Year: 2026

Making Nature Mandalas!

A couple of weeks ago during CRT with Islay, Ata Hāpara teina dived into the world of mandalas!

We started by learning how mandalas use repeating patterns to create beautiful, eye-catching images. Then, it was time to get hands-on. We gathered natural materials like leaves and flower petals, carefully arranging them on paper to practice our symmetry skills. Once everything looked perfectly balanced, we glued them down with PVA. Check out some of our amazing creations below. Ka pai tō mahi, teina!

Measuring Masters

Whaea Emma’s pangarau rōpū have been learning about measurement. Yesterday, they learned about perimeter and that to find the perimeter, you needed to measure around the object. We practised measuring with non-standard units. We used popsicle sticks, cubes and post-it notes. We then recorded our findings and compared them. We learned that it was important to make sure your units were touching so you could get an accurate measurement. Are you surprised by any of our results?

Our Space Learning

This week, we have been learning about the different planets in Space. After learning about Te Marama and the phases, we wanted to investigate what else was out there. Whaea Koha read us information about the 8 planets, and we had so many questions. We found that 4 planets were rocky and 4 were made of gas. They all look so different and are different sizes. We are practising learning the planets in order from the Sun. We can’t wait to continue this learning this week!

 

Beebots & Lego

Today’s morning CRT session was full of creativity, coding, and conservation. We worked with Elizabeth and started by listening to the story Somebody Swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts. It’s a powerful (and a bit heartbreaking!) tale that helped us investigate what happens when para (rubbish) ends up in our moana. We learned that many of our beautiful sea creatures mistake plastic for kai.

Bee-Bots to the Rescue! To put our problem-solving skills to the test, we used Bee-Bots (which we called “Moana Bots”) and moana maps. The mission? Operation: Ocean Clean-up.

We came up with our own games: some programmed Moana Bots to collect para or rescue a Hector’s dolphin. We had to watch out for the Taniwha, Lion’s Mane jellyfish, or seaweed! For every successful mission, we used sea pennies as rewards.

After a quick break for morning tea, we had our first Lego Robotics session. For most of us, this was a brand-new experience! The room was full of the sound of Lego rummaging as we searched for the exact pieces we needed. We worked with a buddy, followed instructions, and collaborated to build our very first vehicles.

Skip Counting

Whaea Emma’s Maths group have been working on their skip counting. We went outside to practice our skip counting. We recited our skip counting in 2’s to 20, then had a go at skip counting as high as we could. We noticed that there was a repeating pattern, 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, which helped us when we were exploring bigger numbers. We then went and looked at each other’s mahi and practised our skip counting together.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Procedural Writing

After reading our shared pukapuka, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we were interested in how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. We did some learning about metamorphosis and the steps of the life cycle. We had fun creating headbands to help us remember the life cycle. The next day we did some procedural writing and wrote each step of the life cycle. Some of us used Explain Everything to record ourselves as we could add more detail then when we wrote our ideas down. We experimented using procedural language such as first, next, then, finally. Watch our video to hear our explanations.

Ngā Marama o te Tau

I te wiki, Whaea Emma’s Pangarau rōpū learned about the months of the year and seasons. We created a wall sharing all of our birthdays. We learned which month and season our birthdays were in. We began learning more about each season, what they look and feel like and what events happen during each season. Then we worked together and created some posters to share our learning and added them to our wall! What is your favourite thing about each season?

 

The Boat Race Creations

On Friday, we read the Better Start Literacy big book ‘The Boat Race’. We decided it would be a really good idea to create our own waka! For the next block, we turned our space into a creation zone as we were all designing, sticking, cutting, decorating and building our boats. We then took a photo of the final projects. We used what we could find in the studio and took some inspiration from the story! You may notice a theme of shark fins. Waka of all shapes and sizes were created!

Some of our tamariki made the connection between the characters in this story, who also feature in the phonics plus books we read in our small groups for pānui pukapuka.

Here is the video of our waka creations! Unfortunately, we didn’t get time to test whether they floated. Which one do you think will float the best?

Te Tiriti o Ata Hāpara

Last week we were learning about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and created our own agreement for our tēina, Te Tiriti o Ata Hāpara. Our 5 main values we agreed to were

  1. Whakarongo (1 command, 1 person talking)
  2. Manaakitanga (Take care of each other)
  3. Tiakina ngā taonga (Look after our things)
  4. Hīkoi (walking inside)
  5. Tātou, tātou (Share and take turns)

We have made sure we have had multiple opportunities to practise these throughout our learning. Studio play, team building, PMP, Cybersmart, Te Reo Māori, Art, Kapa Haka and kaukau have filled our days before starting our Literacy and Maths routines next week.