Today our Teacher sent us an email, we had to take a screenshot and add it to the slides so we could label the parts of an email.
We also had to sort phrases into two groups for email or text messages.
Today we were learning what to do if something goes wrong. When we comment on blogs we are great we write positive, thoughtful and helpful comments. But this is not always the case.
Whaea Tanya was wrapped when she walked in as we were finishing the survey and writing comments on our buddies blogs.
What do you do if something goes wrong when online?
Last week on Thursday, we had the opportunity to be a part of an exciting and interactive learning experience, making poi all together. Whaea Kathy was kind enough to give us her time and expertise to show all the students how to make a poi while educating us on the meaning and culture that is involved allowing the students to immerse themselves into the cultural heritage of Māori people through the art of making a poi. The students had to work together in different stations to prepare what was needed to make a poi. This was a great chance for the students to see how much effort, care and love goes into making something they are all familiar with but may not have known the extensive and proper process to get the result of a poi. After everything was prepared, the students went in pairs, and through demonstration and help by the teachers there and Whaea Kathy, they were all able to successfully make their own poi. The experience not only taught them the art of poi-making, but the students can have a deeper appreciation for the traditions and practices that are so important in Māori culture.
This term,Te Waka Āko has been learning about the significance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a founding document of Aotearoa. Together, we have made a treaty for our shared learning space. This treaty reflects the whakataukī ‘He totara wahi rua he kai na te ahi,’ which means ‘A totara split in two is food for the fire’—in other words, unity is strength. Our treaty embodies this idea of unity and partnership, and it reminds us that we are stronger when we work together.
The treaty takes the form of a tree, with four branches representing the four tenets of our school respect code: Respect for ourselves and others, respect for our and other people’s property, respect for our and other’s right to learn, and respect for our and others’ right to be safe. These values are at the heart of our school community, and we are proud to learn beneath the branches of this tree.
We have also woven our three class colours—kowhai for Mānukau, kakariki for Waitematā, and kikorangi for Hauraki—into the roots of the tree. This colourful weaving symbolises the diverse and vibrant community that we have here at Waikowhai Primary School. Each student has signed their name to the weaving to remind us that we all have a role to play in making our school a happy and safe place to learn and grow.
Every ākonga in Te Waka Āko is represented as a leaf on this tree. We have decorated our leaf with symbols of our identity: our culture, passions and whānau, as well as a symbolic representation of one way we will uphold the values of the treaty.
The creation of our treaty tree has been a meaningful and collaborative experience for Te Waka Āko. We have learned about the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and have applied its principles to our own school community. As we move forward, we will continue to uphold the values of our treaty and nurture the relationships that make our school community so special.
Mā te wā!
Waikowhai is a great place to learn new things, and now with our new bike track, we have the opportunity to learn how to ride bikes safely. Whether you are new to biking or an experienced rider, it’s important to learn bike safety rules, how to fit helmets correctly, and perform an ABC bike check. Te Waka Ako has been learning to do all these things as well as have fun on the track.
We have been challenging ourselves to learn how to glide, riding using our brakes and gears effectively. We end our sessions trying out our new skills on the bike track and we have so much fun!
Have you seen our bike track yet? Grab your whanau and hit the track and give it a go!
Tēnā koutou bloggers,
We are really excited to welcome back Ms Sands to Hauraki’s class and the Te Waka Ako syndicate after her epic trek across Te Araroa Te Waiponamu. It was awesome to keep in touch with her using video calls (when there were pockets of reception) to see how she was going and to show a bit of what had been happening in class. We have included a photo of Ms Sands using google meet to chat with our syndicate below.
We were also really fortunate that Ms Sands created this amazing website packed full of information, videos, photos and activities that we could use while she was away. Our reading activities in Week 7 were inspired by some of these Ms Sands’ adventures and other relevant stories. The activities and information are interspersed with lots of Te Reo Māori which helped our learning.
We encourage you to have a look at the resource Ms Sands has created and leave us any positive, thoughtful and helpful comments below. We would love to hear of any connections you have too.
Kia ora koutou,
We hope you all had an amazing experience at our recent Family Fun Day. Despite the changeable weather, we saw so much courage and determination from all of our whānau, who made the most of every activity and had an awesome time.
The inflatable obstacle courses and the Slip ‘n’ Slide were definitely a hit. We saw so many smiling faces as ākonga raced each other and tried to beat their best times. It was fantastic to see everyone cheering each other on and having fun together.
And how about that new bike track? We were blown away by how well our ākonga handled it, riding like true professionals. We hope you all got a chance to try it out and explore the twists and turns. Who knows, maybe we have some future BMX champions in our midst!
Of course, we can’t forget about the sausages and the home-baked treats at our cake stall. A big thank you to all the whānau who contributed their baking talents and time on the barbecue.
We’re so proud of you all for making the most of the day and having fun, despite the challenging weather. It just goes to show that we’re a resilient and determined community that can make the most of any situation. We hope everyone went home exhausted but happy, with lots of great memories.
We can’t wait to do it all again next year. Ka mau te wehi, Waikowhai.
Nau mai Hoki mai ki Te Waka Ako 2023
We start 2023 with a few changes.
We welcome Miss Kneller into Manukau with Year 4 & 5 students. Mrs Jones is in Waitematā again with Year 5 & 6 akonga. Mr Riceman and Ms McGrath are team teaching in Hauraki to start the year while Ms Sands is off on her hikoi adventure exploring Te Waipounamu.
Our learning journey for this year has started off with a hiss and a roar. We are well into our Pāngarau Inquiry where we have been exploring subtraction and place value. We have been learning about writing narratives in Tuhituhi. Swimming in the school pool has been amazing over the beginning of the term while we have been building our swimming and safety in the water skills.
Our Inquiry kaupapa is Tūakiri – Identity. We are looking forward to exploring and learning more about who we are and who we want to be.
We are looking forward to sharing all our learning for this year with you.
Please leave us a comment!
Kia Ora, welcome to the first post for the Te Waka Ako syndicate this year. We have had an exciting start to the Term and have been very busy across different learning areas. This year we are a syndicate of three classes, with students across Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6. We all have access to Chromebooks to support our learning and the beginning of the year is a great time to remind ourselves of the important ways we can look after our devices. To start this process, we worked in collaborative groups to sort statements, deciding which ideas are relevant ways to look after our Chromebook.
Once we had these ideas organised, our challenge was to create a DLO (Digital Learning Object) poster to remind our classmates and ourselves of the ways we can look after our precious devices. The examples from Hauraki class are shared below in a slideshow that Hauraki shared with the Waikowhai School community during their first assembly of the year. Have a look at what we think. Can you think of any other ways to be Cybersmart and follow the Kawa of Care? Please leave us a positive, thoughtful and helpful comment! We would love your feedback.
Each family bought some ‘nibbles’ dinner to share and everyone really enjoyed having food while they walked around checking out their own child’s work and other students’ work. Students had created a range of items to show their learning. There were models, newspapers, paintings, collage artworks, scrolls, stop motion digital work, websites and more. Check out some of went down with these photos.
