Love of Learning

Another super day with the super stars from Autahi and our senior big buddies. Today we embraced our Love of Learning by playing a number of new games, trying out some activities that were new to us and there were even a couple of students leading groups!

We had a number of very keen finger knitters. Lots of growth mindset here as finger knitting takes time, patience and a whole of of perseverance.



There was even an old time game of Tiddly Winks on the go. Students were challenged to hit targets and develop new rules for this classic.

Other groups were creating card towers. They needed to balance cards against one another and it required a steady hand.



Cat had a team of hula hoopers outside.



Another group were engaged in origami, creating paper planes and other paper designs.

I am ....

In writing over the last couple of weeks the writers of Scott's literacy group have created portraits of themselves after some inspiration from Pablo Picasso and his weeping woman portrait.




We cut the portraits up and then randomly re-connected the different parts of ourselves into a new and interesting self portrait.

  

After some discussion we decided to create posters about ourselves and the things we do, the food we love, the games we play, and the people we are - I am ....



Some of us are secret chocolate eaters (Scott), we have many Lego masters, a number of animal patters, and even a couple of zooming swimmers.

You may have noticed that we have been working on using 'er' in our writing too!

Sports Rotation - Hockey

On Monday afternoons we have been spending time developing our PE skills. Students have been working on big and small ball skills and hockey.



This week in hockey we learned the Indian dribble. It helps us to control the ball when running and by keeping it close to our body we can change direction, pass or shoot a goal.

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We also worked on passing to each other focusing on calling our partners name out so that they are ready to receive the ball. We are learning how to spread out and work as a team when passing the ball.



Our next step is to work on running faster with the ball, passing to one another and developing our teamwork. We are very enthusiastic when playing and sometimes crowd around the ball even when we have players in the clear ready to score! Keep your eyes out for more photos and updates on how our skills are developing.

I am Powerful - I can find challenges and take action.

We spent time on Monday watching a video about Forest Man. He lived in an area of India that was prone to erosion, poaching, and environmental damage caused by the inaction of humans.




We discussed how he was powerful and that through his actions he was able to make a positive change for his community but also the environment and animals. Over 40 years he single handedly planted a forest in what was once a wasteland.



In base groups we roamed the school and identified some problems that we would like to take action on during our next inquiry.



We came up with a number of interesting ideas from water slides, elephant swings and a swimming pool to tree houses, more sand in the sand pit, more trees to climb and harakeke for weaving!



Our next step is to continue identifying problems or needs and finding out how to take action, who to ask, and using our power to make it happen.

Shapes Around Us- Geometry

We have been investigating the wonderful world of Geometry in Maths. We have begun to investigate the shapes that make up our world. We have been finding and describing 2D and 3D shapes and getting creative by making them as well.

We have been spotting 2D shapes around the school and counting the corners and sides.

We have been making 2D shapes art

And we have been building a city with 3D shapes

Tautoru Arts Celebration- The Process

The Arts Celebration is an opportunity for us to experience deeply the Arts curriculum and learn new skills. This year we focused on photography, abstract art and painting and how to communicate ideas that are important to use through visual arts and music. We learned how to create sounds and compose soundscapes to maths our ideas. It's been a time to let our Creativity, Teamwork and Joy of Learning flow.

Creating our art pieces:
One group focused on using the rule of thirds to capture images of the environment around us and learned about the art of John Pule and how he uses nature to tell a story. Another group focused on studying the abstract art of Miro and how he used symbols to represent ideas. The last group focused on the painting technique of impasto used by artists such as Vincent Van Gough,  and how to tell a story in several images such as the work of Banksy- Venice Biennale.

Creating our soundscapes:
We worked in groups to create sounds that would reflect our art ideas.

We are really proud of our learning! We also got to visit what Autahi and Māhutonga/Matariki had been doing and spent some time practising Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence for their artworks as well.