are seen here using the metre squared to collect data about all of the living things that they can find within that area. This is an introduction to collecting data for the Marine Metre Squared project as part of our big Inquiry this year. It was amazing what we found when looking for flora and fauna. 

We found all kinds of interesting creatures.  Can you name all of the above?

Week 3 Term 1 - Up and Running on all Cylinders

Kia ora koutou Māhutonga e Matariki whānau,

Another week is done and dusted and we’ve had our first full five dayer. It’s been packed with fun learning and loads of focused mahi/work. 

Importantly, our students went about their goal setting meetings and it's been wonderful to see them reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses and building their growth mindset in relation to their school life and beyond. Thank you for your support in making these so successful.

In Inquiry this week, we focused in on the concept of environment: What it is? How humans have impacted on it? How it is intertwined with Te Ao Māori? Here are some of the students working in teams to understand what the world's various Biomes are and their key features.

Additionally to this, we have been unpacking the concept of Manaakitanga. What it so
unds like. What it feels like. What it looks like. We are in the process of creating a graffiti wall with words that reflect its meaning using a graffiti style of font. Here are a few samples of their work.

He aroha whakatō, he aroha puta mai.

If kindness is sown then kindness you shall receive.

In our Literacy rotation we’ve been focusing on various forms of poetry and how they can express ideas in an artistic way. Here are a few examples:

In Maths, we’ve continued to concentrate our learning on place value concepts and integrating this to learning around length of a meter and a square meter. This will remain a focus for us in the coming weeks as we use this knowledge to carry out scientific observations.

We are looking forward to what next week holds, including our Te Aro Trip!

Human Impact on our natural Environments: Positives and Negatives.

We have been thinking about how we impact on our natural environments.  We want to explore ways that we take positive action and have a positive effect. This will lead into the work which we are doing connected to our local marine environments.  

 People can have positive impacts even in the most densely populated cities.  What can we do in our city?

We then attempted to reach consensus, writing a guiding statement whose responsibility it is to care for the environment. Great job team!

What impact can we have on our marine environments? 

 

Positive Purpose - Moana Mana

Positive Purpose is about doing good and feeling good! 

As we embark on our new Inquiry (Moana Mana), we will continue to develop a sense of Positive Purpose linked to our local environment. As we investigate our local marine life we will have the opportunity to work alongside real scientists and learn about how we can have a positive impact on the flora and fauna.

Environmental purpose - students are involved and connected to our school environment and the wider community..

Our Inquiry process helps us to develop Positive Purpose. We often find things that we are passionate about and take action!

Road Patrol is a great way to demonstrate Positive Purpose

Ask us about other ways that we can demonstrate Positive Purpose?

We have also looked into the concept of Ikigai. Ikigai is a Japanese concept that combines the terms iki, meaning “alive” or “life,” and gai, meaning “benefit” or “worth.” When combined, these terms mean that which gives your life worth, meaning, or purpose. 

We asked what do you love? What does the world need? What are you good at? 

Why is Positive Purpose an important?

Research suggests…

* It is important that we help children to establish a sense of responsibility to the world and a commitment to helping others - no matter how young/ small they are they can make a difference.

* Having a sense that life is purposeful and meaningful is important for physical/ psychological health - a lack of purpose can be a risk factor for risk taking behaviours, poor social relationships.

* Purpose provides people with a vision for life and a sense of directedness - especially important in adolescence.

* Sense of purpose is related to resilience, cope with stressful life events, and the ability to pursue goals despite setbacks.

Welcome to 2023!

We're back! Settling into the new year and developing positive relationships amongst the group was our focus for the first few days. We have focused on the strengths of Teamwork and manaakitanga. 

Soon, we will be launching into an Inquiry investigating our local marine environments. We will be helping to trial and develop a programme in conjunction with Worser Bay Boat Club, Otago University Marine Science department and others. The programme is called Moana Mana and will involve a lot of hands-on learning in the intertidal zone as well as research and experimentation in the classroom. We are very excited to have the opportunity to work alongside real scientists and to have a positive impact on our environment. Year 5-6 students will also have snorkelling opportunities as well as some sailing connected with this learning.

Alongside this will be an Arts project whose purpose is to mark our school site as the former Whetūkairangi Pā. We will be working with artist in residence, Kimi Moana Whiting up until June, by which time we will have some significant sculptural pieces completed. Again, we will be looking to the natural world for inspiration.