P Ī T A U 1 - 2019
This term in maths Mrs Togiaso's group have been learning about perimeter and area. As a class we discussed why we would need to understand these concepts and thought of what situations we might need to use this type of maths. Some of our ideas about perimeter included: - If you were trying to measure the running track for the cross country - If you wanted to know how many metres it is around the outside of a netball or basketball court - If you wanted to paint the outlines for a 4-square court Dominic shared how you might need to measure the perimeter of different things if you wanted to build a house so that everything would fit. He then shared how his dad, sister and himself were building a tiny house and how there was so much maths involved in this project. We then searched for images of tiny houses on Google and discussed the differences between them and normal sized houses. Many of the class were really interested in this topic so we decided to design our own tiny houses. First we brainstormed all the different zones/ areas we would need to include in our design. Then we used grid paper and measured up the rectangle (10cm by 16cm). Next we used Sharpie to draw in the various zones and coloured these each a different colour. While we did this part Mrs Togiaso took maths workshops on different addition strategies that we could use when we were calculating perimeter. We then chose 4 zones to focus on and measured the perimeter of each. We recorded the measurements of each side in a number sentence and then used the strategies that we'd learned during our workshops (e.g. doubles, making 10 and place value partitioning) to find the perimeter of each zone. After this we learned about area and how we can use multiplication to find the area of rectangles and squares. We practised finding the area of different shapes by counting the number of squares inside a rectangle/ square. Some of us also used our knowledge of multiplication to calculate the area of shapes that weren't drawn on grid paper.
Finally, we designed some landscaping for the outside of our tiny houses and used our maths skills to calculate the area of different zones in the garden.
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During the term we learned about the water cycle and how water moves from one state to another. Before we began, we brainstormed what we already knew about the water cycle using pictures and words. We then watched some great videos on YouTube and created our very own Water Cycle Bags to hang up in our classroom. Throughout the day we watched how the water evaporated into the air at the top and then each morning lots of tiny water droplets could be seen at the top of each bag. To show our understanding of the water cycle, we created collages and then recorded ourselves talking about what happens. Later on we wrote explanations about how the water cycle works then worked with a buddy to create Stop Motion animations. This term in Maths we have been learning about fractions. To begin with, we decided that an object in its full form was the same as one whole. We got to look at Miss Hix's yummy feijoa's from her garden and agreed that as a fraction they were one whole in its full form. We then discussed halves and quarters and how to make them. Jovaan "we just cut in two" Aleigha "we need to make sure it is cut down the middle" We figured out that to make halves the feijoa needed to cut into two equal parts. As we were cutting the fruit we discussed what fraction we had made and investigated how we write that fraction as well. The next day we made nutella sandwiches, with the our yummy sandwiches, we took turns discussing how many different ways we could cut them. We then figured out what fractions we would be creating as we cut and ate our yummy treats.
We talked about other food items that we cut up into halves, quarters and even sixths or eighths. A few of us mentioned birthday cakes! We decided to build our own cakes and cut them into equal parts. We then discussed what fractions we had made with our pieces. We had so much fun learning about fractions and sharing our ideas. It was a good opportunity for us to take turns and listen to each other while developing our mathematical language. At the beginning of this term we had some very stormy weather with lots of wind and heavy rain. During these days, the children were fascinated by the extreme change in the weather and also the intensity of the rain. Some of the wonderings and comments from the children included: "I wonder if it will ever stop raining?" - Cailyn "There's lots of flooding in the walkway and on the basketball court!" - Miihaea "How does the rain get into the sky?" - Aleigha "Does this mean it's raining everywhere?" - Tai The next week we set up some water-based experiments in the classroom and the children spent the afternoon working in small groups. As they visited the different experiments there was lots of discussion about what was happening to the water as well as lots of questions being asked. "Where's the water gone?" - J'Zon
"How does water just disappear into thin air?" - Nikita "Did the water just go into the stone?" - Bently "What happens when when the water dries up?" - Luka Over the next week we did a few more experiments looking at condensation and evaporation and began talking about how water exist as a solid, liquid and gas. We documented our predictions and observations using Keynote and used the drawing tool to draw diagrams of each experiment. This term we have been learning about coding as part of our Digital Ignition programme, sessions with our e-Learning specialist, Mandy Dempsey and maths programme. We had a good time with Jeff from Digital Ignition - Māpura Matihiko and in our first session we learned about ALGORITHMS, DECOMPOSITION, BUGS and DEBUGGING. With Mandy we used our coding knowledge to create a simple sequence of commands to move our Beebot around our grid to collect honey from the flowers. During this task, we had to use a lot of teamwork as one of us gave the commands and the other person programmed the Beebot. Our digital tuakana were also there to give us support and they taught us how to code using Scratch Junior. This week in maths one of our tasks was to create a story map of our current story 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. First we practised giving simple directions using left and right and other positional language. Then we created a story map with the main locations from the story (Jack's cottage, market, beanstalk and the giant's castle). Once we had created our maps we wrote a sequence of commands to get Jack/ the Beebot from his cottage to the market, back home, up the beanstalk, to the castle and finally back down the beanstalk to his home. Before we used the Beebots we asked a buddy to test our algorithm to see if there were any bugs. Then we used the coding grids and location cards to set up the grid like our story map and had a go at programming our Beebot. Throughout this learning our children showed a lot of perseverance as they problem-solved and adjusted and retested their algorithms. Many of our keen coders in Pītau 1 didn't want to stop when the lunch bell rang, and decided to use their play time to keep on debugging their sequence of commands. Then another group of children offered to stay back to help out their classmates. What an amazing group of children we have in Pītau 1!!
