Pīwakawaka Enlargement

This week we have enjoyed exploring concepts of geometry and measurement through meaningful and authentic tasks.

Enlargement is one of those concepts that seems on its surface to be straightforward. That is, until you actually attempt to enlarge something!

We thought about some real-world examples of enlargement such as growing, baking and manipulating pictures on a computer. We understand that you need to drag the corners on a picture to enlarge it, otherwise you are only changing the width or height. We also noticed that the opposite of enlarging is shrinking, as is the case with a globe!

We were given a small piece of a picture, and the instruction to enlarge it by a factor of 3. The original piece had a grid of 4cmx4cm and the enlarged one, 12cmx12cm.

We had no idea what the complete picture would be and we were encouraged to use a full rainbow of colour.

We worked in pairs to help each other. It was really tricky to get it right, but we used our Growth Mindsets and supported each other to get it done.

It turned out the picture was one of our favourite manu māori (native birds), the pīwakawaka:

Tihei mauri ora!

Our Name Angles

We've been starting to dive in deeper in our Geometry unit this week. The kids have become engaged in their work, as they connected with this interactive game which seems to be based in something similar to 'Mission Impossible'.
We also looked at the the angles we could see in our names, our classroom and in our body.

This introduction to angles has the students excited and hungry to learn more.

Swimming and Positive Health

Water is an essential part of the Kiwi identity and our students spend a lot of time at the beach, fishing off the rocks, sailing, kayaking, swimming and other water activities. Swimming lessons are a great way to teach our students how to stay safe in and around water. 

Research shows that regular exercise has lots of health benefits for children, such as:

• improving fitness
• providing an opportunity to socialise
• increasing concentration
• improving learning
• building a stronger heart, bones and healthier muscles
• encouraging healthy growth and development
• improving self-esteem
• improving posture and balance
• lowering stress
• encouraging a better night's sleep

A Growth Mindset in Maths

Our students are learning about the importance of having a Growth Mindset. Research shows that mistakes help the brain to grow. Our students are learning that challenge is a good thing! Here are some things parents can do at home to stamp out Maths anxiety.  

Growth Mindset and Kaizen Steps

In our Māhutonga/Matariki whānau, we know that it is important to continue to keep a Growth Mindset. We know that abilities can be developed through hard work and perseverance. Perseverance means that you keep trying and don't give up. Kaizen steps are where you have to keep going up small steps. Once you get to a high step you get to big challenges. Challenges are hard but if you keep trying them you can get better at them. Sometimes you fail but that is ok because that is first attempt in learning. By Ollie

We are using a Growth Mindset during our Cross Country training

Here is some writing that we have done. We were thinking about a time when we used a Growth Mindset.

Nye:

I looked up at the hill, then looked down the other end. I pushed down on the pedals, every push felt like I was being pulled down. I hi a stump. As I spun through the air my heart skipped a beat. I landed on the ground and bounced back up, landing on the top. I stuck my wheel round and skidded though this wasn’t enough to slow me down. I am sent zooming down, every rock I’m sent into the air. As I came down I landed on a huge ramp like rock an whoosh into the sky. I look down at the ground and I tell myself to stop. Then I look how far I’ve come and I push on, preparing for the long climb up the second hill.


Hunter R:

“Next five” the lifeguard said. I was walking up the stairs to go to the seven metre diving boards. My heart was racing. I got to the top. My heart was about to pop. I was so nervous but I walked to the edge. I jumped, I landed on the slide with a thump. I was on the slide for a second but then I flew off the end. The water enveloped me as I emerged. I felt a strike of pride. I had made it. I was so happy

Mae S:

My heart is pounding as I ride down the cliff. I can do this. "I can do this" I think as I jump across the turn. Wait. There is a really tight turn. Can I do this? can I do this? I think as I slam down my brakes. No. No I can’t. Soon I find myself doing giant bumps, riding on steep things, narrow corridors, and other crazy stuff. I find myself at the finish line, eating a taco. Well maybe that bit was not true.

Mindfulness

This week after Morning Tea we have started doing Mindfulness through the Smiling Mind app. Mindfulness helps students to focus on the present and worry less about the future. It is also proven to have a positive impact on children's heath in the future (Norrish, J., Robinson, J. & Williams, P, 2011).

Through this programme students are taken through a guided meditation written specifically for children their age. The programme uses concepts that are easy for our children to use their imagination and conceptualise. For instance, one track talks about imagining your breath is a bubble that gets bigger as you breathe in. We have been enjoying this opportunity to relax before we get stuck in to our Literacy programme.

"I like it because everyone is together"- Joni

"I like mindfulness because it makes me relaxed" - Eloi

Writing About Setting.

We have been developing our writing by describing the setting in more detail so that the reader identifies more with the story. We want the reader to be able to 'feel' more of what it would be like to be 'in' the story and to do this they must have a sense of where the story is unfolding.

Before writing we did a brainstorm about what good writers do and what we wanted to focus on during our writing about the setting.  The list below are the things we decided we needed to think about.

Then we wrote a story together, using the mysterious photo above.  Is the figure in the photo feeding a bear?  Where are they?  Is that a boat pulled up on the shore beside them?  What are they doing?  Are they as cold as they look?

Hard at work thinking about our writing. It's almost enough to make you want to scratch your head!

This is a sample of the writing we did together and have continued to develop in groups during the week:

Wind whistled off the icy waves.  A lazy musky light filtered through the clouds.  It was sunrise but the sun was a cheese in a fridge.  The stones on the shore rumbled, waves crunched then sucked back like a hungry mouth, dark blue foaming.

He pulled his collar up, turning his back to the misty shore, shivering but happy.

"Come here Bear! We have herring for breakfast,'  he said, his voice like the gravel on the beach.

(to be continued?)