Kiwi Can Reflection

This week for Kiwi Can this term, our theme was positive relationships and our topic was positive communication. First, we got into two groups (Mr M and Ms Grace's groups)  and did an energizer called Up and Down, which included using positive communication. For this activity, one group flipped the cones up, while the other flipped the cones down. The group that had the most cones flipped either up or down, would win. After that energizer, we talked about positive communication. As a act, Mr M asked Karlos to help him set a scene. In the act Mr M told Karlos that he was rubbish at basketball. In our groups, the goal was to get Karlos to be cheered up, by saying positive things. Nextly, we moved onto our activity, called Street Fighters. In this activity, we had fighting actions from Mr M and Ms Grace. In our groups, we competed against each other to see who could do a combinations of moves the fastest. I really enjoyed playing these activities and talking about positive communication.

Tech Reflection | Pewter Casting

This week for tech at Tamaki College, we carried on with our 16 designs for our 4 recipients. We made sure that we didn't have any skinny and detailed parts of our designs. After we completed finding designs for our recipients, we chose one designs we wanted to create for a recipient. I decided to chose a Micky mouse designs that wasn't too difficult. Once we chose a design, Mr Grundy printed it out, so we could create it. Mr Grundy showed us the first step, of how to carve out our designs, so we were ready for next week. 

Venn Diagram | Kupe & Captain James Cook

This week for reading, in our reading groups, we created a Venn diagram about Captain James Cook and Kupe. We used our knowledge about these explorers to write the similarities and differences. As a group, we worked together to create this Venn Diagram. A similarity between Kupe and Captain James Cook, was that, they both were navigators, who found New Zealand.

Summary Learning Journey Reflection

This week for assembly, members from the Summer Learning Journey program who were ( Jordan, Georgia. Pelimani and Heather), came to hand out certificates and prizes to those who participated in the reading program. Also a member from Hugo Charity came, because they were helping with SLJ.  The Summer Learning Journey, is a program, where students from across the country participate in reading activities in the holidays to learn and build up their knowledge. This year's theme was Change makers. There are a total of 68 activities to complete with positive comments you can write on other people's blogs. Panmure Bridge School was in first place to have the most points out of New Zealand. For the Summer Learning Journey I came 3rd place and won a certificate, a badge and a bag full of items. At the end of assembly, we took photos with the SLJ members from the Manaiakalani cluster. Over the holidays I have really enjoyed completing the SLJ activities. The SLJ program has really helped me with my learning and I have gained new knowledge of information. I hope to participate in the Summer Learning Journey again. 

Tech Reflection

This week for tech at Tamaki College, we did pewter casting with Mr Grundy. Today we finished off our workbook designs for our 4 recipients. In our workbook, we also wrote 4 things our recipients liked. In our silhouette designs there couldn't be any skinny features and any holes, because it would be too hard to create. For pewter casting we are making necklaces for a recipient or for ourselves. I have enjoyed choosing designs for my necklace to give to someone.

Treaty Of Waitangi Collaborative Summary

LI: To identify key words in a text and use these words to collaboratively summarise the events in the text. This week for reading, we created a collaborative summary about the Treaty of Waitangi. First we read a story about the history of the Treaty of Waitangi and made some notes for our summary. We then answered the learning conversations and created our own questions for our group. Something I found interesting was how over 500 Maori cheifs had signed the treaty.

Tech Reflection | Pewter Casting

This week was our first session of tech with Mr Grundy. Today we looked at pewter casting to make jewellery. First we planned our designs and who our recipients were. Mr Grundy showed us the steps of creating our designs, so we could have a clear understanding on how we make it. There were a few designs we were thinking of making. On a google doc, we wrote 4 recipients we would give our necklace to and some facts about what they like.

