Inquiry: Mrs Gren DLO

This week for inquiry, our focus was on the human body. To learn about what a living thing needs, we read a short story named Mrs Gren. Mrs Gren is a simple story about an old lady who find everything to be a living thing, because it could more, or breath, or sense, or grow, or reproduce, or excrete, or eat. Mrs Gren is also an acronym. It is made up of Movement, Respiration, Senses, Grow, Reproduction, Excrete, and Nutrition. All the things a living thing needs, or can do. We were to make a DLO with a partner, that explained each word, and what they mean to the human body. If you do not understand one of the words, you can look at the DLO, which explains each one. For this activity I worked with Sanujan, and we had a lot of fun doing this activity.

Inquiry: Comparing Lung Capacity

This week for inquiry, our task was to compare our lung capacities. To compare the lung capacity of students in LS2, we used one breath to blow up a balloon, then we measured the circumference of the balloon. Then we could graph the results to compare them.

Maths: Age Problem

This week for maths, our task was an age problem. We were given a few hints, and then we needed to figure out each person's age. There were 5 characters, and we were only given one of their ages. For this task, we could either work with a partner, with the teacher, or by ourselves. For this task I chose to work by myself.  Once we had found our answers, we were to make a DLO that explained how we found the answer.

Writing: Reading and Re-Writing Nice Work | A Poem By Judith Nicholls

This week for writing, our focus was on a poem named Nice Work. Our tasks were: Read the poem, find 5 words that mean Nice, Find out what the joke in the poem was, Find out what literary device "As long as a string" is, and rewrite the poem with a different simple word. I started and finished this task just today, and had a lot of fun doing it. The word that I had replaced for NICE was BAD, I chose this word because this is another word that a junior would use, compared to words like WICKED.

Reading: The Unfinished Drink

This week for reading, we learnt about the story of Privet Ted (La Tour Mollet d'Auvergne). A poem written for Privet Ted was our main focus, because it told his story. We had two tasks to complete, 1 was to make a summary of the poem, and 2 was to create a DLO talking about Privet Ted's story. For both of these tasks, I worked with Sanujan, and we both decided to make a small animation for the DLO. This poem is both a sad, but happy poem. The sad part being Privet Ted never returning, but the happy part being him not forgotten. The full poem can be found midway through the animation if you want to read it yourself. Although unlike a real animation, this was done with a few different pictures, rather than over a hundred. In the end we think we did a great job, and that it turned out really well. Hopefully you think the same.

Inquiry: The Story Of Hineahuone

This week for inquiry, our task was to create a storyboard about the story of Hineahuone. This task was to be done with a partner, so for this task, my partner was Sanujan. Sanujan and I work really well together, so he was one of the obvious choices. Although before we could create a DLO, we first needed to sketchnote. Sketchnoting is when you take notes of a story or text by drawing simple pictures. You need to understand the basic parts of the story from only looking at the pictures. We did sketchnoting because it takes up less space on a sheet of paper, and is a fund and creative way to do something that people would find boring. Sanujan and I ended up loving this activity, and hope that we can both work on something like this again.

If you want to read the full story, then read from here down.

According to Maori legend, the world as we know it was formed when Tane Mahuta – the god of the forest – prised apart Ranginui, the father of the sky, and Papatuanuku, the mother of the earth. Afterwards, Tane Mahuta and his brothers slowly went about making all things on earth and in the sky. When they were done, they had created a dazzling and beautiful world, but there were no people to enjoy it.

Tane Mahuta went about convincing the gods that they should make a woman, who could then go on to have children. The gods agreed, so Tane Mahuta took red earth from Papatuanuku, and shaped it into the form of a woman. Impressed, Tawhiri Matea, god of the winds, whispered “take my breath. Give her life”. And so Tane Mahuta bent over the woman he had created, placed his nose against hers, and breathed deeply. Her chest moved, and she sneezed – “Tihei!” The gods were ecstatic, and together they gave her the gift of life – mauriora – and the first woman, Hineahuone, was made.

Today, the hongi is the traditional greeting of the Maori people. It is known as the ‘breath of life’, and is performed by pressing noses – just like Tane Mahuta did to breathe life into Hineahuone. This greeting makes the visitor at one with the tangata whenua, or hosts.

Reading: Memorial

This week for reading, our activity was to read a Sophisticated Picture Book named Memorial. As story written by Gary Crew, and Illustrated by Shaun Tan. We were asked to make a presentation with a partner that had multiple slides, each with something different. We were then to choose one of those slides to post on our blog, with a link to the original full presentation Here. On the slideshow, you can see a heading that explains what subject of the story we are talking about. For this activity I worked with Sanujan. I chose him because we work really well together, and manage to come up with the same ideas.

Chosen Slide: