More mirumiru...

 Friday afternoon saw some more bubbles in Rourou this week. We gave bubble painting a try... with differing degress of sucess! A lovely way to finish our week together.

Bubbles! Mirumiru!

This week Rourou read this book. It is an enjoyable read and by the end of the week tamariki are able to read along together.

Bubbles

It seemed fitting that after reading such a text that we have some bubble fun. Ōtaki Kindergarten visits us every few weeks - supporting tamariki as they transition into our school. When they joined us on Thursday - out came the bubbles! Te Remu heard the excitement and they came out to join us too!

 

What did Whaea Nicky find at the supermarket?

Whaea Nicky found something interesting in the fruit and vege department at the supermarket this week. Whaea Nicky saw someing that was different to what she is used to...

Out came a bag of oranges. Not terribly interesting, everybody has seen oranges Whaea Nicky! 

Then out came some other fruit. They looked sort of like oranges…

What can we see? “Oranges!”

“But they’re actually dirty and rotten” said tētahi tamaiti. A very good description!

But when at the supermarket, Whaea Nicky saw the signs next to them…

There were ‘Navel Oranges’ and ‘Blood Oranges’.

Why do you think they were called ‘Blood Oranges’?

We passed them around to see if they smelt any different.

Some thought it smelled yummy. Some thought they smelled like blood (power of suggestion anyone?). Some thought they smelt yucky.

Then we cut the navel orange in half. It looks like an orange. We smelt the orange piece. Some thought it smelt like orange - someone else thought it smelt like cake. 

We wondered if it would be any different when we cut open the blood orange. Would it smell like orange? Would it smell like cake? What would it look like? We talked about the name ‘Blood Orange’ and what colour that might be.

We made some predictions.

Lots of ‘ohhs’ and ‘ahhs’ as we cut open the Blood Orange. “It’s red!” Some liked the look of it - others thought it looked yucky.

We passed it around to have a smell. Whaea Marise said “emm! It smells like an orange”. Some tamariki agreed - others were not so sure. One tamaiti said it looked red like a strawberry. 

Then we cut up the orange for everyone to have a taste. We wondered what it would taste like.

Whaea Nicky made a prediction (for our reluctant eaters!) that they would taste the same because they smell the same. Whaea Marise reminded us that it’s good to try new things! Just because something looks different doesn’t mean it won’t taste good. It might surprise you!

The tamariki were encouraged to try a piece of each.

Some said it tasted good. Some couldn’t say anything because they were too busy eating! Some said it tasted like orange. Someone said it was sour. One tamaiti said it looked like watermelon.

Science is all around us. It is a sense of wonder. It is looking carefully, smelling, tasting, feeling. Science is about making predictions - seeing what happends. Science is being prepared to be wrong about something - being prepared to be surprised about something.

Kaipeita - Tohunga tā whakaahua - artists at Ōtaki Kura

 We have talked a lot of late about the job of an author - the person who writes the words in the stories we read. About the job of the illustrator - the person who draws the pictures in the stories we read.

Today we visited the 'gallery' in the kura tari to view some work from tamariki of Rourou. With some kōrero around how some adults paint pictures for their job, and a past student of Ōtaki School who sells their work through Māorilands. Poipoia te kākano kia puāwai. 

Kaiaka at Ōtaki Kura

 This week we have started our athletics rotation. Tamariki will be taking part in short and long distance running, as well as well as other athletic pursuits.

Rourou learnt about how to do peke roa this week - long jump. It is very difficult to run as fast as we can then touch the white strip for the long jump - then jump as far as we can! Lucklily we will practise this a few times.