Term 1
Rongokako and Muriwhenua Powhiri
On the second day of school we had a class powhiri welcoming the new year 7’s into the ILE. We sang waiata and did the school haka. After we welcomed them we shared some kai and got to know each other. The way the powhiri went we sang while they walked in. And then shared with them a bit about the history of Rongokako and Muriwhenua. We also did two haka. The school haka and tika tonu. “I thought the leaders were doing a great job about leading the powhiri” Jai S, “I felt happy because we got to know the Muriwhenua kids - the New Year 7’s” Nukutai, “I think the leaders did well we enjoyed sharing the story which went well.” Te mana “I liked the singing I was glad we got to do the waiata” Chloe “It went really good in my opinion” Jazmin “I really enjoyed myself and I was really excited to see my old friends” Sha’la “It was fun The singing was great” Kezya. We all had a great time and were proud to be a part of this welcome.
Beach ED
Beach ED was a type of education where we went on a bit of a field trip down to Westshore Beach. The lifeguards had set up a few activities for us to complete but before that we had a few learning tasks to do. First, we were told how the rescue equipment like the boats with outboards and the boards that are motorized by your arms work and when they use them.
We have recorded some feedback from students asking them how they thought our little field trip went.
Matthew: Good yeah, good program I liked that we got to learn all about beach safety and how the equipment works and yeah all in all a good program".
Grace: "It was actually a lot of fun I guess, it was good a part from my skin being as thin as paper and getting sunburnt".
As you can see the students mostly liked the trip, a part from the ones that got burned because they weren't wearing their sunscreen.
Chocolate Storm
We had our 'Chocolate Storm Assembly'. Chocolate storm assembly, is an assembly where the principal tells us that we have the opportunity to raise some money for the school. Parents/whanau have to sign a notice letting the school know we are allowed to support our school through selling chocolates in our community. It is two dollars for a bar . There are thirty chocolates in the box which means sixty dollars for the whole box. The money that you get from the chocolates goes back to the school, the money fundraisers for school technology; like Chromebooks, I-pads etc. If we choose to sell the chocolates we get a five dollar reward for each box sold towards our camp fees and each box also gets us in the draw to get some awesome prizes like a tv, electric scooter, headphones, speaker, camera, go pro,100 dollar rebel sports voucher and other cool prizes. Being involved in this initiative not only helps the school but helps us so in the end everyone wins.
#NZreadaloud - SS Penguin SOS
Heroes Are Everywhere
This Term we have been working together on a historical text entitled SS Penguin SOS by Adrienne Frater. This text is set back in the 1900's and is based on one of New Zealand's worst maritime disasters; the sinking of the SS Penguin on the Wellington Coast.
The author of this text is the great niece of Ada Hannam, the only women to survive the sinking and she tells this compelling story through a character named Jack. Jack needs to write a story about a hero and he soon finds out that he is living with one.
We have enjoyed researching, connecting and interacting with other learners from around New Zealand whilst learning about this disaster.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, we work in groups relevant to our learning needs but we also have 'Just In Time' and 'CHOICE" workshops that we can all attend. Doing mathematics this way supports us as individuals and allows us extra time with our teachers; so we just get better and better at maths.
As a class we love collaborating and solving problems with our groups and it is great when we have whole class and Tribal Maths Challenges. It feels awesome when we have those ever important 'AhHa' moments as individuals and as a collaborative team.
Writing
Writing in Rongokako is always fun. We get to explore different types of writing genre with our #NZreadaloud text as the catalyst. This means that we are always building on our prior knowledge and this makes writing much easier for us.
"I like that we get to listen to real authors all the time." Jazmin
"I like writing with different people." Maia
"I like that we can explore different ideas and that we can use what we are learning in reading to help us in our writing." Mika
"I like that I can put myself into a character's shoes and say what I think they might be feeling at a moment in time." Dexter
Committee
#NZreadaloud in 2020 saw the idea of creating a committee so that we as a class could be in charge of some of the learning that we engage in. Anyone can join the committee and put forward their ideas towards the learning that we do in our classroom. It is fun to work with each other and to create ideas that are always valued by our teachers.
We have learnt how a committee runs and how to work together to include everyones ideas and opinions. We always record in note form what we have discussed in our meetings so that we have a place we can go back to.
We allocate ourselves jobs to do and timeframes in which they must be completed in. Luca
Twitter Chat
REAL TIME DISCUSSIONS are so much fun. It is good to be able to collaborate and connect with authors and other schools from around the country. We learn so much because we get to discuss our thoughts, ideas and to critically think about the questions others ask.
"The best part of connecting on twitter is that we are having a discussion then and there" Taine
"I love it when we get to lead the chat" Luca
"It is nice to hear other people's opinions" Jai
Hot Seating
Hot Seating is another way that we can connect with others and to share our thoughts and opinions using Zoom as a tool. It helps us to put ourselves into another person's shoes; usually a character from one of our readalouds. Particpating in hotseating is awesome because we get to undertsand the characters in more depth and we look at how the connect with other characters.
Lucca
Interactive Slides
This Term The Committee had been working on Interactive slide for the class, We have made two so far, the interactive slides are for the Shared text we are reading in the class room. This is for New Zealand Read Aloud.
"It was cool, creative and fun. It was unique" -Valerie
"It was pretty good, I liked working on it and it was quite fun to see clickable and fun activities" -Zane
Florida
We are so lucky to be connecting with a class of learners from Florida. We are learning about their culture, country, what is important to them as a people and about their way of life.
So far we have learnt a little about the learners, their interests and small bits of information about Florida. Our next steps are to have a face to face zoom meeting with the class we are connecting with.
Flipgrids
Oral communication, sharing of voice, opinions,ideas, reflections and connections are only some of the great things about using flipgrid in our classroom.
We use flipgrids as part of our #NZReadalouds and sometimes just to record our thinking at the beginning of some new learning.
Timetables and Us
In Rongokako we get to create our own timetables. This means that we have flexibility to work on our learning at a time of day that suits who we are as learners. This flexibility also allows us to manage our time and if we need a longer time to achieve our goals we are able to do so. We still attend workshops that are relevant to our learning needs and are able to identify our own learning goals which is cool.
Diary Writing
We have been writing diaries from a characters perspective. This has helped us to understand how a character might think and interact with other characters from the text we are reading.
To write diaries we have been using a more informal style of writing and we use more emotive language, talk about our feelings and reflect on the day's events.
Science - Research
What we have found out....
We have found out about how the composition of ship building has changed since the 1900's. We also did some MYTime Inquires into different areas of science.
Social Studies...Research
Where in the world is John's Rock? We have been researching the 1900's as well as looking into one of New Zealand's major maritime disasters, the sinking of the SS Penguin. This learning has all come from our #NZreadaloud text which makes what we are studying way more interesting because we are more able to make connections with what we are doing.
STEAM
Building a replicate of the SS Penguin Challenge. Have a look at some of our results.
Interesting Quotes...Language Features...Words
Sketchnoting
Sketchnoting is such a great tool that we can use in many aspects of our learning. Taking notes or presenting our learning in this format makes it much easier for us to make connections with what we are learning.
MYTime Inquiries
MyTime Inquires are always fun because we get to choose what we study or find out about. We are able to work collaboratively or in pairs. It is always good to share our learning with others and I like the format that we go through in order to complete our inquires.
Curiosities...Wonderings
We currently have different learners working on a range of Projects that are of interest to them.
As a class we get to follow our curiosites and thinking and make things happen in 'real contexts'. We get to come up with our own ideas which we present to our teachers and our prinicpals who are then able to support us to make our dreams turn into reality.