The Power of having a buddy- Teamwork

Teamwork is described as the character strength that helps everyone contribute to the success of the team. In Tautoru we often have a learning buddy to share ideas with and to give us feedback. During maths, we can discuss different strategies we've used or think of different ways to solve a problem.

During writing, they might help us come up with ideas and better words to write or help us check our writing goals like full stops and capital letters.

" My buddy helps me to sound out new words"
" My buddy helps me to read my writing and check it makes sense"


This way we always have someone who we can share our learning journey with whether it's a challenge, a discovery or an interesting idea.

Technology Challenge

On Wednesday we did a number of technology challenges. We had to work together and problem solve.

Problem Posing: How much money to we need to grow our garden?

Today in Maths, we were asked, “ How much money do we need to buy plants for our garden?” As part of our Inquiry about Change, we will be finding out about how plants grow.

Our focus was to ask good Mathematical and relevant questions.

We had to work as a team to come up with these questions. Here are some of the questions that we came up with:

1. Where is the garden? Thomas

2. How much space do we have in our garden? Lily S/ Pippa

3. What type of soil do we need? Rim

4. What season are we planting our seeds in? Charlotte

5. Where do we get plants from? Joni

6. Thinking about where we plant our garden, what do the plants need? What conditions do they need? Nela/ Ruby

7. How many plants do we need to buy? Lachlan

8. How big do the plants grow? Violeta

9. How long do the plants take to grow? Leola

10. When is a good time to plant the plants? Emelia

11. Do we need to grow them a little bit inside first? Talia

12. How many seeds are there in one packet? Rim

Message from Shona, Scott, Nicola and Susie:
This term we are continuing our Kitchen Science Inquiry and then moving on to an Inquiry around plants. We are keen to get the children growing various things, so the New World promotion is very timely. If possible, would you please be able to send one free Seedling Kit along to school for your child to grow. (They come free from New World if you spend $40). I have a friend who has obviously spent many amounts of $40 and she has given me her kits, so I have spares if anybody needs one. Alternatively, if you have any spares would you please send them along just in case.

We would also appreciate it if you have any spare empty plant containers that we can recycle and use for growing some other plants. 

And if anyone lives nearby, and has a garden that they are happy for the children to look at, it would be lovely for some groups to see a garden in action.