Athletics Fun

 

This term we have been focusing on running, jumping and throwing as part 

of our physical education programme. Athletics is more than just running 

fast or throwing far, it's about moving your body in different ways. 

The focus for us in Tautoru has been mastering or improving our fundamental 

movement skills.  These are the building blocks for all sports and physical 

activity later in life.  

It is so rewarding to see children rolling down grass banks, 

galloping like horses, throwing balls across fields or in quiet lanes 

alongside the neighbourhood kids of similar ages.  We see kids racing 

around the playground, playing tag and kicking balls and we know life is very different 

and for a variety of reasons.  Just like reading, writing and maths,  

kids still need many learning and teaching opportunities to work out how 

their bodies can move in different ways. Just for fun we threw some creativity 

and fun into our relay races to cover some of the other fundamental movements 

such as  jumping, hopping, landing, galloping, side stepping and crawling.  

The kids even did the 'grapevine'. 

Deliberate teaching gives us the opportunity to teach or fine tune our 

throwing and catching skills.  Throwing requires some good hand eye co-ordination.  

We need to line up where we think our ball, quote or vortex needs to go.  

Now that is a challenge in itself !  We talked lots about how our bodies help 

the momentum of the object being thrown. We can not stand stationery. 

We have to use our whole bodies, following through on the throw. 

The same applied to our jumping.  Our bodies, arms and legs needed to move 

together to propel us forward.  We had some budding scientists that had lots of 

wonderings and questions about this. Being out in the fresh air was the best 

start to our day. 

Exciting Ecosystems in Our Place

 

We continue our Inquiry about places and spaces for living and non living things. This week, as a follow on from the bush and forest trips, our students had another incredible hands-on learning experience exploring our rocky shore habitat!  This is a familiar trip for us but with a difference. This time it has been a perfect way to make connections and links to our current unit on habitats.  We have also been exploring ecosystems and we know this is the combination of living and non living things within a habitat.  We have learnt about the words:

Abiotic and Biotic

When we got to the rock pools we had to go a bit further than usual due to the tides. The children loved clambering over the rocks and peering into the rock pools to discover the amazing creatures that call this rugged environment home. We saw mussels, limpets, and even spotted a few crabs!

This week we will be furthering our learning by discussing how these animals are specially adapted to survive the harsh conditions—the pounding waves, the changing tides, and exposure to the sun.

We didn't realise that this fascinating phenomena was a real-life example of an ecosystem. We are learning to understand the relationships between the living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) parts of Worser Bay Beach.

Ask your child about their favourite discovery and how it might survive the high tide!

Here are our examples of writing and mind maps about the Rocky Shore. 

Oh the places you'll go

We have been super grateful this week to be able to spend a morning in the Centennial Reserve. We were able to observe like scientists, spotting everything from fungi to tunnel web spiders.  We found things in places we least expected. 

We had a special book to write and draw our field notes and specific things to find in the Centennial Reserve. These things related to our Inquiry learning about habitats and the NZ forest and bush layers. This was a fantastic place to observe the forest floor, sub canopy and canopy layers as you walked further up the track towards the Mount Crawford Prison and its gardens.

Being in nature has been shown to enhance many aspects that align with our Flourish Model here at Worser Bay School. 

Nature certainly promotes Positive Emotions such as joy, calm, awe, gratitude, and inspiration. Simply being out in amongst nature can lift your mood, reduce stress, and increase positive feelings and connections in a variety of ways. 

We often see our students engaged and in the ‘Flow’ during these chances to learn in a different way and in a different space. It also gives us a chance as teachers to see what our students actually know and what knowledge and experiences they bring from whānau adventures out and about.

We had a chance to be mindful and present so we could be completely absorbed in the moment.  Life moves very fast most of the time and we moved fast through the Centennial Reserve too but with a different level of excitement and engagement.  

We had to dial up our GRIT and Perseverance when it came to carrying our own bags and clipboards. Climbing a hill was hard and braving the Wellington winds added some complexity to our longer walk there.  We all managed, worked through some tolerable stress, feeling a positive sense of accomplishment afterwards.  We focused on all the things we could be grateful for on our return to school.  Here is what we were looking for on our adventure:

Our Trip to Wharewaka

According to Te Ātiawa , Kupe was the first Polynesian to discover the islands of New Zealand. He had many challenges along the way on his journey from Hawaiki, his homeland.  After observing a slime like juice on his fishing lines he realised there was a giant creature that was responsible for stealing their fist.  This was the great octopus belonging to Kupe’s competitor, Muturangi. 

Kupe went to visit Muturangi to ask her to get her wheke under control and she replied with No ! So, Kupe set out in his waka to kill the octopus, and such was the length of the pursuit that it brought him around Aotearoa.  For some Iwi around Aotearoa Muturangi was a male. His journeys and the places he stopped all have special names that help us keep the pūrākau of Kupe and his whānau alive.  

The arrival of Kupe is of great importance. His wife, Kuramārōtini, gave the name of Ao-tea-roa (‘long white cloud’) on seeing the North Island for the first time. She yelled “He Ao He Ao, He Ao tea roa”   His adventures took place predominantly in the south Wairarapa, Cook Strait and Northland regions. However, in some versions he travelled as far south as the South Island’s West Coast, and to the Coromandel Peninsula.  Taputapu-ātea and Te Whitianga-o-Kupe, for example, commemorate Kupe’s time in Hauraki.

There are many places that are super significant for us here at Worser Bay because after a time Kupe settled just inside Te Whanganui a Tara (Wellington Harbour) at Maraenui (Seatoun). The beach there is named Te Tūranganui ō Kupe from his stay at that place. 

The reef in the harbour entrance, Te Tangihanga ō Kupe (Barrett's Reef), is named from the mournful sound of the waters around it. Te Ure ō Kupe, also called Te Aroaro ō Kupe (Steeple Rock) was a fishing place Kupe reserved for himself. He named the rocks and islands after one of his crew and the islands in the harbour he named after his daughters, Mokopuna, Mākaro (Ward Island) and Matiu (Somes Island).

We also learnt that Kupe had a Kuri called “AuAu”.  This Kuri had the special responsibility for following and knowing where Te Wheke was.   Au Au was his bark when he was on to a lead !