learning in classrooms

"We had all the students brainstorm all the words that describe what it means to be in Onewa.

We then as a group we chose the top 20 words to put into a google slide using word art.

We then used Rasterbator which enlarges images into a tiled print using 40 sheets of A4 paper which the students coloured and pieced together.

It was very good discussions about how a piece of each of us make up Onewa."

Do you remember this beautiful mural from school?

It shows Huriawa who protects all the underground waterways from te waikoropupu springs in Golden Bay, here is some information I found out about her...

"The catchments and waterways of Te Waikoropüpü stretch for miles both underground and far out into Te Tai Tapu, Golden Bay. The underground caverns are made of sandstone. This is the domain of Hine Tü Ahoanga (the ancestress of stone) who also presides over the prow of the Waka Uruäo of the great explorer Räkaihautu, which was placed ceremoniously at the mouth of the Waitapu River, once named Ngä Waitapu o Uruäo. Räkaihautu called forth Huriawa the kaitiaki taniwha (protective guardian) from her resting place on Parapara Maunga. Huriawa is well known for her bravery, her wisdom, and her gentle nature, and she was placed to guard and protect the prow of the waka and be caretaker of the myriad of waterways. Huriawa uses her special powers to dive deep into the land and sea to clear the many underwater caverns made of sandstone. Atop the land she tosses fallen trees and tangled vegetation from rivers to free the flow. She warns of earthquake danger when Ruaumoko turns in Papatüänuku, by sending messages through the surge and lift of the waters. Huriawa travels out to sea where the clear waters rise up and bubble at the surface. She reaches all the waters touched by sandstone and travels to the deepest caverns in the very centre of the waka. Huriawa's children rest here and help care for the place while the taniwha is off on her protective travels".

Room 18 have been exploring our school pepeha, writing their own personal pepeha, and making connections between the two. They invited some Whānau Harakeke students to visit the class and help them to learn and pronounce their pepeha.

Here are some photos of us using our cultural narrative photos we have been bringing in to make connections to each other. 

Connecting to each other through photos

Everyone had a piece of string. A photo was placed in the middle and the student who it belonged to told us about their photo. If we could connect to it in some way through what we have done/do in our own lives we placed our string on it. 

For example, Kingston shared a photo of going to the Maitai Caves with his brother and friend. If any students had been to it, been to a cave, been to the Maitai, seen a cave in a movie etc they could connect to it using their string and could share their connection to Kingstons experience. We then repeated this using several different photos until the floor was covered. 

What we took from this activity was that we are all connected in some way even though we all come from different backgrounds and places in the world. This then brought up a discussion around equality.

Here are some of the comments that came up in the discussion...

"We are all equal no matter where in the world we come from"

"We are all unique"

"We are all connected"

"The language we speak is special"

"Some of my families values are the same as others in the class"

"If we make sure our thoughts are saying positive things about people then our words will be positive about them too"

"Where we are born, how much money we have, where we live doesn't make us better than others"