This term we looked at the concept of 'Order', through a variety of ways.
Taxonomy - we looked at how living things are classified, and what scientific names can tell us.
Timelines - we looked at some history of our area and put the events in order.
- 1200's - Maori people first lived in the area
- 1877 - one of the first European families to settle in the area was the Polkinghorne family. The bay that was known as Waiau Bay (Tindalls, Big Manly, Swann Beach) was named 'Polkinghorne Bay'.
- 1878 - The Akkles family bought land at what is now known as Arkles Bay.
- 1880's the Shakespear family bought land at the end of the peninsula.
- 1902 - Whangaparaoa School started with just 14 children.
- 1925 - A blue Whale washed up on Orewa beach. We have a vertebrae from that whale (we think) at school!
- 1927 - The Hopper family came to Whangaparaoa in 1927 and Ken and Edith took over the store built by William Polkinghorne on the hill between Manly and Arkles.
- 1952 - The land where Whangaparaoa School is now was purchased from Mr Kenneth Hopper.
- 1956 - the new school was completed and occupied.
- 1959- After much fundraising the swimming pool was built.
Order of merit / awards - we looked at what the NZ order of merit is and what people are awarded it for. We looked at other awards. We talked about how people feel when they get awards, and feeling we have when we see other people get awards. Most of our tamariki were so lovely and supportive and talked about how they feel happy for the person getting the award. It was good to also have a discussion about other feeling that can come up too, such as sadness or jealousy if you were hoping to get that award. Some designed awards for themselves or for others, some researched NZ'ers who had won awards, some created medals, some thought about how else we can recognise people for what they do and/or how they act.
Make an order - running a business
We looked at being an entrepreneur and ideas for a business. We did market research to see if we could make a business with our 3D printed items - which ones are the most popular, what price would we have to sell them for to make a profit? Some created a name and logo idea for our business, some designed other businesses, some researched other products we could 3D print.
Debate
We looked at rules and order of speaking in debates and practiced how to debate effectively (remembering to LISTEN so that we could give rebuttals too). Some of the older groups debated whether those under 16 should have access to social media (as Australia has recently brought in new rules around this).
That ends another year of learning lots together and from each other. I love all the ideas and questions that these tamariki have - they really think deeply and have lots of knowledge to share with others. Thanks Quest kids for keeping life interesting!
