Passion Projects

The last 6 weeks the students have been directing some of their learning. Three to four times a week the students have had either the first or last block to explore their 'passions' or areas of interest.

What have they learnt?
The focus, for our trial of passion time, has been developing the Key Competencies.

Managing Self - Being Resourceful and Responsible
Practising gymnastics has been popular with several groups. They have needed to get the mats from the hall each day, set them up, and put them away at the end. Sometimes they've had to ask other classmates to help as the mats have been too heavy.

Managing Self - Establishing Personal Goals
Some students wanted to get better at art. They researched videos on Youtube and have been learning to draw cartoons.

Other students taught themselves to make paper planes using an old fashioned book.

Managing Self - Resilience and Persistence.
Students learnt to Things don't always work the way you want the first time. O

Passion Projects from Leeanne Arnold on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas (and some End of Year Housekeeping)

As we end another school year, I want to say a big thank you to you, Rua parents and whanau. 

Thank you for sharing your precious children with me - I've loved watching them grow and develop over the year. I'm so proud of what they've achieved individually and collectively. Thank you also for being involved in their school life - whether commenting on Seasaw, sharing your time and expertise, catching up with me before or after school, or keeping in touch via email.

Its tempting to trot out the old line about how the year 'seems to have flown by', but when I think over all we have done I just can't do it. Here is a snippet of the things we've done in term 4.

Seasaw
 I have loved trying out the Seasaw app this year, to share your child's learning. I hope you've also enjoyed these snapshots into their school life. In the next few weeks I'll be archiving the class. You will have access to your child's account for a month after I do this. You can download a zip archive of your child’s journal to save to your computer. Sign into your Parent account at https://app.seesaw.me.
Click on your Profile Icon on the top left.
Click on the Gear Icon.
Click on Account Settings.
Click on Download Journal Archives and choose the archive you’d like to save.

EPIC!
Looking for some holiday reading for your child? This year the students have been reading books online using EPIC! This programme is free for teachers and can be used at home for a monthly fee. However they also offer a one month free trial (with no obligation to purchase or need to enter credit card details). If I have your email address, I've sent you the link. It can be used on ipads, chromebooks or conventional computers. If you want to receive the link, and I don't have your email, please contact me.







Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas. For those going on to a new class I wish you the best. And for those staying on next year, I look forward to seeing you in the new year. 

Drains are For Rain - The final chapter (for 2016)

Pukerua Bay's next generation of eco-warriors are ready to take on the world. 

Over the last month we've put signs around the school stormwater drains to remind people only rain should go down the drain. We used a lovely octopus stencil designed by one of our students.

Students took turns to spray the green background and blue sign. We used newspaper and cardboard so we didn't accidentally send any paint down the drain. While we worked the rest of the class picked up rubbish around the school.

We were shocked at how many chip packets, disposable drink bottles, yoghurt pottles and pieces of glad wrap there were lying around. We know from our research, these take at least 75 years to break down. Imagine if all this was washed down the stormwater drains and into the sea. Yuk!

As an exciting finale to our project we had the opportunity to put plaques on the stormwater drains around Pukerua Bay. We worked with Amanda from Enviroschools and Keith from the Porirua City Council.


To see more of our photos click on the link. Drains are for Rain Slide Show

I was so proud of our tamariki. They confidently told Keith about our our local streams and where the water in the stormwater drains goes to. These students don't just know about this topic from books and videos, they've lived it - searching for our school drains, digging through the muck, following the streams and drains down to the beach, and installing signs. Now our mini experts are ready to spread their knowledge in the community.




How amazing to be able to make such a difference at 6 and 7 years of age. Imagine what they'll do in the future. 

Swimming 2016

Despite the shaky start, we had a very successful series of swimming lessons this term. It was great to see the progress the children made. I've already put some videos on Seasaw, and in the next few days I'll add some comments. In the meantime here are some photos.

