Waitemata @ Waikowhai Primary School

Welcome to Waitemata's new weekly ponder. Each week I will put a new topic up for discussion and I invite you all to comment and discuss your thoughts.  Here is this weeks ponder.... Annnnnnnd go........

Last Friday Te Waka Ako was part of something huge. We had decided to join in the student march against climate change. This was a huge effort and boy did the students do us proud! We have been looking at the causes and impact that climate change will have on our planet. We had realised through our inquiry that if we don't change our ways, then the next generation will pay. We started by listening to Greta Thunberg's speech that she gave at the UN Climate Change COP24 Conference. She was so inspiring and showed the students that their voices matter. We then made placards with slogans that the students found themselves. On Friday we all put on our orange beanies and jumped on the bus for our adventure on Queen St. The bus dropped us off on Mayoral Drive and we walked into Aotea Square chanting "Hey Ho, Climate change has got to go!" Mrs Jones was waiting for us in the square and she said seeing us coming in gave her goosebumps and she felt so proud. We created a lot...

On Thursdays we have a rotation of Cooking, Gardening and Technology. In Technology last week we had a play with the Brainboxes. They are a kit of circuit boards with different attachments that allow us to make a lightbulb go, a fan whirl, make siren noises and finally build up to the very complex circuit that makes an FM radio with an aerial to pick up different stations. We had so much fun working through the different challenges. Here are some pictures. And finally...some videos Thanks for viewing!

This term our Inquiry topic is Healthy Living. The teachers decided to see if the students knew their fruit and vegetables. We spread 36 different types around Te Waka Ako and in pairs the students tried to name them. Ama and Atreyu did the best with 27/36. See if you can name them all. After we tried to guess them all, we investigated where they were from and how they are used. Here are a few of our findings. Thanks for reading!

We have been busy making our sustainable products for the Molley Green Day. One of our products are Beeswax Wraps. Our beeswax is sourced from Great Barrier Island, and we have beautiful patterned cotton material. We grate the wax onto the cloth then put it in the oven and spread it evenly over the cloth. The when it is dry it can be cut using the pinking shears. The wraps can be used to replace gladwrap by wrapping your sandwiches.  I use it to keep my cheese from going hard in the fridge. After use, just wash with warm soapy water and dry on the dishrack. There are many uses for the wraps. If they start to get cracked, just put it out in the sun or back in the oven for a minute and the wax will re-melt and it's good to go. Another product we are making is Kawakawa Balm. We use Kawakawa from our bush here at school, Great Barrier beeswax, pure olive oil and lavender oil. First we steep the Kawakawa leaves in the oil for a week, then we gently heat it and ...