Thursday, September 3, 2015

Wise Group visit Kauri Team: Part 2

Some groups of students had huge brainstorms with ideas and pictures to share about the future of Hamilton.









The morning was filled with such rich language. Some of us talked about hover cars, safe ways for kids to get to school, more green spaces and gardens. Others designed technology that could help people in our community. So many fantastic ideas.
Our visitors gathered again for a quick debrief in our class before returning to the rest of their day of learning.
We were so excited that all these adults wanted to listen to our ideas.


Wise Group Visit Kauri Team

For a week, Kauri team students were talking and thinking about what Hamilton could look like in the future. They thought and talked about what they would like to see if there were no limits to their dreams. We drew pictures, labelled diagrams and wrote about our aspirations for the future of our city.



 


Then a group of adults (about 50) from the Wise Group, Kakariki House in Hamilton East wanted us to share our ideas and visions for the future of Hamilton. This is a group in our community that would like to strengthen their relationship with others in the area and they want to support our school. Yay!

They arrived on a bus, and it was a little difficult to see who was more nervous - the students or the visitors. It was made a little easier for our room as Simon (who brought the visitors) is married to Whaea Kat.

We spread out throughout the Kauri classrooms and the library so that we could talk to our visitors.


Monday, August 31, 2015

A very sad day.

We were devastated when we got to school. The smell of smoke was strong. Lots of kids were upset and angry. Why would anyone do this to our school? Our hall had been burnt. We had to stand behind the fences and look at the dripping plastic guttering. We could see where the smoke had raced up the side of the building.


Can you see the melted gutter?

There is no wall. The paper is peeling off.


We had so many emotions. Sad and angry was how the majority of the class felt.
Do you know any better words for sad or angry?

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Can We Make It? - Using Paper



PAPER! PAPER! PAPER! 


What can you make with paper? The choice is huge. There are different types of paper that are differnent colours and textures. We made cards, collages, pop up cards, matariki stars, patu, hats, posters, drawings and kete.









Alazay found a video clip that showed each step how to make a matariki star using paper or ribbon. It was quite tricky, but we kept on trying to work it out. It was very hard. First we had to find lots of stuff like ribbons and paper.
"I thought it would be a bit easy but it was so difficult."


Blog Post thoughts and ideas from Piata, Alazay, Arnia and Mele.


Can We Make It? - Flax Weaving for Matariki



 During Matariki we were able to use harakeke (flax) to begin to learn how to weave. We were making flax flowers, fish, stars and headbands. It was quite difficult to bend the flax and weave it the right way.











Can We Make It? - Cookies

Goal: To make Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:  
125 g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt





1. Melt the butter.
2. Add in the brown sugar, sugar and vanilla, and mix well.
3. Add in your egg and beat until finished.
4. Sift in flour and salt and mix until combined.
5. Add chocolate chip cookies.
6. Put in the oven at 180 degrees for about 12 minutes.

For Can We Make It?, my friends and I made chocolate chip cookies.
We went up to the staffroom to bake the cookies. It tasted good when we ate them. Our group and the class reckoned they were delicious. Only two people didn't eat them.

"It feels warm in my tummy."
"It smells like chocolate chip."
"It looks like people being excited."
People saying things like, "I love your cookies!"





Blog written by the chefs.

Can We Make It? - Volcano

We used chicken wire to make the shape of a volcano. 
In the middle we put an empty plastic bottle.
We tied the wire shape to the cardboard with string. Next we made paper mache. 
We moulded it around the chicken wire. 
We painted the volcano with brown and orange paint.
Whaea Kat put baking soda inside the bottle and then poured vinegar into it.





After we built the volcano we tried to explode it, but it did not work it just fizzed inside the bottle. 
We tried it again and it still didn't work. 
Whaea Kat got a little bottle then she tried to explode it and it worked.

Blog Post written by Wairehu, Jake and Suleman with Whaea Kat.