PIAKO RUA UPDATE

This week we are continuing to learn the new routines.  We have started Reading this week.  There is lots to learn, new games and activities and how to do the Must Dos and Can Dos.  Over the following few days, home readers will start coming home.

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We are pretty good at setting up the equipment for PE..

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We are continuing with our Maths challenges focusing on answering open ended maths questions.

 

RICH TASKS MATHS - SNOWMAN CHALLENGE

Every Friday while some kids are doing their opt in Art and Science and Technology workshops. the rest of us take part in a Maths Challenge set by one of the teachers.  

The challenge on Friday was to draw a snowman using 15 circles.  Now that might sound easy but we had to work out all the things that we needed to know in order to be able to solve the problem.  

Here's what we came up with:

• know what a circle is
• know what a snowman looks like
• how to count to 15
• be able to count one to one 

We found out that it was a pretty tricky challenge.

A couple of kids got it straight away but the rest of us had multiple tries at getting it right.  

Some of us tried nearly a dozen times!  

Mrs Lunn was so proud of us because not one kid gave up.  We kept trying and trying until we got it!

Here are some of our finished snowmen.  You may notice that no two snowmen look alike. 

Mrs Lunn says that sometimes there is more than one answer to a question.  

Today we proved that! 😁

OUR LEADERS IN PIAKO RUA

We would like to introduce you to our leaders in Piako Rua.  These children were chosen by the teachers for their amazing personal qualities.

• This is Oliver
• He is our Ariki - our leader
• The other children respect Oliver
• He is kind and fair
• Oliver leads the Pou Mihi each day
• Congratulations Oliver - you deserve this honour

• This is Braxton
• He is our Tohonga
• Braxton is an expert in many areas of School life
• He is a treasure in Piako Rua and we are proud that he is our Tohunga

• This is Neva
• She is one of our Aronui
• She is kind and caring
• Neva is well organised and is great at organising things for the teachers and children in Piako Rua

•  This is Layla
• She is our other Aronui
• Layla has a heart of gold and is always on the lookout to help other children
• She is well organised and is a great helper to other children and the teachers

•  This is Kyan
• He is our Mangatoa
• Kyan respects the rules 
• He is quick to defend his friends who need his support
• We feel safe when Kyan is at school because we know he will look out for us

• This is Mason
• He is our other Mangatoa
• Mason obeys the rules
• He helps to remind others of the rules and is always on the look out to help remind his peers of what the right thing to do is

The teachers are really proud of these tamariki.  They have been members of Piako Rua for two years now and have earned the right to be leaders.  Congratulations kids.  Ka mau te wehi xx

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY OPT IN - BEE-BOTS

 Ms Udy took a Science and Technology workshop on Friday.  The kids who opted in to Bee-Bots were super excited to learn that their workshop was first up!

The children were put into groups and they had to write a code to direct each other around the room first.  They worked in pairs, one 'programmer' and one 'robot').

Next we had a turn at programming the Bee-Bots to move around the mat.  It was great fun and required a bit of trial and error and 'debugging'.

COOKING OPT IN - MAKING WAFFLES

Friday - our new favourite day!

Friday is the day that we have our opt-ins.  At the start of each term we sign up for Art, Cooking, and Science and Technology workshops.  This was we can opt in to what interests us.  It gives us a choice on what we want to learn about.

This week, the cooking opt-in was making WAFFLES!  The children had to measure the ingredients correctly and to follow the recipe exactly.  The waffles were a big success!

 The other kids are eagerly awaiting next week to see what we are cooking next week!

THE TREATY OF WAITANGI

Today Mrs Lunn taught us all about the Treaty of Waitangi.  We went through this slideshow.  We had to be EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS and listen really carefully because we were going to have a quiz afterwards!

Here is the quiz we had.  We had to listen to the questions and choose the correct answer!  Maybe we can help you do the quiz at home.

OUR CLASS RULES

 

On Tuesday, Ms Udy read us a story called the Tree House Treaty.  It is a story about how two groups of children make a set of rules to fix any arguments that happen in the tree house that they made.

                    

We decided that our classroom was a little bit like the tree house in the story.  We thought that maybe our classroom needs some rules too so we can all be safe and happy at school.  Each whanau class got together and brainstormed all our ideas of rules that we could come up.  There was a LOT of rules.

We came back together and shared our thinking with the other kids.  Some of the kids noticed that some of the rules we came up were very similar.  We decided to condense our list of rules down to 5 rules that cover pretty much everything we do.
   

Our rules are:

• Be respectful of people and our environment

• Use your manners

• Be kind and caring

• Be a self manager

• Be Brave!  Keep trying!  You can do it!

We wondered how we could make our rules special to us. We came up with the idea of making a korowai. Mrs Ruawai showed us the korowai that Mrs Peck wears for special occasions. Each child has coloured in a feather. Every feature is different and unique, just like us! Mrs Lunn has begun to put the feathers together to make it into a korowai. We are going to put the rules on the tāniko - the woven panel that holds the features together. It'll be almost like we are wrapped up in the rules that will keep us safe and happy at school.

We can't wait until our korowai is finished!

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