Our ākonga have had lots of opportunities to explore, create, experiment, challenge themselves, and work alongside others. We've loved seeing their curiosity, enthusiasm, and growing confidence across all areas of their learning.
Here are some of the highlights from our term:
🔎 Module 2 Inquiry – Energy
This term, our ākonga have continued exploring energy, with a focus on light, sound, and heat. There has been plenty of experimenting, creating, questioning, and discovering along the way!
Our ākonga have been learning that heat, light, and sound are all forms of energy, and that they behave in different ways. We have explored how heat transfers from one object to another when there is a difference in temperature, how light travels in straight lines from a range of sources, and how sound is produced when things vibrate and travel as waves.
One of the highlights for our Te Rito ākonga was making their own kaleidoscopes. Inside the cardboard tube, they used a mirror card to create a V shape, with a colourful pattern placed at the end. When they looked through the tube, the light travelled through and reflected off the mirrors, creating some amazing patterns.
The Koru rōpū explored light and colour through tessellation art. Using pastels and Sharpies, ākonga learnt about warm and cool colours before choosing a shape and creating their own repeating tessellation patterns. The torch became an important part of their artwork too, representing light and linking their creative work back to our science learning.
Another highlight was exploring sound through Boomwhackers. These lightweight, hollow, colour-coded tubes are tuned to different musical pitches, with each tube producing a different note. Our ākonga were able to see and feel how vibrations create sound, while experimenting with how they could use the Boomwhackers to make music together.
When one ākonga was asked to describe what sound is, his response was:
“There’s all this energy and it moves around and sends messages to your brain and then your brain thinks, ‘Oh, that’s a nice sound.’”
We couldn't have said it any better!
🏃 Sports Trolley – Active and Responsible
Our ākonga have been much more active this term, partly thanks to our well-stocked Sports Trolley based in the Karaka space. It has been great to see tamariki heading there during break times, choosing something to play with, and then returning it when the bell rings.
Of course, with lots of equipment comes the occasional mystery! A few balls and pieces of equipment have been known to wander off into unexpected places. This is where our amazing Year 3 kaitiaki monitors have stepped in.
Each week, four ākonga take on the important job of checking the equipment at the end of lunchtime and searching for anything that has been left behind. They have carried out this role every day this term and have taken their responsibility very seriously.
Our kaiako and kaiamahi are often approached with important updates such as, “The ball is stuck in the tree!” “It’s on the roof!” or sometimes, “We can’t find it anywhere!”
These ākonga are showing real kaitiakitanga, taking responsibility for our shared resources and helping to keep our spaces organised and ready for everyone to enjoy.
🏊 Swimming Carnival – Fun in the Water!
What an awesome morning out for all of our ākonga! There were plenty of smiles, squeals, and laughter as everyone got wet and joined in the fun.
Our ākonga swimming in the lanes had lots of opportunities to challenge themselves and race against each other. We saw some fantastic freestyle and backstroke, and some brave ākonga even gave breaststroke a go! There was also plenty of time to have fun and enjoy being in the water between races.
For those taking part in the fun activities, there were some definite favourites. The ping-pong ball race had ākonga puffing and blowing their way to the end of the pool, while the seahorse race was always guaranteed to bring lots of laughs as tamariki bounced their way up and down the pool on their noodles!
It was wonderful to see everyone getting involved, having a go, encouraging each other, and most importantly, having fun together.
Across all of these experiences, one thing that has really stood out is the way our ākonga are learning to work together, take responsibility, have a go, and share their ideas. Whether they were investigating how light behaves, discovering how sound is created, looking after our Sports Trolley, or cheering each other on in the pool, there have been so many opportunities for our tamariki to learn beyond the classroom.
Have a wonderful break, everyone! We hope you get plenty of time to relax, have fun, and enjoy some special whānau time. We can’t wait to see everyone back for another busy and exciting Term 4!
