Whai String Games

As of Wednesday 18th August 2021 New Zealand went back into a Level 4 lockdown. That meant back to distance learning. Even though we had been there before it did take a couple of days to get used to. 

One of our focus tasks was as below:

Click on the image to take you to the focus task on our class site. 

Below are a couple of photos & videos of different string games/figures made by students in Gedson Class.  

 

Why don't you have a go at some of the string games? 

Gedson Mandal art

Our class is named after an amazing New Zealand artist by the name of Fiona Kerr Gedson.

To learn more about her or see some of her work check out our class site: Gedson Class Site

After being inspired by her we decided to learn more about Mandal's and how to create them. We watched some videos, read some websites and practiced a lot of colouring in. 

Check out our Mandal pieces of art we created. We used Crayon and dye. And we worked with warm and cool colours. 

      

Can you spot the warm and cool colours? 

Te Reo & NZ sign language

During NZ sign language week our Te Reo expert pāpā Jarrod taught us sign language to introduce ourselves. 

First we learnt the vowels:

Then we added in the rest of our letters (consonant letters). 

We also learnt how to put it into a sentence in Te Reo. 

Ko ____________(your name) toku ingoa. 

Check out hard work:

Now your turn to try! 

Groups we belong to

During distance learning we looked at different groups we belong it. 

 Our focus task:

From this we found out that even though we have our own identity and we are all unique in our own way, there are still things about us that are similar. 

What groups do you belong to? Can you find someone that belongs to the same group as you?

Nō hea koe? = Where are you from?

LEARN

As part of our Kotahitanga (unity) unit we are looking at identity. 

Achievement Objectives: understand and respond to commonly used phrases and sentences.

!Did you know it is Kaupapa that before you ask someone’s name when you meet them, it is deemed more courteous to ask where they are from. This will establish kinship ties and a familiarity with the major landmarks of the area.

Question/Pātai: Nō hea koe? = Where are you from?  

CREATE

Leave us a comment telling us Nō hea koe?

Stick insects

Once we got back to school after the April Lockdown we did a mini-unit on stick insects. 

First, we read a big book called Stick Insects by Dawn McMillan. 

You can find the story and our learning activities here. 

After reading the book we complete lots of different activities. 

For 1 activity we did our own drawing of a stick insect and labeled all the different parts. 

Here are the keywords we used:

• antennae (feelers)
• thorax
• abdomen
• legs
• head

We then looked at the life cycle of a stick insect. We learnt some big words such as 

• antennae

• camouflage

• nymph

• moulting

Using all our learning we then made stick insects using real sticks. We had to think about all the different parts of a stick insect and how stick insects camouflage. 

Check out our camouflaged stick insects:

Matariki

To celebrate Matariki we read Matariki Breakfast by André Ngāpō. 

First we learnt about different ways Matariki is celebrated. 

Then we looked at celebrations in our own culture, we compared these to how Matariki is celebrated. 

                   By Asmah                                                           By Hope

                By Karolina                                                        By Khadeeja

Then we wrote an explanation about our special celebration in our cultures. Here is one by Asmah:

Finally, we got to celebrate Matariki! To celebrate Matariki we made our own Pou. 

How do you like to celebrate Matariki?