Sep 17, 2020 | Piwakawaka - Year 1 Blog
Over the past term, the Piwakawaka children have become excellent data collectors. They have discovered there are many ways to present their data; such as tally charts, pictograms and block charts. Extending from this, the children learnt to read and interpret data so they could solve problems and answer simple questions.
Today, the Y1 children had the wonderful opportunity to see how all that learning can grow and be extended when Y3 shared their learning from their ‘Data Handling’ unit. In Katipō Class, they have been investigating a chosen topic and storing their collected data in data bases that they have each created. They then each created a corresponding quiz to share with other children.
For our Piwakawaka children, they each had the opportunity to explore the journey of their learning through to Y3 as the Katipō children paired up with a Y1 child and walked them through their journey from data collection, to creating a data base, to developing a corresponding quiz.
What a fantastic real world learning experience this was for our children, and we had lots of fun!
Jun 24, 2020 | Piwakawaka - Year 1 Blog
In Literacy this week, we have been looking at the importance of giving accurate instructions. We began by watching a short video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct-lOOUqmyY , that the children found very funny, because instructions written by two children for their dad to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, where not completely accurate. We began to explore the need to give instructions in a specific order while also using clear, accurate language. Next we looked at a jumbled up recipe to make a jam sandwich. Together we read a line at a time and began to sequence the instructions, beginning with the ‘Title’, followed by the ‘ingredients’ and lastly the ‘method’. The method was the interesting part as we needed to make sure we didn’t put the bread together before we had spread it with the butter and then the jam. All the children were able to discuss the correct order and say why each instruction followed on from the next. Today, we got to follow the recipe as we made our own jam sandwiches. The children carefully observed each step and quickly self corrected themselves if they ‘almost’ made a small error. We had the most wonderful discussions during this time. The children talked about the smell of each ingredient, especially the jam, and decided that it must be made of strawberries, raspberries and red apples. They then spoke about the taste; if it was sweet, savoury, sour or bitter. They unanimously agreed the bread was savoury but the jam was sweet.
May 29, 2020 | Piwakawaka - Year 1 Blog
This week we have been working on our number bonds to 10 and subtraction knowledge. The children have used solid objects, number lines and Numicon to respond to written word problems and number sentences/ calculations. The children enjoy using the Numicon as it provides a visual representation and enables them to generate their own
number sentences.
May 7, 2020 | Piwakawaka - Year 1 Blog
These past eight weeks have quite possibly been the most challenging, emotional, creative and spectacular weeks in my entire teaching career. With such a spectrum of emotions and experiences, I stopped today to reflect on the achievements that have arose from an experience we never expected to happen and I’m sure, we hope will not happen again. Leafing through the abundance of media I have collected, I see clearly, the strength, determination, perseverance, creativity, kindness, and love, exuding from each image.
I have proudly observed each child dive head first into their learning, reach for the stars to develop and accomplish embedded skills that have enabled them to produce beautifully presented, creative and thoughtful work. I have felt such pride as each child shared their deep kindness for one another and their community as words of consideration and love were artistically presented in letters and cards. I have been inspired by their ability to overcome challenges and look outside the box, to enable them to continue in such a way that has seen their character, skills and strengths expand beyond anything I could dream for them. As I observe the the vastly growing collection of media I have grown these past few weeks, I feel I am the luckiest teacher to exist due to my beautiful Piwakawaka children and their ever supportive and simply wonderful families.
Please enjoy this small selection of memories and recognise as I have, the sheer depth of accomplishment achieved by each child over our time as distance learners.
Feb 21, 2020 | Piwakawaka - Year 1 Blog
On Thursday, Year 1 and 2 were lucky enough to visit Mr Donovan’s house to experience up close, the wonder that is the beautiful Honey Bee. They children observed the worker bees collecting nectar from the abundance of Bottle Brush which line the garden. They sat eagerly as Mr D lit the smoker and used it to gently sedate the bees in the hive so he could safely remove one of the cells. Excitedly the children looked on as Mr D explained all about the honeycomb, why some looked golden and others were capped in white wax. He spoke of the family dynamics in the hive; how the queen is cared for by her guard bees who protect the hive and the worker bees who collect the nectar and pollen. What a fantastic experience we all had. Thank you Mr D!
Nov 21, 2019 | Kiwi – Year 1 Blog, Piwakawaka - Year 1 Blog
You would be at Athletics Day!
Our whole school Athletics Day is a highlight on our school calendar.
We had so much fun taking part in events such as gumboot and dart throwing, long jump, bean bag shot put and our favourite event, the obstacle course.
The Wentworth kindness, encouragement and ‘give it a go’ attitudes where on show and we were all very proud of our youngest students/athletes!
Thank you to all of the spectators (our family members and friends) who came out to cheer us on AND a BIG thank you to Mr D for the yummy iceblocks 🙂
Sep 2, 2019 | Piwakawaka - Year 1 Blog
Global Foods
We enjoyed a fabulous day where we shared fun facts about about our cultures and dressed in traditional clothing. Our shared lunch was an international feast and enjoyed by all.
Sep 2, 2019 | Piwakawaka - Year 1 Blog
Welcome to the Kereru Class!
Our little class have had a busy start to Term 3.
We have four new Kereru’s who are loving learning all about the Wentworth Primary Values and they are enjoying making many new friends.
This blog is intended to be an open forum for our Kereru’s to share with you their fun experiences and their exciting learning. Already, we have been to the Auckland Museum and we are so excited about the upcoming Firewise visit from our local Silverdale Fire Brigade!
Hopefully this blog will provide you with some insight into some of the exciting things we do at Wentworth Primary School.
