CHANGE of plans 🌎

In Kakapo we have decided that its not good enough to just KNOW about the problems facing our world...WE NEED TO TAKE ACTION!

After reading one of the texts (Down the Drain) on our contracts this week our discussion turned to sustainable practices.  Small choices that we can make that could help the world overall. This led us to talk about the packaging we have in our lunchboxes and the products we buy in the supermarket.  By choosing products in glass bottles instead of plastic, compostable boxes instead of plastic wrappings and bags is a small step but one that could convince companies to make changes.

We talked about the local businesses we knew that used paper straws, cardboard takeaway containers or paper bags.  We are choosing to support those businesses over others that use a lot of plastic.

One example Mrs Cutler asked us about was McDonalds.  What did we notice about their packaging? McDonalds is a major company with restuarants all over the country and they dont use paper straws.  So what can we do about this?

We are investigating ways to promote the businesses using sustainable products and practices and encouraging other people to support these businesses as well.  We hope that this is a positive way to get other businesses to change their practices too.  We are writing persuasive letters to McDonalds main office in NZ to ask them to consider a change in their packaging.

This is a little different than some of the learning we had planned to do this week, but that happens! It is ok, we are leading our own learning.

WATCH THIS SPACE - KAKAPO IS TAKING ACTION!  MORE UPDATES TO COME!

🌿 Rainforest Art 🌿

Lately, Kakapo have been looking at environmental sustainability and deforestation.  This led our inquiry to the rainforests of the world.  

From this, we looked at different rainforest plants.  Kakapo kids had to choose rainforest foliage to draw as their background.  We used crayon and dye. 

We learned:

• about foreground and background
• how to create depth and realism using colour (darker for objects further away and lighter for objects closer)
• layering for a 3D effect
• Adding detail and texture for realism

After our backgrounds were ready we researched birds that life in the rainforest.  Using the same learning, we created our birds adding detail with colour and texture.

We made our birds sit off the page to add realism and a three dimensional effect.

Our art is on display at the front of our class.  They are vivid and bright green against the navy walls - just how we think the rainforest would look. The photos don't do the art justice! Check out our individual blogs to read more about our integrated learning and see our art a bit closer 🌿

Mahi Tahi 2020

For those of you who are new to our blog, Mahi Tahi is where the three senior classes come together and work on a range of tasks. We chose the name Mahi Tahi because it means 'working as one'.  We used to meet twice a week, but this year we have two new teachers in the senior syndicate.  So while Mrs Cutler is the "Original", this year she is making sure we ease into the learning for everyone who is new to Mahi Tahi ... the teachers, new students and the year 5s.

Search our blog with 'mahi tahi' to see some of the awesome activities and learning we did in 2019.

During Mahi Tahi we learn about the four C's.  Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking and Creativity. The activities range from STEM to baking to art to school beautification to maths challenges.  Children are grouped randomly - we do aim to have one person from each year level in a group.

The aim is to instill 21st century skills in a way that every person gets to shine, take leadership, share ideas, follow leadership and practice the 4C's.  Now that you know what Mahi Tahi is - keep an eye out for some 2020 Mahi Tahi posts!

Kakapo Confessions

We read William Carlos Williams poem "This is Just to Say" about him admitting, and apologising for eating plums without asking. We discussed what it means to admit or confess something.

Kakapo kids brainstormed their confessions and ideas.

Using a similar format to Williams poem, children wrote their own poems.  We spent a lot of time re-working our writing to ensure we had interesting words that created a picture for the reader.  For example - rather than using 'yummy' to describe a chocolate, 'gooey' was used.

When it came to publishing our poems the criteria was to use a background image that related to their confession. The font had to be readable - so we had to think about the background picture.  Can the words be seen with a different colour, or was a bolder font or highlighting needed?

Children worked on a shared document to publish their poems.  There was a few challenges around this (such as accidental deletion of slides) but these were ironed out quickly luckily.

We really enjoyed reading each others poems.  We have given each other feedback and have reflected on things we may change if we did this task again.

You can read the poems by checking out the individual blogs.  We'd love to hear what you think so please leave a comment!

Fantastic Fonterra! 🥛

Today we had a visit from a Fonterra milk tanker. We learned all about how the tankers collect the milk from the farms and how they keep the milk cold on the journey. We heard about the sustainable practices that the Fonterra factories do. It was really cool to hear from the dairy farming families about cows and milk. Everyone got to have a close look at the tanker and the machine that monitors the milk. There were a lot of sore ears after everyone honked the horn!! Here is a picture of some of our students and the tanker.

Everyone was lucky enough to receive some yummy flavoured milk from Fonterra too. After the visit Kakapo kids had lots of questions about milk production, export and sustainable businesses. We continued with our own passion projects around these questions and presented them in different ways, sharing our learning with the class.

Fair and Equal

It is Social Justice Week this week and we have been learning about being FAIR and being EQUAL.
We discussed what we thought each of these words meant.  Tui thought that the words basically meant the same thing.

Each child was given an 'ailment'.  The ailments ranged from a ache, a cough or sore tummy to a broken leg or cut head.  The children had to discuss who was worse off.

After this discussion the children came to the 'Doctor' for treatment.  Each child was given a piece of paper that they were not allowed to look at until everyone had seen the 'Doctor'.  The treatments were revealed..... everyone received a band-aid!  There was much discussion about this!

"How will a band-aid fix my runny nose?"
"A band-aid isn't going to help my broken leg!"
"Yay! I need a band-aid for the cut on my hand!"

We discussed this further as a class.  Was receiving a band-aid fair? or equal?
The penny dropped and the difference between fair and equal was clear!

Fair is when everyone gets what they need or deserve
Equal is when everyone gets the same regardless of need.

Check out the Tui Class individual blogs to see more!

G.R.E.A.T

Today is Marcellin Day.  Marcellin is the name of one of our whanau groups and he is also a saint.
We celebrate Marcellin Day by giving service.
This morning at Mass, Father discussed what it means to give service and be 'great'.
He gave us an acronym to help us to remember how to be great.

G - Generous.
Be generous with your time, be generous with your words, be generous with your kindness and service.

R - Reliable.
Be the kind of person people can rely upon.  When you say or offer something, follow through.  Keep your word. Make sure people can trust that you will be there for them.

E - Encourage.
Encourage others, be supportive, be kind, give put ups and affirmation.

A - Accepting.
Accept others without judgement.  Be respectful of differences. Understand that we all have different opinions and ideas, we all are individual and unique and that's OK!

T - Thankful.
Be grateful for all that you have.  Acknowledge what you have and thank all who have contributed to it.

We had some amazing discussion in class after Mass about how to be GREAT.  Tui kids completed an activity in their Faith Journals to remind them 😇