Writing for a purpose

 Part of our writing programme is learning that writing has a purpose and an audience.

One of the big struggles for early writers to overcome is the understanding that their writing isn't just for them. Writing is a way of communicating our ideas with others and sharing our thoughts. One way we build this understanding is through getting our writers to read their writing back to us so that they can see if the words on the page match their ideas. We do this through conferencing with each child and taking time to talk about their ideas and read through what they have done so far.

This week we looked into a way that our writing can be used to share information with others as we explored making an invitation for our Whanau festival.

Firstly we had to work out what information we would need to make sure that people knew where to go and at what time.

From there we began crafting a sentence that would share that information to make sure people knew what it was all about.

Here are some examples of our invitations...

One way that you can develop writing is to make invitations at home for family or birthdays. Any good excuse to grow our writing muscles.

Baking for our Stay and Play

This week, we got to do some baking.

We were very lucky to have expert help from one of our parent helpers. With our Stay and Play coming up on Thursday, we wanted to show Manaakitanga and bake for our guests.

Here we are making gluten-free, vegan banana bread.

We also had a chance to roll out and squish some wonderfully-chocolatey cookie dough.

By Morning Tea, there were tempting smells filling the Staffroom. Luckily, the teachers dialled up their Self-Regulation and there will be plenty of teatime treats for the Stay and Play.

A special thank you to Alana for sharing your expertise and baking joy with us. We loved it!

Planting our garden

 

This week, we began planting our new outside space.

We're hoping that we can gradually turn it into a green and leafy place. Planting some seeds in the vege pod is the first step.

We decided to start with some fast-growing, edible plants: spinach, basil and radish. 

It was interesting to see the different shapes of the seeds. The spinach seeds were surprisingly gnarly.

We'll take good care of our seeds and water them regularly. Hopefully, we'll have a little crop we can eat in a few weeks time.

Football skills

 Today we had a visit from two coaches from Mirimar Rangers football club to teach us some football skills.

Getting outside and learning to move our bodies in different ways is an important part of the PE/Health curriculum. In Autahi we have been exploring different ways to move our bodies up on top grass. 

In our football session we explored dribbling the ball with our feet and trying to stop it with our feet. It was tricky but we showed lots of perseverance and kept on trying. It was important for us not to stop the ball with our hands

Sport New Zealand has some great resources at this link if you are looking for some more information about fundamental movement skills. Over the year we will share more of what we do as part of our PE/Health program that gets kids moving.

If you have the chance this weekend, get out with a ball and practice some of these skills. even adults need some practice too!

Manaakitanga: we are Bucket Fillers

In Autahi, we've been exploring what Manaakitanga means for us. What will we see and hear when we are uplifting each other's mana?

Imagining our mana as a bucket of water that can be filled - or emptied - by the words and actions of others is a powerful way to envisage this concept. How can we be Bucket Fillers and build up our friends' mana?

Here we are, thinking about this idea with the help of some real buckets.

Later, we tried some role plays of things we can do and say to be Bucket Fillers. We drew some of our ideas.

I am showing Manaakitanga by saying to my friend, "Will you play with me?"

My friend was sad because he lost his toy car. I showed Manaakitanga by helping him to find it.

What is Manaakitanga?

We have been talking and thinking a lot about Manaakitanga lately.

As you will seen from our new Strategic Plan, enhancing the Mana of all our learners is a core value for us as a school. We aim to 'build up' and support all our learners, valuing and respecting them for who they are and what they bring to our community. Actions that uplift the Mana of others, show respect, sincerity, love and care are all part of Manaakitanga. All school staff members strive to keep Manaakitanga at the heart of our relationships with children, families and each other - in fact, all interactions around our school community.

In Autahi, we have been exploring what Manaakitanga might mean for us. Here are some of our ideas. 

Manaakitanga means caring for all the living things around us. This picture show a fence to keep predators out of our garden.

We are kind and thoughtful to our friends. 

Manaakitanga is also taking care of our family members, like brothers and sisters, and showing love and affection for them.

Manaakitanga also prompts us to be kind and think of the needs of people in our wider community, like our street, suburb or city.

Ask your child what Manaakitanga means for them. How do you show Manaakitanga for each other in your whānau?