Making with great meaning

Welcome back to Term 2!
We have already been super busy with our learning. You may have heard or noticed that last week we were super engaged with creating cardboard classrooms. The room was a buzz with problem solving and team work. This enthusiasm stemmed from our reading work on structures. Jet plane reading group has been reading about a number of design features of buildings, inparticular the Cardboard Cathedral and the construction of a Wharenui. These artcles discussed the innovate building ideas the designers and builders undertook to build them. 

The excitement of creating an interesting classroom spread through the class until almost everyone was planning, designing and making their own cardboard classroom. It was wonderful. So many learning opportunities naturally fall out of a task like this. I observed teamwork, commmunicating, relating to others, managing self, problem solving, creativity and flexible thinking. The students were reflective as to what to include in their classrooms. Such a great way to begin the term.

Here are some images to show what has been going on: 

Science Skills

As mentioned in our Team Newsletter our Inquiry focus is the Kā Waimaero/Ilam Stream through the Essential Learning area of Science. We are really excited about this learning. We are currently honing our Science Learner skills of being great observers, recorders and questioners. We have carried out two experiments so far to help develop these skills before we apply them to our stream study. 

The first experience was to observe and record the number of water droplets New Zealand coins could hold. We recognised a number of skils such as honesty and precision were needed to carry out this experiment. We had some EXCELLENT wonderings after too such as: What makes the water droplet break? How does the water droplet stay together once it is formed? What technique is best when trying for the largest number of droplets?

Here are some images to show you our excellent science skils:

As you can see we are highly engaged and got super excited by the number of droplets. We are great scientists in Room 18