Year 7 Term Two Wrap Up!
By Lisa Dixon | Posted: Tuesday June 27, 2023
We were very impressed with the final work our Year 7 classes completed for this unit. After spending the first few weeks learning about animals, classification, adaptations, food webs and a visit to animal attic, we moved onto the creative PBL project. Weta workshop zoomed into our classes with inspiration and ideas for the development of our animal characters that could live on our invented Planet X. Students researched ideas for their habitat of their choice and what animals already exist there to get ideas for adaptations for their animals. They then individually designed some ideas for their animals before seeking feedback, sharing with their groups and moving on collaboratively to complete the final designs.
Some students made models of their creatures. We integrated digital ideas such as using AI to generate images, created interactive links using thinglink, learnt how to use google sites and during our literacy times learnt how to write animal reports - when you read them they make their invented animals seem so real! Some of our work is not being shared with you and back to Weta for their feedback on our design ideas:)
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Over the last two weeks we have also been doing reading, writing and art around a Matariki focus. Check out the writing and art work included in this newsletter also. As part of this unit all classes visited the Planetarium to hear the local stories of Matariki. I hope families find the time on July 14th to celebrate and spend time together.
Next term we move onto a Health based theme for the term. We will be starting the term with our Puberty unit and running alongside this for the term will be a wellbeing unit based on "Te whare tapa whā" - the four dimensions of health -
Taha tinana (physical health)Taha wairua (spiritual health)Taha whānau (family health)Taha hinengaro (mental health)
We also have Amy from the St John's education programme presenting and working with our students throughout the term on wellbeing to support this unit. We are also excited to be working with the Kōtuitui programme - Kōtuitui includes classroom learning experiences and football learning experiences. Classroom experiences help ākonga learn about culture and collective identity. Football experiences provide you with support to use the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™ as a context for ākonga to learn about culture and collective identity. We are very excited to be a part of this programme and make it a focus for our PBL next term.
Finally, I hope everyone has a safe and well earned holiday break - a chance to recharge the batteries, spend quality family time together.
Nga mihi nui
Lisa Dixon On behalf of Year 7.
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