Diving back into inquiry

At Worser Bay we follow an inquiry model which helps guide our learning. The purpose of inquiry learning is to empower our learners to ask questions, acquire skills for finding the answers, experimenting with different ideas and finally expressing their learning in their own way.

This allows our learners to follow their passions and wonderings down a logical path to find out about the world around them.

We were a little worried that we had just started breaking the surface of our inquiry into water.  But we were blown away by the awesome experiments and learning that has been going on at home. We have displayed some of the things you have been getting up to and delighted in sharing back what we had found out.

We reflected on the things we had started learning about last term and have begun to make connections with some of the things we have found out since then.

Lastly this week we have started to formulate new questions to help drive our inquiry forward this term. Over the next few weeks we will dive a little bit deeper into the different areas of our inquiry model and what it looks like in Autahi at each of the different stages. We are excited to start finding out why the pictures we paint outside with water disappear or how water gets on the windows sometimes.

Top Tips for Learning Rocket Words

How do you practise your Rocket Words?

Here are some handy tips that you've been sharing.

Rocket Words are common words that appear a lot in our books. The aim is to learn them so that we can recognise and read them straight away. Our brains get good at recognising the shape of familiar words so we don't have to use other strategies like Stretchy Snake to read them. This has been shown to speed up reading and make it more fluent. 

When we're learning something new, the time of day can be important. Some people find that mornings are the best time for Rocket Words. They feel fresh and awake and their brains are ready to learn. Working on Rocket Words little and often is best.

Making flashcards for your Rocket Words is a great idea. Cut up empty food packets into rectangles (tea and cereal boxes are good). Write the words large and clear. Some people find it helpful to run their finger over the letter shapes as they familiarise themselves with a new word. You can even make two sets of cards and play games like Pairs (Pelmanism) with your words.

Try playing 'My Card/Your Card' with your flashcards. You'll need a helper for this. Your helper holds the cards and shows them to you one at a time. If you can say the word, you get to keep the card. If you don't know the word yet, your helper keeps the word and adds it to the bottom of the pile to show you again. The person with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner!

The focus at this stage is on reading our Rocket Words, but some people find it helpful to try writing them as well. Writing in different ways is fun and can help to fix the shapes of the letters and words in your brain. Try writing on a whiteboard, with different colours, with chalk on the pavement or with your finger in a tray of sand or flour. If you have playdough, try making the letter shapes. You might even be able to build them in Lego!

Here is an extremely tall Word Wall - and it's getting bigger all the time! Having your words somewhere you can easily see them is a great idea. That way, you'll be reminded of your words whenever you walk past and you can easily run through them any time you like.

A really top tip is finding a buddy to help you. It's far more fun and more friendly with two. Try some of the games and activities together. Ask your buddy to run through your words with you. Make silly sentences with your words together. Can you make your buddy laugh?


Finally, remember that every word you learn will help you enjoy your reading more. Dial up your Perseverance and find the fun: when we are enjoying ourselves, we are often doing our best learning. And don't forget to celebrate your achievements, especially on a Friday!

Try this: food colouring fireworks

Exploring water and making (silent) fireworks.

Here's a neat experiment that explores what happens when oil and water meet.

You will need:

• A big glass bowl filled with water
• A mixing jug
• Measuring spoons
• A mixing spoon
• Food colouring: two colours, if possible
• Cooking oil
• A piece of white paper
• Safety goggles are definitely optional - but an apron might be a good idea in case things get messy!

First, measure out one tablespoon of oil and put it into the jug.

 Next, add a few drops of food colouring.

Mix the oil and the food colouring together.

Carefully pour the oil and food colouring mixture onto the top of the water.



















Now it's time to watch carefully. Hold the piece of paper behind the bowl. Watch as the food colouring blobs burst and sink through the water.

Mix up a second tablespoon of oil with a different food colouring. Add this to the bowl for two colours of 'fireworks'. Enjoy the show!

Things to think and talk about:

What patterns can you see in the water?

What is happening to the food colouring?

What happens to the oil? Can you think why?

Try gently blowing the oil bubbles. What happens?

What happens when two colours mix together?

Can you predict what colour fireworks you will get if you add different combinations of food colouring? Red and yellow? Blue and yellow? Blue and red?










Have fun playing with this experiment and please do share your ideas and firework photos on Seesaw.

The Inquiry Cycle

We talk a lot about inquiry learning and today I wanted to break down some of the steps we go through in the inquiry cycle to give you a better understanding of the pathway we take on our journey of inquiry.

Each step has a statement that guides us. The first is 'I am curious' and it is the stage where we talk about our wonderings and ask lots of questions. It is also the stage where we can share some of our own knowledge about things. We started with some curious questions about music and this helped lead us down the pathway for the rest of our inquiry.

Next we start exploring. This stage is the discovery and research phase where we start to learn all we can about the subject. This might include reading information or being exposed to new things so that we can have a go and see what happens. This is a hands on stage and many of the areas around the classroom become filled with things to explore and discover. 

For our music inquiry this included learning to play different instruments and experimenting with how we make sounds. We also began to explore patterns as a part of maths and explored how there are patterns in numbers, shapes as well as patterns in music.

Next we move into the sorting and creating stage. This is where we start making and building as a way of showing some of the things we have learned so far. One of the activities we did was to sort different instruments by the way they make sound. We built our own instruments using the knowledge we had gained by exploring how sound is made. This is also where our show started to come together. We wanted a way to share our Kaitiaki learning that used lots of the new things we had learned about music and dance.

Finally comes the 'I am celebrating stage'. This stage is where we put all the elements together and take an action to share our learning. The Art Celebration was a natural fit for us to share our learning with the wider school community and we were so glad that we could share our show with so many people and that you could celebrate with us. 

But thats not the end. From here we can reflect on the entire process and see if we answered those questions and wonderings we had right back at the beginning. The great thing about inquiry learning is that it just naturally flows towards the next inquiry. Inquiry doesn't just happen in the classroom and we invite all of you to have conversations at home about some of the things we are exploring in the classroom. Our community is filled with musicians, artists, scientists and all sorts of amazing people. So share your stories and help be a part of the ongoing learning that is inquiry.

Hopefully that answers some of your questions about inquiry but if you want to know more than stop in anytime. We have a classroom full of inquiry experts that would love to share their learning with you.

Come and check out our inquiry wall

In Autahi we are well underway in our musical inquiry. We have begun putting together our Arts celebration show as a way of sharing our learning. The show isn't the only thing we are doing to help you learn more about what we are doing in the classroom. We wanted a way of being able to capture everything we do with our inquiry so that even if you only have 30 seconds on a drop off once a week you can have a look and capture what has been going on around Autahi.

Our inquiry wall is your one stop shop for everything inquiry related. As you can see we have the inquiry cycle starting at 'I am curious' to 'I am exploring' then on to 'I am sorting and creating' then around to 'I am celebrating'.

Each of these areas is another step along our inquiry path. You will see pictures and brief explanations about what we have been getting up to as well as some of our curious questions.

This wall is for everyone in the Autahi community. For the teachers and students it shows our learning pathway as we explore deeper into the musical realm.

For parents it is a chance to engage in our learning and see what is going on in the classroom. We hope that you will come and check it out and be able to carry on some of the learning discussions at home. Sharing stories about your own experiences with music or any other topic can help us all expand our knowledge and helps us deepen those positive relationships we have with friends and family.

So next time you pop by the classroom be sure to poke your head in and share in the amazing Autahi learning.

A Day in the Life

Please view our slide show to find out about our routines and more about our room.