Haere mai Māhuri Whānau

A collection of fun and exciting learning tasks have been put together for you / your child to choose from.

We hope you enjoy them and learn something along the way 😊

Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato

Listen to the story 'Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato'.

What do you think?

Talk about the differences between Jamie and Eileen with someone at home or write them down.

Vocabulary

Can you find the definitions of the following words that were used in the story?

Let's dig deeper into the text

How did Eileen finally get some rest?
Why didn't Jamie just plant some potatoes after Eileen got hurt? What did he do instead?
What is the legend about leprechauns?
Why did Jamie's wife think he was foolish? Do you agree with her?
What problems did Jamie create with his large potato?
Is there food that you get sick of because your parents make you eat it so much?
How did Jamie and Eileen luck out in the end?

Your challenge is to create a model of a pulley that will use a cup of coins to lift the weight of a potato.

What is a Pulley?

Watch the video to learn about pulleys.

Think about what a pulley is, the different parts of a pulley, where they might be found and how they are useful in everyday life.

Materials

Use these materials to design and create your own pulley to lift the weight of a potato.

Once you have made your pulley, you will need to test it by slowly adding coins to the cup to find the weight of coins that will lift the potato to the other side.

Take some photos of your pulley to share with your teacher.

Write a Reflection

What went well? What were some challenges? What would you do next time?

Taniwha Song

Watch the Taniwha song and sing along.

Create

your own song about a mythical creature
your own actions to go along with the song
puppets to perform with the song to an audience at home

Postage Stamp

Design a Māori myth or legend postage stamp.

Write a letter to a local friend / family member and use the stamp on the envelope.

Go for a walk, bike or scooter ride and deliver the letter in their mailbox.

Own Myth / Legend

Write your own Māori myth or legend.

It could explain how something was created, why something happens (e.g why we have rainbows) or be about a person, animal or place.

Silhouette Art

Choose a scene from your favourite Māori myth or legend and create a silhouette picture.

You could use cellophane, water colour or coloured pencils to create the background.

Pania of the Reef

Pānia is a figure of the Māori myth, 'Pānia of the Reef' and a symbol of the New Zealand city of Napier. There is a statue of Pānia on Napier's Marine Parade.

Listen to the story of Pānia and complete the activities below.

Number Knowledge and Geometry

Want to sharpen your number knowledge and geometry skills?

Click on one of the images below (Year 5 or Year 6) to explore a range of activities focusing on improving your number fact knowledge and understanding of 2D and 3D shapes.

SPCA

Mrs Doney's class visited the SPCA to see the animals that were available for adoption. They counted 24 animals in all.

1/3 of the animals were dogs and the rest were cats.

How many dogs were at the SPCA?
How many cats were at the SPCA?

Jump Jam Competition

The Y5 Jump Jam team are preparing for a competition. They must perform on stage in a rectangular array that meets these rules:

There must be at least 2 Jump Jammers in each row or column
Each row must have the same number of Jump Jammers
Each column must have the same number of Jump Jammers

There are 12 Jump Jammers in the team.

How many different rectangular arrays can the Jump Jammers perform?

Number Draw

Miss Forrest's class are playing the Number Draw game. Each partner pulls 3 cards from the digits 0-9. Students use the cards to make as many different 3-digit numbers as possible. Students score 5 points for each different number they make with their cards.

Hannah pulls these cards - 2 8 5

Flynn pulls these cards - 9 1 7

List all the different numbers Hannah and Flynn can make with these cards
Hannah and Flynn earn 5 points for each number they make. How many points should they earn?