Room 11 shared items contributing to each being a taonga, including all areas from within a programme called Whare Tapa Wha.
They created artwork from their waka, showing their whenua, whanau and personal feelings. Made taonga clay tiles and wrote stories for Celebration of Learning day.
To keep my mind healthy, I need to lie down, listen to music and do quiet drawing. To protect my heart, I need friends and to see my family. I need food, water, exercise, and sleep to be super healthy. To show others that I’m the best taonga, I need to show POWER, help others, and be grateful.
Room 12 designed a class waka to represent everyone working together as one.
Students were builders and creators and worked with a buddy to design a whare tapa wha whare. As artists, they learnt skills when designing and making their soap carvings and self-portraits. By writing stories that included similes and onomatopoeia, all students could describe their taonga in detail.
Each student designed and made photo frames of their taonga. These were buried in the class time capsule on the Celebration of Learning Day.
Our whare had solid walls. Levi and I worked together to complete our whare.
Room 5 has been mini teachers, demonstrating how everyone is a Taonga to be cherished.
By challenging ourselves to teach others about our special Taonga, we learnt about dances, exercises, art, hunting, science and languages. We explored a design process and how to use it in various curriculum areas. As a class we invented a marshmallow stick whare, a dream lunch box, carved our Taonga out of soap, and designed and created the prototypes of our time capsules.
Creating our whare using traditional Māori colours and symbols took much work to make the pillars and the roof. We then designed and carved our soap carvings. We broke much soap, and the class smelt amazing.
Room 13 students explored how they are all precious as unique individuals with special talents and personalities.
They identified their personal values by discussing what was important to them and shared how these values helped to make positive choices and guide their behaviour.
Taonga must be nurtured and cared for. Students learnt how to support their health and well-being using the Whare Tapa Rima model. Knowing who we are and where we are from gives us a strong sense of belonging, and relaying this information makes connections with others. Unpacking the different elements of our school pepeha has inspired some creative writing and beautiful artwork.
Drawing the Moana with sharpies to draw the different lines so they were clear when we went over them with the paint was a good skill to learn.
Room 14 focussed on exploring what is important to treasure.
Everyone created a piece of artwork to display on the walls of the classroom. Students were engaged in daily physical activity learning to look after the physical self.
Room 15 discussed what a Taonga is and this makes us unique.
Everyone in the class created colourful art based on their Taonga.
Room 16 explored the concept of Taonga by creating a 3-dimensional collage self-portrait and described what made them special.
They ensured their portraits had accurate features, such as skin, hair and eye colour.
Following this, they identified similarities and differences between themselves and their peers. The students created a mirrored artwork to show how unique and individual everyone is. These were decorated with carefully selected ‘treasure’ items, and their photo was placed in front of reflective tinfoil. The students made a ‘moment in time display to celebrate their individuality. This artefact contains their handprint and a recent photo. These sheets were placed in the time capsule.
Wairakei Primary school has a wonderful rural environment and an amazing community. I enjoy working with this community to help students rise to succeed. Learning happens everywhere and is different for every child, celebrating and challenging students is my drive as a teacher.
I strive to encourage every student to achieve to the best of their ability. My passions are Technology and Science. I use them as foundations in unlocking excitement and wonder to produce thinkers and creators.
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