"What did you do at school today?"

Have your parents asked you that question before? Here's what you could have said...yesterday!

Add / Sub Strategies!

This term we are learning how to add and subtract large numbers using a variety of strategies. In the 'golden era' we learnt how to use what we now call 'algorithms.' Today we give the students a number of different ways to tackle numbers, depending on the problem.

We want to share how we are learning these strategies and how you can help us

with them at home. Here's a shot of Logan's working out that he did in our small group this morning.

You will see a strategy cut out in your student's diary. This is what their maths group is learning at the moment. You can ask you child how they work and see some examples for yourself. you could even have a go yourself - they are probably what you do in your heads anyway.

Some of the groups are learning how to use place value to subract. Here's a showme video to help us with a common mistake some of us are making.

Here are some more photos of what happens during a typical maths session. This group is meeting with me to work on the maths they are learning and practising - at their level.

The Robots maths group here are working on solving the problems in their 'Figure it out' book.

Greer and Nicole are working on studyladder, an interactive site that lets me target their maths at their level. Each student gets their own login and gets instant feedback and incentives to keep trying.

This group is completing the follow up questions after working with the teacher. They are able to help each other and practise what they have just learnt.

Lastly - here's a great site with some more info for parents nzmaths / families. It has some videos that explain how we teach maths and what you can do with your student at home!

Our tree is coming to life...and some discus action

On Thursday we started to create the leaves that will adorn our Kauri tree. We decided thatreal life Kauri leaves were too small to make so we went for a more traditional general shape and colour. We learnt how to use a reference to create realistic texture and colour.

Google gave us lots of examples to brainstorm the right colours and textures to use an we got stuck in. In week 3 we'll get the leaves onto the tree so it doesn't look so wintery!

We're also spending some time mastering our technique for the upcoming athletics day. Thanks to all the parents who are able to give their expert advice in the afternoons. Here, Jack and Ben can be seen in front of camera letting rip on the discus.

Team Kauri Parent Survey