Our Cultural Celebration Day

Celebrating Culture

Learning Coach:      M Lennon                               Date:   27 September 2017

This term Learning Habitat 4 has been learning about other cultures.  To celebrate our learning, we had a Cultural Celebration day on 27 September 2017 where learners were invited to dress up in traditional clothing from their own culture or a culture that interests them. Our Cultural Celebration began with a walk down the catwalk, where all learners got to showcase their clothing choices.  Many learners showed their capabilities, walking the catwalk and striking poses before returning back to their seats.  The morning session also included performances by learners who chose to learn and sing songs from other cultures. After iBreak 1 families arrived to help with our celebrations.  Learners and families were able to participate in a range of activities from different cultures.   Some of the activities included Scandinavian gift baskets, Chinese writing and reading, Jeepney Colouring (Philippines), henna tattoos, multilingual songs and dances, and multilingual number matching. In the afternoon learners were able to share their learning with each other, having opportunities to teach someone something new about their own culture. It was fantastic to see the learners dressed up in their traditional clothing during Cultural Celebration Day!

Softball! Lets learn to play!

This week was our second time to have a softball session with two great softball coaches. Last week we did some awesome warm up activities and learned about handling the ball. 

Passing the ball between us - making sure we kept our eyes on the ball and our hands ready to catch!

 This week we played some great running games - practicing running from home base around all the bases and back.

We played 'Rob the Nest' where we had to run and bring back one ball at a time and try to get to three balls first.

Finally we played to race the ball around the bases. This was a fun game where we could practice our ball skills again - rolling the ball to the next base and using crocodile hands to catch the ball from the ground.

Blake Hapu really enjoyed their session and are looking forward to next time.  Lennon and Blake Hapu have softball on Wednesday mornings and Kareko Hapu have their session on Friday afternoons. 

100 Days of Learning!

We’re 100 Days Smarter!

Learning Coach:      M Lennon                               Date:   28 July 2017

On Friday 28 July Learning Habitat 4 celebrated 100 days of school for 2017.  Every day this year the learners in LH4 have been using their numeracy and literacy skills in counting the days and keeping a running total of how many days smarter they were.  When approaching 100 days, the learners were involved in planning and preparing for our 100 days smarter party. The learners all made invitations to take home, inviting parents to join us for a lunchtime celebration; they made decorations; designed a creative lunch to bring in to share with their family; and decided that we would celebrate with a ‘silly’ hat day. To celebrate being 100 days smarter, we spent the day completing a range of activities centred around the number 100. Working together we collaboratively made decorations with 100 loops; we made hundreds boards; counted popsicle sticks; made bundles of 10 and grouped them to make 100; added 100 butterflies to our trees. On completion of activities, the learners had lunch with their families, with many families getting into the spirit by wearing silly hats too!     LH4 can’t wait until we’re another 100 days smarter!

Ormiston Junior College Expo Day

On Thursday we were invited to Ormiston Junior College for their Expo day, where the OJC learners were presenting their learning for the term.  It started off with an introduction, then a dance and drama performance.  After this, we were able to walk around their stalls and interact with the learners while they presented their learning to us.  It was a fabulous time, with our learners full of excitement and curiosity on their return to the Habitat.

Keen Listeners = Powerful Learners

 Transfominds Workshop

Date:   21 June 2017

This week all Learning Habitat 4 learners went to a workshop held by Transfominds.  In this workshop they learned that if they are keen listeners they will end up being powerful learners. Firstly the learners were introduced to the learning and were asked to brainstorm some strategies that good listeners use.  Next the learners were introduced to role play where some learners were chosen to play poor listeners and good listeners. At the end of the workshop the learners were asked to describe what makes a powerful learners and list the listening skills learned in the workshop.   Three learners gave outstanding answers to the question of “what makes a powerful learner?” and won a term scholarship to one of the courses offered by Transfominds. The winners were Katelyn, Park-Heng, and Muhammad. Well done! A big thank you to Transfominds for providing us with this workshop.

The Workshop

Bubblegum Dance Group

 Bubblegum Dance Group Performance

Date:   16 June 2017

Recently we were invited by Ormiston Junior College to see the Bubblegum Dance Group perform their international hip-hop routines.  This was in support of the dance groups trip this year to the United States of America to perform internationally. The Bubblegum Dance Group gave a mighty performance that was enjoyed by all our learners.  During their intermission, the group asked for volunteers to have an impromptu dance-off competition that involved the dance group, learning coaches, and learners. The learners were given 2 minutes to learn a dance move from the Bubblegum Dance Group and then had to dance in front of a full audience.  Darius represented LH4 in this competition and rose to the challenge, competing against a wide range of learners that included Ormiston Junior College, and winning the dance-off. Well done Darius - we are all so proud of you!

The Performance

Celebrating 2,500 Tokens

PB4L #Oresome Time

As a school-wide reward for getting 2,500 tokens learners were given the opportunity to do have some free-play time on Friday afternoon.

Having #Oresome time saw learners building with lego, creating with magnetic shapes, drawing, writing, playing games on the ipads, completing puzzles, and singing along to Disney tunes.

We all had a fantastic time and hope to earn another 2,500 tokens again soon!