Learning beyond expectations.

This week we have had a couple of students choose to do additional creative work, and it has been such a busy week with shows, assembly and fire men visiting as well.  Here are a few that got finished and are ready to share with others.

This is Kaye-Lani's.  She has spent 2 weeks getting this ready to share.  She got inspired to write her pepeha (which we had been discussing in class).  She brought it in to share with us and when we suggested that she record it on the ipad, she went away super excited, and created a stop motion.  She was super proud of herself.  We however said that this was by no means finished.  She then had to go back and research her Tongan pepaha so she could also include this.  This has been something Kaye-Lani has been very shy about within our class.  After the suggestion was made, she was still very apprehensive, so we tried to enlisted the help of her brothers ... In the end, we just rang home.  Kaye-Lani's mum was fantastic to chat to and within a few days Kaye-Lani bounced into school carrying her Tongan version of her Pepeha.  She shared it with us, and then added it to her Explain Everything.  She was very excited to share this today as part of our school assembly.

This is an amazing example of a student using writing to bridge not 2 languages but 3, not just English and Te Reo but also Tongan.  Seeing her now sharing her understanding of all 3 language in class as well as in this Explain Everything has been PRICELESS!!!  Well done Kaye-Lani and your family.  You guys ROCK.

This is Nicks, he is learning to use his imagination to create different stories, about a range of different things.  He has used Lego to create a scene, and has then been able to use some Lego ships and other creations to create a stop motion story.  When Nick had finished making the stop motion movie he then started learning how to record the oral story that goes with his stop motion movie. 

We can't wait to see the sequels Nick.

Portia Woodman

Today we had a visit from Portia Woodman. This was very exciting for all of us as she is more than just a national hero to many of us here at Ohaeawai. To some of us she was also family.

She talked to us about how we need to be proud of who we are and where we come from. She told us about how she came from Kaikohe, and that she was proud of this and all that she had accomplished because of who she was and is.

Along with telling us about needing to be proud of who we are, she also talked to us about how if we want something badly enough ... we can achieve it. And if that doesn't quite work out, something else will.

She reminded us that there will be highs and lows, and that nothing is going to be perfect all the time, but we will get better and we will get stronger if we keep trying.

This attitude reminded us of how Mrs G keeps reminding us not to say "I can't do something" but to rather add 1 word to the end of it. "I can't do something YET!".

Dreams were also something she talked to us about. She explained her life long dream of playing Netball alongside her idols, becoming a silver fern, but also how that dream shifted into a new dream of playing Rugby for NZ.

Measurement Maths

When having a clean out of iPads I located these two examples of how children use iPads in our classroom to record events that they do and thing they are learning about.

They relate to our Measurement maths that we had at the end of Term 2.  We hope you enjoy.

This video shows children using different non-standard units to measure their own shadows and learn how to compare their measurements and shadows to their peers.  It was a fantastic fun way to practice these skills that will become apart of their life long learning journey.

This Explain Everything is a presentation that the children made to record the things they measured.  Great work guys, it was a fantastic idea.