During CRT with Islay, Papatūānuku has been learning about the human body. We discovered how the brain acts as the ‘boss’ of everything we do and explored how the right and left sides of our bodies work together.

For the last few weeks, we have used our ‘brain gym’ to practice tricky exercises, like walking in sync with a buddy. We also got creative by sculpting mini brains out of clay and building moving hand models using straws and string. It is amazing to see the fingers move when you pull the strings!

Our resident scientist (Lenny’s Grandad, John) came to visit our studio and showed us his homemade telescope. We found out how a telescope worked and then scanned the sky for objects. We also learned about the night sky and what we could see at the moment – Jupiter, Venus and of course the moon – it is a half moon at the moment!

Then, last Friday, John returned for rocket launching – what a great event! We mixed baking soda and vinegar together to make the reaction that launched the plastic bottle into the sky! It was amazing and some flew very high! You could watch this video and try it for yourself.

We had a great time discovering lots more about space.

Every fortnight, the Cool Rise Team comes into our studio and takes us for some different activities – like Beebots, Art, and Mindfulness.

In one of our sessions, we talked about mindful breathing, slow breathing to blow our worries away! We practised slow breathing by blowing bubbles, and then we made giant bubbles. Here are some of the giant bubbles we made – they were amazing!

We owe a big thanks to Jasper’s Mum for taking a random idea off facebook and turning it into a reality for the tamariki in our studio.
She created a set of roads for us to use with our new set of cars. They were made using fence pailings and paint.

These have been truly cherished by our tamariki- thank you for your mahi! Now for the next project…

There’s a real buzz happening in our studio… and it’s not just from excited tamariki!
We have been busy building something very special – our very own Hauroa Hive nestled under our kōwhai tree filled with flitting fantails.

We have been buzzing with creativity, teamwork and big smiles as we created a giant hive display to remind us how we can all help our tamariki thrive. Inside our hive are our three very important expectations:
💛 Bee Kind
“Bee kind means using kind words and helping our friends!”
We practise sharing, taking turns, and cheering each other on. Even a small act of kindness can make someone’s day brighter!
📚 Bee Ready
“Bee ready means having our learning brain switched on!”
We come to school ready to listen, ready to try, and ready to do our best. That means bringing our gear, sitting nicely on the mat, and showing our teachers we are prepared to learn.
🛟 Bee Safe
“Bee safe means keeping our hands and feet to ourselves.”
We walk inside, use equipment the right way, and make safe choices in the playground. When we are safe, everyone can have fun and feel happy.

Why a Hive?
Bees work together to make something amazing — and so do we! We all have an important part to play. When we all follow our three expectations, we have a place where everyone feels welcome, ready to learn, and safe to grow.
The best part? Each student added their own little bee to the hive! 

We are all working together. We are so proud of our Hauroa Hive and living out:
Bee Kind : Bee Ready : Bee Safe

Keep buzzing, everyone — our hive is thriving!

It was soooooooo hot yesterday that we went outside for our mahi.

We sat in the shade and cool breeze underneath the trees by Hiki-Hiki as Lisa read stories from the Joy Cowley Anthology.
One particular story, about living in a house made out of a pumpkin resonated with the group… we chatted about how cool it would be to live in crazy houses, so we decided to use the vivid chalks on the paths to create our own unique houses.

There was heaps of korero about what their houses were made of…
lollipop houses, donut houses, Minecraft houses, pumpkin houses, 6-7 houses, and castles.
It was awesome- looking good. Everyone wrote a sentence about their house!           Yay winning!
As it was soooooooo hot, we got some water and paintbrushes to’paint’ over our chalk drawings. The kids were amazed at how painting water over chalk really made it ‘pop’.

and then… we started to cover our hands in wet chalk to make handprints on the path- so far so good..
Next minute, I turn around and the kids suddenly have yellow/green/purple arms and legs!

As they were cleaning up, the cool water felt so good that we ended up painting our limbs. Everyone was thinking this was hilarious!
And it was!

F.Y.I, everyone was engaged/ had fun/ got cool/ AND did the mahi that was planned!-Yay, love teaching outside!

Love the bright chalks from Qizzle!

Whaea Emma’s literacy group have had a blast learning about different animals! We started our journey learning all about the Tuatara and began learning what was required to write an informative report about them. We included their name, where they live, their category, diet, habitat and some fun facts.

From there, we put forward suggestions of animals we were keen to learn about.

After spending time researching and taking notes about our chosen animal, we wrote our own information reports. Finally, we used Book Creator to turn this information into amazing creations. We included pictures, diagrams, text and audio.

We hope you’ve learned something new!

Whaea Emma’s Maths group have been learning about money! First, they had a blast creating their own shops, attaching prices to different items and then getting to use their own play money to purchase items. Each ākonga had a go at being the shopkeeper, ensuring they were getting the right money for the price.

This week, we continued to learn about the different coins and notes we use in New Zealand. We learned how much each coin was worth, and if I collected two 50-cent coins, they would be worth the same as one $1 coin. Then we used 3 different coins to create a pattern. We repeated our pattern 3 times.

We would love to continue this learning, so if you have any coins at home, let us have a go!