Upper Deck

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Upper Deck is a class of Year 3 and 4 students taught by Jemima Hales. She is passionate about sustainability, science, taking action, developing a love of healthy active learning. Upper Deck runs the school recycling programme, making sure that we are recycling responsibly and encouraging each other to reduce and reuse as much as possible.  In Upper Deck we speak te reo everyday, building our skills in te reo and our understanding of Te Ao Māori, and we incorporate nature and our place into learning whenever we can.

Learning in Upper Deck focuses on a variety of interests and skills across the curriculum. Many mornings in Upper Deck start with Discovery Learning, where children explore a science or technology concept in different ways. At this level, Discovery Learning provides children with opportunities to develop their inquiry thinking; children begin to guide their learning through asking ‘wonderings’ and questions about the topic we are learning. The rest of the day  includes a variety of literacy activities including handwriting, phonics, and enjoying reading and writing, as well as numeracy activities focused on problem solving, strengthening number skills and developing mathematical thinking. In the afternoons, we enjoy a variety of art, Physical Education and topic learning throughout the week. 

Fridays are a little different, as we focus on sharing our learning with each other in assembly or a smaller group, and usually have an art or music activity throughout the day. We also have Kapa Haka on a Friday afternoon and usually end the day with an outdoor game or some free time that the class earns throughout the week.

Years 3 and 4 are great years to build independence in a child’s learning and develop thinking and problem solving skills. A lot of our learning at this level focuses on building these skills. We enjoy thinking about ourselves as learners and knowing how we learn best, as well as developing group work skills.

Upper Deck students are creative, love learning, enjoy sharing their ideas with each other and celebrating each other too!