Celebrating Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori

We have been learning Te Reo Māori all year, about our feelings by using Kei te pehea koe?
This week we celebrated Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori by learning about the history of our pā site, the meaning of our school karakia and how to use encouraging phrases in Te Reo Māori.

Creating story boards to show encouraging phrases:
Ka rawe!- Awesome!
Te ātaahua hoki- That's amazing as well
He tino pai tō mahi- You've done great work!

Creating models of a pā site

Learning the deeper meaning of some of the words in our school karakia like:
Aroha- Love
Manaaki- Rurture and respect
Puāwai: Growing together
Mahi katoa: Working together

Student Led Workshops- Kids can be teachers too!

We have been using our Love of Learning, Leadership and Positive Purpose to teach others and learn from each other. Kids can teach too!

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Some of us have been going to Autahi to the Rocket Lab. We help others in Autahi to learn their Rocket Words and by helping them to practise reading and writing. It's amazing to think that we had to learn to do that not that long ago! Some of us have been running workshops teaching others some of the skills we know.

 
 
 




We've learned that teaching is quite hard sometimes but it gives us lots of positive emotions to share what we know.

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Isabella- I liked being a teacher but it was hard because people were not listening when I showed them how to do it. I'm going to try again with some helpers.
Oli- It is a bit tricky to teach people origami because I had to do it for them until they learned it.
Freddie- It was fun helping my buddy with their Rocket Words. I like being a teacher.
Darragh- The first time I helped my buddy do their rocket words it was scary but now I feel confident. I like being a teacher.

Student Led Conferences - SLC

This week we had SLC's. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to share and celebrate their progress with learning goals through the year with parents.



Thanks to all of the parents that were able to make it. It was great to see how proud the kids were when about their learning, goals and life in Tautoru. If you were unable to make it, feel free to pop in next Tuesday between 8.15 and 8.45 next week for some sharing time.



Students have also been discussing and identifying what they would like to focus on for the rest of the year in their learning. There are a number of goals around the big kids monkey bars but also around maths, reading and writing.

Love of Learning

Another super day with the super stars from Autahi and our senior big buddies. Today we embraced our Love of Learning by playing a number of new games, trying out some activities that were new to us and there were even a couple of students leading groups!

We had a number of very keen finger knitters. Lots of growth mindset here as finger knitting takes time, patience and a whole of of perseverance.



There was even an old time game of Tiddly Winks on the go. Students were challenged to hit targets and develop new rules for this classic.

Other groups were creating card towers. They needed to balance cards against one another and it required a steady hand.



Cat had a team of hula hoopers outside.



Another group were engaged in origami, creating paper planes and other paper designs.

I am ....

In writing over the last couple of weeks the writers of Scott's literacy group have created portraits of themselves after some inspiration from Pablo Picasso and his weeping woman portrait.




We cut the portraits up and then randomly re-connected the different parts of ourselves into a new and interesting self portrait.

  

After some discussion we decided to create posters about ourselves and the things we do, the food we love, the games we play, and the people we are - I am ....



Some of us are secret chocolate eaters (Scott), we have many Lego masters, a number of animal patters, and even a couple of zooming swimmers.

You may have noticed that we have been working on using 'er' in our writing too!

Sports Rotation - Hockey

On Monday afternoons we have been spending time developing our PE skills. Students have been working on big and small ball skills and hockey.



This week in hockey we learned the Indian dribble. It helps us to control the ball when running and by keeping it close to our body we can change direction, pass or shoot a goal.

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We also worked on passing to each other focusing on calling our partners name out so that they are ready to receive the ball. We are learning how to spread out and work as a team when passing the ball.



Our next step is to work on running faster with the ball, passing to one another and developing our teamwork. We are very enthusiastic when playing and sometimes crowd around the ball even when we have players in the clear ready to score! Keep your eyes out for more photos and updates on how our skills are developing.

I am Powerful - I can find challenges and take action.

We spent time on Monday watching a video about Forest Man. He lived in an area of India that was prone to erosion, poaching, and environmental damage caused by the inaction of humans.




We discussed how he was powerful and that through his actions he was able to make a positive change for his community but also the environment and animals. Over 40 years he single handedly planted a forest in what was once a wasteland.



In base groups we roamed the school and identified some problems that we would like to take action on during our next inquiry.



We came up with a number of interesting ideas from water slides, elephant swings and a swimming pool to tree houses, more sand in the sand pit, more trees to climb and harakeke for weaving!



Our next step is to continue identifying problems or needs and finding out how to take action, who to ask, and using our power to make it happen.