Samoan Language Week - Maths Fun

As part of Samoan Language Week we have been solving some Samoan themed math problems.
Here is today's problem and how we solved it.

Describe a Moment in Time- Writing

Over the last 4 weeks, we have been working on writing to 'describe a moment in time'.
To describe a moment in time we needed to try and:
- write a hook to engage the reader
- use present tense
- use descriptive language (adjectives, similes)
- use senses to add detail

We have used a variety of pictures over the weeks. Here are some pieces of writing. Please remember that these are not perfect pieces of writing and that our spelling may not be perfect!

The riders are scciding down the hills.The rider is holding on so tiet because he might fall down! The riders can smell and tasted the dirt and the swet. They might be thinking it is going to rain.The riders a having a race and the blue one is going to win they think.The rider with the red motorbike feels nervous because he thinks the other riders a going to catch up to him. “Crash” landed the awesome red motorbike!

By Eligh

"Woosh!’’the rider bolted down the hill on her advanced red and black pit~bike. The rider held her handles tight when she dashed over the crest of the hill.Her bike fled over the bumby rocks in the ground. The ground is really dusty, it is as dark and  dusty as a sandstorm. She felt really excited and scared, she was excited because she was wanting to know if she was going to win the race, scared because there are a lot of challenges she has to go through, like going over the rock and the crest of the hill, but she’s past that now. She can hear the rumbles of the bike’s engine She can smell the dirty smoke from the engine aswell.As she held onto the handles she felt the sweat dripping down her hands like tadpoles in a race.

By Tovie

Crash! Went the heavy ,and large bikes . They land quickly on the other side of the hill wum wum!!! The strong rider hold on the hard handles so that he doesn’t fall off.His speedy bike rushed over the soft soil so that he doesn’t get stuck. The soil is soft so there are small dust clouds that the riders can’t see. The extremely soft soil might make some bikes stuck! He felt so excited to win the cup but he felt scared of falling down.  The rider might see the other bikes trying to go in front of his to win the cup.

From the rider’s helmet he can see the black rain clouded coming after them. The rider might hear  the other bikes rushing through the small rocks. While they are racing he can smell the dust clouds flying into the helmet .

By Patrik

There was nothing in the  silent dark,clear, blue ocean although it was empty except for one lonely diver and a gigantic shark.

The miniature man was facing  upwards as he watched the tremendous shark swim above him. A little tiny diver might smell strong sea salt water.  The diver slowly gilded under the scaly long lasting shark. The sea looks really calm, the sand looks like the surface of the moon. The diver might be a scientist because he is interested in looking at the large stripes on the  shark.The shark might scene that there is something under him.The diver will taste a little bit of the water from under his swim suit. The tiger shark might be thinking what is that teeny thing under me doing?,and the diver might be thinking will the stripy shark attack me? The diver might feel the soft sand beside him. And the shark might feel the water splashing on him. I wonder what will happen next?.

By Mikyala

The tiger shark is the same sies as the diver.The diver is a bit taller than the tiger shark.The tiger shark is swiming on top of the diver.The diver is swiming under neth the tiger shark.The tiger shark mite be tinking wiy is this prson under me.The sand looks like the diver is on the moon.The tiger shark can see nothing because sharks cant see well.The diver can hear the sowned of the water.The tiger shark coied smell the fish in the distins.The diver can feel the sand because he is lalling down on the graoned.   

By AJ

Using Padlet

In reading, we are learning to use Padlet to share our ideas.

We were going to read a text called "Wild Orphans" so we activated our Prior Knowledge before reading. After we read the text we learned lots of new things about Wild Orphans and added our new learning to the padlet. You will have to scroll across to see our new learning.

This was our first time using a padlet! Have you used padlet before to record your ideas and learning? What do you know about 'Wild Orphans'?

Timeline of Transportation

This week we have been reading about how cars have changed over time. Then we watched a video about different types of transport that have been invented. Using the video, we created a timeline of different types of transportation. This is Phoebe and Raquel's - they did a fantastic job of choosing their favourite types of transport from the video and putting them on a timeline in order from oldest (canoe) to newest (self-driving car).

P.E- Balance and Stability

This term for P.E we are focusing on learning about body awareness and specifically learning about balance and stability.

We have learned a game called 'Cone Piles'.
The rules are:
1. you have to stand on your spot (on one foot)
2. try and stack as many cones as you can without falling and racing against your buddy
3. Then you swap with the person behind you and they have to unstack the cones while balancing on one foot too!

We find it difficult to stay steady on our spot- especially when the cones are out of reach or stuck together tightly. We challenge ourselves even more by trying to only use one hand!

To help us stay steady and balanced (without falling), we have learned some tricks.
You can:
- hold your arms out
- stare at a spot on the ground that isn't moving
- do deep breathing
- move your body weight over the part of your body holding you up
- put your hands on your hips
and even poke your tongue out or hold your ears!!!

What balance activities do you know of? What balance tricks do you know?

Play- Challenge yourself and have a go!

One of our school People Powers is 'Play'. We have been learning about showing 'Play' through challenging ourselves and having a go.

In one of our Power Time lessons we had lots of balloon challenges that our teachers set for us and we used collaboration to get the balloons from one side of the room to the other (without them touching the ground).

We also sat in a circle and challenged ourselves to pass a ballon around the circle in different ways. We found it easiest to pass it around with our elbows because we had more control, but hardest to use our chins because our chins and necks weren't big enough to hold onto the balloon.

We definitely had lots of fun learning about showing 'Play' by challenging ourselves and having a go! We try hard to show 'Play' in our learning as well. 

When do you challenge yourself?

Zones Cross Country

On Thursday, some of the Year 4's in our learning space were lucky enough to go to Cross Country Zones for the first time! 

We were feeling really nervous because we weren't sure what to expect but knew it would be a difficult competition. 

Left to right: Ella, Akeilah, Turanga, Kaela, Rylan, Connor, Jayden.

Kaela and Rylan are in the Pūnui o toka learning space.

Well done to all, we are so proud of you!

Celebration Assembly

Today we had our first Celebration Assembly of Term 2, and our People Power focus was Play. We can show Play by being creative and curious, by challenging ourselves and "giving it a go", and by having fun (by laughing, sharing and celebrating with others). Eligh, Frank and Ananta earned a Hero Award by using the People Power of Play over the last 3 weeks. Mikayla, Akeilah and Briana earned their Blue Badge by showing all of their South Hornby People Powers consistently. Congratulations Eligh, Frank, Ananta, Mikayla, Akeilah and Briana. Team Toi Toi is proud of you!

Dragons, Dragons, Dragons.

Last week we read the big book Dragons! Dragons! Dragons! This week we have been writing using descriptive words to describe our own dragons. Here are some examples of our writing.

Guess 7 Cards

Fifteen Cards

In maths we were given this problem. To solve it we used the numbers 1-15 and we used our adding.
First we tried to figure out the first two numbers, by using our knowledge of numbers that add to 15. Then we picked as basic facts and followed the rest of the clues.

Can you think of another way to do it?

Sick Sentences

At writing time we have been looking at Sick Sentences and trying to make them better. This week our Sick Sentences were "There were rows of seats. Cobwebs covered the walls. It was cold in the room". We talked about how there were no wow words in these sentences, and thought that we could make them better by adding more detail, wow words and a simile. First, we worked independently to fix the sentences, then we shared our ideas. Finally, we chose our favourite parts of the sentences that we had come up with to fix the sick sentences as a class. This is what we came up with. Let us know what you think. Did we make the sentence better?