Choose your challenge

We all want to reach the top of the maunga and in Autahi we have a special mountain we are working our way up. As you can see at the top of this mountain it says that 'I can choose to do things that are challenging for me'. Everyone in the class has a little avatar that represents them on their own journey up the mountain of challenge. As we choose to do things that are challenging and helpful towards reaching our goals we start to move up the mountain.

This journey will look different for each learner and not all challenge is the same. Learners in Autahi are encouraged to look for things that will challenge them and help them grow their brains.

Here are some examples of learners choosing different brain challenges:

Building rocket words with play dough

Creating and matching words

Feeling the letters and guessing what they are

Writing a creative story using my letter and sound knowledge

Using all my writing skills to create an amazing story about dragons

Adding beads to a pipe cleaner and writing down how many I have put on

Stretching out sounds and stamping what I can hear

Practising my rocket words with play dough

Athletics Day

Last week we had our annual Athletics Day down at the beach. We had been doing lots of practise of all the different events over the last few weeks and our bodies were ready for action.

After a nice walk down to the beach we went to our first events: Vortex and Quiots. Both of these were throwing events and we had lots of fun.
See if you can spot us pointing to where we want to throw?

Next up was long jump. If someone had told you that children in Autahi had developed the power of flight you might not have believed them. But these photos prove that there are some hidden superpowers in our class.

Finally we made our way to the sprints. We ran forwards and we ran backwards. Everyone had a go and showed a great growth mindset and can-do attitude.

We worked really hard but most importantly we had lots of fun. Fun is the most important thing when getting some exercise and helps us keep a positive attitude.

When we returned to school we were so excited by all the fun we had and really proud of our achievements. We turned our experiences into some amazing stories. Rich experiences like this lend themselves to writing and inspire us to create interesting stories for our readers. We also created some art of ourselves competing in our favourite events.
Check out some of our pieces we have finished so far.

I am Connected- Tuakana Teina Whānau Buddies

Our Learner Attribute for this term is I am connected.

As part of building on our Learner Attribute of I am connected, some of the year 2, 3 and 4's have become tuakana (older) whānau buddies for the new members of Worser Bay School from Autahi as they begin their learning journey at our kura.

Over the next few weeks, they will get to know each other and do different activities together to build their relationships.

First, the tuakana (older) buddies made an introduction card for their (younger buddies).

Next, one group of tuakana got to know their teina buddy by interviewing them, making connections and then spending some time playing games.

Here are some of our thoughts from the afternoon:

Tuakana buddies:
Eddie- It was exciting to meet my new buddy because it was fun to get to do something with someone you have never done something with before.
Lillian- It was fun to show someone little how to do things.

Teina buddies:
Leo- I want my tuakana buddy to help me make more friends.
Violet- I want my tuakana buddy to help me learn maths.

Discovery Time

Discovery time in Autahi

During Discovery time in Autahi children are doing a mixture of things.  They are learning through play in which they make up games and play with their classmates, create pieces of art, build, construct, get physical and so much more.  This is an opportunity where children get to explore the room, their interests and guide their own learning.  They can choose from some provocations that are set out--some connected to our Inquiry focus others curriculum areas--or alternatively they can choose to play games, make, do puzzles, play music and explore.  At times we provide "brain challenges" where children are encouraged to try something that is practise towards some of our goals. 

Here was one of our provocations this week: It was a PE challenge.  In pairs children worked together to time for one minute while their buddy counted how many jumps, claps, toe touches and squats they could do.  

The learning here:

Measurement of time

Forward counting

PE and Health-- gross motor skills and fitness

Perseverance, Teamwork and Collaboration

Here was a brain challenge: how many different numbers can we build using the pipe cleaners and beads? Some children explored teen numbers, making tens and some more, others found different ways to make 10 and others explored how many beads could fit on a pipe cleaner.

The learning: Number Sense

Forward counting

Facts to 10

Teen Numbers

  

Literacy Play: These guys were having some fun with the magnetic words.  They were seeing how many they could read and were writing silly nonsensical sentences!

The Learning: Practise reading High Frequency Words

Sentence composition

Teamwork and Collaboration

Imagination: We have some pictures out to spark our imaginations and these guys decided to create their own pictures and stories about a dragon!

The Learning:

Creative thinking

Exploring the arts through drawing

Literacy links--writing 

  

Games and Puzzles: Some of us explored a new game we have, called Guess Who.  We have to put the masks on and ask questions to get clues about who our characters are.

The Learning: 

Asking questions

Taking turns

Active Listening

Team work

That's just a snip-it of the types of things we have going on in Autahi.  Our discovery time provides opportunity for following passions, trying new things, consolidation of concepts, working with others.  It also creates learner agency as children are able to choose their challenge, their passions, their direction.  Stay tuned to find out way more about our learning through play and exploration journey!

Creative thinking

As we start a new term we embark on another inquiry journey. This term you will see us explore our imaginations as we work together to create new games.
Just like we have been exercising our bodies we have also been flexing our creativity muscles. Each week in Autahi we will have creative writing station where anyone can come and be inspired by some images and see where their imaginations take them.

Here is an example of some of the images that inspire imagination:

 

Each of these images gives us a glimpse of a story and lets our imaginations fill out the rest. So when you come by the classroom come and check out our creative space and maybe come and create a story of your own...