Term 1 Week 8: Syndicate Treaty

Kia ora koutou,

What a whirlwind of a week!  From our Monday pondering posts, to setting up families for learning from home, and now everyone staying in their 'bubble' so we can keep each other safe and healthy, it has been very different to what we had planned for our classes this week.

These modified plans have meant that Mrs McLellan finally finished assembling our treaty waka with each of our individual pictures paddling in the same direction to indicate we are working together on our learning journey.  (Her photography skills might need some work. It is hard to get a sharp picture when you are standing on a chair with your phone at arm's length above the floor!)

Our treaty has four main parts: be kind, be respectful, be responsible, be a learner. We have shared and role played lots of examples about how we might put these into practice in our syndicate.  

We hope you have a good 'staycation' as we all head into our school holidays. Remember to be kind to each other and try to have some fun as you navigate this unusual journey. See you back online on April 14th as we continue our learning journey.

He waka eke noa - We're all in this together!

Term One Week 8 Insects ponder

Last week, during reading, we read lots of about insects and the ways they can help or harm us. We were trying to find out what would happen if there were no more insects left in the world. With this information in mind, we have a question for you to respond to...

Remember to check that your comment answers the ponder, is written in full sentences, has correct punctuation and makes sense.

Term 1 Week 8 Kindness Ponder

Welcome to our pondering posts.

To ponder means to think about something carefully, before reaching a conclusion or making a decision. Another way of saying this is to reflect on something.

Our theme this year is Ata Whakaaro - Reflection, so today we are inviting you to reflect on kindness and comment below.

When Waikowhai kids are out and about at events, often we get lovely comments about how kind they are. Our school code of conduct (Respect) is often shown when students choose to be kind. The photo below is of the mural on the end of our Te Ana Ako building. 

Quote by Bryan Skavnak

How are you the nice kid? What is an example of someone being kind to you?

Week 6 - Maths Learning

We have been working in lots of groups for maths this term. We are learning that group work is important to help each of us become great mathematicians. 

Check out our slideshow, where we share some of the big ideas and group skills we have practised alongside our maths knowledge and strategies.

Week 5 - Sea Week

We celebrated Sea Week at school last week.  Our literacy and numeracy learning was based around experiences related to the sea.  We investigated the theme for sea week which was Connecting With Our Seas and the whakatauki: Ko au te moana, ko te moana ko au  –  I am the sea, the sea is me. You can find out more here.  

On Monday, we experimented with the filter feeders mussels.  Mussels do a super job of filtering seawater.  You can find out more about mussels and the important job they do here.  Unfortunately, our experiment wasn't very successful but we hope to have a go another time.

Following that, we completed some shared reading, looking at the Science Hub website and also investigating the story Kutai in the school journal.  From all of this knowledge, we started to create some infographics, explaining what mussels are and why they are important for healthy seas.  You can see our experiment in action, and some of our infographics in the slideshow below.

We would love to hear what you think.  Please leave us a positive, thoughtful and helpful comment.