Swimming 2016 from Leeanne Arnold on Vimeo.

Maths - Real Life Geometry

How do you go from 'colour the triangles blue and the squares red' to using geometry in design, manufacturing, physics, engineering, and architecture? This term Rua have been deepening their knowledge of geometry. 

Before starting, all students could distinguish a circle from a square from a triangle. They could also find examples of different shapes in the environment.

But when we looked closer at individual shapes there were gaps in their knowledge. Most students didn't recognise some types of triangles. They thought they were 'too skinny' or they were 'upside down' or only 'half a triangle' which meant they weren't 'real triangles'. Other shapes with crooked sides were recognised as being triangles.




After looking at what makes a triangle - three straight sides and three angles - students tested out their knowledge. Working with a buddy, they looked at pictures and explained whether the shape was or was not a triangle. I was impressed how well some students explained their thinking.

We also made some tasty triangles out of marshmallows and skewers. This gave us another opportunity to look at how even skinny triangles and upside down triangles are still triangles. Can you spot the odd man out?






What's it all for?
Triangles are key shapes in building and engineering because they are so strong. In class we compared the strength of squares and triangles. The students discovered you can squash a square but it is much more difficult to squash a triangle. They were then challenged to build bridges using cardboard, straws and masking tape. Instead of copying pictures of real bridges, the students used their new knowledge and imaginations.


Bridges from Leeanne Arnold on Vimeo.

Drains are for Rain Inquiry - Part 4

It's time to put our learning into practise and make a difference. Are you free this Thursday 9-10.30am or Friday 1.30-3.00pm?  We need a few good volunteers to help supervise as we spray paint signs around the stormwater drains in the school?

We were inspired by this article in an old School Journal. The children in the article spray-painted signs around the storm-water drains to remind people not to put rubbish, oil, chemicals and other pollutants down the drain as they go to the sea.

We had lots of great ideas about how we could paint our own designs around our storm-water drains. The children were really inspired and showed great problem solving skills. They talked about how we needed paint that wouldn't dissolve into the drains when it rains. They also thought we would need to cover the drains while we sprayed to protect the waterways, and we would have to be careful there were no cars around when we painted. 

The colour of the paint used was also a big topic of discussion. Various options were suggested; blue to represent the sea, yellow because Samuel told us it "is the colour most noticed by the eye", green "because it is like seaweed and nature" and orange because it is also easily noticed. The students took turns to argue for their favourite. 

Then we voted for our choice - just like in a real election. The winners were blue and green.

Finally we put together a proposal and sent it to Ms T-J. Ryan and Trilby took photos of the stormwater drains and plotted where they are on a map of the school. Stella and Fletcher designed some great stencils. And Ella made a passionate audio-visual argument using the Book Creator app.



Listen to Ella's important message about looking after our drains

Drains are for Rain Inquiry - Part 3

Last term we took a break from our inquiry while the Production was on. So we've been reviewing what we've learnt so far, and what we might do next. 

First we reflected on our trip to the Rock Pools. Here is the story we wrote together as a class.

At the beach we looked at eels (tuna) in the stream. Ryan dangled a piece of grass and tricked one eel into coming out of its hole. Lots of people got together on top of the army bunker  from WWII to jump as far as they could - we called it Chetah jump.

We walked down the zig zag path. We looked at pipes, storm water drains and the stream.

At the beach we looked at eels (tuna) in the stream. Ryan dangled a piece of grass and tricked one eel into coming out of its hole. Lots of people got together on top of the army bunker  from WWII to jump as far as they could - we called it Chetah jump.

At the rock pools we saw some fish, starfish, sea anemones, paua and crabs. We saw some brown squishy things and when we poked them they squirted water at us.

Before we left we made pictures with the shells. Bella’s group made a mermaid. We caught some little fish and put them in plastic bags, so we could see them but not hurt them. We then put the fish back in the rock pools.

Here are some more photos of our day at the beach.