Category: Ako | Learn

Manurewa Marae

It’s been a busy week. On Tuesday we had learning conversations and school finished at 2pm. Teachers met with parents and their children to discuss their learning goals. It was a wonderful successful evening for all.

On Wednesday our Rangi team (Year 6s) travelled by bus to the Manurewa Marae. It was a wonderful time for us to learn more about the whenua, the community, the awa and the history. Many of us had never been there before. We were welcomed on with a karanga and after the powhiri, ate some morning tea, went out to the park and got to see our maunga (mountain) Matukutureia. Matua Te Kou Orehu told us more about the wharenui, the pou carvings, the tukutuku panels and the history of the marae. Did you know that the marae opened 23 years ago? It was organised and founded by Maori people for the community. Some people even mortgaged their homes to help pay for the marae to be finished. We were very privileged to be told more and for all of us to connect with the marae and the land in our community. Thanks to Matua Te Kou Orehu and the tangata whenua of the marae. Here are some photos and videos of our time there.

 

Māra with Room 9 & Tread Lightly

It’s been another very busy week for us here in Room 18. We had our CyberSmart session on Wednesday and it was all about “What makes a quality blogpost”. On Thursday we had our Tuakana Teina session with Room 9 (Year 2s) and Whaea Anjalee  in the māra (school garden). Lucky Matua Jim was there to help us with getting the food ready to feed the pigs. Our children also managed to collect 5 eggs from the chicken coop. We had lots of fun helping to look after and learn alongside Room 9.

On Friday we had our Tread Lightly session and it was heaps of fun too. There were three stations that our class was divided up into.  The key concepts they wanted children to learn and take from this were:

  • Stormwater drains lead to the streams and sea
  • Litter, sewage and other contaminants pollute our waterways
  • Healthy wetlands help to maintain and improve water quality
  • Small changes in the way we live will prevent pollution and protect our water and its
    inhabitants

On Friday we had our second reading challenge for NZ Book Month. The task was to decorate a wall, door or window of a story we have read from a NZ author. We chose Dawn Raid by Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith. We’ve been reading this as our chapter chat and the children have learned so much about what life was like in NZ in 1976 from a 13 year old Samoan NZ girl.

Here are some photos from our week. We hope you all had a wonderful week learning at your schools too.

Bees and Student Leaders

Kia ora koutou! This week our class got to go to the māra and observe our first ever bee hives here at our kura. Bees are fascinating insects. Did you know that bees live on average of up to six weeks and they are very hard working? All bees have jobs to do and if some bees need help, then the other bees in the hive will help them and vice versa. Some students got to put on the white protective suits and help Matua Jim with collecting honey from the hives. It was a great learning experience for our Akomanga. Thank you Whaea Deirdre and Matua Jim! Here is some footage from our time in the māra.

 

Today we had our student leaders assembly. It’s a big thing here at Weymouth Primary School. Learners from Years 3-6 can apply for student jobs right across the school from: EcoWarriors, Road Patrol, P.E Monitors, Ambassadors, Travelwise, Peer Mediators, Milk Monitors, Games Monitors and Year 6 House Captains. We had some parents and families come and join us at our assembly. Here is a picture of the House Captains for 2023. Te Uru (Red): Raisha, Chevy, Viliami, Te Tonga (Green): Ethan, Cassie, Samuel, Te Whiti (Yellow): Kyla, Whetu, Andreaz and Te Raki (Blue): Tahana, Blessing and Thomas.

Roles and Responsibilities

Talofa lava! It was another short week. Monday and Tuesday, all learners had to stay home due to the extreme weather here in Auckland. We are sending best wishes to all our families that were affected to the cyclone. Some children were able to access our classroom site here and our Google classroom on the suite. Once back to school on Wednesday we were straight into our learning.

