Middles News

It finally happened! It is wonderful to be in the new building with the rest of the junior and senior syndicates and enjoying both the new classrooms and learning street. Reminding ourselves of the KAIK values has been a big part of being in the new space. Children have been working hard on being independent and looking after their belongings by checking through and handing out lost property each day. We have also talked about the importance of being kind to resources as we want to keep our new furniture and spaces in tip-top condition.

We began our term with different challenges including some team problem-solving tasks and creating different 2D shapes by folding A4 pieces of paper. The aim of these challenges was to think about listening to instructions, working together with others, encouraging classmates, making observations and careful decisions.

Golf and Keeping Active

All middle syndicate classes had a great golf session with Melanie Harper. Melanie has had many years of experience which makes it such a fun session. While some students were a bit hesitant at the thought of our golf session, when they saw the three different sized balls they were going to use, there were a few laughs to be had. Starting with a larger soft ball, then moving to a tennis ball, and then finally to a smaller soft golf ball helped students improve their technique as the session progressed.

This term our outdoor activities will be limited by the cooler wet weather but we will endeavour to get out when possible and adapt our games and skill sessions as needed. Hopefully, we’ll be able to use the hall for some indoor activities as soon as it is available.

PBL (Project-Based Learning)

Ko ahau te taiao, ko te taiao, ko ahau ~ I am the environment and the environment is me.

We have been exploring ideas about our environment as part of our PBL this term. Our driving question for the term is ‘How can we as kaitiaki (guardians) help Papatūānuku breathe? We have been reading the Māori legend about Papatūānuku and Ranginui (the Earth Mother and Sky Father) and their sons who are the kaitiaki (guardians) of our world. Some classes have been investigating rubbish around our school (with some very interesting discoveries), others have been looking at plants. Throughout the term, we will be researching many aspects of our environment. We’ll use this information to create a final product that helps us to answer our driving question. We look forward to sharing some of the work that we have been doing at our PBL Whānau Morning (Thursday 26th May, 9:00 am ~ 10:25 am). If you have any expertise or resources that would support our learning we would love to hear from you.