Investigating Monarchs

Over the last few weeks, we have been investigating monarch caterpillars and butterflies.  
The children have been learning about the life cycle of the butterfly, including what sort of food they like to eat.
We created some beautiful caterpillars with a sharpie pen and used some dyes made from beetroot and onion juice that a parent brought in.
Here is our beautiful work - you can see it on our wall too.

Drawing with sharpie first - observational drawing

Focused artists

Caterpillar

Detailed work

Dying our work

The vegetable dyes 

Working carefully

What does it smell like?

Focused learners

Caterpillar

Putting dye on work

Exploring mixing the dyes

Appreciating each other's work

That smells!

Next, we drew our butterflies.  We looked carefully at colours and patterns on monarch butterflies.  Again we used a sharpie pen, but we also used crayon for the beautiful colours.  The children worked very hard on these and did some stunning work.  We finished off by cutting them out by ourselves.

Choosing the colours of the monarch

Observational drawing - look, draw, look

Independent and focused learners

Adding detail - I am thinking about my work

Finishing off my work to the end

Our Kitchen Garden

The Kitchen Garden is a very important place of learning at Hamilton East School.  Here we get to see how we grow plants and care for them so we can harvest them for food.  The focus is on fresh and healthy veggies and fruit.  We also use the garden to investigate concepts such as composting and to explore insect and bug life in a garden.  The garden quickly becomes a favourite place for children at school.

What can we see in the garden?

Looking closely...

What did we see? 

Walking through the garden...

A sunflower forest!

Yummy tomatoes!

We found a monarch egg on a swan plant

We also found strawberries

Yum!

Looking for ripe strawberries to eat

I found one!

Who is that peeking through the sunflowers?

A giant sunflower

A gourd - what can we do with these?

We found a baby caterpillar

Tu Tangata, Tu Maia!

Our school whakatauki Tu Tangata! Tu Maia! - Stand Tall Reach High, was inspired by our beautiful Redwood tree that has graced the HES grounds since the early 1900s. 
As part of our Term 1 focus Turangawaewae - Our Place, we have been investigating the tree.  Children have been 'wondering' about this tree.  
Some wonderings are:

• who can climb it?
• how big is it?
• how big are the branches?
• who planted it?
• how old is it?               

We then went to see the tree and thought about our questions, some which we do not know the answer to, and which we will have to investigate more.  

There was an idea that the Redwood tree could be as tall as the Sky Tower!

Our beautiful Redwood tree


The children love this footage of the Redwood tree - it really does give a sense of how big this tree is!
drone footage of Redwood tree

Taakaro Time

Currently, on Monday mornings we are holding our Taakaro Time.  Taakaro means 'to play' in te reo Maori.
Our hub, which is called the Kiwi Hub, and consists of Rooms 1, 2, 3, and 5, come to together for a play based learning time throughout Rooms 1, 2, and 3.
The children are able to play in any room.  It is a chance to play with friends from other rooms, see what activities are available, and play with other equipment or resources that may not be in their own room.  
This is a fun time, as well as a learning time, where children are engaged in learning conversations with teachers, and with their friends, problem-solving, being creative, building on social skills such as sharing and turn-taking, and making new friends.  
We are engaged, respectful, literate, curious and connected learners.

Construction with loose parts - this an imaginary game with a very creative storyline -  Mr Hoot Hoot goes on Holiday.

Construction develops spatial awareness.  

It is common for children to build up as well as across.

More loose parts play.  Loose parts are open ended which means the child can use these objects or parts in whichever way they want.

Patterning can be a feature of this type of play.

Felt boards allow children to construct their own stories. 

Fantastic for developing and extending oral language.

Lego is very popular.   Lego supports fine motor development and eye-hand coordination -  both important for writing.

Dramatic or family play helps children make sense of their world.

Water play develops mathematical understanding such as measuring, estimating and volume. 
It also develops eye-hand coordination, and where children learn to lift, pour and control the water.

Week 1 - Settling In and Exploring our School

We have had a great first week in Room 1. 
Children have been busy exploring in the classroom, and in the playground.  
Well done everyone, a lovely peaceful start to the year. 

Gathering natural materials for play

We shared our stories about our holidays.  
Some children went to the beach, some to the pools, and others played at home in the water.  
We looked at different sea creatures, and some of us made jellyfish.

 Exploring the properties of wax crayon and dye.   
Making the tentacles for the jellyfish.

We wrote a poem together about summer, which prompted the discussions about our holidays and being at the beach.  

We talked about how we make memories with our families.

Yesterday was very stormy and windy; we made kites!  

Here we are in front of our school mural - we counted five taniwha, and found our school by the Waikato River.