Sunday, August 17, 2014

Inquiry Learning

Inquiry has started with a hiss and a roar this term for Waka Whanake!
We are looking into Taupo's ecology this term and we have been super busy so far. We spent the first two weeks preparing for an audio conference with Michel Dedual and our friend from LEARNZ Andrew Penny.
Our audio conference topic was Preserving and Improving Taupo's Freshwater Ecology. Phew! What a mouthful! We needed to come up with some questions to ask our experts so we had to do a lot of research. There were heaps of words we didn't know so we did some research and made a visual dictionary in our classroom to remind us.

Here we are researching about threats to Taupo's ecology.



Here's a  of the questions we came up with to ask Michel and Andrew. (We're a clever bunch!).



On Tuesday it was audio conference time. We used a funny machine called a Polycom. It works just like a giant speaker so we could all hear what was happening. We all had different jobs during the audio conference. Some of us had to ask the questions and some of us had to take notes. All the schools in New Zealand could've tuned in to listen to us if they wanted!

We learnt so much from the audio conference! Check it out...



We did so well that Andrew even sent us this certificate! ...


Waka Whanake, post a comment telling us the most interesting fact that you learnt from our first three weeks of inquiry!
 

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Trout Art

Near the end of last term, Waka Whanake created some stunning pieces of trout art as part of our inquiry.

These pieces took a long time and we put a lot of hard work and care into creating them!

We used watercolour paint for the blue background. While we waited for that to dry, we painted newspaper green and ripped it into pieces to make it look like lake weed. We also painted pieces of paper with brown, purple and black and then laid glad-wrap over the top to make it look like it had creases and cracks, just like rocks. We ripped these up into small pieces and glued them to the background. Next we sketched a trout in pencil and smudged charcoal with our fingers to create shading. After cutting these out, Miss Fraser sprayed them with hairspray which stops the charcoal from smudging any more.

What was the best part of our Trout Art? What did you find really challenging?



Water Cycle Investigation

In Room 19 today we investigated how the water cycle works.

We discovered that the water cycle starts with the sun. The sun heats up water and the water turns into water vapour (which is just like hot air). The water rises. This is called evaporation.
When the water rises, it cools down and the water vapour changes back to water. This is called condensation. When the water joins together, it forms clouds. When the clouds get too heavy, the water falls back to the ground like rain. This is called precipitation.

Miss Fraser showed us an example. She boiled the jug. As the water became hotter, some water vapour started rising up. Miss Fraser and Luke held a bowl over the top of it. The water vapour filled the bowl then it turned back to water and stuck to the sides of the bowl. When enough water had collected, it started dripping down the sides because it got too heavy.

We also watched this video which helps explain all the tricky words like evaporation, condensation and precipitation.


With a buddy we  made our own water cycles in a zip lock plastic bag. If you want to make one at home, here is what you need to do...

Materials:

zip lock plastic bag
vivid/sharpie
piece of scrap paper (to draw your plan)
water
blue food colouring
sellotape

Method:

1. Draw a picture of the water cycle on a scrap piece of paper. When you are happy with it, draw it onto your plastic bag with a vivid.
2. Mix two drops of food colouring with 1/4 of a cup of water and pour into your plastic bag.
3. Make sure it is sealed tight!
4. Sellotape your bag to the window in a sunny spot.

Wait and see what happens...




By Miss Fraser, Luke D, Luke R, Zach, Sophie, Fin, Seth, Jade and Jazmyne.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Nothing Ever Happens Poetry

Waka Whanake read a fantastic Poem by Lorraine Williams called Nothing Ever Happens. We used the structure of her poem to create our own inventive, funny pieces of poetry.

Using our e-learning skills and a fantastic app called Aurasma, Miss Fraser recorded us reading our poems.

You need to download the Aurasma app to view the videos. Here is a link to the Apple app or the Google Play app.

Once you have downloaded Aurasma, click the triangle menu button at the bottom of your screen.
Then click the magnifying glass button and search "Waka Whanake". Select to "follow" us.
Click the square viewfinder button on the bottom of your screen (the one in the middle) and hover your device over the pictures below.  Make sure the whole picture is in the frame and there is no glare or shadows on the picture.
In a few seconds, the video should start.

Good Luck and happy watching!

 

 
 
 
 
What do you think of our poems? Have you written a great poem that you could share with us? We love your comments and feedback!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Enviro Week

Last week was enviro week at Waipahihi.  Mrs Wills organised lots of great events to get us all thinking and acting enviro friendly.  One of the challenges was to create an outfit out of recycled goods.  Here are some of the amazing entries from Waka Whanake...
Zoey's dress was gorgeous.  Zoey's mum and her spent all weekend on this creation.  She used plastic bags, newspaper and pages from magazines.



