Reading and writing

This week, pod 10 has been doing some reading, and then writing down all about the story they have read. This is a silent activity that helps us focus and understand the text.

The stories that we are reading are from school journals, mainly on level two.  You can also talk with a  partner to help you, and so you can help them.
Look at us reading!


Our plan is called a story pyramid.  You write the name of the main character on the top, two words describing the main character, three words describing the setting, four words describing the problem under that, five words describing some of the start of the story, six words describing what happened next, seven words describing what happened after that and eight words describing the solution to the problem.

With a plan like this, we surely are set up for success!

Our creation - maunga art

This term, we have also been doing our own maunga art - created by one person. These were again made by chalk and pastel. Although, this time, we had to draw a real maunga - instead of a fiction one.

These maunga have used a range of different colours, and many unique designs, one of which has a river running down from the eyes. The backgrounds of these maunga were either night or day; some even had one rising, and the other setting!
Some maunga that people had used were Taranaki, Hurupaki, Parahaki and Mania.

These maunga were once again inspired from the illustrations in the book:
"Battle Of The Mountains."

Miss Tobin

Miss Tobin, our learner teacher in pod 10, is a really nice person. She reads us "Stig Of The Dump," and is teaching us about line symmetry. Miss Tobin is amazing beyond words. She helps us make the learning experience much better, and much more fun.
Miss Tobin is one of the best learner teachers we have ever had.

Kowhaiwhai patterns

This week we have been making kowhaiwhai patterns, for our math about line symmetry.
We first fold our template paper in half.
Next, we draw half of our template.
Then, we turn the paper over, push it on the the window and trace the lines used for the other half.
Soon, we unfold the paper, and glue it onto a piece of card.
later, we cut out our shape n the card. We have now made our template.


The fun part now begins!  We trace the template on a bigger strip of paper in different ways.
Here are some of our patterns:


These kowhaiwhai patterns have either been reflected, translated or rotated. Some of these patterns show stories. The one above me (made by Kayla) means all of Kayla's whanau. Each end represents a family member of hers. The colours we have used are white, red and black.

Our Maunga Art

Through the past few weeks, Pod 10, 8 and 9 have been doing maunga art using chalk and pastel  These maunga are truly masterpieces. These maunga can be seen on the walls of the school hall.

We worked in groups of 3.  First we had to 'tutu' and try different ways to make maori designs. Then we used chalk to draw the outlines and details to form the maunga's face.


Next, we talked together in our groups about the shapes; would they be bold, smudged or even thin?

Soon we were all starting to colour in our shapes on the face of our maunga. We talked about what colours to use in our group.









Soon, we were colouring in all of the background, and moving on to doing the sky.









After a while, we had a break to show all of our maunga, and walk around to take a look.
Look at our finished maunga! don't they look wonderful!
Now we are planning for our maunga legend stories.

Look at us writing! These stories are going great!!

This is Connor`s reading group. They are reading a book called 'Don`t miss the bus' as well as answering questions about what they have just read.

Here is pod 10 doing art.  This is Leo`s picture using pencil and shading.
We all did one.