Kapa Haka

Our whare is being renovated, but we were so eager to sing our waiata we sang outside. It was a little chilly but once we got moving we warmed right up!

Room 3 and 4 Tamariki are wonderful performers.

Shay's Birthday Surprise

Today we celebrated Shay's 7th Birthday. It was lovely to have his whanau come and visit our room to sing our birthday Waiata to Shay. We were so lucky to each recieve our own little cupcake.

Each child was allowed to decorate their own Cupcake! 

Hari Huri Tau, kia koe, Shay!

Shared Writing: The Squiggly Eyed Fullstops

I have noticed that we all need a refresher workshop, to remind us to use full stops. We decided, since it was a beautiful rainy and sunny day, we would write about rainbows together.

We first read a story without reading the full stops! That stole all our breath!

Next, we talked about how we could remember to write the full stops! We now have some steps we all know.

The teacher thought it might be a cool idea to use the squiggly eye balls for full stops. We wrote this awesome story together.

Lastly, we reminded ourselves about why we needed full stops. Tomorrow we will use the squiggly eyed full stops in our own work, with a partner.

Whare Inquiry

The tamariki in Room 3 are learning about the realms within the whare. They are learning to describe the parts of the whare in Te Reo Maori.

They are learning by doing and discussing. This develops their Kinestetic and Oral Learning skills. We are constructing our own whare and talking about why we need each part.

What is it's purpose? What is it's function? What does each part represent? 

Vaughan, Kaitlin, Maya and AJ draw in the Matapihi (window) and the whatitoka (door).

Meanwhile, the other students are making their models, so that we can show who goes where in the whare.

Whakatauki Proverb

He aha te mea nui o te ao. What is the most important thing in the world?

He Tangata, he tangata, he tangata. It is people, it is people, it is people.

Next Ataahua and Jade fold the roof of the whare.

After they cut the maihi (the arms).

Maya, Ash, Jade and Ataahua attach the Maihi to the roof. The Maihi are the arms of the whare.

Next, in go the heke (ribs), we are still missing the whare runanga (the spine or the backbone).

So, far our mini whare is looking pretty awesome!We are missing our roro (front panel), not long to go.

 Tino Pai Ruma Toru!

 Kia Rawe Tamariki!! 

Supporting Kids with Sight Words

Kia ora Whanau,

Here are a few support tools for parents and caregivers wanting to work with tamariki (children) to improve their reading (panui) and writing (tuhituhi). Just watching these videos or talking about the content with tamariki will help them to improve in these areas.

When children hear you talking about what they are learning in school, at home they feel that their learning is important.

Phonics Song 

Long Vowels and Short Vowels 

Sight Words 

3d Shapes

In Room 3 tamariki are learning to classify 3D shapes. We have learned that a 3d Shape is SOLID and a 2d Shape is FLAT.

The tamariki played 3d Shape Salad today. Then they had a special 3d shape Scavenger Hunt. They got into Tuakana-Teina groups. They searched for their 3d shapes.

They were so clever to find lots of 3d Shape around our class! Lastly, they labelled their work!

What did the children have to say?

What is a 3D shape?
"A tennis ball."
"..A big shape",
"No, it's a solid shape!"

Can you think of an example?
"A cylinder."
"A cube."
"A cuboid."
"A sphere."

What is 2d Shape?
"A flat shape."
"Um.. .it's something that's flat like a pancake."
" A skinny piece of paper."

Can you think of an example?
"A triangle."
"A Square."
"A circle."
"A diamond."
"Love heart."
"Hexagon."
"Star."

Beat and Movement

In PE and Music we are learning about Rakau. The children need to go the opposite way of their partner, this can be really tricky.

First we learn to mirror one another.




Hohepa and Jahrell mirror one another's hand gestures. What a great smile Hohepa!












Mark and Vaughan concentrate hard!










Next, we practiced going in the opposite direction.

Nikara and Kaitlin are so proud of their efforts

Last, we spent some time exploring the beat and the rhythm with a little free movement! It was awesome! It is wonderful to see our tamariki so happy!!

We are using this you tube video as inspiration for our learning. Feel free to practice at home!

Sketching

As part of our Inquiry the tamariki will learn about the role of harakeke (flax) in the Maori World. Before we process harakeke we will learn about its physical structure. The Children are learning different styles of sketching to represent what they see and feel.

 

1. The children spent some time sketching and learning different techniques. 

2.The children went down to the field and they looked closely 

3. Then they moved far away to do their long shot 

4. The sketches were beautiful 

Level 1 - 2 Curriculum Expectations

In Visual Art we are Developing ideas: We investigate visual ideas in response to a variety of motivations, observation, and imagination.

