On Thursday, we were a bit cheeky, we started ripping up old library books from our library corner. But it was ok, we checked with Elizabeth and she replaced them with new books. Some of the books were from back in the olden days when Lisa worked at Central New Brighton.

Whaea Emma showed us some amazing art work that was made from ripped up pieces of paper. They were called collages. We saw birds, animals, the earth and flowers made from pieces of ripped paper. We used the pages from the old books to pick the colours we needed to create our own art work! We thought about what we wanted to make, designed it on the paper the got onto our collage. Here are the results!

What would you create if you made a collage? Can you recognise any of the books we have used?

This week we read the BSLA book The Boat Race. We decided it would be a really good idea to create our own boats! For the next two blocks, Papatūānuku turned into a creation zone as we were all designing, sticking, cutting, bedazzling and building our boats. We then took a photo of the final projects and emailed them to Whaea Emma. Here is a video of our boats! Unfortunately, we didn’t get time to test whether they floated. Some of us took them home and reported back on their ability to float. Which one do you think will float the best?

Last week, Whaea Emma’s math group learned about tessellations. Tessellations are where 2d shapes are grouped together to create repeating patterns. There can’t be any gaps or shapes on top of each other. We looked at some amazing tessellations then had a go at making our own with shapes from our studio. It wasn’t easy, we had to turn and slide shapes to make them fit.

Have a look at our tessellations. What ones do you like?

We celebrated filling up our Marble Jar by having a Create Day on Friday! We know that creating can look different for everyone. Some of us got creative in the sandpit, some of us went to the loose parts shed and some of us got creative with the ‘junk’ in the classroom. Some of us create different things throughout the day and some of us focus on one project. We made pet rocks, disco houses, new friends, rainbow clouds, Christmas tree decorations and a dragon.

Check out our video! What would you have created at Create Day?

Last week Papatūānuku completed some whole class statistical investigation. First, we voted on our favourite colours, gathering and graphing the data into Math groups. We discovered that the most popular favourite colour in Papatūānuku was gold. We learned about making statements about graphs.

Then, we made our own investigations asking specific groups what their favourite things were. Using Explain Everything we recorded our information. Questions were posed about favourite colours, food, cake flavour, animals or elements. We decided on four options to vote from and data was recorded using tally marks. Next, each group created their own bar graphs of results.

After showing success in our statistical learning we decided to ask questions about things we could take action on. We had almost filled up our marble jar and would need a reward. We used these new skills to collect data about what it should be. Some of the options were very creative, such as a class trip to Chipmunks, Waffle Day or a Sonic dress-up day. This time the data was collected and presented through pictographs. Through multiple investigations, we collated the data and the clear winner was a Create Day! This will be happening on Friday.

Our graphs are now on display in Papatūānuku and we would love you to see our learning next time you are in.

We have continued our learning activities this term on how to take action in other emergencies and how emergency services help us and our community. This week we had a visit from Chris from the Christchurch City Council who shared the Stan’s Got a Plan programme focusing on storms! We were super excited to be joined by the teina from Ata Hapara and Whaea Islay.

We saw photos of different types of emergencies. We learned that there can be different types of storms: wind, lightning, rain and snow. We heard how Stan (the dog) had a plan when he and his whānau were in a big storm! They stayed home and listened to the radio for updates. They had made some emergency kits which were full of everything they needed. They played games and read books at home because there was no power. They needed to remember snacks for Stan! They even put tape on the window in case branches fell onto it.

Chris brought in some cool emergency kits to show us the important things that we might need in an emergency. We talked about having a special small kit for ourselves and a big family kit with lots of food and toilet paper! It is important to make sure you have some spare medication (like an inhaler) if you have to leave home and some food for your pets.

The last thing we got to do was try on some cool vests. These vests represented the different jobs that the Civil Defence do in an emergency.

Check out our photos! Did you know that you are part of Civil defence too? People in the community all have a special role.

To share our learning about being Firewise, Papatūānuku created a video to show others what to do if there is a fire at school. We shared this video at our Whole School Assembly on Friday.

Our video went through what you would see if the fire alarm went off at school. We showed how to sensibly “get down, get low and get out FAST” if you see smoke in the room. Thank you to Lisa and Courtney for their amazing acting skills as the role of teachers and to the Papatūānuku students for their superstar performance. Shout out to Emma L for getting some awesome angles during her filming.

Remember to have a kōrero at home about how you and your whānau can be Firewise!

This week was the first Rāwhiti School Science Fair. Papatūānuku displayed the marble runs we had made! Alongside this we had an iPad set up to show the videos we made of our journey. Check out how far we’ve come

Over the last few weeks, Papatūānuku have gone skipping mad as we train for our Jumping June Event on the last day of term. Some of us have learned to skip for the first time, some of us have learned some new skipping skills and others are working on their personal bests! Most afternoons you will find us out on the field or the Papa Whakaari training. We have discovered that we can skip forwards, backwards, crisscross, ski jump, double skips and group skipping.

What is your favourite type of skipping? We would love to see you on Friday 5th July at our Jumping June Skipping Event. Starting with an assembly from 9:15am then we will be skipping until 10:30 am.