Helping out at home

We have really enjoyed meeting with so many of you this week to feedback how the learners are going and having in-depth discussions about what they are working on.

Here is a collection of useful links that will help if you are looking for more to do at home to practise those important skills.

The Ministry of Education parent portal links are below for the different year levels in Māhutonga Matariki. These provide useful information about what students are learning during each year and ways that you can support them at home.

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Maths

https://nzc-maths-practice.nz/

This link leads to some practise activities for learners to engage in that are relevant to their learning. You can choose the age group and explore some of the activities.

Reading

Visiting the library to help choose books that your child is interested in drives that passion for literature.

While encouraging reading at home is a wonderful thing, there is more that we can do to help extend the thinking of our learners. Below are some tips for after your child has read or been read to to help grow their thinking skills around literature.  

• Encourage your child to discuss the text. "Did you enjoy reading this? Why/why not?"
• Have your child make connections to their own life. "The grandad in that story was very funny. Who’s the funniest person in our family?"
• If you have read a story, talk about the characters. If the story isn’t illustrated, encourage your child to describe the characters as they imagine them.
• Discuss any new language that came up.
• If you read a non-fiction book or article, ask if there was anything your child would like to learn more about. "How can you find that information?"

Maths is everywhere!

Maths is everywhere , and one of our goals this term has been helping kids recognise that they already use mathematical thinking every day. Everyone has a mathematical brain and confidence in maths grows when we are willing to be curious, ask questions, and give things a go.

This week, we investigated map coordinates and grid references, learning how people use these systems to describe location and navigate their way around places. To finish our learning, we designed and drew a compass rose. This activity combined geometry, measurement, spatial thinking, and creativity!

One of the most important messages we continue to revisit in class is that being a mathematician is not about always getting the right answer. It is about being curious, trying different strategies, noticing patterns, and learning from mistakes. We are discovering that maths can be found in all sorts of unexpected places...

Ideas are bubbling up

 Our inquiry this term has its roots in the past. We have been exploring history from around the world from the Big Bang to medieval Europe to the history of Rock and Roll. 

Learners have been following their own interests through research, asking questions and creating their own relics of the past. 

On Monday the 29th of June we will welcome you all to step through a time machine and come and explore our learning together. From 5-6pm our Māhutonga Matariki classrooms will be ready for you to dive into the past and learn from our amazing students.