Our Year 0-3 classrooms have been focusing on the natural world as part of our Inquiry this term.  We have explored what makes something a living thing and enjoyed investigating the basic needs that all living creatures share.  

The tamariki loved their visit from Mrs. Black who is a local beekeeper.  She taught us about the different roles that bees have within the hive, how bees help us, and in return, how we can help them!

To finish off our natural world inquiry, we had Richard from Taranaki Enviroschools come along and make beeswax wraps with us.  This was lots of fun and now we have a sustainable way to bring our lunch to school!

This term, students in the Year 0-3 Team have been getting to know their new classmates and have explored their personal and/or school pepeha as part of our Whakapapa unit.  A pepeha is a way of introducing yourself to others in Te Reo Māori.  Throughout this unit we learnt things about our new classmates, played ‘getting to know you’ games, practised saying our pepeha, and visually displayed these in our classrooms.  From here, students will now be able to recite parts or all of their pepeha using their art for support!

In Science during Term 3, the Junior Team focused on forces and motion.  We looked into friction, examining how it resists movement between surfaces, and gravity, which pulls objects toward the Earth.  Through hands-on experiments, students have investigated pushes and pulls, learning how these forces influence motion and interaction.

This term, students in the Junior Team have explored buoyancy, density, and change of state. Through hands-on experiments and interactive demonstrations, they investigated why some objects float while others sink, and how materials transform from solid to liquid states through melting. The students used their knowledge to make paper boats, some were able to hold over 200g of weight!

The Junior Team has been learning about bees.  We have been learning about how we as humans can help save bees and how bees can help us in many ways.

As part of our inquiry the Junior Team discovered a problem – we found lots of food rubbish in the playground.  There was plastic wrap, oreo wrappers, chip packets and more.

To solve this problem we had Richard from Enviroschools come and teach us how to make beeswax wraps.  These are reusable and when the time comes to dispose of them they are biodegradable.  They are made out of cotton fabric dipped in beeswax.

It has been great seeing so many students using them in their lunchboxes.

Thanks Richard, for all your help!

Room 2

Earlier this term, the Junior classes took part in the Let’s Go Scooter Safety Skills programme provided by the New Plymouth District Council.

The focus was on how to be safe on their scooters. They learnt about how to make sure their helmets fit correctly to keep them safe. They practiced different ways to stop safely. Then they got to learn how to cross the road safely and how to scooter around the footpaths and driveways.

Lots of fun was had by all!

Thanks to the New Plymouth District Council for the fabulous lessons!

Room 3

Room 3 learnt about different art techniques as part of our Mahi Toi inquiry. We created watercolour birds for the Arts Showcase and used pastel, dye and paint to create butterflies for this year’s calendar art.

Here are some of our beautiful creations!

Room 4

Room 4 has enjoyed our Mahi Toi inquiry.  We had fun acting out some fairy tales.  Our favourites were ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ and ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’.  We learnt about using different voices and acting using props.  We used lots of tū māia when we stood up in front of the school assembly and did our ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ item.  For the Arts Showcase, we did a Visual Art display.  We painted fish, then used black pastel to draw out the colour, and then used blue dye in the background.

As part of our Tūrangawaewae inquiry unit, we learnt about people coming to New Zealand on a waka.

We made our own waka with tin foil and ice block sticks.  Then we tested them in the water to see if they would float.

They all did!!

Then we pretended counters were people, to see how many people our waka would carry.

During Term 2 the Junior Team are taking part in PMP twice a week.  We are practicing different movements and giving students experiences by seeing, hearing, touching, making perceptual judgments and reacting through carefully sequenced physical activities.

Students have said they like climbing over the ropes, practicing their hopping and jumping skills, and bouncing and rolling the balls between friends.

Each week the activities will vary slightly so that students have the opportunity to practice more skills.

Thank you very much to the lovely parents who are helping us run this programme.