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Friday 3 November 2017

Gardening Galore (from seed to sprouting)


You may remember how last term we grew  a variety of plants from seed. This week, with the expert support of Corban's Nana and Mum, we planted these and some edible plants in our school garden. Nana Maureen taught us how to prepare the soil by leveling and loosening it. We then planned out where each of the plants would go by laying them on top of the soil. Maureen taught us about complimentary planting like tomatoes and basil, and marigolds to deter pests. We all took turns digging a small hole for a plant and 'heeling' it in to the soil. We have set up a team to water the plants three times a day, being careful no to pour the water on directly. Below are the photos of last terms efforts followed by today's awesomeness. 



















Tuesday 24 October 2017

Thursday 28 September 2017

Spaghetti and Marshmallow towers

Did you know that some shapes are much stronger than others in a building?

The clever builders who made the pyramids knew this and maybe that's why the pyramids are still standing.

In our class this week I set the clever Kea learners the challenge of building a structure using two non-traditional building materials. The aim was to build either the highest, or strongest structure using only uncooked spaghetti sticks and mini marshmallows. Mr Buckingham acted as our judge and the teams used a 200g vitamin container as a strength tester.

I also had a go at making a tower with some success.

We all did some shared research into which shapes would be strongest and we found that putting lots of triangles into our buildings made them stronger. Here are some pictures of our buildings starting with Mr Gunn's.

Monday 25 September 2017

Rata's Waka (or how we need to look after the environment)

On Friday of last week,  we heard the story of Rata and the Waka. In the story Rata takes a Totara nui to make a Waka. But he didn't pay his respects to the environment so things didn't go his way until he did.

We did some thinking about how we are like Rata today in our society, and then we created a poster in response our ideas. Here are some of the children's slides.
Each child has more on their personal blog.




Monday 28 August 2017

Describe what is happening in a picture

The Wanderer.

WALT: use a prompt for writing.

WARNING!!

Hey team, you might find one of the following pieces of fictional describe writing a little bit scary!! 

The clever authors in the Kea class were asked to describe what they thought was going on in the pictures below. 
As a description of a moment in time, they had to write as if the events shown in the pictures were occurring in the present. 
They were able to remember that sentences about things that are happening now used the words 'is' and 'are' as well as the -ing ending on doing words. 
Someone suggested that we use the seven servants to help us think of ideas when we look at the pictures while planning what details we will put in our finished writing piece. 
Finally, we talked about using words to create a mood that matched the pictures. Talk about deep level thinking! 

Scroll below the writing to see the picture and comment below about what you thought was the best bits.

WARNING. the following description contains references to supernatural horror and violence. 

While these are usually not appropriate topics for our school, I felt the description was too good not to share. Sorry if it is scary. 


The Mountain-Top Demon

By Ebes

There is a mysterious hooded demon, wearing a purplish-blue robe with a crescent moon shaped power staff, resting on the blinding, foggy and grassy Himalayan mountains. He is sitting on a huge rock which is covered in moss. The hooded demon is resting from the huge climb up the mountain. He is looking for a little cottage to enslave the people living in it and feed on their happiness. 

resource image

Picture credit www.pobble365.com/wanderer/

The Bikers.

By Kata.

There are dirt-bikers having a race. They are having a race. They are racing against each other and the green bike is winning. They are ramping over a big hill with dust on their tyres. The red and green bikes are in front and all the others are behind. The ones in front are blazing through the dust.

image of the day

Picture credit www.pobble365.com/the-race/

Friday 11 August 2017

We made our own EBooks.


This week in the Kea class we have been learning how to recall stories in our own words. 
To help us to remember the story and then put it into our own words, Whaea Te Ahua showed us a new app called book creator. 
Here is an example of a simple retelling of Maurice Sendak's Where the wild things are, by James and Caleb-Rose

Wednesday 9 August 2017

My Special Place

Explain what, where, or whom is your special thing.
Explain why it is so special to you.
How does it remind you of God’s presence in your life?


WALT: Find God every day.

My special place is a back country hut in the northern Ruahine Ranges called Rangiwahia Hut. It is special to me because I have been going there for many, many years and it is a very beautiful place to go to.

Tuesday 7 March 2017

Welcome to 2017

Hi Team,

Welcome back!

It's great to be back in the swing of things with a wonderful new group of learners in the Kea Class. I'm very excited about the many opportunities we have in the coming year for new learning. We will be trying our best to keep our blog fresh, new, and full of children;s ideas and where possible the children will be writing and commenting on this blog. Please feel free to leave us positive and constructive comments as you're able.

God Bless, Mr Gunn.