Matariki Maori New Year

We connected with the Matariki Maori New Year this month in school. We read numerous books circling around Matariki and learnt about the legends and the meaning of the seven stars. Of course I didn't tell the children right away what we were going to explore, but this only enlightened and enriched their learning experience! 

We discussed the below picture by talking about what we see, think and wonder!

We also looked through DIY telescopes to continue our inquiry journey.

Wow! We reflected and apparently we saw so many things through our telescopes!

Finally, we looked on Youtube and put 7 stars in the search engine, as well as New Zealand. We discovered that we'll be learning about Matariki Maori New Year!

To celebrate Matariki, we made kites that symbolise the seven stars! We also waited for the perfect windy day to fly them. 

We also reflected and wrote about our kite flying experience. 

As a whanau, we connected and made a class korowai. Each student made and contributed to the korowai to help celebrate the Matariki New Year. 

Lastly, we went to the Auckland Museum and learnt the name of the seven stars by participating in the Matariki Haka. We performed this during our Whole School Assembly (coming soon)! 

Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down!

Even though we are now experiencing New Zealand's winter, we did explore autumn and all of its beauty a few weeks ago. The children brainstormed of things that reminded them of the fall season.



Then, we explored outside and collected fallen leaves. We also found insects, seeds, sticks and a stunning rainbow on our adventure!



Once we got back to the classroom, we observed our leaves. We sorted them based on their vibrant colours. We had many brown and red leaves. We also had one with hints of purple in it.

  

Based on the children's observations, they made a connection to autumn. Not only do the leaves fall to the ground, but they also change colour. I wonder why?

We watched a couple of videos to help us answer our pondering question. In the end, we learnt that they change colours and fall because it is cold and they aren't getting enough sunlight. How interesting!

Lastly, the children reflected and shared their new learning of autumn leaves in their writing books.

S'mores!

For our Unit of Inquiry, the children connected with Ms. Ely's American culture! First, the children came to school and were introduced to a peculiar-looking pizza box. They had many wondering questions around the box!

After they wrote down their questions, they were given three little clues to help them make connections to what we were going to do that day. They were confronted with chocolate, crackers and MARSHMALLOWS! The children roared with excitement after seeing the goodies!

These clues led the students to wonder and ask more specific questions relating to the pizza box and the treats. But, the children needed some more assistance as to what they were going to make!



So, we explored online and Googled the three ingredients. S'mores was the answer to our question! They also made the connection that s'mores are a traditional camping treat enjoyed in America and that I am also from America!

The kids made their own individual s'mores and cooked it inside the solar oven. They loved making observations throughout the day on the status of their melted chocolates.



By the end of the day, it was snack time! Not one bad review from the class! They also wrote about the s'mores using their senses and included many WOW words in their stories. What a delicious connection!

Anzac Art!

Even though Anzac Day fell during our holiday break this year, we still celebrated the day in Area 1 once we came back to school. The children learnt more about the history of Anzac, the significance of poppies and the responsibilities of soldiers.

We read two great children's books about Anzac Day, The Anzac Puppy and Anzac Ted.

 

Then, we combined Science and Art together in order to create a field of poppies.

First, the children wondered what would happen to crayons if we used a hair dryer on them.

Next, they enthusiastically conducted the experiment.



The children were 'wide eyed and bushy tailed' as they saw the changes occur to the crayons when heat was applied to them. They were thrilled talking to each other about which coloured crayon melted first, what happened to the colours as they CONNECTED with each other and how the melted crayons changed back to a solid once they dried!





Doesn't the grass look like something from one of Dr. Seuss' books?

Finally, the kids added the last touch to their abstract piece of art. They made a pin-wheel poppy and glued it to their colourful grass.















The children also got to present their wonderful, creative artwork to the Junior Syndicate in an assembly!

What if I had Animal Teeth?

ROAR!!! GRRRR!!!  SNAP, SNAP!!!  HISS!!!



The children thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, What if I had Animal Teeth by Sandra Markle.



After we read the book, we investigated our favourite animal's bite online in order to create our teeth to look like them!

Responsibility!

Our Unit of Inquiry for Term 1 was on Responsibility. The children had fun exploring what new responsibilities they had after starting primary school, as well as the responsibilities of others. Our unit of inquiry doesn't just end after the term, but continues throughout our school and home life!

Please take a moment to check out our Responsibility journey by clicking on our inquiry model!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mum, Mom, Mommy, Mother....We love you!

Earth Day, Every Day!

Earth day is usually recognised on the 22nd of April. but in Area 1, we celebrated our wonderful planet the week before the holiday break!



We wondered, inquired and wrote about how we could help our Earth and make it a better place for you and I.



We also read the book, The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. We created our own town with tall, luscious truffula trees, except our truffula trees contained our learning! One of the trees displayed the beginning, middle and end of the book, while the other one had words ending in -og written on it. We even made the tree trunk a mathematical pattern...green, blue, green, blue. If you look carefully at our Utopian towns, you might even see a lorax with a familiar face running around!





Happy Earth Day!

Hippity Hop!

Happy Easter!

We celebrated Easter in Area 1 by decorating eggs. We mixed shaving cream and food colouring to get our creative "paint". We also added designs to them by using Vivid.





Before we received our very own egg, we talked about the responsibilities of taking care of it in order for it to not break.

After we decorated our eggs, we realised that we needed to think of ways to take it home, responsibly. After some discussion, we decided to make a basket! The children created their sturdy baskets out of paper plates and pipe cleaners. Hopefully the eggs got home in one piece!



For Maths, we received a handful of colourful M&M's. Yum! But, before we could eat the chocolaty goodness, we had to do some learning first! We first sorted the M&M's based on colour. Then, we counted each colour and recorded it on our graph. Finally, we had to analyse our data by discovering which colour we had the most of, the least of and if there were any colours of equal amounts. Then......eating time!

The Easter Bunny was definitely on our minds a lot this week! We inquired into what responsibilities the Easter Bunny has and wrote about them in our writing books.



To conclude our week, we wrote cards to our family wishing them a very Happy Easter!

Saint Patrick's Day!

The students learnt all about Saint Patrick's Day during Week 7! They read numerous books about leprechauns and their mischief, their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, luck and shamrocks.

In the beginning of the week, the kids took home a shamrock to decorate and added pictures to it that symbolise why they are lucky to be a family. The children were so proud of their lucky shamrocks and enthusiastically shared them with the class during nifty news!



The kids put their listening skills to the ultimate test by drawing a leprechaun step-by-step. Then, they wrote a description of their wanted leprechaun. Have you seen any of these mischievous leprechauns?



For Science & Inquiry, the kids learnt what Science is, the responsibilities of scientists and the scientific method. They explored what happens to celery when placed in coloured water. They also were diligent scientists, recording their findings and observations every step of the way!

Step 1:  

Step 2:  

Step 3:  

Step 4:  Observations After 3 Days


Stage 5:  Observations after 5 Days


The children wrote about what or who is worth more than gold to them. They also created the number 5 by making links!



I absolutely love songs that teach the kids important things! The children learnt the colours in Te Reo by singing a very catchy song! They also made their own rainbows out of paper plates and labeled the colours in Te Reo. Lastly, the kids wrote about each colour!

Here's the link to our song!







For Developmental, the kids got to choose from 5 different art projects that the teachers were hosting in their classrooms. The boys and girls who chose to come to Area 1 for art, got to make a leprechaun mask!