Active Listening

This morning we had some powerful discussions about how to listen actively.

To be a good listener, we need to...
* Make eye contact
* Put down what we are doing
* Ask for clarity (if we are unsure of what the speaker is asking)
* Ask questions (to show we care)

We realised that it is ok to ask them the person to wait if we are in the middle of something or talking to someone else.

We will be pracitising these skills at school.  What about at home?  How are your listening skills going?

We are learning about how to deal positively with conflict

Kia ora koutou, as part of our ecology of learning inquiry, we have been exploring the term "conflict" - what it is and what might cause it?  We have been discussing these in our whanau classes.  Here is a summary of what we came up with.  Could parents discuss with your child/ren what triggers might cause conflict the most,  What are some strategies to overcome the conflict?

What is Conflict?

What might cause conflict?

Tane's Treaty of Waitangi Video

Ka mau te wehi Tane!  This week we are completing our self-selected Treaty of Waitangi assignments to show our understanding about it.  What do you think of Tane's? I like how he has made connections with the things around our school.  Bomb-diggy Tane - great job!

Homelearning Expectations

Thank you!

Kia ora koutou!

Thank you to all of the whānau who made the time to come in to meet the Poutama team in person or who have dropped us and email over the last few days.  We especially enjoyed hearing and learning more about your children as people. Please make sure you contact us for any questions or concerns.  And remember to comment on our class blog!

Ngā mihi nui!

Troy, Nic & Elly

Like music to my ears!

Some beautiful sounds coming from the Art's Space today!

Room 13 respond musically to poetry. from Nic M on Vimeo.

The Treaty of Waitangi Rubric

Kia ora koutou, below is a google slide Poutama has created about The Treaty of Waitangi.  It has been a used as a tool for research, questioning and creating.  Today we set the challenge to create some thing to demonstrate our knowledge or understanding (or both!) about our founding document. 

This rubric will help us push our thinking.  'Au' means that we can find some facts and create something that will have impact on ourselves (Self-Agency).  Mātou means that you are connecting what you know or understand.  You will use your facts, knowledge and understanding to create something that will have an impact on our school community (Group Agency).  Tātou means you are thinking and acting beyond our school to create something that will have an impact the wider community, city, country or world (Learner Agency).

Habitual Readers

In Poutama we have a goal to develop habitual readers of ALL our students before they leave for intermediate. Here we are making a fabulous start to the year. 

Poutama Math Chat

Kia ora koutou, last week Poutama has been using "mathematical argumentation" to communicate ideas in maths.  We used the Rio Olympics medal prediction from the paper to use numbers in an authentic context.  Children worked in small groups to create a "gold winning performance" (the most efficient strategy) to add the total number of medals for a country.  But you can already see the total already you say?  This activity is heavily embedded in the strategy section of mathematics, where the answer is not the goal.  Children then debate which strategies are gold.   

Trust Fall

Abby is showing a huge amount of trust in her whanau class!

We need to be able trust each other this year in all aspects of our learning. How can we be trustworthy to those around us?

Team Building

We've all been learning about team work, trust and communication. What are the most important skills we need to show when learning together?

Welcome to 2016

Nau mai haere mai to 2016!  The Poutama team are pumped - all is set for an exceptional year of learning.  Below is the link to our team letter.  Looking forward to getting to know you all this year :)

Here are a few things you may need to know about our class:

Swimming instruction  is for the first 6 weeks of term 1. We swim on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

We will be visiting the hub on Tuesday. Please ensure that library books are returned on this day so that the children can issue new books.

Reading folders are an essential item for helping keep books and notices safe and ready to be shared at home. Please ensure that these make it to school every day.

We have a Meet the Teacher evening coming up on Monday 15th February. More information will be coming home about how to book a time for this.

Ngā mihi, 

Nic, Elly and Troy