Subitising

 In Autahi we are always learning new things. We hope to share lots of them with you through Seesaw so that you can talk about the learning that happens when your child gets home.

This week we started exploring something in Maths that might have been a new term for you: Subitising.

In a nutshell, subitising means to recognise a group of objects without counting them. 

For example, when we roll a dice we don't need to count how many dots are facing up to know which number we have rolled.

The first step in learning to subitise is to recognise groupings of up to 5. This is key for helping build up a learners number sense. Later as their subitising skills grow, they will be able to quickly recognise patterns up to 10 and groupings within 10.

So how can you help your learner practise to subitise?

 

The Autahi Subitisers are using a variety of dice games, making number patterns with baking trays and magnets.

Even a simple game of how many gems are hiding under the bowl can be a quick and fun way to build up our subitising muscles.

We are explorers of water! Diving head-first into our Inquiry topic.

 

Autahi Blog wrapped 2024

Just like other wrapped collections, here we have some of our greatest hits from the Autahi blog from throughout the year.

So much great learning has gone on and it is hard to truely capture all that we have done. So here are some of the highlights...

Term 1

We started the year looking at some great things to inspire learning in drawing and diving into some great books.

Check out this blog all about one of our favourite books 'Henry's Map.'

As well as this blog all about the concept behind our Daily Draw.

Term 2

In Term 2 we got fired up about our trip to see the NZSO performance of The Firebird. Check out this blog to see some of the learning that lead into the performance.

As well as our annual Cross Country event at Worser Bay Beach. Check out this blog to find out more about how we trained and got into a good mindset for a challenge.

Term 3

In Term 3 we had a big focus on our annual arts celebration. This years focus was around the performing arts (Music, Dance and Drama). 

Check out the series of blogs to follow the sequence of our journey.

The Countdown to the Arts Celebration Begins

Ngake Me Whātaitai

Art Celebration: Behind the Scenes

The Night of the Big Show

Taniwha on Tour

Term 4

In Term 4 we started exploring how things grow and change. We explored plants and grow things from seeds. We also had a mini study into fractions. This created a perfect recipe for... Pizza!!!!

Check out our blog and see how these topics intersected in the best possible way!

It is so hard to celebrate all the things that we explore in a year of learning. We have enjoyed sharing this learning with you through our blog and giving you glimpses into our learning and some of the science behind it. 

We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday and look forward to sharing more with you next year!

What makes a good book?

 In Autahi we strive to nurture a love of literacy in all its forms. Through reading, writing and oral language we explore the world around us.

Good quality books help to support us in this and in this blog I'd love to share with you some our favourite books and how we use them to dive deeper into the world of literacy.

In the story 'Never Tickle a Tiger' we were able to dive into the world of alliteration and create our own examples of this.

'Giraffes Can't Dance' and 'The Koala Who Could' are both great examples of books that talk about having a growth mindset and that when we try new things that we might be surprised by how well it might go.

'The Dot' is one of our favourite books about encouraging others to let their creativity shine in different ways and how we can encourage everyone to be an Artist.

'The Day the Crayons Quit' is an essential book for us to learn how to write letters. Each crayon has a specific gripe and wants to let their owner Duncan know all about it.

There are so many great books out there and they all lend themselves to learning in different ways. What books inspire you to try new things? We would love any recommendations to add to our ever growing library of excellent literature!



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How to build a flower.

In Autahi, we love to use our art projects to develop new art skills, such as observational sketching and colour blending.

Our latest art piece looks deceptively simple. But it has been an epic production with many steps and much learning. We have been making it alongside our Inquiry learning about Growing and Changing as this has including a lot of work on plants and flowers.

Now that our artwork is finished and on display, we wanted to share our process with you.

Using real flowers and leaves for reference, we began by painting some sheets of paper. This was a good opportunity to practice colour mixing and blending. We tried to make a smooth gradation between two different colours, for example white and pink.

We also painted some leafy greens.

Next, we did some detailed observational sketches of flowers and plants. Using oil pastels, we used our knowledge of plants to draw stems and roots onto a black sheet of paper. We were careful to leave space to add the flowers and leaves afterwards.

Using real flowers as models again, we went on to draw large petal shapes. We chose the petal shapes we liked best and made them into stencils.

Carefully, we drew around our petal stencils onto our painted paper. Then, we cut out our petals, which was a great scissor-skills challenge.

We arranged our petals on our artworks and checked we were happy with the positioning before we stuck them down. Some of us also added some extra flower details using oil pastels.

With our petals completed and stuck onto our flowers, we turned our attention to the leaves.

We began by looking at some leaves from the school garden and sketching some different leaf shapes.

We chose our favourite leaf shape and made it into a template.

Using these, we drew leaves onto our pre-painted paper and cut them out.

Then, we spent time arranging our leaves on our pictures, choosing the best positions before sticking them in place.

We are very proud of our finished art and love the way the each flower is unique, expressing what each person knows and has noticed about flowers and plants.

 

Please come and visit us soon and enjoy the stunning garden of flowers on our walls!