Exploration topics

 Topics to do with Exploration

Early Explorers - we acted out the pūrākau (legend) of Kupe and the wheke (octopus). We thought about HOW early early explorers might have found their way, and WHY they went exploring.

Exploring inventions - We looked at the life of Nikola Tesla and his exploration of things to do with electricity and transmission. Many recognised the name Tesla from the cars, so we looked at why the company might be called that. We thought about problems Nikola Tesla faced, and also things that helped him along the way. His Mum sounds like a pretty interesting and creative person!

Some of the children explored making circuits with the brainbox equipment. 

How explorers travelled - we investigated modes of transport (ships, waka hourua, aerolpanes, feet etc) and thought about the advantages and disadvantages of each transport method. 

Look how advanced waka hourua were. 

Tamariki investigated different transport methods and technologies, some looked at current exploration of planets, and some thought of designs for time travel machines. 

TERM 2 - EXPLORATION

 EXPLORATION is our concept for this term. 

We started by thinking about the meaning of exploration - in small groups children sorted words or pictures into groups of things that were exploring, and things that were not. This brought up a lot of great discussion as children justified their thoughts and discussed whether they agreed or not. We talked about personal opinion and how some people see things from different perspectives so it is good to listen to everyone's ideas. 

What do you think? Which ones of these could be exploration? 

Once we had figured out the definition for exploration we brainstormed how people can explore earth. There were many great ideas such as drilling to get rock samples, scuba diving to explore underwater, drones, mountain climbing, spelunking (cave exploration - some remembered the vocab from last term). 

We looked at how satellites can help us explore things about earth - maps, weather patterns, GPS, communication etc

Many of the year 3-6 children had fun exploring google earth and finding where they lived on the satellite view and/or on street view. Some designed and created models of satellites. Some explored NASA technology website for kids, some found out how GPS works. 

My year 1 and 2 groups had some time exploring thinking games and puzzles - challenging themselves to solve problems.