On Thursday we all attempted the big pool! We started in the little pool to learn how to enter the pool safely from the side of the pool using the 1/4 turn method. We placed both our hands by one side of our body, turned onto our bellies, and slowly slid into the water. We had to hold onto the side of the pool until our feet touched the ground. Once we had practised in the little pool, we moved to the big pool. Again, we entered the pool using the 1/4 turn, making sure we held on to the side of the pool until our feet touched the bottom. We need to do this to make sure the pool is not too deep for us. We also practised entering the pool safely using the ladder. One at a time we went down the ladder backwards, using two hands to hold on. Once we were down, we held onto the side of the pool or the guttering and ‘monkeyed’ along the wall. Those students who wanted to spend more time in the big pool had noodles to experience the feeling of floating, which is our next learning intention. Others went back to the little pool under the watchful eye of the life guard.
Welcome to 2025!
Kia ora Koutou!
We’ve had a lovely two days with a soft start. We’ve explored new resources, gotten to know what goes where and how to clean it up again, learned where we can play within our school, and spent time with our friends. So far everybody is joining in with kindness and a positive attitude. Here are a few snaps of our first two days back at kura!
More bush fun!
We had some more fun in the bush today. Make sure you watch the videos at the end!
Our Bush Walk
We went on a bush walk to the William Corbett Scenic Reserve with Rooms 15 and 16. We had a fabulous time looking, listening and touching. We can’t wait to go back for another walk soon! Take a look at our photos. What is your favourite thing about the bush?
Swimming
During swimming on Thursday, we were learning about floating. Mrs Leathley’s class, Pukeiti Rua, came and supported us. They talked us through the technique, eyes to the sky, tummies high, and they held us under our backs. Some of us were able to be let go and we found we could float for good amount of time. This was a fabulous display of Whanaungatanga, Ako and Manaakitanga.
Taranaki Maunga
We have been learning about our names and place names within our area. We created this slide deck. Ākonga needed to google ‘Stony River’ and find an image of the Maunga and the river. They then needed to name the mountain and the river using a text box, changing the font and colour. They then saved their image to photos and uploaded it to the shared slide deck. They then needed to change the background using the bucketfill tool. They needed to make sure they could see their name and changed it accordingly.
A big struggle we had with the shared slide was deleting other people’s slides accidentally! EEEEK!
Pukeiti Rua and the Rainbow
We read Nanny Mihi and the Rainbow. It is about Nanny Mihi and her mokopuna/grandchildren collecting things on the beach to make a rainbow on the sand. Tāwhirimātea stired up Tangaroa and made big waves. Tangaroa then came and took the rainbow and Rangi hung the rainbow up in the sky.
We made a rainbow too. We collected things around the classroom to make a rainbow like Nanny Mihi did with her mokopuna.
We took photos with the iPads of the different things we saw of each colour. Then we lassoed the image and put it in a rainbow order.
Trying to put the pictures in a rainbow shape was a bit tricky. Some of us found the lassoing hard because it would cut the wrong bit of the picture. Then we had to do it again.
What would you take photos of to make your rainbow?
Fun Fractions and New Learning
We have been learning about fractions. Currently we are learning about finding a fraction of a shape, a half and a quarter. With this, we have been learning to download a worksheet from our class site, save it to Explain Everything and lock it in place, and then complete the worksheet using the tools we have been learning about over the last couple of terms. Once we had uploaded our worksheets to the shared slide, we needed to change the font, size and colour of our name.
Something we found tricky with this was sometimes others would go on the wrong slide and change it by mistake, some people were too noisy so it was hard to follow along, clicking on your name to highlight it to change the font and colour.
We like doing worksheets on the ipad because we can use the bucket-full function to colour parts instead of taking a long time with a coloured pencil.
Have you tried doing a worksheet on Explain Everything?
Pet Day Fun!
We had a blast creating our cookies and home made creations for pet day! We are such a wonderful bunch of artists. Take a look at our cookies and weaving.