We love ten frames!

In Autahi, we are keen for our students to have clear visual images to support their growing number knowledge. For this reason, our maths lessons are very practical, using plenty of physical resources such a counters and cubes. 

At level 1 of our curriculum, students are counting groups of objects up to ten. To do this, they need to know the sequence of number words (one, two, three/tahi, run, toru etc.). They also need one-to-one matching. This is the understanding that each object in the group is matched with one word in the counting sequence, thus making sure that each object is counted only one time.

This is what we are practising here. In the activity, the children move each object from one side of the whiteboard to the other as they say each number. That way they know that they have counted each object only once.

At level 2 of our curriculum, we build on this knowledge as we introduce the key idea that our number system is based on groups of ten. Understanding this is vital to working meaningfully with bigger numbers into the teens, tens, hundreds and beyond.

With this is mind, we have been introducing our students to ten frames. This versatile maths resource helps to make these key understandings explicit.

So, what is a ten frame? Well, it is a small grid of two rows of squares, five squares on the top row and five squares on the bottom row. The grid can be populated with counters or other objects to make numbers to ten.

Eventually, we might use multiple ten frames together to show numbers to 100 as several groups of ten and some ones.

Here, we are practising making numbers to ten on a ten frame. 

Building numbers on a ten frame benefits our counting. It provides a a visual for each number to ten, and cements the understanding that there are more counters as we count forwards through the sequence, and fewer counters as we count backwards.

Ten frames are great for developing the skill of subtilising, too: this is seeing small groups of objects and knowing how many there are without having to count (typically, up to five).

When using the ten frames, we learn to fill up the top row of the ten frame first. This enables us to see that all the squares filled makes ten and a whole row is five (without having to count!). Students also begin to explore how numbers bigger than five are 'a group of five and some more'. For example, six is a group of five and one more. It's is the same on our fingers, too.

This is the beginning of the 'part-whole' thinking that builds into our students being able to add and subtract numbers to make ten (knowing that a number can be composed to two smaller numbers added together). 

Ten frames are just so handy. This is why we are celebrating them at our assembly this week.

We will be displaying our beautiful ten frames in class and using them as a resource for many different learning activities in the future. Drop by and take a look!

Positive Education in Autahi

 This week we held the pleasure of sharing our Positive Education bedrock with our school community. While this has been a part of our schools kaupapa for many years it is always great to reflect and share the 'why' behind it all.

So this weeks blog will give an overview of the 'why' and show how we approach some of the big concepts with the learners in Autahi.

In a nutshell, Positive Education is an embedded programme that teaches a variety of tools and skills to equip people to flourish and weather challenges that they may face. All of this is backed by science and research that support this approach. Think of it as tools for resilience and growth, something we always wish we had more of I'm sure. 

These tools support our learners, teachers and community to think optimistically, bounce forward (not just back) from setbacks and learn from our mistakes.  

One area of Pos Ed is character strengths. Each of us have our own strengths and being able to identify them and use them effectively is important. Knowing when we are overusing them is just as important too.

You hopefully will have seen these around our school, either on posters on walls our scattered in key locations in the playground. More importantly you will hear them being talked about around the school and in our community. Even better you might have heard the around the dinner table.

These are just a selection of strengths that we focus on and serve as a guide for us to help navigate different situations. In Autahi we have been learning about a few of these strengths that have helped us so far. Things like Bravery, Perseverance and Curiosity are key for those first few weeks of school. We dial up our Bravery when we say goodbye to our whanau in the morning and we dial up our Perseverance when we are trying to write the words we want to make a story.

We unpack what each of the strengths represent.

And what the strengths might sound like around our community.

As well as picture ourselves when we use the strength.

There is so much more to Positive Education and we have only just scratched the surface. Our school website has more information as do our classroom blogs. We will share more over the year with some examples of the learning going on in Autahi.

If you have any questions then we encourage you to come and talk with one of our amazing staff. We would be happy to help and chat about our Pos Ed programme.

Our focus picture book: lots to unpack and enjoy

In Autahi, we love picture books. We take every chance we can to share them, from snack time stories to end of the day picture books. Sometimes we have a guest storyteller, too.

An important part of our Literacy programme is our focus picture book. This book is carefully-chosen because it is rich with story features, juicy words and ideas for us to explore. We take a whole week to fully unpack what the book has to offer, returning to it daily to explore new themes. Sometimes our focus picture book connects with our Inquiry topic. It might also provide inspiration for our writing. 

Our book this week is Henry's Map by David Elliot.

Here are some ways that we are using this delightful picture book to help with our learning.

1. Getting to know a character

We learn a lot about Henry in this story. We are told some things explicitly. Other details are there to be discovered by reading attentively and noticing clues, such as what Henry says and does, and how others respond to him. Also, since this is a picture book, we use our visual literacy skills and look closely at the pictures. Reading for meaning is a bit like detective work: we teach our students how to gather information from small details.

It is also important for our students to learn that the people who do things in stories are called characters. That way, they can identify who the characters are in tales of different kinds. They can also enjoy intentionally creating characters for their own stories.

2. Exploring the Setting

Setting is another technical word that we want our students to understand. The setting is where the story happens. In Henry's Map, the setting is the farm where Henry lives and it forms an important part of the story as Henry sets out to map his home.

3. Links to Inquiry learning

As part of our current Inquiry, Ko Wai Au, we are beginning to explore the places that are important to us and our whānau. Henry's Map offers the opportunity to explore maps and mapping our special places, just like Henry does.

4. Vocabulary building

Our focus picture books have rich vocabulary-learning opportunities for our students.

Henry's Map has a sophisticated text with many beautiful examples of metalinguistic verbs. These are verbs that refer to how a person is speaking. While we don't expect our students to know this terminology yet, learning words like 'whinnied', 'mooed', 'bleated' and 'squawked' gives them new and varied ways to express themselves.

On this page of Henry's Map, we have juicy words like 'dashed' and 'clutching' to explore. We take time to explicitly explain the meaning of new words. The story provides a helpful context, showing how they can be used. In this way, we see our students building their oral vocabulary. Over time, this rich language finds its way into their writing, too.