Sharing some of our Maths Learning

At Maths time we have been looking at strategies we can use to solve addition and subtraction problems. One strategy is called Counting On. When we count on we hold the biggest number in our head and count on from this number as many as we need to get to our total.

We practised this with counters in a circle. First we counted how many counters there were of each colour.

This told us what the problem we were trying to solve is. We wrote this down:

 We then started from the biggest number and counted on the smallest number to find the answer.

We have also been using a number line to practise our addition and subtraction and our Counting On. Firstly, we listened to the word problem and wrote down the equation that we were trying to solve. Then, we would take a counter and find where on the number line to start. We would move it up or down to find the answer.

When solving addition problems with bigger numbers we can use Place Value to help us. To solve 54 + 25, we got 5 bundles of 10 sticks and 4 loose sticks to show 54, and 2 bundles of 10 with 5 loose ones to show 25. Next, we put all the bundles together and skip counted in 10s to get to 70. Then we counted all of the loose sticks to get 9. We added 70 and 9 to get 79. We can also show this on the abacus.

On the Move!

Rata Whitu was moved today! Last week builders worked hard to get the classroom ready to be moved:

This morning it was ready! A big truck lifted the classroom up and moved it across to make room for the new classrooms to go past and up to Rimu Block. It was pretty wacky seeing our classroom lifted up in the air!

We are loving being in the library. We especially enjoy having so many books to choose from at reading time. Lucky us! Thank you Mrs Munro for letting us use the library while our classroom is being moved!

Mini Olympics

In Rata Whitu we had a Mini Olympics!

You can read all about it on Mrs Powell's blog here.

Here are a few more photos from the afternoon:

100 Metre Sprint

Long Jump

Shot put

Our Tīvaevae

Kia Orana! In Rata Whitu we made our own tīvaevae to celebrate Cook Islands Langauge Week (31 July - 6 August). Tīvaevae is a treasured form of quilting in the Cook Islands. Tīvaevae are made from brightly coloured fabrics. Their designs often include shapes, flowers and animals. We chose a flower for our design and we made sure to choose bright coloured pastels and dye. 

We looked at some tīvaevae stitching designs. 

 

We used a black pen to go around our flower in tīvaevae stitching patterns to make our tīvaevae look hand sewn. 

Each square of the tīvaevae was made by one person. When we put them together it looked great!

Fractions Fun!

In Maths we have been learning about fractions. We have been finding fractions of shapes, fractions of sets and fractions of numbers. Here is the Starfish group sharing how they solved a quarter of 16.

Ka rawe Starfish!

M.O.O.T. With Rata Ono

This term we have been getting together with Rata Ono for M.O.O.T. (managing our own time). M.O.O.T. is a great way for us to self-direct and make choices in our own learning.

Here are some of the things we have been getting up to over the past few weeks:

Working together to make lots of different things with Duplo 

At the Writing Table

Seeing what we can make with play dough

Pelé and Prestige had fun using the geoboards. They even made Pacman!

Making Hurricanes posters for the Super Rugby final

Zoe and Charli put on a puppet show

Nityaa worked hard to build a house

At the end of M.O.O.T. we celebrate the students who have being demonstrating the Social Skill that we are focusing on. For the last three weeks our Social Skill focus has been Problem Solving. Well done to our fabulous problem solvers:

Zoe, Prestige, Raghav and Anae

Karanveer, Toryn, Bryce and Jonty

Dana, Zoe, Joshua and Joshua!

'Haere Atu!' Art

We read the big book Haere Atu! by André Ngāpō. It is about two sandflies, Namu and Sandy, who are looking for lunch at the beach. The beachgoers don't want to get bitten so they tell the sandflies: "Haere Atu! Go Away! I am not your lunch today!" 

We loved the way the illustrations used photos of different materials and prints like the straw hat, newspaper and beach towel. 

This inspired us to create our own mixed media art using pastels and dye for the background, patterned magazine paper for our beach towels and real photos of ourselves. 

How do you think they turned out?

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