Rāmere, te 26 o Poutūterangi

Games with a purpose

Here’s a resource with some purposeful independent activities (yes, you might read the word ‘games’ 😀) that you could give students to work on when they have a few spare moments. Please make a copy of this document.

No child is reluctant to read a story they’ve written

Many teachers have certainly found this to be true, plus other students love to read each others’ hand made books displayed proudly in the classroom library. Follow the link here to a graphic by Tara Black of Joy Cowley’s talk to picture book authors. Lots of helpful ideas for budding authors, both adults and students, in their writing journey

Students love to make paper books for their stories. This is an oldy, but a goody, where you can fold one piece of paper to create a book for publishing. Follow the link here to a step by step wiki post.

Literacy Shed – Free resources from 5-11yrs

The Literacy Shed has been available for many years now and continues to be updated regularly with new resources. Follow the link here to the free resources page available. There are some fabulous ideas to download across all aspects of literacy. The link here will take you to the Ed Shed +.

Authentic audience to inspire young writers

Have you seen the Toitoi website? Toitoi celebrates the creative spirit of young New Zealanders. They publish material with an original and authentic voice that young people can connect to and be inspired by and that reflects the cultures and experiences of life in New Zealand.

Follow the link here to learn more.

North Shore Maths Workshops for Teachers

A quick reminder of upcoming maths workshops this term – it’s not too late to register. Click here to register

Venue: Northcross Intermediate

Workshop Descriptions

Primary Maths Association Seminar Day

Click here to register and see full programme

Date : Saturday 27th March

Venue: Ormiston Junior College

Cost: $150

Maths Networks of Expertise

‘Making Sense of Algebra across the Levels’ Workshop for Years 6-10

Click here for registration and workshop details.

Date: Thursday 1 April,

Venue: Learning Network NZ, Universal Drive, West Auckland

Cost: $30 includes morning tea and lunch

CORE Online Workshop for Students

iNVENTIONATOR for gifted ākonga (learners) is back! Delivered completely online, this exciting FREE event is designed for Y6-9 gifted ākonga, who want to PLAY. THINK. DESIGN. innovative solutions to real-life problems that matter.

Last year this FREE event booked up fast and places are limited, so getting in early is recommended. Six learning resources lead up to an interactive event, held over four half-days. Using ākonga strengths, with support from schools, whānau and the CORE team, ākonga work together, grow their creative and critical thinking skills and experience another level of innovation.

Link to more information here

Professional Learning across the Kāhui Ako

Our in-school leaders have spent many hours with the across school leaders discussing, designing and implementing learning pathways and progressions. It is as a direct result of these discussions that many of the college teachers have thought about and started using learning progressions and curriculum levels. We have also discussed the value of writing across the curriculum, making connections for students when they can’t really see the connections for themselves. Below are some pictures of students using Design Thinking: ideating and prototyping for Technology. But the design and planning phase is being done in the English classroom. It is rewarding to see these kāhui ako led discussions result in some meaningful project based learning for the students.

Hui Marae

Last Thursday/ Rāpare, Māori Leaders from across the Orewa Kāhui Ako spent the day at the marae with Kereama Nathan. New leaders, including Gregory Pierce, were welcomed with a formal pōhiri in which many of our kaiako delivered a mihimihi showing just how far we have come.

The kaupapa/ focus of the hui was to re-look at our Rautaki Reo/Language Strategy and to assess our kura and set some goals moving forward. We have had great feedback about the day and the benefits of working together with the marae. It was good to see how well many of our kura are doing in terms of seeing the fruits of the mahi that has been put into meeting the expectations of the strategy.

The Rautaki Reo/Strategy doc is full of practical steps we can take to improve our practice in the area of te ao Māori. If you would like to see the updated version of the doc follow this link.

Kupu o te Wiki – Hia

This week we introduce the prefix hia. Hia is short for hiahia which means, To desire/ need/ want. When we add hia to kai (food/ eat) we get hiakai/ hungry (desire food), when we add hia to inu (drink) we get hiainu/ thirsty (desire drink) and when we add hia to moe (sleep) we get hiamoe/ sleepy (desire sleep).

Hiakai (He-ah-kai) Hungry

Hiainu (He-ah-e-nu) Thirsty

Hiamoe (He-ah-moy) Sleepy

So when asked,

Kei te pēhea koe? (Kay teh peh-hair qwe) “How are you?”

We can reply with any of the above desire options,

Kei te hiakai ahau (Kay teh he-ah-kai ah-ho) “I’m hungry”