I am Connected- Tuakana Teina Whānau Buddies

Our Learner Attribute for this term is I am connected.

As part of building on our Learner Attribute of I am connected, some of the year 2, 3 and 4's have become tuakana (older) whānau buddies for the new members of Worser Bay School from Autahi as they begin their learning journey at our kura.

Over the next few weeks, they will get to know each other and do different activities together to build their relationships.

First, the tuakana (older) buddies made an introduction card for their (younger buddies).

Next, one group of tuakana got to know their teina buddy by interviewing them, making connections and then spending some time playing games.

Here are some of our thoughts from the afternoon:

Tuakana buddies:
Eddie- It was exciting to meet my new buddy because it was fun to get to do something with someone you have never done something with before.
Lillian- It was fun to show someone little how to do things.

Teina buddies:
Leo- I want my tuakana buddy to help me make more friends.
Violet- I want my tuakana buddy to help me learn maths.

Athletics Day at Worser Bay Beach

We had a great day at the beach on Thursday. So much fun was had by the students and we managed to jump, throw, and race with the wind and occasional rain!

It was fantastic to hear students supporting each other and celebrating their efforts.



These photos are from the dress up relay. 

What, no play !?

We have started our new inquiry for this term which is based around play, games, and creating new games using our imagination and innovation.



On Tuesday we headed outside with our base groups and spent 10 minutes doing anything we wanted but we were not allowed to play.



Obviously, this was tricky for many of us. There were a number of very sad and confused looking faces.



After our 10 minutes period of no-play we posed a set of questions to the students. Here are some of our first ideas.

• What would my world be like without play?

Boring, still, frustrating, we would get sick, lonely, exhausting, still, left out.

• What do we need play for?

Exercise, to learn how to play and make friends, to connect to other places and people, to get fit and stay healthy, to feel included.

• Is play only for kids?

We never stop playing though sometimes adults don't have enough energy!, adults like having fun too, adults teach children how to play, adults play sports and video games.

And then we went out for a game ! Awesome

Soccer Skills

This term we are developing our soccer skills. We are working with a group of professional soccer players that are kindly sharing their knowledge with us.



We started our first session on Thursday and worked on dribbling the ball with two feet and keeping it close to our body.



It is a great opportunity for us to work with different people at school and build on our large ball skills at the same time.

Check out the blog for more soccer updates!

Shake Out Week

This week we have been finding information about earthquakes and how to be prepared in case we are in an earthquake. We already know a lot of what to do when there is an earthquake but it's always good to remind ourselves so we feel confident and prepared.

We watched some funny clips from the Shake Out website like this one:

We did some writing about how to stay safe when there is an earthquake.

Some groups did research projects about earthquakes as well.

And most importantly, we had a real drill!

Algebra- The World of Patterns

We have begun to explore patterns in algebra. This week some of us used the ideas of supermarket displays to work out how a pattern can grow. 

We had to work out how many cans in total would be needed to make a display 10 rows high. Then we had to work out what the rule is that makes the pattern grow evenly. It was super tricky. We will keep practising to help our brains grow new connections about how patterns are formed.

We have also been learning about function patterns and how to use a table to find the pattern

Getting Ready for Athletics

Next Wednesday is our athletics day and the weather has been so good we've begun to practice our skills: quoits, vortex, sprints and long jump. On Friday we will be heading to the beach to have a final practice before the big day. We have been showing our perseverance and growth mindset by having a go and learning new skills.

Here we are practising the vortex, quoits and long jump: