They have put together a slide show to share at Whanau Time tomorrow. But today we get a sneek peek.
Wednesday 26 August 2015
Enviro - School Update
Mrs Daly and her crew of minions have been busy taking photos of children hard at play today working on their enviro-school projects.
They have put together a slide show to share at Whanau Time tomorrow. But today we get a sneek peek.
They have put together a slide show to share at Whanau Time tomorrow. But today we get a sneek peek.
Tuesday 25 August 2015
Persuade Me
Learning Update
This term our children have been learning how to write persuasive text.
We began with brainstorming …
What is persuasive writing?
Persuasive writing is a type of writing that... tries to convince a reader of an opinion or belief.
Why do authors try to persuade their readers?
- so they commit to an action
- to make them want something
- to convince them to buy things
- to stop people from an action
- to change someone’s mind
How do authors persuade readers?
- offer a deal (buy one get one free)
- make a promise to do something
- trade favours
- ask pleadingly or convincingly
- advertise on TV - commercials, infomercials, YouTube, posters, flyers, signs
- show how it could be of benefit
- by engaging emotions
- creating desire
- appealing to our ego
- appealing to our mind - intellect
Our senior children have been writing speeches.
Some of our middle school children have been designing persuasive posters.
Our junior children are learning to recite a poem.
Come in and listen to our Persuasive Speech Competition on Thursday 10 September at 1.30 pm.
Will you be sold…?
Arataki ‘Kauri Dieback
12 August 2015
Over the past few weeks, on our lead up to our Arataki ‘Kauri Dieback’ trip, our children have been learning about…
Biodiversity and how living things make up the living world - plants, insects, people - and how living systems are interrelated to make one.
Ecosystems and how living things (plants/animals) live together to survive and thrive.
We began by looking at our own eco-system and what we need to survive. Once our children identified what we needed to survive we then looked at how each item connected to each other, leading us to exploring the relationships between us and our environment.
We viewed a short video, courtesy of Mr Meadows, which explains this in an easy to understand way to support our learning.
Children applied this learning to a new context and had to demonstrate their understanding by creating play dough models of their eco system, then video how their play dough models support each other in their eco-system.
If we look after our eco-system we look after ourselves.
Arataki Visit on PhotoPeach
Over the past few weeks, on our lead up to our Arataki ‘Kauri Dieback’ trip, our children have been learning about…Biodiversity and how living things make up the living world - plants, insects, people - and how living systems are interrelated to make one.
Ecosystems and how living things (plants/animals) live together to survive and thrive.
We began by looking at our own eco-system and what we need to survive. Once our children identified what we needed to survive we then looked at how each item connected to each other, leading us to exploring the relationships between us and our environment.
We viewed a short video, courtesy of Mr Meadows, which explains this in an easy to understand way to support our learning.
Children applied this learning to a new context and had to demonstrate their understanding by creating play dough models of their eco system, then video how their play dough models support each other in their eco-system.
If we look after our eco-system we look after ourselves.
Kauri Dieback Study - Kauri trees are unique and under threat.
As part of our Kauri Dieback Study we will be visiting the Arataki Educational Centre, situated in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, 300 Scenic Drive, Waitakere.
Our senior children will be…
“learning, experiencing and discovering the unique features of our Kauri, and why they need protecting. Students will have fun replicating the girth of our largest Kauri, explore their distinctive features with the 'coolest' magnifying glasses, learn the important role Kauri play in our forest and pot up a native seed or seedling to take home. They will come away with an appreciation of Kauri dieback and what actions they can take to prevent this disease spreading.”
Our junior children will be…
using their senses to explore the forest - by experiencing and discovering the sights, sounds and smells of the forest. The leafy wonderland of Arataki comes alive as younger children use language and sensory awareness activities to explore their environment.They can smell the forest with magic 'sniffy dabs', see the colours of the forest on their artist palette, feel the textures of the trees when they’re blindfolded, and listen to the sounds around them during quiet time.”
