Te Whetūkairangi Pā

With it being the 125th (Wow!) Anniversary of Worser Bay School this year, we thought it the perfect time to dive into the history of our place. Knowing the history of the land we stand on is crucial for our tamariki, promoting the idea of something bigger than themselves. To begin this inquiry we created a timeline of what we already know about Aotearoa’s history. Our kids knew a lot more than we thought! They documented influential people and events such as “Mr Cook” and “people fought for more land.” We’re going to be building on this timeline as we progress in our inquiry.

This week, we focused on Te Whetūkairangi Pā, which occupied our school's land from 12-1300 up to the early days of colonisation. Te Whetūkairangi was the principal Pā on the Miramar peninsular, due to its view vantage points and access to resources. We have been investigating what Te Whetūkairangi Pā would have looked like, imagining our school site with plenty of whare, food storage areas, blockades and a large range of natural resources. After exploring our environment and imagining a different time, we have been creating pictures of what Te Whetūkairangi looks like to us.

This inquiry has been a necessary first step in implementing the new, New Zealand Histories Curriculum. We have been focusing on the Understand themes of Māori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand and Colonisation and settlement have been crucial to Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories for the last 200 years. If you’d like to check out more about the New Zealand Histories curriculum, have a look here.

Forest Explorers- Science learning outdoors

On Monday we walked to Centennial Reserve to enjoy some learning in the outdoors. We used a lot of Resilience and Perseverance to get there!

At the reserve we practised our scientific skills by using our senses. We did careful observations of what we noticed in the bush. Scientists can tell how healthy the bush is by observing the environment. We listened to the birds to find out if there are lots of birds. Most of us could hear four different bird calls and even some cicadas. Scientists can tell the different types of birds that live in the forest by listening, too.

We built nests with materials and tested them to see if they would work. This was lots of fun and we enjoyed learning about what things birds might be looking for when they try to build their nests.

At school, we wrote about our experiences. Here are a couple of our stories:

I hiked to Centennial Reserve with Tautoru and Autahi. We passed some houses with Halloween decorations and rain started to dribble. When we got there, we put out the tarps and put our bags on them. We said karakia and the ate morning tea. We made some nests out of sticks. I was so excited and happy. It was much quicker to come back. It was still spitting when we were hiking back to Tautoru. We passed more houses with Halloween decorations. By Callum.

On the walk, we saw a bird's nest in a tree. We saw the mummy bird sitting on the tree looking after the eggs. We enjoyed looking at the wetā hotels. Also, there was another bird's nest with no bird and no eggs. When we were walking I felt tired, hot and my feet hurt. We heard the birds chirping as crunched through the leaves. I really liked the walk because we got to go to the forest and get out and about. When we got there, we split into groups and I went with Jess and Hayley. First we built nests out of twigs, leaves and mud. Then we tested them with toy birds.  By Ava-Jean.

How we change and grow

This term we will be inquiring into how we change and grow. We can see how our environment is changing now that sprig is here and we know we are growing and changing too!

We spent time thinking and discussing how we use our bodies and taking on some different challenges. How do we use our bodies in different ways?

We tried some basketball skills and thought about how we can develop our passing and catching skills further:

We then tried some other moving challenges like dance, keeping a balloon in the air, and parachute games.

 Over the next weeks, we will be developing our skills to 'Think like a Scientist' to generate questions, observe carefully, draw conclusions and look for evidence to help us discover more.

Storytelling through Drama and Music

 In Tautoru we have been immersing ourselves into learning about how to communicate ideas using music and drama. We have learned how to use our bodies and sound to express emotions and ideas. We can't wait to show you our performance of 'A Magical Moment' next week!

First we wrote a narrative story that incorporates something magical into the everyday life at school. Then we used what we knew of sound and music to create soundscapes to match the feelings and ideas we are trying to share. The actors practiced moves and ideas to show the story to our audience using their bodies.

We have used lots of Perseverance and Teamwork to get our performance the best it can be. We hope you enjoy the show!

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori

This week we’ve been celebrating Māori language week in Tautoru, through speaking Te Reo as much as we can and having Te Reo Māori moments throughout the day. This term we have learnt how to ask the weather in Te Reo, (he aha te huarere?) and have been responding in Te Reo, through words such as wera (hot), kohu (foggy), paki (fine), mākū (wet) and makariri (cold). We’ve also learnt to ask kei te pehea koe? (how are you?) and kei te aha koe? (what are you doing?) and to respond to these questions in Te Reo. Tamariki have been practising these phrases, alongside skills such as counting in te reo, and our pepeha and mihi.

Speaking Te Reo and embodying Te Ao Māori principles are crucial aspects of learning in Aotearoa New Zealand. Learning at Worser Bay School has a strong connection to place. Acknowledging the native culture and language of Aotearoa is a necessary element of this. We expect students in Tautoru to be able to engage in simple Te Reo conversations through our learning, as well as have an understanding of the Te Ao Māori principles that shape who we are. Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori is an excellent time to celebrate this learning, and set goals for the remainder of the year.

Check out these photos to see some of the mindful moments in Te Reo we’ve had this week!

Learning to Read and Reading to Learn

Reading is a wonderful way to connect to the world and to the ideas of others, and this term it is all about being connected! Any type of literature can give us a window into another world, another culture or another person's life.

At the beginning of the reading journey, we begin by 'Learning to Read'. This is about learning how texts work and how to decode the sounds we read. We spend time learning about how to retell stories to make sure we are not just 'sounding out' words (which is important) but also connecting with the ideas in the text. It's important to learn that the meaning of books and stories can be gained through both text and images at any level. 

Once we become more comfortable decoding texts, we begin to focus on 'Reading to Learn'. This requires the reader to engage more deeply with the texts and to learn from the information in texts.

It's important that we read, read read! In Tautoru, we spend time reading with a teacher and also developing our love of all types books and literature: comics, novels, graphic novels, poems, everything. At the moment we are reading The BFG by Rohal Dahl as a class.

If you'd like to know more about how reading progresses in the junior school, here is a presentation we did with more detailed information and tips on how you can help develop a love of reading at home.

Statistical Investigators

Tautoru have been having a blast this past fortnight, learning about the statistical inquiry cycle in mathematics. This cycle involves posing and answering questions, gathering and displaying data and then discussing the data through concluding statements. We chose the question ‘What is your favourite animal?’ to use for a full cyclical investigation. Tamariki created question sheets with five animal options, then paired up and interviewed students from either Autahi or Mahutonga-Matariki to find out their favourite animals. This data was tellied and then displayed on our very own bar graphs.

Displaying data in different ways is hugely beneficial to cater for all different types of learning. Some students found it easier to analyse the data when it was tellied, whereas others preferred having the visual bar graphs to report on.

We love taking opportunities to work in groups, as well as across the school to strengthen our learning. Working with a buddy and interviewing students from Autahi and Mahutonga-Matariki fits into our learning attribute of 'I am connected.' Tamarki were working as part of a team, and using their communication skills to learn what does and doesn't make a good interview question. 

We’ve learnt a lot these past two weeks about statistics. Ask your tamariki to explain the statistical cycle to you and I’m sure they will love to talk about how we can use maths to answer some pretty important questions!