Hukanui Marae Trip

 This week our school visited the Hukanui marae. We as Manuhiri (visitors) were welcomed onto the marae by the tangata whenua (people of the land). The Hukanui marae is the marae that Hamilton East School has a connection to. 

The marae was moved because of the arrival of British troops in 1864. The new wharepuni (camp hut) was built from ponga logs and raupo reeds. Named after the nearby swamp land. It is very foggy on cold frosty mornings, and the fog hangs down low on the ground. The second Maaori king was Tawhaio, Tukuroto Matutaera Potatau Te Wherowhero. He called the Wharenui 'Tu Tururu-a-papa kamutu'. Enduring the land. To the people, this means that they will not be made to move again. Their marae is their home and it will always be there.

We are now a part of the Hukanui Marae.

Marae experience - By Layton Mace

Tuurangawaewae - Portraits

Tuurangawaewae in maaori culture is a sense of identity and independence associated with having a home base. Through this we explore our own identity and place in the world. The main question we ask ourselves is Ko Wai au? Who am I? 

As a part of our Tuurangawaewae learning we explored the art style of maaori artist Robyn Kahukiwa. Robyn Kahukiwa is a leading maaori artist who has done a lot to raise awareness of contemporary maaori art. Her art style is often political and addresses the oppression of Maaori woman by the social structures of the dominant Pakeha culture and the change in Maaori tradition. In her artwork she acknowledges the disappearance of meaning and identity - specifically maaori identity.

Here are a few examples of the amazing artwork ruuma tekau maa rua has completed. The task was to complete a self portrait inspired by Robyn's style. We added in Tui to incorporate our hub name (Tui hub) and other designs inspired by papatuanuku.

2021 Swimming!

We have been working hard this term practising our swimming! We know how important it is to feel confident in the water as we have so many opportunities to swim in New Zealand. As the weather gets colder swimming is coming to an end however, we have enjoyed learning valuable skills we can use in the water and had a lot of fun doing so!

Check out some of our swimming sessions below and leave a comment!

Ruuma tekau maa ruua - Room 12 2021

Ruuma tekau maa rua 2021

Kia ora! Welcome to our class for the new year! These are the diverse learners of room 12. We come from all over the world and New Zealand. We are excited to learn as year 5 & 6 akonga in Kauri team. Follow our blog for updates on our learning experiences and journey. Ka kite!  

LEGO Creations!

 LEGO Creations!

Lego is a great way to relieve stress and engage in meaningful and joyful conversations. As children comment on their Lego creations, they develop important communication skills including the ability to explain ideas, describe their work, talk about the process and verbalise challenges they had along the way. 

Room nine has shown passion for lego since day one. We have many engineers who show their creativity through their Lego models. We have had Lego vacuum cleaners, superheroes, cars, trucks, spaceships, lightsabers, R2D2 and so much more. Everyday they are problem solving to make their creations better and they are thoughtful, mechanical and always blow my mind! 

Check out some of the creations below...

Genius Hour

 Genius Hour

Where passions come alive!

Genius hour is a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom. Room 9 was given a set time each week where they have a choice in what they learn.

The first thing we had to establish was a driving question, which we couldn't find the answer to on google. We had to research, plan and create our projects with only 1 hour per week to do so. We then reflected after each session on how our projects were going and whether we were sticking to our driving question. We thought about what was working, what isn't, what challenges we are facing and how can we overcome them. 

At the end of our 8 weeks of genius hour we presented our passions. Everyone in room 9 presented amazing projects and were able to reflect on the process. Our genius hour has inspired us to be life long learners and we will continue to ask questions, wonder and reflect on our everyday learning.

Digital Technology - LEGO Robotics!

Room nine were recently given the opportunity to work with new technology in our classroom! They were given a series of problem solving tasks that range in complexity. This tested their ability to follow instructions and problem solve with the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

In the pictures below are some of the examples of what we did!

