Matariki Market Day

On Tuesday our whole school celebrated Matariki by having an assembly. We were lucky to have our Senior and Junior Kapa Haka group perform for us. Lots of parents and whanau came to watch and support.

Later that day at 12pm we had our Market Day. Our whole school focus was around Technology. Room 18 children got into groups and planned their products to design, make and sell. The groups sold: hot dogs, milkshakes, toffee apples and popcorn, oreo truffles, lollycake biscuit, nutella truffles and hair accessories. All the money that we raised we have donated to (by voting) charity, the SPCA New Zealand.

Here are some snippets of our Market Day.

 

Length: Stepping Out

In Maths we have been learning about Length based on this unit from nzmaths. We started our session talking about measurement: what do we know, what do we use to measure etc. Then I asked the learners how long they thought their step (pace) was. I had to demonstrate this to show my learners what a pace was. Some children were estimating theirs to be: 9cm, 10cm and 12cm. I then had to show them a ruler and asked them “how many centimetres are there on this ruler?” Some children estimated correctly 30cm.

Then I asked the learners again if they still thought their pace was 9cm etc. They weren’t so sure anymore. So I invited the children to get their rulers. They looked carefully at them. I talked to them about a meter ruler and asked how long they thought it was. I showed them a meter ruler and some guessed 50cm. Most however, knew it was 100cm. So we now know that there are 100cm in 1 meter. I gave the children some coloured paper and in pairs they created themselves a strip that was 1 meter (100cm). Next I modelled and showed the children what I wanted them to do. One buddy had to take 10 steps (at their usual pace). The other buddy had to measure how long their 10 paces were. Then they had to divide that number by 10. This gave them the average length of their pace.

It was great to see lots of children collaborating and working out the length of their step (pace). Most were able to calculate their average step. Some learners needed help. The learners got to see how long their pace was and compare theirs to their buddies and others in the class.

Rangi Team at MOTAT

This term our Inquiry focus is Technology. We were very lucky to take our Year 6 learners to MOTAT: Museum of Technology and Transport in Auckland. Two classes got to start the day and MOTAT 2 The Aviation Hall and the other two classes at MOTAT 1. Our educator session was with Emily in the new educator area in the Aviation Hall. Our learners got to learn about Inventions and Innovations and look at how technology from the past and present and how things have changed. For example: old phones, typewriters, Maori tools and inventions created by New Zealand people.
Just before lunchtime we caught the tram to the other part of MOTAT and caught the bus back to school. It was so much fun and for some children it was their first time. We hope that our learners were inspired. Check out our movies here:

Literacy Sharing and Tuakana Teina

In writing Viliami and his group were learning to add details to his ideas in his writing. As a group we discussed how we knew we had achieved our learning intention was by including wow words and descriptive language in our writing. This is Viliami’s blog here. The image was from Pobble. This is a short piece of his writing so far.

In the deepest darkest depths of the forest Mr Wolf waited. The boy hiding was terrified and he was tempted to run but he knew the wolf’s speed was faster than his own. He was already out of breath and lost. 

While the boy was hiding he heard water flowing so he stood up. The wolf heard the bushes rustling and started to sprint towards it. The boy heard Mr Wolf running to him and he was terrified.

In reading Eren’s group were learning to rewrite the ideas in our own words. Her group read the article In Memory First World War Memorials written by Jock Phillips. The followup task was to create a poster of three memorials that are found in New Zealand and include facts about them. Here is Eren’s blog and her task that she created online using google drawing. Here is her poster:

Today we had our first Tuakana Teina session with Room 12 and Matua Nick (Mr Lloyd). Tuakana Teina is a buddy system of an older or more expert tuakana (brother or sister) helps a younger teina (brother or sister of the same gender sometimes). Room 12 and Matua Nick came over to our class. The children in Room 18 read a book to their buddy. Some children in Room 12 got to choose a book from our library corner and their buddy read it to them. After that we went outside to play a game of Octopus. It was going really well until it started raining. Once back inside the classroom, Room 18 children had to learn their buddy’s name and three interesting facts about them. Lots of children were able to share with us the information that they had found out. We really enjoyed our time together and we can’t wait to see Room 12 and Matua Nick again soon.

Tuakana Teina by Priscilla Lavakula

Welcome Back to Term 2

Welcome back to Term 2. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday! As per tradition here at our kura (school), we start the term with a powhiri (welcome). This is to welcome our new students and their families and new staff that started either midway through term one or just this term. Whaea Danielle led the karanga for our kura and Whaea Moana led the karanga for our manuhiri (visitors). Matua Reg led the powhiri and welcomed our visitors. Mr Lloyd responded on behalf of the manuhiri.

We were  also very fortunate to have a member from our local RSA (Returned Services Association) play the Last Post to acknowledge ANZAC day that was just the day before we returned to school. We had a flag raising ceremony during the last post too. Once this part was finished each class walked past a wall in our school dedicated to ANZAC. Here are a few snippets here.

End of Term One

It’s now the holidays and the end of Term One. We hope you have had a wonderful first term. We were very lucky and managed to hikoi (walk) down to the Clendon Library. We spent a bit of time browsing books and exploring different parts of the library. Most of us got to issue books too. It was a lot of fun and we love visiting our local library. Here’s a pic:

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and a lovely Easter! Please feel free to leave us a comment on our blog (s) too.

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.

GRIP Conference and Water Fun Day

This week has been a busy week. On Wednesday our House Captains and Kaitikai travelled by bus to the City Impact Church (Oteha). We were part of the GRIP Student Leaders Conference alongside lots of other schools. Children participated in workshops that helped them to learn how to be an others first leader, the people a leader can impact the most and ideas that can impact everyone. There were lots of discussions and activities where the children had to go and meet children from other schools. It was quite scary for some children but they persevered and got out of their comfort zone and met and talked to children from other schools. Big ups to Ethan and Raisha who took part in activities up on the stage! Here’s some footage and pics from Wednesday.

Today (Friday) our whole school had a Water Fun Day! It started off with the Year 5s and Year 6s in our swimming pool. The children raced in their houses to find the fastest boy and girl from each year group that could swim across the pool. The winners from each race then made it to the finals to race against children from other houses. Then we had some relay challenges and some pool fun. Here are a few photos and videos from today. Thanks Mrs Johnson and Miss Pritchard for organising our fun day!