Community Garden
15 June 2015
Our community garden group have throughly planned their sub projects.
They began with listing possible projects, possible resources, possible sources of support and possible sources of funding.
They planned their tasks over the course of eleven weeks and wrote letters to ensure they had sponsorship and resources before beginning.
They are now well underway.
Last week they visited two schools to research and gather helpful ideas to support our project.
On Friday they completed three raised garden frames.
Their next step is to plan the garden construction and decide on the plants they want for the garden.
Reduce Reuse Recycle
15 June 2015
Reduce Reuse Recycle at Woodhill School is focused on Kaitiakitanga - caring for our environment.
We had lots of ideas that involved positive and proactive practices, some of our ideas were:
It is great to see our children thinking in environmentally-friendly ways. Many of these ideas will make a difference locally as they already have globally.
In the short term this group’s focus is on ‘reuse’ and how to use non biodegradable car tyres in useful and purposeful ways - hence our tyre fence to protect our septic tank vents.
Last week our children dug out the trenches for their tyres and painted the tyres. On Friday they had a go at measuring the correct amount of cement powder to water ratio. They discovered the key was to ensure the mixture was mixed well and to get the cement in the tyres before it hardened.
Reduce Reuse Recycle at Woodhill School is focused on Kaitiakitanga - caring for our environment.
- establish recycling monitors
- adopt a part of the road or river to keep clean of pollution
- recycle paper into hand-made paper
- arrange a tin can collection fundraiser
- provide bins for different kinds of litter
- collect rain water from down pipes
- install side-shelters in lunch areas
- install shade sails
- set up a scrap bin for chooks
- pest control programme for mice etc
- change to enviro light bulbs
- install sustainable energy systems - wind turbine, solar power
It is great to see our children thinking in environmentally-friendly ways. Many of these ideas will make a difference locally as they already have globally.
In the short term this group’s focus is on ‘reuse’ and how to use non biodegradable car tyres in useful and purposeful ways - hence our tyre fence to protect our septic tank vents.
Last week our children dug out the trenches for their tyres and painted the tyres. On Friday they had a go at measuring the correct amount of cement powder to water ratio. They discovered the key was to ensure the mixture was mixed well and to get the cement in the tyres before it hardened.
The Chicken Coop
15 June 2015
Every big project is made up of many parts and many steps, and the procedures needed to achieve it will vary depending on the people who are carrying them out. Thank you to our wonderful enviro-school teams, our parents helpers and sponsors who began the process of bringing these projects to life.
Enviro-school on PhotoPeach
Every big project is made up of many parts and many steps, and the procedures needed to achieve it will vary depending on the people who are carrying them out. Thank you to our wonderful enviro-school teams, our parents helpers and sponsors who began the process of bringing these projects to life.
Part of the technological process involved each group brainstorming the components and tasks that would be sub-projects of each of our main enviro-school ideas.
This week we feature and share the process and deeper thinking behind each project.
The Chicken Coop
The chicken coop is by far our most comprehensive design and project. It is a project that more than any other embodies our school embracing our ‘country lifestyle location’.
Our children have investigated the many aspects involved in not only building a chicken coop but also the implications involved in raising and caring for chickens on a school site.
There are many sub-projects involved, including long term maintenance and sustainability of the chickens and the coop.
Here are a few of the considerations this project group have identified.
Size of the chook run, house, nesting boxes and perches
What breed of chicken is best for eggs and easy to keep and care for?
Is council consent required?
Food - feeding the food scraps to the chooks, growing our own corn for chicken food, buy peck-n-lay, dust baths, water feeders, self feeders
Trading - selling the eggs, selling the manure as fertiliser, using manure on the vegie gardens, logo for sales, egg cleaning if they are dirty, signage and advertising
Health and safety processes - hand sanitiser stations, signage, pest control
They have a lot of things to research and are lucky to have a great teacher leading the way.
Enviro-school on PhotoPeach
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