Imagination and Innovation Inquiry: Māori Legends Art

As part of our inquiry, we are learning about how art can bring people together and spark our imagination. We have been exploring different Māori legends using the art of authors like Peter Gossage.

We have been learning the legends of How Maui Found his Father and The Magic Jawbone, Maui and the Sun, Ngāki and Whataitai and The Battle of The Mountains that tells the story of how some of the mountains around the North Island came to be. Here are some of the art we have created so far.

Maui and The Sun, by Peter Gossage

The Battle of The Mountains by Peter Gossage

How Maui Found His Father and The Magic Jawbone

The Legend of Ngake and Whataitai

Growth Mindset- Our Elastic Brain

We have been learning about how our brain makes connections. Our brain cells, called neurons, make connections when we try new challenges. The more challenges and practice we do, the more connections we build.

During whānau time with Autahi, we watched this great clip about our elastic brain.

We also talked about all the things that used to be a challenge but we have learned how to do. That's because our connections are now strong so we need new challenges. We thought about some of the challenges we have now and some we would like to have in the future.

Here are some of our ideas

Kia Kaha te Reo Māori!

Next week is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori (Māori language week). In Tautoru we practise different phrases in Te Reo and learn how to respond. We try to do this every day as we are responsible for keeping our kupu  (spoken word/language) alive. The theme this year is - Kia Kaha te Reo Māori - Let's make the Māori language strong!

Everyone can help strengthen our language. It just takes a few words at a time, a few minutes a day and it's the perfect opportunity to do some learning together as a family! 

Each week in Mahuru (September), our children will post up a new kupu challenge. It would be ka rawe (awesome) if you can all try it out at home...send us in a picture or video to share on our blog!

Here we go! Our first Mahuru challenge is ...

Kei te pēhea te āhua o te rangi?

(How's the Weather)

   

SLCs: A Celebration of Learning

This week Tautoru was buzzing as students shared their accomplishments and new learning goals with whanau. Student Led Conferences are a wonderful opportunity for our children to celebrate their learning successes so far (positive accomplishment) and to identify new goals or challenges in their learning.

In the weeks leading up to SLCs we spent some time reflecting on goals we had set earlier in the year. It was really exciting when we realised that we had achieved so much since setting those goals. We identified that drawing on our strengths of Love of Learning, Curiosity, Perseverance and using a Growth Mindset helped us to achieve these great milestones in our learning. 

SlCs are also a great way for students to share with whanau their passions, interests and the things that excite them at school (positive engagement)! We all showed Leadership during our conferences and we looked like we were having a fun time.

Here are some of our own thoughts about SLCs:

"The Treasure Hunt was fun because I got to show mum and dad some music and Growth Mindset videos".

"I like that we get to share what our goals are with our parents and that we are able to show them a few things we can do now that we couldn’t do earlier in the year".

"I really liked it because the Treasure Hunt was fun. My mum liked learning about Growth Mindset".

Buddy reading with Autahi

We popped into Autahi today to share some of our favourite books with the Autahi team.



It is fantastic to see the confidence in all of the students to share their reading and to also listen in on conversations about snakes, nests, and the characters in the stories.



Thanks Autahi for being great buddies.

Geometry

First we used sticks to make 2D shapes. 2D shapes have length and width.
We tried to name our shapes and then count how many sides and corners they have. All 2D shapes have 1 face.


We tried to make some 3D shapes. 3D shapes have length, width and height. We tried to name our shapes and then count how many corners, edges and faces they have.

Did you know that a cube has 6 faces, 12 edges and 8 corners?

Did you know that a cylinder has 2 faces, 1 curved surface, 2 edges and no corners?

Maths workshops

Today we had some very special teachers come to help us learn more about fractions.
Some of the seniors came to take workshops.

  

We learnt about proper and mixed fractions eg 2 and 1/2, or 1/3.

We learnt how to add fractions together when the denominator is the same, like 3/5 plus 1/5.
We tried to draw pictures to show the equation and how we got the answer.

















                                         

A group of seniors went up to Tautoru to teach them about fractions. We were given a small group of kids to teach. The kids cooperated and were all super enthusiastic! In our group we split the kids into 2 groups. One group was kids who understood fractions. The other group were who didn’t understand them that much. We taught the kids about fractions so they understood what they were and so can use them in the future.
By Lily and Charlotte (Mahutonga Students) 

We have been unpacking the idea of Tuakana/ Teina.

Our students have been discussing these ideas and how they can build their leadership. Research about peer teaching says that:

• Students receive more time for individualised learning. 
• Direct interaction between students promotes active learning. 
• Peer teachers reinforce their own learning by instructing others. 
• Students feel more comfortable and open when interacting with a peer. 
• Peers and students share a similar discourse, allowing for greater understanding.