Category: Ako | Learn

For this Te Reo Maori Step it up activity, I was challenged to create a Taniwha karu in Tanga Kukara. I used my smart searching skills to find taniwha eyes. I created 2 eyes and customize colours for inside. The tools I used was curve and polyline and it stands out perfect! I read information about which Taniwha I want to find out about Te Taniwha i Warewaretia, the taniwha pekehau, the taniwha of Wellington Harbour, Mangapuera, Moremore and Te ihi. I read another information about what are purakau? Something I learnt when reading this information was that it is stories that are rooted in Maori history and culture etc. I enjoyed doing this activity because I get to use tools and create Taniwhas!

Have you ever seen a real Taniwha? I haven’t!

For this Summer Learning Journey Te Reo Maori Kickstart activity, I was challenged to draw an imaginary taniwha on a piece of paper or on a DLO. For my Taniwha I created a type of weapon for its protection, in my DLO I included information and facts about it’s taniwha. I really enjoyed doing this activity because I didn’t know alot about Taniwhas but when I got to use my researching skills I found lots of interesting things. Something I found challenging while doing this activity was drawing the taniwha! It was really challenging but I looked at what a taniwha is shaped while doing my image.

For this Summer Learning Journey Step it up Activity, I was challenged to create an animation of my chosen tiger (from the kickstart activity) moving through its habitat. As an apex predator, they are often difficult to see in the wild. I created a presentation for my animation, I used my smart searching skills to find their habitat. I picked tugai forests because that is where they mostly are, including their diet.

I picked a photo I found while researching and then researched one of their diets which was deers. I duplicated the exact same slide I started with but moved the animals around for it to look like it’s realistic (the tiger moving forward). We were also provided a video about how to do an animation if we were confused, there are instructions and other things for us to learn. How did I only get the tiger itself (without their background)? I used remove.bg to remove the background of my image. 

I enjoyed doing this activity because it keeps my learning going for next year and we get to be creative with the presentation. 

For this Sunmer Learning Journey Kickstart activity, I was challenged to solve a mystery question by thinking like a detective and a scentists. I watched 2 learning videos one explaining animal mimicry and tricksters, and another exploring how animals use camouflage in a game of hide and seek.

After warchinf rhe videos, I completed a shared presentation where I answered questions and justified my ideas by uding evidence and logical thinking. This task helped me figure out the different strategies animals use to survive. I then deisgned mt own “Which one doesn’t belong” digital poster to challenge others to use the same reasoning skills.

For the first challenge, the animals were the orchid mantis, alligator snapping turtle, anglerfish, and spicebush swallowtail catterpilar. The animal that did not belong was the alligator snapping turtle, because it depends mainly on their patience and ambus, rather than using mimicry or visual deceprion, which the other animals rely on.

For my own poster, I selected the zone-tailed hawk, anglerfish, alligator snapping turtle, and shark. Three of these animals use hunting stratgies to catch prey. Your challenge is to carefully analyse each animal’s behaviour and decide which one does not belong!

This activity improved my understanding ofhow animals use mimicry, camouflage, and deception as survival strategies. Creating my own challenge helped me develop my critical thinking skills.

Now it is your turn! Which one does not belong and why?

For this Summer Learning Journey Step it up activity, we were challenged to create a poster to teach others about octopuses. We get to use our thinking skills like marine biologists, we use our smart searching skills to find out more about octopus. I used the same website from my kick start activity, but used a blue ringed octopus instead for interesting looks. In my DLO, I included information about how long they can live up to, facts about them, how they protect themselves and how smart, intelligent they are. I enjoyed doing this activity because I get to show and teach others about octopuses online. Something I found challenging was finding interesting information that people wouldn’t have heard before. Did you know that octopuses had blue blood instead of red? I didn’t!

For this Summer Learning Journey Kickstart Activity, I was challenged to design a prosthetic for Mosha (Elephant). What happened was Mosha the Elephant stood on a landmine when she was only 7 months old. Her front leg was destroyed. People thought she would never survive but a group of people worked together to create her a new leg. I watched a video of when the elephant lost her leg and a group of people invented a prosthesis for her. For the design, I chose the Looney Tunes! I traced one character on the left and an image on the right. I chose this because I want her to feel like they are her friends and would look after her. The next one is palm trees and birds in the sky which I also traced. I chose this because I want her to experience what the sunset is like or looks like. On the last I designed, I did randoms as I put the shapes on different spots. I enjoyed doing this activity, because we get to experience and learn the history or story behind things that have happened and help others.

Have you ever heard of this story before? I haven’t but it was interesting to learn about her story!

For the Summer Learning Journey Step it up Activity, I was challenged to make a copy of an DLO and then add what you have found out about giant centipedes in the questions. We read information about Giant Centipedes, watched a video about a giant Centipede catches food and Centipede feeding. We used our smart reading skills, searching skills to find out information about the creature that fits/relates into the questions. Something I found hard about this challenge was finding information for each and single question but got through it!

For the Summer Learning Journey Step it up activity, I was challenged to get creative and break out those scissors to do some more challenging crafting. For this step up activity, we would need paper, and some toilet rolls. I watched a video on “how to” to help us learn to cut the toilet rolls to create little spiders and paper to cut out spiderwebs. We also watched an article video called SpiderWebs Artists at Work. After we finished doing all of the activity, we had a go on playing the Summer Learning Journey SpiderWeb Quiz game. Something I learned in the video is that spiderwebs are tricky as their designs are difficult. An activity I found hard was trying to cut out the spiderwebs because there were lots of layers but turned out cool!

Have you ever touched a tricky spiderweb before?

For the Summer Learning Journey Kickstart activity, it is all about spiders webs. Exploring how these tiny artists create their masterpiece; I was challenged to test my own spider web skills by drawing some spider webs design of my choice. We used paper, pen to embrace my inner spider. On my piece of paper, I created the corner spider web with a massive spider and simple web with a small spider. We watched a the “how to” video to help us learn to draw spiderwebs. When we finished all of the activity, we was also challenged to test out their game called Spider Web Weavers. One interesting fact I found in the video is that when spiders create a web it isn’t traps, they are a work of art! I enjoyed doing this activity because we get to find interesting information about spiders/spider web.

Did you know that their web are just a work of art? Because I thought it was for other creatures to get captured and trapped.

For the Summer Learning Journey Kickstart activity, I was challenged to choose an animal and create a graphic to share their superpowers. We used a presentation slide to create a poster to share more information about the animal, I have chosen an White Bengal Tiger. Before we got started into the activity, we explored 10 animals with superpowers. One of the animals I found was an Indian Chameleon. We watched a video about ten amazing animals. For the activity, in my information I put White Bengal Tiger’s appearance, diet and habitat. An interesting facts about my creature is that their preys are mostly deers, wild boar (large mammals). I enjoyed doing this activity because we get to learn about their powers and how to defeat their preys.

Here’s a question for you, have you been in India and seen a White Bengal Tiger?