Statistics

We have been learning about collecting, sorting, graphing and explaining data. We measured and compared the heights of the beans we got from our visit to the Botanical Gardens.

We measured the height in centimetres. Some people had 1cm, some had 5cm, some had over 10cm and some had lots of the numbers in between. It was interesting that they were all planted on the same day, and yet there were lots of different heights.

We then made a tally chart and a graph of our results.

We learnt how to fill in the tally chart. We know that when we want to show five marks we draw four lines and then one across them, like four fingers on your hand and your thumb across.

I Am Powerful Plan

Life is full of great moments and moments when things don't go the way we thought that they would. How do we learn to make the best choices when we are feeling angry or mad or sad?

Tautoru has been learning about different emotions over the past weeks, and now we have begun to learn about the Thinking Brain and the Emotional Brain. These two brains -or parts of our brain- help us to understand how we feel and make decisions about how we act. The scientific terms are the prefrontal cortex (Thinking Brain) and the amygdala (Emotional Brain).

But what do we do when the Emotional Brain gets overwhelmed? How can we come back to our Thinking Brain and make a good decision? We have been learning different ways to calm our Emotional Brain by breathing. Have a look at some ideas here:

We have made a plan so we can be powerful and make better choices when situations get tricky.

We started by thinking of some things that might provoke our Emotional Brain, then brainstormed what character strengths might help us get back to our Thinking Brain.

Now we have a plan for when we might face challenges, and we will be practising how to make our brains powerful and make a good choice. Our plans might change over time as we learn more.

We would love to share some of the different breathing strategies that we have learned so ask us and we can show.

Pos. Ed Whanau Day!

On Friday the whole school split into Whanau groups to explore some of the Character Strengths we talk about daily at school.

Susie and Anna's Whanau group explored the Character Strengths of:

-Leadership

-Teamwork

-Curiosity

-Prudence

-Self-Regulation

Throughout the day we worked in small groups to unpack each strength. Some of us read picture books about the strengths and did role plays. 

Some of us had challenges or scavenger hunts to help us find out more about the strengths. We all worked together to contribute ideas and help each other understand the Characters Strengths better.

Our aim for the day was to create a collaborative piece of artwork to represent the Character Strength we were focusing on. Each piece of Character Strength art will be put together to make a display for us to use in each space across the school.

Our Whanau group was lucky enough to have two very talented artists from our community share some advice on important things to think about when creating a piece of art.

Check out our amazing artwork. Thanks so much to all our wonderful parents who came to help run workshops.

Samoan Langauge Week

This week is Samoan language week.



Do you know these words?

Talofa lava	»	Hello (polite).
Mālō le soifua	»	Hello.

Tōfā soifua	»	Goodbye
Toe feiloa'i	»	See you later.
Feiloa'i taeao	»	See you tomorrow.

Have a look at this resource for more.

Whanau Day: Shona and Nic's Group

Last Friday was Positive Education Whanau day. We were in groups with others from Autahi, Tautoru, Matariki and Mahutonga. It was fun to work with our brothers and sisters and to make new friends.

Each Whanau group had five character strengths to unpack. Ours were Judgement, Perseverance, Social Intelligence, Honesty and Love.

 

We talked about Judgement which is thinking things through and examining them from all sides, without jumping to conclusions and then we played "Would You Rather?" It was fun!

We talked about Perseverance and how we work hard to finish things that we start. We shared ideas of times we have persevered- Cross Country running, swimming, writing, maths, etc.

We discussed Love, and then we helped each other to weave a heart and create a mobile which is hanging in Tautoru.

We talked about Social Intelligence. It is when you are aware of the motives and feelings of other people. You know what to do to fit in to different social situations, and you know what to do to put others at ease. We read the story, Knuffle Bunny Three and discussed how the girl in the story used her character strength of Social Intelligence. 

Lastly, we discussed the character strength of Honesty. We played a fun game called "two truths and a lie."

Let's Get Measuring

How far can our cars travel?

Maths is all around us. Some of us have begun to investigate measuring length using meters and centimetres. We made ramps, estimated the distance our cars would travel then launched our cars down the ramp to confirm our predictions.

Making estimations and predictions is a very important mathematical skill. Today we used centimetres and our rulers to check our estimations of how far the cars had travelled.

Sign Language in Tautoru

We have been learning how to sign! Check out the tab at the top of the blog for more videos and links for Sign.

The Year 3's have been working on signing their names and learning simple classroom language.





It has been amazing to watch how quickly the students learn to sign and many already mastered signing their name and are about to tackle the National Anthem.