Te Waka Ako

It's been many many months in the making, but finally Te Waka Ako (The Learning Canoe) at Waikowhai Primary School is open. After a slightly extended build, the students of Rooms 7-9 have a brand new, open plan learning environment to call home for the rest of the year.

A special thanks to Michael Wood, MP for Mt Roskill, for opening the building on behalf of the school and community. The students are raring to get into their new open-plan learning space. The 'Te Waka Ako' sign was designed and created by Mrs Shiralee Sands, a teacher within the school.

Reblog from Potahu Class @ Hay Park School - Student led' Ako Hiko Parent Workshops

This post was originally written and posted by Christina Fortes via her Pohatu Class blog (Hay Park School)

Kia orana bloggers

Four of our very own students facilitated one of our Ako Hiko parent meetings today. They were Janine, JD, Nathaniel (all year five students) and Brooklyn (year four).

Their fabulous workshop gave parents the opportunity to upskill themselves in google docs, screencastify and develop their digital footprint.

Here are some photos of from today:

 

Well done to the students at Hay Park school who delivered the workshop. You can follow Potahu Class' Blog here 

Thanks Christina for allowing us to share the wonderful learning being undertaken within your community.

The next position is the best position

In response to some questions at the end of 2016, the Ako Hiko cluster has begun to incorporate the advice from the Ministry of Education (via TKI) around students' physical positions when using devices. There's not much out there, but using the support of TKI, we've developed a cluster specific document to view and download. Click here to view it.

The information is also embedded directly into the cluster website here. Click on the image to access the page if the link does not work.

Within the Ako Hiko cluster, we focus on providing safe settings for students to learn within and this includes their device usage. The key thing to remember is 'the next position is the best position.' Moving regularly sand finding different ways to work will avoid eye strain and working in an uncomfortable position for too long.

Below is a short video about ergonomics while using devices. Although created in 2011, it is still very much relevant to today's classrooms.

Credit: Stephen Watkins YouTube