Week 6 - Hello Again Dance and Greeting activity

Welcome back bloggers, we are very excited to be back at school and back together in our class, Te Ana Ako.  Today, we worked on a creative dance challenge to share a message with an audience.  Our task was to use dance to create a special new way to greet our classmates. Our teachers got the idea from the Te Rito Toi website.

To get ourselves warm, we practised moving at low, medium and high levels into space. It was important that we were respectful of the space that our classmates need to stay safe too.  Our next step was to list the different ways that we greet each other.  

With a buddy, we choreographed a simple dance that combined greetings to say hello again.  We also had to make sure we greeted each other from a safe distance.  The final step was to apply this dance to a piece of lively music.  Our first video shows you the creative fun we were having, coming up with a dance with our buddies.  

Here are some of our dance routines.  Are there any familiar types of greeting that you notice?  What do you think of our dances?  We would love some of your positive, thoughtful and helpful feedback.

Week 4 - Visitors Week

Kia Ora Bloggers,

This week we had some special guests join us in our online meetings.  We've taken screenshots and added them below to show you how surprised we were. Thank you, Miss Lane, Mrs Peterson and Mrs Law for joining us, reading stories and updating us with how you are going.

Miss Lane joins us on Monday

Mrs Peterson joins us on Wednesday

Mrs Law joins us on Thursday

We've also been really busy with our distance learning.  Some of the highlights were creating book reviews, using pixel art to create characters in maths, creating a poem page for a junior journal that included an audio file, building word finds, developing our drama skills in our class meetings and folding origami using Origami player.  We've included a few examples of these activities in the presentation below.  We would love some feedback.

Mathematical Mazes

Kia Ora Bloggers,

One of our mathematical thinking challenges this week has been to create a maze.  The instructions are here in this video and in the screenshot from our Wednesday Maths activity below.

We used the geoboard app from the math learning centre to create our mazes.  Our creations are shared with you below. Have some fun solving these. You may need to pause the presentation to give yourself thinking time.  Think about the direction and math language you could use as you move through the mazes.

 How did you find our mazes? We would love some of your feedback.

Term Two - Week Three Blog Ponder

This blog ponder is part of our distance learning tumble. Please think about this question then add your comment below to take part in the discussion.  Remember to check your comment to make sure it has correct spelling and punctuation. It is a good idea to read it through to yourself to check it makes sense. 

This year, all of New Zealand was in lockdown on the 25th of April. This meant that we couldn't come together like we normally do on ANZAC day.  However, people around the country commemorated ANZAC day in their own special ways. Did you do anything special? If so, we would love to hear your ideas and contributions in our comments.

Term Two - Week Two

Kia Ora bloggers,

This week we'd like to share the things that we have been doing while away from school. You can see from the screenshot below that we are quickly becoming experts at meeting together online.



The learners from Kaiwhare class have shared photos of some of the activities they have been enjoying during our time away from school. As you can see, we are a creative, caring, active and fun loving group of kids.

What has been your favourite activity during Level Four?  We would love to hear from you in our comments below.

Term Two - Week One - Distance Learning

Kia Ora bloggers.

Our first week of Term Two was a completely new experience for us all.  New Zealand is currently in Level 4 lockdown. This means that we all stay home, safe in our bubbles and work from afar.  While this has been a new and sometimes challenging experience, the students from Kaiwhare and Mokoroa (with the support of families too) have had an amazing first week.

One of the highlights has been catching up with each other using online meetings. It had been three weeks since we had talked with each other and it was nice to hear some of the good things that have been happening for everybody while we have been apart.

Our learning activities are available on our class site.  There are help videos for those who need a bit of extra support with getting things going at home. We also have a tumble of extra activities that children can choose as well as their normal activities.


How was your first week back at school?  We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments too.

Take care and stay safe.

Term Two: Week One - Blog Ponder

This week, we will be starting Term Two using distance learning. This is where we are completing all of our activities at home.  We will be using our class site to access Reading, Writing and Maths the way that we normally do. It will be cool to use google meet to check in with our teachers and our friends in an online meeting.

The middle school also have a table of optional activities to complete.  One of these is a response to a blog ponder.  To complete this activity, you need to think about the question below and then write your response in the comment. 

Remember to think carefully about the message you share, the spelling and punctuation that you use and that you are being Cybersmart.  Have a look at the blog ponder and let us know what you think in the comments...