Kia ora koutou. We are a group of Year 5 & 6 tauira at Kirikiriroa ki te Rāwhiti. Whaea Kat is our kaiako and we love to share our learning journey on our class blog. Please enjoy and comment on our photos, videos and writing.
You can contact our kaiako by emailing her at: crichmond@hameast.school.nz
Our first week back at school after lockdown in Alert Level 2 has been a little bit different. Some of our friends have to leave early with their younger brothers and sisters. When we leave our classrooms we all go over to Dawson field and our whānau picks us up from there. We wash our hands or use hand sanitizer before we go into our classrooms, before we eat, after we go to the toilet, and before we use devices.
We also have to bring a named drink bottle or cup as we can't use the drinking fountains.
We have been looking at our blog and our online learning tasks from the rāhui/lockdown time and sharing our experiences.
Our projector has decided not to work so we have been working in groups in room 7. We are having fun making props for our characters and acting out the story about the giant that has tantrums. Together we have designed the setting for the story Thistle Mountain.
TALK: Do you think this experiment is real? Why or why not? What might make the flowers change colour? Would humans change colour if we drank different coloured liquids? How do you know? What do you need to complete this experiment? What are the steps? What do you predict will happen? Are there any different ways you could do it? Could you do multiple colours with one flower? Does it only work with white flowers?
DO: Change the colour of a flower. Find some flowers, either on your property or in your neigbourhood. Try and get a few different types of flowers, different sizes, and colours. Try out the experiment. What were your results? Were your predictions correct?
I loved how the red umbrella stood out in the sea of black umbrellas. At the start, I didn’t even see the clock tower. What caught your eye and what did you think?
There are 5 different writing tasks:
Story starter!
Question time!
Sentence Challenge!
Sick sentences!
Picture perfect!
Choose your favourite one and write. Use either paper or pen or a google document.
Do more than one if you wish.
Finish this story.
Think about the characters. What is the problem or issue? How is it going to be resolved?
Think about these questions.
If you don’t understand what some of the words mean look them up in a dictionary.
Answer them using full sentences.
For example, I think the significance of the clocktower is… because...
What is a simile?
Use adjectives (describing words) to make these sentences interesting.
Describe the rain or the umbrellas or the clocktower.
Kaua he whakamā ki te korerō Māori, ahakoa he iti, he tāonga
Don’t be shy to speak Maori, no matter how little, treasure it!
Look: Check out the 140 words on the Tinycards stack. They are the first nine weeks of words from the Māori Made Easy textbook. If you have someone in your bubble that is fluent in Te Reo then ask them to teach you some words and phrases.
Talk: There are 140 words in the Tinycard stack. How much Reo have you heard in your bubble? Interview each of your bubble members - how many of the 140 words do you think they know the Reo Pākeha (English) version of? What do you think about practice? Can you learn anything if you practice it enough?
Do: Use the tinycardswebsiteto work through the lessons. This could take a whole day so if you want your kids to learn on separate devices then download thefree app. Enjoy learning and practicing these words with your whānau. Make a poster, a google drawing, a comic, or do some writing that shows me what you have been learning.
What do you think is meant by ‘Papatūānuku is breathing’?
Sit outside in a quiet spot, listen, and watch for 2 minutes.
What do you notice or observe?
What do you hear?
What do you wonder?
Write your ideas in this doc or write a comment on this blog post.
Think about your time in rāhui (lockdown). Have you done anything that will help Papatūānuku during this time? What has lockdown done for our environment? Watch: the two clips about Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatūānuku (Earth Mother).
Practice your pronunciation of Māori kupu. Sing the song.
Māori Dictionary Use this to look up Māori words. Find them, listen to how they are spoken, and practice them.
Here are some kupu to practice: Papatūānuku, Ranginui, Whānau.
Hi everyone, I decided to give this activity a go and see how few squares I could use to fill the 11x13 grid. It's much harder than you think!! Did anyone else do it? If you want to add your tries to my slide email it to me or Whaea Kat. Also it would be great to see you leaving comments on all this wonderful learning you're doing - or you could comment on Whaea Kat's cool carrot outfit! I wonder if she's made it during lockdown??
Watch: the videos of the carrot and the veggie monster poems. Look at Judi Billcliff’s poetry.
Talk: What do you think about poetry? Do you enjoy reading it, writing it, listening to it, or performing it? Give your reasons on flipgrid.
Do: Dressup and perform your favourite funny poem to your whanau. If you want to record it and send it to me.
Create your own poem. Use the slideshow that is shared with you to get some ideas. Present it either on a google drawing or with a picture using felts and coloured pencils.
Talk: If you were an eyebomber is there anything that you can see from where you are sitting right now that would make a good nose or a mouth but just needs a pair of googly eyes? Why do you think just adding a pair of eyes makes people happier in this video?
Do: First rule of eye-bombing is that you cannot damage the wall or surface. Your eyes cannot be stickers or things that will not come off or make a mark. Make googly eyes with paper and pen. Put the googly eyes in a place when the adults aren’t looking. It should make people in your bubble smile. Take some photos and send them to me via email or text. Here are some of mine.
May the fourth is the unofficial Star Wars or Jedi day that celebrates the Star Wars story. The date was chosen for the pun on the catchphrase "May the Force be with you".
A pun is a joke that makes a play on words, typically by using words that sound similar but have different meanings. It can also use different meanings of the same word to make the saying funny.
Here are some examples:
Maybe you could come up with some puns of your own then share them with me.
Star Wars has many flying aircraft, maybe you could make your own out of lego or boxes.
Or you could:
WATCH:How to fold 5 incredible paper planes
TALK: What plane do you think is the most exciting or interesting?
What one do you think does the best tricks? What happens in a competition?
What about a class competition for stunt planes in our bubbles?
DO: Create your own stunt plane competition. Follow the instructions in the video to create the 5 different paper planes. Allocate a panel of judges (try and include family members if they are free), choosing a scoring system and categories to judge them off - these could be height, flips, distance, etc. Hold your competition and find out the winner.
Thanks to Schoolkit@home for this idea. Here is a link to a paper plane launcher too. SHARE your work.
The purpose of NZ Music Month is to celebrate music from New Zealand, and the people who make it.
Watch: music videos of NZ musicians
Talk:to your whanau. What are some of the ‘old’ songs that they like? What NZ artists and bands do you like to listen to? If you could meet any NZ artist or band who would it be?
Do: You can choose a task or do all of them.
1. Make a list of NZ artists and bands that you like, with your favourite song.
2. Write a letter to your favourite singer or band, telling them why you like their music and try to convince them to come to our school and share their music with us. Share it with me via google drive.
3. Write your own song. It could be about being in lockdown or anything that interests you.
4. Add a NZ song and the lyrics to the shared class slideshow. Write your name on the slide. Watch the clip below to help you with your letter writing.
I have loved music for a long time.
When I was a similar age to you, the first concert I ever went to was Split Enz.
I wonder if anyone in your family
knows any of their songs? I enjoy listening to many musicians - Bic Runga, Six60, Gin Wigmore, Dave Dobbyn, Che Fu, Alien Weaponry, and many more. - Whaea Kat No Place Like Home - Tiki Taane ft Ria Hall
I was so excited to set up a google meet video call with my class on Rāapa (Wednesday). We all are having to learn new skills while in rāhui (lockdown). For some students, they had to learn how to access their email account and click on the link for the call. Others were learning how to mute and unmute their microphones. Some were using the chat function to type messages. It was great to see each other just for a few minutes.
