Dear Zoo...what am I?

We have been reading the book "Dear Zoo" by Rod Campbell. 

In this special book, the animals are hidden behind different things and we have to guess what they are.

We made our own 'pop up' animal cards and wrote some clues about them....can you guess which animal we chose??

Come into class to read and see some more....

SPCA visit

This week we visited the SPCA to learn more about their role in looking after animals in our community and to help us to build our skills when meeting new animals.

We have been learning about the things animals need to survive. They need food, water, shelter, love and room to move and exercise. These are all things that we need as well so we could see the similarities.

Matt from the SPCA taught us how to be brave when dogs might scare us. There are several things we can do. The first is to stand tall like a tree. Next we put our hands up high near our shoulders to keep them away. Lastly we turn our back to the dog. This will hopefully cause the dog to become bored and leave us alone. Here we are practising what we could do.

Next we got to meet some of the animals. First we had to ask the owner if we could pat their animal. We do this to make sure it is safe as there may be things we can't see that can change how an animal could behave. For dogs we then make a fist for it to smell so that it knows we are friendly. Then we can pat the chin or chest of the dog.



We have a reponsibility as Kaitiaki to care for others and our environment. After our visit we have a greater understanding of the ways we can care for and interact with animals. We learnt skills that will help us have positive relationships with animals and know the joy they can bring to our lives.

Our Favourite Pets

Have you ever found that when you are passionate about something it is much easier to write about?
I always find that when I am writing these blogs that my brain has so many ideas that I need to take my time and carefully think about what I want to say. I get so excited to share learning with everyone that it becomes much easier to write about.

When we are choosing topics to write about in Autahi we think about the interests of our learners so that they are excited about what they will be writing about. Today we wrote stories about our favourite pets. Animals and looking after animals is something we have noticed many of the learners in Autahi are interested in and with our upcoming visit to the SPCA approaching it provides a rich source of ideas for writing. They have lots of ideas when it comes to topics like this as it allows them to think creatively and write about their own interests.

Check out some examples of our writing.


Gotta love those fluffy cats.



Goldfish and Bunnies make great pets.



The spiders can help keep flies away.



Some of our writers used the word because to add more detail to their stories. We are all very excited about animals as you can see.

SPCA Visit

We are thinking about our Inquiry of Kaitiaki in a few different ways this term.  We are thinking about how as Kaitiaki we are a lot like superheroes and we have begun to explore some of the characteristics and strengths of superheroes.  We have also identified that these heroes or Kaitiaki usually have a cause or a special thing they look out for.  

Last term many of the children in the class really enjoyed our Vet station.  So this term in addition to being part of our Bush Builders program where we will be thinking about how we can take action to be Kaitiaki of our green spaces we have also begun to think about how we can be Kaitiaki of the animals.  We were so fortunate to have Matt from the SPCA come in to talk to us about what animals need, how to keep them safe and how to keep ourselves safe.  We got to meet Gem and Fabio the bunnies and Bella the 8 week old puppy. 

The bunnies were so soft! Gem had floppy ears and Fabio had pointy ears.  Fabio was a little bit more nervous, but Gem was trying to hop out of the basket!

Then Matt taught us:

1) We always ask if we can pat someone's dog

2) If let the dog sniff our hand in a fist first and then we we pat on the chin and chest (chin and chest are best)

3) If a dog comes over to us and we don't like it we cross our arms over our chest and if it jumps we turn our back to it.  We don't scream or run because then the dog thinks we want to play.  We have to make the dog realise we are boring.

4) If we are sitting down and a dog comes over to us that we don't like, we get into a turtle position and cover the back of our necks. 

So we had a practise of all of the things Matt taught us!

We certainly didn't want Bella, Gem and Fabio to leave! 

Next we wrote some amazing stories about it all! Stay tuned to see about those! 

Also stay tuned to hear more about how our inquiry into being Kaitiaki develops!