Collaboration in Huia Whanau

This week, Huia Whanau are focusing strongly on our school values. Kaingaroa School has five key values: Kia Tika (respect), 

Kia Mahara (responsibility), 

Kia Pono (equity),

Kia Manawanui (resilience), and 

Kia Ngawari (kindness).

Today, our class organised themselves into five groups and assigned themselves one of the key values. They also assigned themselves a pou, which would become their groups responsibility. They delegated responsibility throughout their group according to people's interests and strengths. One person from each group started the process of their pou by sanding it back, and then putting the first layer of paint on. The rest of the group worked collaboratively inside, working on the design features of their pou. They needed to decide on font, size, colour, spatial awareness; providing a draft of both the front and back view.

Huia Whanau are continuing to grow and develop their abilities to work collaboratively, and demonstrate our school values. Next week, groups will begin to transfer their designs onto their pou. Everyone is looking forward to seeing their finished products, that they will then be planting in our values garden.

Screencastify - Class site

Simple science - Bouncy eggs

As part of our learning in literacy, Huia Whanau have been focusing on the anatomy of the human body. We've previously been learning about the skeletal system and the structure of our bones. We did a simple science experiment to help our understanding around the different layers of human bone.

We started by researching the difference between calcium and calcium carbonate. We learnt that calcium is a product that makes the outer layer of our bones strong, and we commonly get it from food sources such dairy products and seeds. We then learnt calcium carbonate is a compound product, meaning it is made up of two ingredients, much like compound word or a compound sentence. Calcium carbonate is 60% calcium and 40% carbonate, which is a chalk-like substance we get from rocks such as limestone.

Calcium carbonate is a product that people take if their diet is lacking in calcium. This helps them to make sure they are getting enough calcium. However, overuse over a long period of time, can cause damage to the kidney - this is because the added carbonate isn't healthy for human consumption.

We learnt that egg shells are similar to human bones, and made from calcium carbonate. Like human bones, the outer layer is strong and designed to protect. Also like the human bone, the inner layer acts as a sponge. We submerged our raw eggs in a glass jar filled with white vinegar. We then left them sitting for 4 days. Over the 4 days, we saw some changes in our eggs as the outer layer was no longer protecting the egg, and the second layer was beginning to soak up the vinegar. Our eggs lost their brownish colour, grew in size, and began to sink to the bottom of the jar.

After the final day, we removed our eggs and took them to the top court to see if they would bounce. Some eggs broke as soon as they were pulled from the jar, while others were successful in bouncing. Those that were successful, however, only bounced a few times before breaking as well.

TEDx FondduLac

The secret to being enough
Nadine Machkovech

What I love about TED and TEDx Talks, is that they are about growth and personal development. They are real people, sharing their own, very real, stories. They aren’t about highlighting what we should be doing or how we should be living, but the messages allow us to think critically about underlying themes and allow us to take what we are ready to receive at that point in time.

I got very emotional listening to two messages tonight: “The secret to being enough” and “The other side of ego”. In “The secret to being enough”, Nadine talks about the feeling most people experience of being unworthy or ‘not enough’. She shares her story growing up and experiencing this way when her parents got a divorce, and being the youngest of five girls, and going to school. She talked about caring too much about what other people thought of her at a young age, and putting her worth in the hands of others, especially boys. She talked about taking drugs to hide the pain she was experiencing on a daily basis, and becoming an addict at the age of 14. She also talked about sitting on the edge of a lake, wanting to end her own suffering.

Nadine talked about reconnecting with her older sister, who loved her and accepted her as she was, but needed her to change. Her sister took her in on the condition that she get sober. Her sister laid out clear rules and expectations and curfew, and Nadine felt like she was being treated like a child. Nadine was 23, and fell to her knees, asking her sister for help.

She is now sober in long-term recovery, living her own truth. She speaks about the shift in her mindset towards her self-worth, and challenges the audience, instead of “Why me?”, o ask themselves, “Why not me?”.

This is the question I choose to challenge myself with. When I'm sitting in my classroom, questioning my ability. When I'm marking their assessments, questioning myself having taught them the best I could. When I'm struggling to manage my emotions in classroom full of emotional pre-teens, I choose to challenge myself with this question.

Why not me? Who am I to play small? Playing small doesn't serve my students, nor does it serve myself. Why not me?

Statistical Sorts

At the beginning of term 1, Huia Whanau experienced extreme disappointment when they realised they didn't know that much about statistics at all. The class struggled to answer statistical questions at level 2, and were unable to show any perseverance during their pre-assessment.

After finishing their learning at the end of the term, the class were more than competent at organising these sorts and finished well within the time frame given. They challenged the level of their learning by sorting images of statistical displays, the names of statistical displays, and the definitions of said displays. It amazed me at how much of the mathematical learning the entire class seemed to soak up throughout the term. They were very proud of their progress when they could complete such an activity with success.