Robotic LEGO: 
The robotic lego was a popular choice. We were given instructions to follow to build a small robot which we made alterations to. We also made a robot that was able to break dance! We found this particularly challenging however, when we finished it we were so proud of our determination! Hopefully we get another opportunity to use this one day and learn how to programme it to break dance.

Duplo:
Some of us used the Duplo blocks to create structures that completed different tasks. This was fun as we got to fire canons at blocks and create an interactive theme park!

Unplugged robots:
We also had the opportunity to play with unplugged robots. This meant we didn't need a device and they are programmed to follow certain tasks or courses we set for them. We were able to programme these robots by either using images or by drawing the track using different colours. We learnt that the robots are programmed to react to a certain path or colour. We programmed our robots to move in different ways and complete certain tasks.

Our start to Term 3! - Volcanoes

We have had a great start to Term 3! This term we are volcanologists and are learning about the different types of Volcanoes, how they work and are discovering the Volcanoes we have here in New Zealand!

We wonder how many volcanoes there are in New Zealand and how active they are! 

We know a volcano is a mountain that has a molten pool of rock below the surface of the Earth (Magma). When pressure build up, eruptions occur. Gases and rock shoot up through the opening and spill over or fill the air with lava fragments. There are different kids of volcanoes of all shapes and sizes. 

We have also learnt about how volcanoes are formed through plate tectonics. New Zealand is made up of many volcanoes with some still being very active! Volcanoes form when magma from within the earths surface works its way up to release pressure. It erupts to form lava flows and ash. Over time a volcano erupts and continues to erupt getting bigger and bigger!

Sharing our Science Learning!

In term 2 we have been learning about the scientific perspective of how our world was created and how species have changed over time. This is called Evolution.

First, we did experiments, research and activities which provided us with knowledge about many different topics within Evolution. Examples of topics were; Extinction, Adaptation (Natural selection), Human evolution, The big bang theory,  Timeline of Earth, Humans adapting to live in space, and so much more.
We then were able to choose the topic that we found interesting and therefore wanted to further explore and research about.
Next, we gathered and interpreted data and became experts on our chosen topics. We then had to come up with a creative and interesting way of presenting our information. We had to think about what was going to be interesting to our audience and then think about the best way of presenting the information in order for our audience to learn. We decided that making our projects interactive was a great way to capture our audiences attention and would be something they are more likely to remember. 
All of our finished projects were fantastic and we were given great feedback from our Kauri team friends saying they were exciting and interactive. Each group or individual had so many positive things to reflect on and also something they could work on next time. The great thing about doing these projects is that it is the perfect opportunity to make mistakes, and learn from them. 

In term 3, we will have the opportunity to make our own Genius Hour projects where we will have more freedom, and be able to choose a topic about ANYTHING! Genius hour is a movement that allows us to explore our own passions and gives us a set time to learn about what we want to learn. We will then share our finished products with our whanau and reflect on our experience.

Leave a comment below about what you like about our Evolution projects! Did you see them in real life? What did you enjoy? What else would you like to know about Evolution?

Room Nine's Evolution Projects!

Report Writing!

Science! Big Idea: Evolution

Science Big Idea: The diversity of organisms living and extinct is the result of Evolution

We are learning about the scientific perspective of how our world was created, this is called Evolution. We know that Evolution is change over time. This could be the change in organisms, land, and/or technology.

We have learnt so far about adaptation. Adaptation is when species learn to survive in their environments and often change/adapt. Sometimes natural selection (survival of the fittest) means that only the species that can learn to adapt to their environment will survive and therefore evolve.

As a part of our research about evolution/change over time we have looked at fossils! 

Fossils are the remains of the organisms that are no longer alive. Some of the fossils we have been looking at show us organisms who are now extinct. We have learned that the further down the layers the older the fossils are. Fossils also show how species have changed over time. Scientists are able to gather and interpret data and compare fossils from then and now to notice the differences.

We even had a go at making our own fossils!

Join Jess and Ally making cupcakes!

How to Write a Blog Comment!

Kia ora!

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