Multi-model literacy in Huia Whanau

Huia Whanau Learning Site

This term, Huia Whanau have been exploring aspects of the human body through our literacy programme. Part of my feedback from Donna last term, was to include multi-model resources for my students to access during their learning. Literacy in week 3, is an example of what multi-model learning looks like in our classroom.

Using my class site to present new and rewindable learning, has been one of the most successful avenues in supporting student agency. Very seldom do I have students asking me what they should be doing, because it is all on our class site ready for them.

In week 3, we were learning about the anatomy of the human heart. What I'm enjoying most about our programme is that students are exposed to and experiencing all aspects of literacy, including reading, writing, viewing, listening, and occasionally speaking. Students are also given options and choice when creating, for example, some students prefer to working independently while others like to collaborate; some like to write in their literacy books while others like to work on their devices; and some students like to create digitally, while others like to work hands-on. Although each student is learning about the human heart, they have the option of how they would like to learn, within the constraints of our daily must dos and can dos. I'm finding this programme to be extremely demanding of the students, because they are forced to think critically across a range of resources, however it has to be the most successful literacy programme I've run to date.

Junior Tabloids Day

WALT show our leadership skills by teaching junior students physical activities



On Tuesday, Huia Whanau lead a number of different physical activities for over 130 Year 1 & 2 students on the East Coast. We had students come from Peria, Oruaiti, Mangonui and of course, Kaingaroa. Three Huia Whanau students lead an activity as the groups rotated around each station. Games included: rob the nest, lions and antelopes, gecko tails, stuck in the mud, blob tag, builders and bulldozers, and an obstacle course. Afterwards, we had very tired juniors and leaders! It was a fantastic day!

 

This morning, Piwakawaka Whanau, who are our Kaingaroa Year 1 & 2 class, came to visit us in our classroom. They shared with us their amazing art work and writing around their experiences at our Tabloids Day. Our Piwakawaka students were very grateful for our leadership, patience and of course, the repertoire of physical activities that they can now take away and use in their own class!

Waitangi Treaty Grounds Visit

WALT understand the Treaty of Waitangi in further detail



On Friday, Huia Whanau visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in Paihia, Bay of Islands. We visited the museum and talked about the Treaty and some of the historical events surrounding the signing of the treaty. We explored the grounds and learned about the waka that reside there; we also saw some native birds such as the Kereru, on our hikoi. We had a tutu with some digital technologies including virtual reality, green screen, stop motion, and robots. We had such a good day! We're looking forward to our second visit next week.

Team Building

      

Huia Whanau spent some time baking on Friday to celebrate the Treaty of Waitangi as well as the signing of their own class treaty. They worked together in teams and focused on team building and communication. They also made some delicious goodies that they all shared; some made cupcakes, while others made brownie and tapioca. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves & started to articulate the team building strategies that they used, their improvements and next steps.

Huia Whanau's Class Treaty

 

Huia Whanau have been learning and discussing the Treaty of Waitangi and it's significance. We discussed the importance and relevance of the Treaty and how it relates to us. We also looked around our class and discussed how we are all going to be successful this year, talking about thing such as:

• our individual values, why we have them and why they're important to us
• how we learn best, whether it be visual, written, kinaesthetic, etc
• what we need from each other (our classmates) in order for us to be successful
• what we need from our teacher in order for us to be successful

We then highlighted the common themes that were coming through and decided on 4 key points that we then used to create our own class treaty. Here is what we came up with.

Team Building

     

We found today's team building challenge quite difficult. We were given an image of pringles that formed a ring or circle, similar to the one below. We then had time to discuss strategy with our team and think about how we would be successful. After being given a box of pringles per group, we attempted to recreate the masterpiece. Some of our groups worked a lot better together than they did the day before, while others struggle to communicate. It was exciting and thrilling activity, but also very difficult. After some time, we competed to create specific words using our pringles, such as 'Huia', 'Team', and 'Waka'. We were all very happy to eat the pringles at the end.

Team Building

          

Today Huia Whanau worked on team building strategies in their desk groups. We worked on our communication skills & ability to work together towards the same goal. We did well to practice team work, our next goal is to articulate our strategies.

Team Building

     

We are focusing on our communication skills and working collaboratively in Huia Whanau. Today our goal was to create a cup tower without using our hands. We used rubber bands and string to move the cups from the ground onto the tower. We had to work together and talk among ourselves to make sure we were all pulling the string at the same time and placing the cup in the right place.