...welcome back to BSDA School! A special welcome to our new Tuakana Whā classmate who joined us late last term: Prince from the Philippines. As we embark on a new season of learning, let's be encouraged: "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar with wings like eagles; they will run but not grow weary, they will walk but not be faint." ~Isaiah 40:31~

For Term 2, our special character theme is “Environment & Sustainability”. Throughout the term, students will learn about God's purpose for us as earth's guardians and how we can care for our damaged environment. The following information is a snapshot of the learning planned for Term 2:

BIBLE

As we learn about the old testament kings (Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Joash, Manasseh, and Josiah) and God's prophet Jonah, ākonga will learn about God's kingly character, service, and forgiveness. 

LITERACY

Tuakana Whā will continue using our Daily 5 literacy framework to engage in listening, speaking, reading and writing tasks. Daily 5 tasks include Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work, Work on Writing, and Workshops with the teacher.

For listening and reading, our focus will be on Environmental Science, Innovations for Sustainability, and Ecosystems for non-fiction and stories about Earth for fiction. For writing, students will learn to construct explanations that answer the questions "How?" and "Why?". 

Our library day is on Mondays - students check out a selected book to take home for the week and bring it back to school on Friday.

Ākonga enjoy sharing their thoughts and ideas through Public Speaking. Ask your child which team they belong to and check the following Public Speaking schedule: Team Joseph-Tuesday; Team Esther-Wednesday; Team Daniel-Thursday; Team Ruth-Friday.

MATHEMATICS

In Term 2, Tuakana Whā will continue working towards reaching their Maths goals for number knowledge and strategies in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, with a special unit on Financial Literacy. For our Geometry strand, we will focus on "Position & Orientation". Ākonga will learn about coordinates and how to follow directions and distances on a map.

SCIENCE

Readily aligned with the Term 2 theme of Environment & Sustainability, our Science units will focus on Earth Science topics such as Ecosystems, Renewable and Non-renewable Resources, the Interaction of Earth's Spheres.

SOCIAL STUDIES/TE REO MĀORI

Ms Lote teaches Social Studies every Wednesday afternoon to Tuakana Whā.  Also aligned with the Environment & Sustainability theme, the Social Studies units will include ANZAC Day, Endangered Species, Climate Change, and Living in a Sustainable World.

For Te Reo Māori, students will learn to communicate about events and where they take place, as well as give and follow directions in Te Reo Māori.  

TECHNOLOGY

We kick off Term 2 with 5 weeks of Food Technology focusing on different cooking methods such as blending, steaming, baking, and deep frying.  The second half of the term, ākonga will work with Soft Materials such as coffee sacks to hand-sew up-cycled tote bags.

THE ARTS

This term Tuakana Whā will learn dramatic performance skills and reflect on different perspectives and consequences as students perform in different roles.  For visual arts, ākonga will create sculptures using waste and recyclable materials to be displayed at the Art Expo in Week 8.  

Photos- Please enjoy these photos from Week 10 in Term 1.  (Auckland Zoo Trip and our Easter art project painting salt dough crosses)