Mahi Time

Akomanga 4 -  Term One 2022

Week 1-3

Kia ora e te Whānau,
We have had a busy 3 weeks back at kura.  It was awesome to have almost all of my (your) tamariki return to kura and we have all been amazing at adjusting to our new normal. 

The first week we did activities about getting to know our classmates and also sharing things about ourselves.  We completed a puzzle piece about ourselves that is now displayed on our akomanga wall..

We have been learning the kupu in te reo Māori for many of the classroom objects we use and the tamariki have turned it into a fun game that they can play independently at any time.

We also have been getting outside for hakinakina everyday.  The tamariki have been showing some excellent ball handling skills and also some amazing teamwork and aroha towards each other.

We have all been participating in some hauora activities, which included using natural resources to make something that represents ourselves.  There were some fantastic creations and the messages from what they had made said a lot about what is important to them.

The tamariki also engaged in playing independent pāngarau games, fun while learning!  These games are something the tamariki can do independently while I am working with groups or as an extra pāngarau learning activity, they thought they were pretty cool and they really enjoyed playing them.

As you can see we have also ventured outside to to a bit of mahi in the shade, it gives us a chance to spread out and enjoy being outdoors while we are learning.

We are a bucket filler akomanga, ask your tamariki what this means and they will be able to tell you.

There is a class bucket that they are trying to fill with fuzzies to earn a reward for the whole akomanga to enjoy.  We spend some time coming up with ideas for our reward and the tamariki choose from the list we have made until we all agree.  This gives them something to work towards and we like to say "do the mahi, get the treats".  

We all attended a basic first aid session which the tamraiki were really engaged in and they really did learn some new skills that may help them.  These skills were based around accidents that can happen in the playground, getting blood noses and what to do, putting an icepack on someone, bandaging someone who is bleeding and running water on and glad wrapping a burn. Their participation was outstanding and their teamwork was out of this world!  I was very proud of them. 

A walk in the ngāhere was just what we needed on a hot afternoon.  We joined Akomanga 3 and went over to explore Kirks Bush.  This has definitely started our love of nature and what we can see, hear, feel and smell in the bush.  We were able to do some planning about our walk the same week and then use that planning to write about it the week after,  It was a good opportunity to teach the tamariki the importance of planning.  It enabled us to write down everything we remembered at the time , then come back to that planning at a later stage and use it for our writing.

Lastly, in the middle of week 3, we were lucky enough to be invited back over the ngāhere by nature lab to explore all kinds of things.  These are things that are made from our natural resources that we can use for fun.  The best part was we got to take hammocks into the ngāhere and set them up, lie in them, listen to the sounds and read a book.  It was amazing!!  The tamariki were buzzing about it and I have to say it's one of my best moments so far.  I hope they came home and told you all about it.