Kiwi Can Reflection

LI: To include and engage others by being sensitive to their feelings.  This week was our first session of Kiwi Can with Mrs Mac and Ms. Grace. The theme for this term was positive relationships, fairness, and Fair play. We started with an energiser, called Change Places. For this activity, Ms Grace called out some things that we might like and if we liked it, we would change places with a different person. After we did our energiser, we talked about words related to empathy, which were courtesy, common sense, and consideration.  Some examples to show courtesy with words are having manners, being kind, and being polite. Some other examples to show courtesy without words are hand gestures, facial expressions, and body language. To show common sense, you make wise choices and trust your instincts. Some ways to show consideration is thinking about others and how people may feel. Lastly, we talked about some ways to show empathy which are, being kind, supportive and being considerate. After that, we did an activity, where we acted out the positive or negative ways of showing empathy. In our group our play was about someone crying because she was bullied, so we decided to cheer her up.

Explanation | Plastic Pollution

Why plastic pollution is a problem for our coastlines?

Did you know, each year over 1 million marine mammals are suffering due to the plastic we are wasting? This is not okay! These marine mammals have been suffering from plastic, whether they mistake plastic for food, or even get captured in it, which makes them not able to digest. Plastic has a large effect towards our marine mammals. Plastic is a large, serious issue in our environment! Would you like it if your favourite beach was filled with plastic?

According to ecotricity, scientists have estimated that about 8 million tonnes of plastic have ended up in our oceans every year. The number of plastic waste ending up in oceans could decrease up to a higher number, unless we do something about it! The majority of plastic that lies on the ground ends up in drains, which then leads to our oceans, lakes and rivers. There are New Zealanders out there who have access to facilities for plastic, but why aren’t we doing any better for our environment?

Did you know that plastic takes about 1,000 years just to biodegrade! Plastic doesn’t actually fully degrade, it only disintegrates into smaller particles. About 252,000 tons of plastic are also headed into our landfills every year. A project “Love Your Coast” is one of the projects that are acting now to help have a healthier and cleaner future. Love Your Coast has organised groups of people from around New Zealand to help clean up our oceans and beaches, so our next few generations could be better.

We should act now, so we could have a cleaner future and environment. You could save the lives of marine mammals, by picking up at least a few pieces of rubbish!

Giovanni, Sione, Sakina, RJ, Afa, Karlos, Jayden

LI: To collaboratively structure and write an explanation. This week for writing, we wrote explanations to practise, for our assessments next week. In groups we wrote an explanation about why plastic pollution is a problem for our coastlines and marine mammals. We researched information to add to our explanations, to make it more detailed. Something that I found interesting was that plastic takes 1,000 years to biodegrade and how 252,000 tons of plastic are on landfills every year. 

Kiwi Sport Reflection | Cricket

This week was our first session of Cricket for Kiwi Sport with our coach Brian. Firstly we were split into 2 teams. One team did batting, while the other team did bowling. Each team tried to bowl at the 4 cones and the wickets. Each time someone bowled, they would stand at the back of the wicket to catch the ball. The first team to hit all 4 cones, would win. To throw at a cone of wicket, we learnt to aim with a straight arm and to stand in the direction you want to throw. We then moved onto the next station, where we batted. For this station, the batters would hit the ball to the fielding team. Once the batters have hit both balls the field team would run to put the balls in the right place. The skills we used for this cricket session was batting, fielding, bowling, scoring, teamwork and communication.

Thinking Teams | Maths Questions

Today in maths, we worked in our thinking teams to find the answer to maths questions. In the photo you will see my group, "Less, Same, More", working out the number value of our group name. To do this we used addition strategies and our place value knowledge. In the second activity we worked as a group to put the population numbers in order, from the highest to lowest. To do this we used our place value knowledge.

National Current Events

This week as a group, we explored the national current events. In my group were Pouvi, Afa, Makaili and Haylee. Not only did we explore the current events, but we also learnt the different types of current events. Together we read articles about national news and which articles matched the best with each type of current events. On a google map, we plotted the locations of where the current event stories took place, with a short explanation of the article/story.