This term we have been learning about our heritage and identities as part of our Inquiry focus for term 1. We first had to find out some important information about ourselves, such as where we are from, where we call home and different places in New Zealand and around the world that are important to us. Miss Hix then gave us the task of creating our Pepeha’s to introduce ourselves to one another and for us to see what common connections we have. We found out that most of us call Ōtautahi (Christchurch) home, and some of us were born in different countries. We then got to learn the correct pronunciation of the Māori vowels and consonants, ngā ara pū - māori alphabet. We used a Total Body Response method to help us learn, the combination of using body movement and actions to engage our memory. We then got a buddy to help us video record each line of our pepeha and then we built it up using Keynote. There was a lot of teamwork going around the room and outside in the playground to get our tasks completed. It was great to see the transfer of our digital skills that we learnt during our Digital Technologies Workshops with Mrs Togaiso. Throughout these lessons our children showed a lot of perseverance and resilience as they remembered the correct order and pronunciation of our pepeha’s. After we created our pepeha’s we then posted these to Seesaw for our parents to see as well. Make sure you check them out, we have a talented bunch of children in Pītau 1.
In our groups we brainstormed our ideas for the following questions: - What was the story about? - How might this story relate to our class (Pītau 1)? - What wonderings do you have after hearing this story? Lots of teams were interested in finding out about other cultures, especially the different cultures of our classmates. We decided to list the main cultures we have in Pītau 1 and we found that we have a very multi-cultural class!! For our home learning we talked to our families to find out where our family was from and what places in New Zealand and the world are special to our family and why. Then we shared our family's stories with our classmates which was really interesting! Lots of our class were interested in finding out where in the world different countries are so Mrs Togiaso used Google Maps to locate all the countries in the world that were important to our families. At our school one of our guiding principles is using the 100 languages. This is a metaphor to describe the 100 or more ways that children can express themselves. One of the ways we express ourselves at Bromley is through the use of clay. To finish our inquiry morning, we used clay to tell our family's story and express who we are as individuals. The creativity and imagination of our children was amazing and while some of us created very different artefacts, we noticed that others' creations were quite similar. Many of us made connections between our clay creations and the book that we had read at the beginning of our session - 'Same, Same, But Different'. We spent some time learning about collage and how we can use this technique to create interesting portraits. First we looked at ourselves in the mirror and on our iPad cameras and noticed our different facial features. Then we drew simple Sharpie portraits based on our observations. Next we began creating our collage portraits. Our key competency focus was 'Relating to Others' so some of our children who finished quickly offered to help others to finish their collaging. The teamwork that our class demonstrated during this learning was awesome and it was great to see our children taking turns, sharing equipment and helping out their peers so that everyone was able to complete their artwork. This term our inquiry has been focused around finding out about ourselves and our peers. To begin our inquiry we spent some time getting to know each other by talking and doing other activities together. We used an oral language strategy called '3-2-1' where we took turns introducing ourselves to three different people in the class.
For our first introduction we had 3 minutes to talk about ourselves, our family and interesting things we enjoy. Then for the next person we had 2 minutes and for the third person we only had 1 minute to introduce ourselves. At the start of this activity many of us felt nervous and struggled to talk for the full three minutes. However, by the third introduction we were a lot more confident and knew exactly what we wanted to say. Some of us enjoyed talking for the full 3 minutes and wanted to talk for even longer! As part of this activity we discussed our key competency focus of ‘Relating to Others’, and talked about what active listening is and how we could show our buddy we were listening to them. We came up with a list of things we could do when we were listening to our buddies:
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