Pippi and her mum made this stylish hat.  They used and old light shade and hot glued plastic bags on every second wire and then made newspaper bows.  They used crazy looms to tie them on.  She has a gorgeous bow made out of a plastic bag tied under her chin.

Anna sewed her own bag.  She glued old material onto it for decoration and collected loads of Dad's old bottle caps and shells from the beach to attach to the handle of her owl bag.

Amber made this beautiful dress out of old parachutes!  Her dad helped her cut the amount of parachute needed.  Her Mormor (Swedish for Granny!) who very kindly sewed it for her.  She cut the bottom off the dress to make a belt.  And glitter for bling!


Noah made a robot outfit out of boxes from Pack n Save.  He had to cut a flap so that he could see.  He used sharp scissors to cut the middle of the box out so that his Dad could tickle him!

Here are Lewis and his little brother Tate.  They came 3rd in the creation competition.  They made an owl using all sorts of things from their Dad's workshop and from around the house.









Monday, May 5, 2014

Holiday Highlights

Check out what our Waka Whanake children have been doing over the holidays.


 

ANZAC day learning



At the end of last term, the amazing children of Waka Whanake learnt all about ANZAC day. We discovered that ANZAC day is for remembering the soldiers who fought in World War One so that we can live in a safe and peaceful country today. We felt very lucky that we live in a beautiful and safe country like New Zealand.

Check out the work we did to remember and celebrate the ANZAC's...

We read a book called The Anzac Puppy by New Zealand author Peter Millett. We thought it was a fantastic book and it made us think about the importance of pets in our lives. They make great companions! Some of Waka Whanake wrote letters to Mr. Millett telling him how much we loved his book and why we agree pets are important to us. Here are a few...

Dear Mr. Millett
We read your story. It was amazing. It made me feel worried. You got me hooked into it. The puppy was brave. I'm proud of the puppy. I bet Lucy was really glad to see the puppy. My aunties puppy barks at people to keep his family safe. Her puppy always wants to play. If you don't play with him he will get all sad and lonely but if you do play with him he will follow you.
Thanks for sharing your book with us. I would be sad if my dog had to go to war. It would break my heart into pieces.
By Holly Fo


Dear Mr. Millett
We read your story The Anzac Puppy and we loved it. It made me feel so sad! We also looked at your story on the internet and saw a picture of you holding your book. The book gave me a good feeling in my heart. My dog helps my family live. It is very important in my life. My dog helps my family because it hunts for us. He gets pigs, deer and goats. When he gets an animal, I feel excited. My dog always wants to be with me. He is so important.

By Luke D

Dear Mr. Millett
We read your story, the Anzac Puppy and we loved it. It made me feel happy we have a pet dog that is brave. If my dog was in the war I would be very very miserable and scared. I would miss it lots. Your story came to life and gave me a feeling of how the dog feels.
My dog makes me happy because when I am sad it cheers me up a lot.
My dog is a lovely friend because she plays with me all day.
My dogs comforts me which makes me feel warm inside.
Thank you for sharing your book with us. We are happy that our dogs do not have to go to war because my dog is special to me.

By Ruby

Some other children in Waka Whanake were practicing the reading strategy 'inference'. This means reading between the lines. We thought about how the main characters would feel at different points in the story. We also used our 'green hat' creative thinking to come up with different ways to keep Freda the dog safe in the war. Check out some of our work below...

 
 
Others in Waka Whanake read a journal story which told us why ANZAC day is special and where the idea of eating ANZAC biscuits came from. Here are some current events webs we created with the new information we learnt from the article.



Once we had learnt the history of the ANZAC biscuit, we made some. YUM! Our biscuits were a delicious wet day treat. We even had to put our fractions knowledge to good use as we had to double the recipe to make sure there would be enough biscuits for everyone!
 






To finish off our ANZAC day work, Whaea Tracey helped us to create beautiful vases of poppies.

What was your favourite part of our ANZAC day work? Did you learn something you didn’t know before? What was it?

Monday, March 10, 2014

Writing

Waka Whakane are learning to describe a 'moment in time' in our writing. We decided to be successful we needed to include descriptions about what we saw, felt, heard, smelt and wondered. On Day One we looked at this amazing photo. We pretended we were the child in the picture.



Here are some of the amazing sentences by authors in Waka Whanake.  
Why do you think these sentences are so effective?


