Operation Space Rover

In Taurtoru we've been tasked with a top secret operation; constructing a space rover.




Set to be deployed on Mars by 2020, it is our duty work together to plan and build a rover. This is a few of us hard at work.




Our supervisors Scott, James & Ximena have been impressed by our teamwork and our ability to share our ideas during the building process.

This is one project that has the potential to shape the future of human kind for years to come.

Over and out.
The Kids of Tautoru.

It's the Moon!

As part of our inquiry into the moon, the sun, and day and night we have been sorting and creating what we have learned. This group have written a rap to explain some of their new knowledge!

Check out the blog for more beats and pieces in the future.

Becoming a Digital Citizen at school

Digital technology has revolutionised our lives in the 21st century, expanding our ability to connect, collaborate and create in many new ways. Our year 3's have been learning about digital citizenship and what it means to have a school account so that we learn how to use digital technology responsibly at school.

We began by learning about how to stay safe with our personal information online. These are some of the videos that helped us to understand how to keep our information safe from Hector's World.

Our year 4 buddies from last year helped us to log in and learn about some of the apps that we will be using this year. We enjoyed catching up with them and next year we might be able to show our leadership and help others.

We learned about the importance of being responsible and respectful when communicating online as well. We practised our writing by sending kindness emails to each other. 

Over the year we will be learning new digital skills and using digital technology to support our learning. We will be collecting different badges to show our progress.

Learning about patterns using body percussion

As part of our maths programme students have been learning about patterns in music. We have been developing different patterns and learning to listen carefully to the pattern which which we then copy.



This week groups have been given three different coloured blocks and in teams decided on a movement, sound, or action for each colour. We have also been watching videos and learning about body percussion.



Teams are then able to rearrange the blocks into a simple musical score. Our next step is to share our patterns with another group so keep your eyes posted for future posts!

Waking up our brain with music

Every morning we wake our brains to help us get ready for learning. We have been using music and rhythm to switch on our learning muscles, and also learning about keeping a beat and the different types of rhythms and sounds that we can make with instruments and objects.

We are using different types of instruments like drumming sticks and rākau to create patterns. We are enjoying creating different beats and working with others.

Inquiry- We are exploring the changes of the sun, moon and earth

The Inquiry Cycle: I am Exploring

For our inquiry focus this term, we have been exploring and learning through different activities about the relationship between the sun, earth and moon, and some of the changes we can observe from earth. We are also finding answers to some of our original questions:

Where does the sun go at night?
What is the sun made out of? Why is it hot?
Why does the moon look different sometimes?
If the sun is a star, how come we see it during the day and we see the stars at night?

Here are some of our activities and what we have discovered.

The Sun

The sun is a medium size star. Other stars are even bigger than our sun but they are very far away that's why they look so small.

When stars are further away they look smaller and we don't feel their heat. Our sun is much closer so we get lots of light and heat from it.

The sun is always shining, but as our earth rotates, different sides get sunlight and heat. This makes day and night.

The Moon

The moon orbits our earth like the earth orbits the sun. The moon is made of rock and reflects the light of the sun like a mirror. We see the side of the moon that the sun is shining on.

For the next stage of the inquiry cycle, we will be Sorting and Creating from we have learned. We may even have some new questions to wonder about.

Planets of the Solar System

On Friday we explored the features of the different planets of the Solar System. We noticed that some have craters and land features. Other planets are gas giants that have amazing swirling clouds and some even have dark spots.



The students observed the different features and then created their own plants to add to our class Solar System.



We used watercolours for the plants and then while our planets dried we used white paint for the stars.



Some stars were bigger than others because they are further away!



Pop into Tautoru to check out more of our creations.