Kakapo 

This week Kakapo spent time creating some Nativity Art to be presented in the office. We decided to have some fun by drawing the outside of the stable and opening it to reveal Baby Jesus inside. We also decided to add in some of the other important people we knew from the story of Jesus’s birth. We used pastels to make our art vibrant and colourful and had a go at practicing our smudging techniques. We thoroughly enjoyed making our Nativity Art and are proud to have it displayed in the office! Please have a look at them (and open them up) to see all our work!
Here are some photos of the learning in action.

Procedure Writing in Takahē

This week in Takahē, we have been learning all about procedure writing! Procedures are used to instruct, teach or explain how to do something step by step. We explored different examples of procedures, including recipes, game instructions, manuals and how-to guides. We then put our learning into action by writing our own fairy bread recipes, carefully organising our steps and instructions. Once our writing was checked, we brought our procedures to life by making our very own fairy bread! This hands-on experience helped us understand the importance of clear instructions, sequencing and using precise language so that others can follow our steps successfully. We even made connections to fractions as we explored how to divide our bread into equal parts. What a delicious way to learn!

Tui Class Spotlight

Tui class have been busy diving into some exciting science investigations over the past few weeks. Following on from our Term 1 topic (where we learned how our Pacific and European ancestors navigated their journeys across the Pacific Ocean and explored the voyaging vessels they use), we moved onto a more scientific focus this term: investigating floating and sinking. We have been fortunate to have access to the House of Science ‘Float My Boat’ kit. It has been a fantastic resource to guide our learning and provide practical activities that the students have loved. 

The students began by predicting, then testing, a variety of everyday objects to see if they would float or sink, introducing them to the concept of density. Next, they engineered their own boats out of tin foil. Through trial and error, they discovered that a boat’s buoyancy depends heavily on its size and shape. This directly influenced how many washers their boats could carry before taking on water!  The students then extended their understanding by calculating the density of several regular-shaped solid materials, looking closely at the relationship between volume and mass. We are still in the process of analysing these results and comparing the materials' densities to that of water to see if those with a density less than water do, in fact, float.

Lastly, Tui students had a great time attempting the 'flinking' challenge. Their task was to create a ‘flinker’ -an object placed in a container of water that neither floats on the top nor sinks to the bottom, but suspends itself right in the middle of the water. Using a variety of small objects like buttons, pins, washers, and paperclips, they attempted to weigh down either a floating polystyrene ball or a bottle cork to achieve perfect buoyancy... with some mixed results!

Kākāriki Class has been learning all about water, from the 5 oceans of our world to our New Zealand marine animals, to water in our homes, and in our local area.  Excursions (Kelly Tarlton's in Term One) and incursions (from Watercare in Term Two) brought this topic to life.

Sarah, an educator from Watercare, visited to teach us about the differences between stormwater and wastewater.  We were fascinated to learn what happens when the wrong things go down the drain, and what we can do to improve the water quality in our local environment.  The children loved hearing about how our wastewater is cleaned before being allowed back into our ocean. They went outside to create a terrain with lakes and rivers to model the journey water makes from lakes, down rivers and smaller waterways to the sea. Ping pong balls were used as pollution, and as the water was poured onto our 'river' we saw how pollution can make its way into the sea to where our marine animals live.  We followed up this learning with whole-class reading all about stormwater and wastewater.  You would be surprised by how interesting this subject is to your children!

Sadly, our second lesson with Sarah from Watercare, had to be postponed, but later this term we plan to take the children to Bonnie Brae reserve to collect a water sample to see if there are bugs living in the water.  The presence, or absence, of water bugs will indicate the health of this body of water.

Most recently, the children have been exploring the concept of floating and sinking using lessons and activities from the "Float My Boat" kit from the House of Science.  They loved their Flinking Challenge, which developed the children's ideas of floating and sinking.  They were tasked with building an object that neither floated, nor sank, but which remained suspended in the water.  They were given polystyrene balls, paper clips, pegs and other materials to make an object which "Flinked".  You can see they had great fun.

The photos show just a few of the water-related learning and activities we have taken part in so far.

Love Mrs Frogley and Kākāriki Class

Piwakawaka - Outdoor Learning

On Wednesday mornings, our Piwakawaka class has Outdoor Learning in the Enchanted Garden. This is a great opportunity to learn through play in the outdoors in our beautiful natural setting. Outdoor Learning covers so many learning areas like oral language, science, maths, health and physical education. This term we have been finding insects under tree roots, role playing restaurant owners in the mud kitchen, and designing our own obstacle courses with PE equipment. We love running, jumping, swinging, balancing, climbing and moving our bodies while we learn. We are so lucky to have our classroom right next door to the Enchanted Garden, and we have been very lucky with good weather so far!

This week in Kiwi C, we had lots of fun learning about Chinese New Year and making our own bright lanterns. We included the colour red because in Chinese culture it is believed to bring good luck, happiness, and protection. Red decorations are often used during celebrations to help welcome a lucky and joyful year ahead. This year, Chinese New Year began on Tuesday, 17 February and marks the start of the Year of the Fire Horse, a rare and energetic sign that combines the strength of the horse with the passionate Fire element in the Chinese zodiac. The Festival celebrations are rich with traditions like family reunions, symbolic foods, decorative lanterns, and wishes for prosperity that continue for about two weeks, ending with the Lantern Festival. Our students particularly enjoyed learning about these cultural customs and creating lanterns inspired by this vibrant celebration. Well done Kiwi C, the lanterns look amazing!