CROSS-CURRICULAR WORK

14/03/2019
News, Newsletter, Waiōrea, WSC

As we look at moving into a more Open Learning Environment, it seems important to consider the possibility of integrating material from other subject areas into our own. Rather recklessly, I had my two year 9 classes attempt Fraction poetry. Although it was a “half-baked idea” it generated some really interesting results. Meanwhile in technology many of these same students were also building Weta Houses.

Please enjoy their ‘wholehearted’ Fraction writing, a few Weta inspired poems and photos from the technology department. [courtesy of Kate Todd, English / Katharine De Montalk, technology]

“Cross-curricular teaching can increase students’ motivation for learning and their level of engagement. In contrast to skills learned in isolation, when students participate in interdisciplinary experiences they see the value of what they are learning and become more actively engaged.” (Resnick, 1989)

FRACTION

He loved her with the whole of his heart.
When her heart was broken
he would give her half of his.
Their story was only half written.

The past you can’t change
and the future you write yourself
but the present is the halfway point.

The halfway mark is everywhere,
in limbo, at school, in love, even in this story.
A quarter of time has passed and yet you are halfway.
If you put half and half together you make a whole.
A whole heart, a whole story, a whole smile,
but yet you’re only half.
Halfway into this story,
halfway through life,
halfway to the end.

Fraction is just a word,
but it can and will be so much more.
They’re everywhere.
You have no need to be a magician
who can saw people in half.
You have no need to eat a pizza
that is cut into too many pieces,
but you do need to be loved
with the whole of someone’s heart.

By Mila Gutenbeil, 9WU

Weta Cookies

I heard a knock on my door
from the Weta next door.
It’s long dark shadow
turned my front windows black.

Was it nice? Was it friendly?
Or was I to be its next juicy, crunchy dinner?

I heard another knock and
my whole house shook with fear.

A knock on the door
from the Weta next door.
It sure was scary,
but what was it for?

Bang!

I dropped to the floor.
My furniture anxiously trembled.

The Weta was surely coming for me.
I didn’t have much more to lose,
so I cautiously tip-toed towards the front door.
I cracked it open by barely a pinch
and found a smiling Weta face
nearly pressed against mine.

“Sorry to bother you,
I was just wondering
If you had any chocolate chips?
I’m baking some cookies and I
just realised I forgot to buy some,”
the Weta nervously croaked.

I hurried to my pantry
and grabbed a big bag of chocolate chips
and exhaled with relief.

I handed them over
and he thanked me dearly.

I said goodbye once more
to the Weta next door.
It didn’t matter how scary or gross he was,
It mattered what was at his core.

By Scarlett Ledgrove, 9WU

Ko Weta Ahau

I’m the God of Ugly things
Loving living in the dark,
Secret places that hide my hideous self
from daylight looming

My energetic antennae touch dank walls
Sticky wiry legs scuttle across branches
Frightening and alarming
A terrible new grasshopper

Scary pincers but not a carnivore
A nasty omnivore
Long of body, short of brain –
A native and ancient god
I can’t complain.

By Manon Paul-Robie, 9WU

Weta House

Wetas are bugs
Eating loads of food like flowers
Tiny but scary
Ancient bugs

Have been around for thousands of years
Outside is where they are mostly found
Underneath scrub and in trees
Survivors
Earth is their home

By Jack Moody, 9WU

Forecast

We talk fractions like we talk BS
Half an hour
A quart of milk
Winning by a tenth of a second
We talk fractions like we talk and txt.

I’m half-caste
That could make me less than
but I’m equal to any other person on this earth
My brothers get half baked
Split and divide all night long
And I live
wholeheartedly.

My Mother only works part-time
My Dad has split shifts
Our lives revolve around their subtracted beings
and Adult additions
Everywhere there are fractions
The age-old riddle
a glass half full or a glass half empty.
How we see life is a fraction.
Maths is not another language
We talk fractions like we talk about the weather.