Pre - Camp work with the DPE teachers

This week the Team Awesome students have been working with the DPE teachers. Classes have rotated through different activities where they have experienced

• an introduction to knots and lashing and practical applications.
• basic cooking skills - how to use the gas cookers/ expectations on cleaning and hygiene at camp.
• camp concert ideas - intro to ostinato - rhythm patterns/ Sounds of nature, introduction to dance.
• working with fire: safety with matches - linking to scientific principles. 
• seeing patterns in nature and rock art/ structure. Working with drift wood and knife safety.

 Learning to use gas cookers ... did you know that you can make a boil in the bag chocolate cake?

Practising making pancakes - maybe a breakfast at camp next week!

Creating art with objects found in the environment - in this case stones.

Lighting fires and boiling water 

Week 3 Geometry and Measurement Activities

This week our classes have been cycling through different areas of measurement. Today, Rm11 finished their “Mars Base” project, where we made nets of different buildings and calculated the volume of air that the building could hold.

Rm12 were calculating area and perimeter across the school, measuring objects and spaces. They even measured the area of their body outline. Then they were tasked with the authentic purpose of finding some new spaces for our house assemblies (some of which are quite cramped!).

Maths rotation- Measurement!

Our focus in maths this term is measurement- within this, students will be learning about scale, volume, transformation, perimeter and area. Below are some of the task cards that students will be working on over the next few weeks. Students will be applying the skills they learn during this unit within our inquiry later in the term.

Community House Fun Day!

On Wednesday, we had the most amazing fun day at Raroa. Students participated in a wide variety of activities to earn points for their houses. Some of those activities included three legged races, sponge throwing, an inflatable obstacle course, tug of war.. and the list goes on! There were also some special guests who came to join us, the police and fireman! Students displayed what it means to ASPIRE, showing active involvement, skillful and inquisitive thinking, persistence, independence, respect and LOTS of enjoyment! A huge thank you to all the parents who managed to come down and join us, we hope you had fun.

Athletics

Athletics Day is coming up on Tuesday of Week 3, so for fitness and PE our students are preparing for the events they will be competing in on the day. In groups, students are learning about discus and shot put, practicing our long jump and high jump skills, and building fitness for the sprints. The weather has been on our side so we are getting out as much as possible. It's awesome to see the kids who are remembering to bring their sun-hats, sunscreen and drink bottles. We are looking forward to next Tuesday!

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What do good learners do?

An important part of our identity is our identity as a learner. After reading some of Guy Claxton's research around what good learners do, we decided to share some of it with students in Team Awesome. He has summarised these in a list called "The Magnificent 8".

Students were given the list and worked in groups to:
- Discuss what each of the 8 points meant (this involved looking up lots of new vocabulary)
- Identify things on the list they already do and give examples
- Identify things on this list they don't do and could therefore be a next step

Policy Makers

Ms Brown, our school principal, challenged our team to create policies for how we operate in our space. Students decided on an area of interest, created a policy statement, justified their reasoning, considered positives and negatives and identified how they could review it. They then developed a presentation and pitched their policy to the rest of the team. We were impressed with the level of depth in their thinking and their ability to confidently present their ideas in front of their peers. These policies have been sent to Ms Brown and we are awaiting her feedback!

Ko Wai Au? Everyone Has a Story

Today we were visited by the best storyteller in Wellington, perhaps even New Zealand, Mr Moore. He told us many stories, about himself, his time at school and other peoples stories that were his favorite,

This term we will be exploring the question Ko Wai Au? Who am I? Everyone has stories, and creating and sharing these stories is a way of learning about our identity. We will be looking into how we find out and develop our own stories, hear others stories and the many different ways (written, oral, animation, film etc) we can share our stories.

First Day 2016!

Welcome to the Team Awesome learning log. This blog has been set up in order to share and celebrate what we are doing in class. It will provide a snapshot of a few activities we are undertaking during the year and track our progress.

Students had a fantastic start to the year today. The teachers and Year 8's held a Powhiri to welcome the new students and teachers to Raroa. Students spent the day getting to know their teacher and Team Awesome, exploring the school grounds and starting our athletics rotation. 

Year 8's - Welcome back to your senior year at Raroa.  You will be very familiar with how the school works now and I hope that you are ready to help the Year 7's settle into this year with a positive start, by helping them to find their way around and answer their questions. 

Year 7's - Welcome to your first year at Raroa. I am sure you will make many new friends here and have some amazing experiences with all the opportunities on offer here. Both the Year 8's and the teachers in our team will be here to answer your questions and to help you settle into what will be a busy first term.

We feel it is going to be an exciting year. We have achieved so much and it is only day one!