Cross Country

 As part of our Physical Education Curriculum we have been training for cross country.

We set ourselves a goal, and we have been practising running around our school circuit to see if we can beat that goal (Please read our earlier blog post about this called "Cross Country Fitness Goals" if you would like to know more). 

We invited our whanau down to the beach to watch us participate in cross country on a beautiful Wellington day.

We had to dial up our character strengths of grit and perseverance to run the whole way.

The Day the Chairs Disappeared!

 It was a normal Tuesday...or so we thought! 

That was until we arrived at school to find all the chairs - except two - had disappeared!

All that was left were some mysterious white footprints!

What has happened to all the chairs, where have they gone???

We wasted no time in brainstorming what we thought had happened.

Some of us thought that they chairs had been taken down to the beach for the cross country races later that day - but when we looked over the fence, we didn't see any there...

We looked around the school, but we couldn't find them!

This is a map Owen drew to show the path we took to find where the chairs were.

Here are some of our ideas of what might have happened...

When I walked into the classroom, there were no chairs! I saw a clue, there were white footprints. Me and my friends checked to see if anybody had white powder on their shoes. The suspects were John, Jess or Suz! Jess gave us a clue, we had to find some. We looked in Autahi, Tautoru, Mahutonga and Matariki...

Thomas

I walked into the classroom, I looked around like usual but there was a big difference, the chairs were gone! I had no idea of where they went. This is a mystery, but wait! "Hmmmm" I recognise those footprints! Those footprints resemble those of the king zombie and his army...

Ronan

In the morning yesterday, all of the chairs were gone! There were dusty white footprints. The footprints looked like Franks (the school cat)...he took the chairs for a cat meeting. After the cat meeting Frank brought the chairs back, he carried the chairs with his paws.

Amberlee

Thankfully all the chairs turned up again after morning tea.

What really happened to the chairs??? I guess we'll never know.

Akau Tangi

It was great to get back to Akau Tangi for a day of sports. We used a Growth Mindset by trying new things and getting stuck in. Trying new sports is beneficial for our bodies and minds! When you learn new things, your brain grows. When you process a positive experience it enhances Positive Emotions too!

Thank you to Lext for putting this movie trailer together: 

Pacific Migration

This week in Tautoru we have been immersing ourselves in Māori and Pacific Migration. We've been speaking about why people choose to migrate and the reasons for travelling, alongside creating our own waka. Māori methods of transportation were also quite different to what we're used to today! Our tamariki have learnt how Māori travellers used the stars, waves, clouds and birds to find their way across the pacific.

Tuesdays school trip to Te Papa aided in this learning. We saw models of waka that were used to travel, alongside a real waka from all that time ago! Our tamariki explored different waka hoa, traditional Māori resources and lots more. A standout piece of learning was this karakia, which gave directions of the stars used as a guide to find Aotearoa. It was Hukenukumai who passed on this knowledge which we all get to enjoy today. 

Kupe is an important figure in Māori migration history, as alongside his wife Kuramārotini he was the first to discover the land of the long white cloud. One of our year 2 students wrote a beautiful piece of writing about Kupe:

Kupe was very brave. Once he realised that all the villagers and his food was gone! A little while later an octopus stole it. He chased it around Aotearoa and he couldn't catch him for a long lone time. Around Aotearoa the waka was storing food and his friends came with Kupe. Finally Kupe caught Te Wheke!

Here are some photos from this weeks learning.

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!