Weaving

We have been weaving in Room 3. The children surprised me with the way that they persisted in their learning.

In mathematics we learn that there are patterns. Most children learn best when they are doing.

1. The children planned their patterns using scrap paper

2. They use scissors to cut their chosen design and practice weaving the scrap paper

3. They choose their two favorite colors. They inter-change their pattern to produce a unique design. 

Reflecting Together

Towards the end of the activity the children came together to talk about their learning. When we achieve something that was tricky, it can be very rewarding. The weaving was 'cool', 'awesome' and excellent. When asked to explain why, or how we completed our learning the children reflected. 

Maya: Mine came out looking like a maze 

AJ: The activity was confusing and complicated, but in the end, I did it. 

Jade: Mine was super duper easy. 

Shay: I thought mine was tricky, I had to do it 2 times to get it, but it was also cool. 

Hohepa: I figured mine out. 

Karanga: Ms Harrison, mine looked like a kite, like the one I have at home. 

Manaakitanga: Sharing Kai Together

This week in Ruma Toru we made a delicous healthy kai for ourselves and Ruma wha (Room 4).

Mathematics 

The tamariki are learning about shapes in Geometry and we are also talking about fractions, so cutting potatoes into pieces was a great idea to practice. We know that fractions are when a whole is cut into equal pieces.




The boys get the most important ingredient ready for the potato wedges, the TOMATO SAUCE!!

Mark uses his skills with the can opener

Science 

In Science we are creating a mini solar system. We are learning about space, and soon we'll talk about matariki. Matariki is a constellation of stars in the sky! We decided to choose a planet and become experts on our chose planets. The teacher asked...

But, what temperature is your planet? How do you know what is hot? And what is really cold...

We decide to do an Investigation

Vaughan feels the water, he feels gas... which is turning into water on his hand!

Tahuri Checks the Temperature with a thermometer

We all decided we should learn about the temperature and got to see a thermometer. Karanga and Shay are fascinated. The mercury shoots up and down the thermometer. The water was hotter than the air!!






What a great excuse to make Jelly that was!!

Ataahua and Karanga line up the cups, so everyone can have kai!

The team pour out the jelly crystals (solid) 

Our tasty kai went down a treat with the Tamariki from Ruma 3, and Ruma 4.


Assessment 

Tamariki were able to reflect on our previous Science experiment. We explored gas, solids and Liquids. Everyone in our class is using the language, Tino Pai!





Ka pai Ruma Toru!!

Making Soup!

In Room 3 the tamariki made soup. We are learning about shapes in maths! It was a fun way to make all sorts of shapes, both 2d and 3d! The teacher thought it might be a good idea to share our kai with Room 4, because they are our nearest neighbors. We think they enjoyed sharing our kai. Being hospitable is called manaakitanga. Zara was very clever and she created a document with photos and questions, while we were cooking!

Some Children were so excited they even wrote their greatest story yet!

Wharekai for Soup

We were making soup on Friday. It was a chicken noodle soup. There was veggies in the soup and it was very delicious, but I really liked the chicken and the noodles, too! That soup was so yummy. We had to bring cups in the wharekai so that we could have something to eat. And we even invited Room 4 for some soup, too. And if we didn't like it, didn't have to have the water.

By Ataahua Rehu

Soup Day 

In the soup there was carrots and chicken noodles. And we had so much fun when we made soup. And then we ate the soup. And Room 4 came too. And it was so yum!

By Shay Brown

I am a Five Star Writer

In Ruma Toru, tamariki write their own learning goals. They learn to reflect on what they are finding tricky in writing and they pay special attention to their particular goal.

It is their responsibility to write a new goal. They also help one another by reading over their writing with a buddy and checking their work against their goals.

Ash, "Hay Maya, look you can move your peg, because you've changed your goal!"

Karanga, "I think I need three weeks to get my goal."

Hohepa, "I will write a sentence by myself."



Ash encourages the others to move their goal pegs.            Kaitlin uses the dictionary to write her goal

Learning with Rakau

In Ruma Toru we are learning to make beats and accents with our rakau. We do lots of different movements and actions. We also learn waiata. This helps to develop our spatial awareness, kinestetic intelligence and our love of music.

What do the tamariki think? 
Karanga and Nikara love to hit the rakau and flip the rakau. Zara, "I like to flip the rakau." Ataahua, "I like when we did the hiiii at the end." Breeze, "The hii is when we make a X at the end."

Welcome to Room 3's Brand New Blog

Kia ora Koutou,

Nau mai Haere mai. Welcome to our Blog. We are so excited to start sharing our learning online. In Room 3 we work hard but we also have a lot of fun. You can stop in here to catch our latest learning.

We look forward to your comments!

Ms Harrison and Room 3 Tamariki