Citius, Altius, Fortius-Faster, Higher, Stronger.

 2024 Olympic Games.

In Room Piwakawaka, we have been learning about the Olympic Games. First, we reviewed what we already knew about the Olympic Games by accessing our prior knowledge. We used that information and created a mind map of all the things that we knew. 

We learned about the different colors of the Olympic rings and what each colour represents. 

• The five rings represent the five continents considered part of the Olympic movement at the time the symbol was created (in 1913): Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania (note: North and South America were counted as one).

• The colors — blue, yellow, black, green, and red (on a white background) — were chosen because every national flag in the world contains at least one of those colors.

We also learned about the Olympic values and why they are important. 

The Olympic Games are not just about sports — they also promote powerful values that inspire people around the world. The three core Olympic values are:

1. Excellence – Doing your best, both in sports and in life. It's about pushing your limits and striving to be the best version of yourself.

2. Friendship – Building connections across cultures and backgrounds. The Olympics bring people together, reminding us that we have more in common than we think.

3. Respect – Treating others fairly, playing by the rules, and respecting yourself, your opponents, and the environment.

These values are important because they go beyond winning medals. They help create a better, more peaceful world by encouraging unity, fairness, and personal growth. Whether you're an athlete or not, the Olympic values are lessons we can all learn from and live by.  We looked at how we can implement those values in our classroom as well as outside the classroom. We also played a range of games that focused on these values to reinforce them. 

 

In Room Piwakawaka we have been reading the story "Rainbow Fish".  The tamariki really enjoyed the shared story about the Rainbow Fish. The purpose of reading this story was to reinforce the importance of sharing and being generous. We have been learning a lot about our School values of:   Respect (Whakaute), Responsibility (Kawenga), Resilience (Manahau), and Service (Ratonga)

The children then enjoyed creating their Rainbow fish using coloured cards and weaving.  This was a great learning activity that focused on fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, creativity, and problem-solving. 

A Squash and a Squeeze

In Room Piwakawaka we have been reading the story" A Squash and a Squeeze". We have been learning about explaining orally what happens at the beginning, middle and end of a story. We have also learnt that in stories we have characters, settings, problem and a solution. The children has exposure to new vocabulary which they were encouraged to use throughout the day. Some of the new vocabulary that the children were exposed to were: Wise, grumble, grouse, curious.

We then integrated the story into our Mathematics where the children created their own plans of houses to be able to fit the little old lady and the animals. They then created their houses using different materials like blocks, lego and play dough. 

As their teacher I was so impressed with their creations and the thinking behind creating their houses as well as the problem solving involved. 

The Tamariki in Room Piwakawaka had so much fun creating thier houses. 

 

Be bright. Dress bright.

 Room Piwakawaka was very lucky to have Ruben, the road safety bear, come visit. In class, we have been learning about how to stay safe around roads and when riding our bikes, scooters, and while walking.  We focused on:

• Key safety messages such as stop, look, listen, and link before crossing the road.
• Wearing a helmet correctly when cycling or scootering.
• Being visible by wearing bright clothing. 
• Ruben also emphasized the importance of safe seating in vehicles and using a booster seat until you are 148 cm tall. 

We had the chance to practice these skills with Ruben. It was so much fun!. 

The tamari really enjoyed meeting Ruben, the road safety bear.  We ended our lesson withRuben the road safety bear song, which we had been practising during class. 

Thank you Ruben for coming to visit Room Piwakawaka!.

Experiencing a traditional Hangi

 

This year at Kelvin Road School during Term 4 we had the great opportunity to have a Hangi.  A Hangi is known as a Maori earth oven. The children learned about the protocols of a how a Hangi is prepared traditionally. The tamariki really enjoyed preparing the stuffing as well as the vegetables for the Hangi. The children also gained knowledge on why we have Hangi's and why it is important as part of our cultural identity. It was a very exciting and enjoyable learning experience for the children. 

Maria shredding bread for the stuffing. 

Jazlyn  shredding bread for the stuffing. 

Veyron shredding bread for the stuffing. 

Pounamu shredding bread for the stuffing. 

Destony shredding bread for the stuffing. 

Devarn and Javahni washing the pumpkin for the hangi. 

Nevaeha washing the pumpkin for the hangi. 

Preparing the herbs for the seasoning of the stuffing. 

Kaihautu preparing the stuffing. 

Room 16 children preparing the stuffing for Hangi. 

Creating diamante poems on Matariki

 

In room 16 during Matariki we learnt how to create diamante poems. We gathered all the things we had learnt about Matariki and included them into our poems. We included lots of adjectives, verbs and nouns. We hope you enjoy reading them. Aren't they creative?. Please feel free to leave a comment on our blog post. 

Believe you are born to achieve great things

What a great day it has been. We had Mathex as a whole school and guess what? Room Sixteen came second which was such a blessing. Vivaan, Ayesha, Riley and Veryon had so much fun and participated and collaborated well with each other. Whaea Kaveeta is so proud of you!! Its such an amazing feeling to watch the children in your class succeed and accomplish great things.