Ōrongomai

We've started the term off with a bang already! With a focus on building up to our production, we have been exploring the memory of losing your first tooth. We started by sharing our own memories and our family traditions, learning about how some families place their teeth under their pillow, in a jar or even throw it on the roof. Some of us leave our teeth for the tooth fairy, so we have been imagining what the tooth fairy looks like and where s/he lives.  We have sewn little pillows and made mini clay pots to keep a tooth safe. We have created fairies and flown them from the spiderweb in our playground. The construction tables have been very busy with the making of houses for the Tooth Fairy or El Raton.  Inspired by the tradition of throwing your tooth of the roof, we even have started to design and create catapults to launch our teeth from!  We have been reading some fantastic stories all about wobbly teeth and teeth traditions that you might like to read on our ...

Welcome to week 8 Active play in Orongomai.  We have had another fabulous Friday creating and making. Dreaming and scheming. Thinking, designing and investigating.  Just having fun! Children have made banana sushi, and fruit kebabs. Stained glass and mosaic Easter Eggs were popular but the making of oobleck was a great success, thanks to the wonderful Miss Angel. We were lucky to have Mr Naysmith outside supervising the children in the sandpit,  and encouraging them while completing the balance obstacle course. Have a look at some of our exciting photos. 

Elgregoe, school disco and Top Team - it has been an action packed week in Ōrongomai!  The famous Elgregoe amazed us with his magical tricks, parrot assistants (including a Richie Macaw!) and his ventriloquism. Interwoven into his tricks were messages about helping others and showing our Halswell values.  Glorious Autumn weather greeted us for our Top Team afternoon. We enjoyed participating in a range of interactive team building challenges.  Many, many thanks to the parent helpers who lead a Top Team activity; we couldn't have done it without you! 

   ACTIVE Play at Halswell Quarry Last Friday Ōrongomai went down to the Halswell Quarry for ACTIVE Play. We had a lot of fun exploring the quarry. We created nature sculptures and body balance sculptures. Have a look at the video below to see how much fun we had.

 This term is all about Balance! In ACTIVE play, we have been exploring Balance in a variety of exciting ways:   Balancing robots over a bridge: Creating cairns by balancing rocks on top of each other: Building and balancing on seesaws and play equipment: Creating sculptures that involve elements of Balance, just like our artist model Graham Bennett:   Practising games and activities that involve Balance, like Jenga and Yoga: We look forward to sharing our learning with you next Friday!