School jobs and responsibilities is a big thing here at Weymouth Primary School. All children from Y3-6 are able to apply for jobs like: EcoWarriors, P.E monitors, Travelwise monitor, Digital Learning monitor and other jobs. Our school will have a whole school assembly on Friday to announce all monitors and student leaders. They will receive their badges for the year. House Captains are a role only for Year 6 children. So each applicant had to present a speech to the Rangi (Year 6) Team. Here a few learners sharing their speeches and a pic of the children who were awarded the Duffy certificates.

Ethan

Raisha

Welcome back to 2023

Welcome back to school for 2023. It’s been a busy week! On Tuesday we had our Powhiri to welcome new learners and staff to our kura. Room 18 spent a bit of time in the māra helping to feed the animals and collect eggs from the chickens. Whaea Deirdre and helpers have done an amazing job with the garden. Everyone had so much fun!

On Wednesday we had our first water safety session with coach Shaun from Counties Swim Safe. All the children got to learn some techniques about how to survive if they are in deep water. For example: don’t panic, stay calm and stay afloat. We’re looking forward to the next session!

On Friday we went for a hikoi (walk) to our local beach along Waimai Avenue. The children got to walk along and explore the shoreline. Some children found small crabs, shells, seaweed and other objects. We made sure to leave everything in their habitat. Other children liked to climb trees and play hide and seek.

We hope you all had a wonderful first week back to school. Watch this space for more adventures to be had in Room 18.

Visiting the Waimahia Clendon Library

Did you know that it costs $0 for a library card? Today our class walked to the Te Matariki Clendon Library. For most of us, it was our first time visiting this place. Christopher met with us and he showed us around the library. He talked to us about the 5 finger rule: make good choices, use a quiet voice, visit with an adult, choose books you like and if you need help call a librarian. We also learned the difference between fiction and non-fiction books, that there are 56 libraries in Auckland and we can issue up to 35 books. We also got to see every room (study centre for the college kids, room for adults that look for employment etc) in the library and it’s also right next to our Clendon Recreation Centre too. It’s important for us to know our community and the special places and people within it that can help us too.  Here are some photos:

Weetbix Tryathlon and Peter Pan

This week has been a very busy week for Room 18. On Wednesday some of the Y4-5 children took part in the Weetbix Tryathlon held at Mountford Park. The children had been training for a few months now in our swimming pool, running around the field and cycling around the bike track. They were also encouraged to do some training at home too. In Room 18 we had: Anoshken, Harmony and Krayven participate this year. We were all extremely proud of them for the efforts and achievements. They also encouraged and have inspired others to join next year. Here are some photos from the day.

                       

On Friday our whole school (except the Y0-1s) went to the Wendy, Peter Pan the Musical show held at Aotea Centre. It was an amazing performance and we had so much fun!! You can find out more about it here. We hope you all had an amazing week too.

Inquiring into Japan

In our Year 5 Maunga team, our children got to choose which country they wanted to learn more about. Our inquiry this term is about culture and to describe and compare other cultural practices to Aōtearoa, New Zealand. The countries to choose from were: Australia, Egypt, Japan and Mexico.With Miss Lavakula, we are focusing on the beautiful country of Japan. Lots of children knew some facts about Japan and were very curious to learn more. Today we practiced how to eat noodles using chopsticks. Here are a few photos.

   

 

Manaiakalani Film Festival 2022: The Kite Flying Competition (Rewa Styles)

Kia ora! Nau mai, haere mai ki Manurewa. Our community is rich in land and history. One of the stories (from our local iwi) is about the two brothers Tamapahore and Tamapahure and their kite flying competition. You can find more of the stories from around our area here. We hope you enjoyed our movie. Please leave us a comment. Mauri ora!

Robotics with MOTAT

Today we had Damon and Catherine from MOTAT come and teach us about Robotics and programming. We learned about what is a robot and how to enter codes for the robots to do what we want it to do. Our class had so much fun learning! Here are some photos and videos of what we did our session with them.