The elephants thump slowly through the grass.  
Kenzi

Above me is the endless sky like a sheet, spread out with a cloud gently floating across the landscape.
Phoenix

I felt like if I stood up I could touch the sky.
Summer


The big jungle fades away behind me as the elephants trudge forward.
Anna

A cloudless sky hovering above the world.
Luke

The blue, endless sky with one lonely cloud looking for a friend.
Wilson


I hear the tremendous BBBRRRR as the herd raise their trunks.
The revolting smell of mud fills the air as we trudge through the paddocks.
Zoey

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Cooking For Kids

Waka Whanake member Amber entered the Book Island Bake Off Competition with her Granny and their AMAZING Summer Berry Flan won them some book vouchers for herself and for our school! We are so proud of Amber and her Granny. Here is an explanation from Amber and her Granny...

Hi,

My name is Amber. I am nearly 8ys old and have been baking with my Mum, Dad and Granny since I was about 3yrs.   Some of my family have dairy allergies so this is good for us. My sisters and cousins all love this cake.

To make my special cake Granny and I made the flan first, I beat the eggs with a beater and added the sugar then we added the flour, it is quite hard to fold the flour into the egg mixture but it just takes practise. We put it in the oven for 10 minutes when it was brown Granny took it out because it was too hot for me and she turned onto a cake rack to cool. 


Ambers Summer Berry Jelly Flan.

Sponge Flan

3 eggs, 1 pinch of salt, 1/2 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup flour sieved with 3/4 tsp baking powder.

Beat eggs and salt until creamy, add sugar slowly.  Fold in flour and baking powder.

Pour into a greased flan tin and cook for 10 mins at 200deg.

Jelly topping.

2 raspberry jellies, 1 tsp gelatine,  400gms frozen raspberries.

Put 2 jellies and gelatine in a bowl with 3 cups hot water, stir until dissolved, add the frozen raspberries they thaw in the hot mixture and pour into a jelly mould.  I use a Tupperware one which is a ring so I can fill the centre with fresh berries.

 
Put the flan on a big plate then we  tip the jelly onto it and put cut up strawberries into the centre and whole ones around the edge. See the picture of me cutting the flan.
 
 
Have you got any yummy baking recipes you could share with us?? Or maybe you could try make Amber's Summer Berry Jelly Flan at home? Leave us a comment because we LOVE to hear from you.
 

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Fractions Fun

This week in Waka Whanake, we have started learning about fractions.

Mrs Mason, Miss Fraser and Whaea Tracey showed us a picture of a pie chart and we brainstormed all the things we NOTICED about the pie chart and all the things we WONDERED. See our ideas below...



Next, we were given fraction pieces to explore. We tried to see what different combinations we could use to make a 'whole' and discovered which pieces were halves, quarters, thirds, fifths and even twelfths!



One of our 'wonderings' was whether we could learn to make our own pie chart? So watch this space...

Where can you use fractions at home, school or in everyday life? Comment and share your ideas with us!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Hockey

Today we had a visit from Graham from Taupo Hockey Club.  He came to teach us some hockey skills.  First we learnt how to hold the stick correctly - left hand at the top of the stick and right hand on the tape halfway down.  He showed us how to strike a hockey pose with our legs bent.  Next we practiced dribbling the ball.  Graham told us to think of the ball as a puppy on a leash! It was important that we didn't let our 'puppy' (the ball) run away from us.

We played a game called traffic lights where we needed to dribble the ball at different speeds. Next we played Rob the Nest hockey styles which was madness but plenty of fun!  We finished the lesson with mini games of hockey against each other.  Miss Fraser and Mrs Mason were extremely impressed with our skills!

Check out the photos of Room 19 and the video of Room 20...






Sunday, February 9, 2014

Week One Challenge


In Waka Whanake we are starting the year by completing co-operative challenges. By doing these challenges we hope to build lots of skills that we will need during the year.

 We need to learn how to:

·        Create a plan

·        Solve problems and work together with different people

·        Take sensible risks

·        Ask questions

·        Research a problem

·        Share ideas

·        Reflect and evaluate our plans

In Waka Whanake we aim to be Curious, Confident and Co-operative learners.

In Week One we completed our first challenge in groups of 4. Miss Fraser and Mrs Mason gave us 2 pieces of A2 paper and challenged us to get our whole team from one side of the hall to the other without touching the floor. We thought it was going to be impossible!

First we brainstormed in our groups. We had to all agree on a plan we thought would work. We wrote and drew our plan on a piece of paper. This was quite tricky and we learnt to listen to all of our team members.

After lunch, we went to the hall and put our plans into action! There were very different and creative ideas.






 
 
Some of our plans worked really well and other plans needed changing. In the end, we all made it across to the other side of the hall. Back in class we reflected on our plans. We thought about what worked well, what didn’t work so well and what we would do differently next time.
We learnt that you have to listen to everyone in your team and make sure everyone gets the chance to share their opinion. We also learnt that the first idea isn't always the right idea so we have to negotiate and modify our plans.