This is what we've been doing this term.

Term 2 highlights:

• Newton’s Three Laws & learning celebration

• Popcorn experiment success

• Hands-on learning transforming statistics

• Language-rich poems: Breakfast theme

• Resilience building

Our Inquiry focus this term has been split. In the first half of the term, ākonga created and tested models that showed one or more of Newton’s Three Laws. This culminated in our learning celebration where ākonga enjoyed demonstrating their learning. In the latter half of the term, we have been learning about energy, in particular light, sound, and heat. Similar to last term, ākonga have been exploring these through several short interesting experiments. The highlight was making and eating popcorn. As well as noticing sound and heat aspects of the experiment, ākonga have written the making process and/or a poem about popcorn. It was pleasing to see these activities cross into other curriculum areas. This inquiry continues into Term 3, and ākonga will have the opportunity to design, run, and document an experiment of their choice.

In Maths, in addition to number knowledge, strategies, and rich problem solving, ākonga have been exploring measurement: length, perimeter, area, mass, volume and capacity. Later on, they have been learning about statistics. They have been developing their knowledge, visualising, and interpreting data. Ākonga have been enthusiastically measuring handspans, surveying students in the hub about favourite ice cream flavours, recording the data and drawing different types of graphs to represent their data.

In Literacy, ākonga have enjoyed reading a wide range of fiction and several science-based non-fiction texts. Their writing has related closely, with writing entertaining stories and poems about breakfast, and informational texts such as procedural writing and infographics. You may have seen Hero posts with the title ‘Quick write’. These are short pieces of writing where the students briefly plan and write in response to a given prompt (in the form of words or pictures). Sometimes, these pieces are done in one session; at other times, ākonga write them in two or three short bursts over two or three days. These build up the volume of their writing and are a way for ākonga to express themselves without worrying about meeting too many writing goals at once.

In Health, we have had a strong focus on mindfulness, self-regulation and building resilience. Ākonga have engaged in meditation, breathing exercises, and other activities to support their regulation after lunch each day. During health lessons students have been identifying their emotions, triggers, and exploring how they can regulate when they are upset or things haven’t gone as planned.

Ākonga have enjoyed taking part in events such as the Science Roadshow, Amesbury’s Got Talent, school cross country, Northern Zone cross country, and a couple of chess competitions. They have been taking part in swimming lessons, co-curricular lessons, setting up clubs, and hosting Share & Celebrate. It has been wonderful to see their leadership skills grow. It has also been fantastic to see how enthusiastic the tamariki have been about their learning and how much they have learnt this term.

We hope that the tamariki and your whānau have a good break from school. We look forward to seeing them in Term 3.

The Pōhutukawa Team