Fun Times in Tautoru

INQUIRY LEARNING 

 This week in Tautoru we have continued our Inquiry learning about Migration and Navigation. We have been learning about Kupe , the first Polynesian explorer and important ancestor to the Maori. We have been exploring narratives about his explorations, great battles and discoveries around the islands of Aotearoa New Zealand. We have been exploring local and significant landmarks that Kupe named on his haerenga around Aotearoa. We are fortunate to be able to see many of these from ‘our place’ 

We are in the process of creating our Mural of The Māori Waka Migration to Aotearoa. So far we have created the north and south islands. Next week we will be creating our waka to add to our mural. 

ART WITH KIMI MOANA WHITING 

This week we used water colours and silhouettes of creatures we find in our local bush. We have put them together to make tiles. Our next step is adding pencil detail. Once these are all created we will add them to our waharoa in Tautoru. Here's an example - plenty more to come!

Paper Mache Globes - update!

 Last term our globes didn't work for numerous reasons (see previous blog post).

We gave it another go this term using balls instead of balloons and had great success!

The funny part was, we put a layer of toilet paper over the newspaper! This made the globes white so we didn't have to paint them white first, and gave them a lovely texture to paint on.

They are hanging in our classroom if you'd like to see them all.

Cross Country Fitness Goals

 This term we are focusing on cross country running during our fitness time. 

We have agreed on a circuit around the school. 

It starts outside Tautoru on the steps, 

down the steps to bottom grass, 

across bottom grass, 

across bottom court, 

up the driveway, 

past Autahi, up the steps to top grass, 

 across top grass, 

down to back court, past little kids playground, around Tautoru to the steps again.

We set ourselves a goal to either walk or run the circuit and decided how many times we would like to challenge ourselves. We then timed ourselves to see what our baseline time was.

We will now practise every fitness day to get faster and hopefully fitter.

Paper Mache Globes

 Paper Mache Globes

As part of our inquiry 'Who are we?', we are focusing on exploring the world in a variety of ways.

Through these activities we want our students to:

• Understand that the world is not flat like a map -  We are all on Planet Earth, 

• Develop an greater understanding of different places around the world.

• Locate places of interest on the map.

• Develop and further their understanding of who they are connected to in our class.  

• Develop a basic understanding of similarities and differences

One of our activities is to try and make a paper mache globe. Here are the steps we used to create these:

Step 1: Blow up the balloon, place it on your cup.

Step 2: Take a small amount of paper.

Step 3: Use the brush to put a small amount of paste on your balloon.

Step 4: place little pieces of newspaper over your balloon - make sure that it is all covered and no balloon is showing through (wear gloves if your hands are sensitive).

Step 5: When you need a break, put your balloon on your cup and on the bench to dry. 

Don't forget to wash your hands after!

 

Unfortunately we found that some of the balloons popped or deflated. We realised that we need to work quicker to get all of the balloons covered in one go with newspaper.

We will have another go next term with stronger balloons and work together to complete the globes.

Ko wai mātou?

Ko wai mātou ? Our Inquiry learning this term has given us some great information about the origins of all our whānau in Tautoru.  We have been able to see the connections in Tautoru to different places and favourite spaces.  We have had a range of activities over the last few weeks that have helped us learn about the world and where our special places and connections are on the map.   We asked some good questions and we know the world is not flat like a map.  We are looking forward to sharing this with our whānau on Wednesday.

 

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We are in the process of making our kindness creatures.  These tiny works of art complement our learning about bugs, camouflage and the skills we have been learning in art about shapes and patterns.  We have been looking carefully to make sure our bugs have lots of tiny intricate details.  Thanks so much to Chloe for coming to help us !  Here is a sneak peek.   

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