Term 3 Week 1

 Kia ora e te whānau. 

Welcome to term 3. We have started the term with 3 new students, so we welcome them to our Room 15 whānau. This week we have had a number of students away but that hasn't stopped the rest of getting straight back into things.

We were lucky enough to have the percussion group, Strike, visit our school. They put on an amazing show playing many different types of drums. They even had a Fire Routine that kept us on the edge of our seats.

            

Our Fact-a-thin Fundraiser Booklets were sent out this week. We can practice our facts at home to get ready for Fact-a-thon Friday, when we will do the test. Any form of sponsorship will be greatly appreciated. 

A reminder that our Kanohi ki te Kanohi is on Wednesday next week. Please book a time if you would like a catch up. It will be a great opportunity to finally meet up and discuss how things are going.

We have our museum trip next week. We need all of the permission slips returned to school to allow the children to come. Thank you for all of those that have got theirs back already and to those who have offered to help on the day.

In week 4 we have another class trip. This time to the Kukutāruhe Gully and Stream. The permission slips were sent home this week. Please get those back as soon as possible. Due to the nature of the visit more parent helpers will be required. Any assistance on the day will be awesome.

I look forward to having a kōrero next week.

Ngā mihi

Matua Taki

Term 2 Week 10

 Kia ora e te whānau

Well that's a wrap of term 2. We had a number of children away but with no teacher in room 14 or 20 we had some other students join us for the week. This week we worked on our instructional writing. The children made themselves a paper plane and then had to write step by step instructions on how to make it. They gave these instructions to a buddy who then tried to read the instructions and make the paper plane.

Our reo Māori has been growing steadily throughout the year. We rounded off term 2 by using kupu (words) and sentence structures that we have learned to have a mihimihi (greeting) conversation. Maybe we can practice at home and teach our whole whānau?

Using digital technology we began to learn coding. As a class we logged onto a national online digi-tech conference that introduced us to the basics coding. We are lucky enough to have some robots in our Tōtara team so we were able to practice writing code and then inputting it onto the robots. You can check out the coding app here. We had a lot of fun making our robots move around and even play a tune.

Enjoy your whānau time over these holidays. Stay safe and have fun, and I will see you all back ready to roll in term 3.

Mauri ora!

Matua Taki

  

Term 2 Week 8

 Kia ora e te whanau

This week we have been practicing our digital awareness to research what the stars of Matariki represent in te ao Māori (the Māori worldview). In small groups we chose a star and searched online for information and pictures. We then made a Google Slide to present our findings to the class.

Mānawatia a Matariki!

Celebrate Matariki!

Mauri ora

Matua Taki

Term 2 Week 6

Kia ora e te Whānau

This week was Support Staff Appreciation Week. In Room 15 we have a number of staff the help us in our learning journey. Our Learning assistant - Tomo, our weekly release teacher - Whaea Monika, our reading support teacher - Mary, the library staff  Cathy and Madeline, and our admin team - Sue, Sara and Cathy. We made some thank you cards for each of our support staff and went around the school delivering them as well as singing a waiata to them. We had great fun and the the support staff were very grateful.

 

Ka mihi ano ki a koutou, e te whānau, mō tā tātou awhina (Thank you whānau for your support also).

Mauri ora

Matua Taki

 

Term 2 Week 5

Kia ora e te whānau

Our Matariki haerenga (journey) continued this week with the Play, Make, Create book - The Little Kiwi's Matariki. We learned paper mâché which we used to create characters from our book. We make Kiwi, Weka, Ruru, Tui and Katipō.

This week we focused our writing around a traditional Māori game that we learned called Mauī/Matau. The children enjoyed the game and it showed through in the work with some great pieces written.

We finished the week with our pajama day. We had a lot of fun while raising funds for our new Pūtikitiki playground.  

Have an enjoyable long weekend.

Mauri ora

Matua Taki

Term 2 Week 4

Kia ora e te whānau.

It was good to be back in the class after being in isolation all last week. We have been continuing our Matariki haerenga (journey), reading our Play, Make, Create book - Matariki Breakfast. It tells the story of Kara who celebrates Mātariki with her whānau while sharing kai (food) and telling stories.

We focused our writing around our own celebrations. This included big events like Eid, Boxing Day, and birthdays as well as smaller but just as important celebrations, like winning a game and getting a new toy.

We finished the week with a bit of Matariki art which looks awesome.

Mauri ora!

Matua Taki

Term 2 Week 2

 Kia ora e te whānau

With all the beautiful weather we have been having, this week was a gentle reminder that winter is coming as we were hit by a cold snap. 

It was New Zealand Sign Language week and as a class we practiced some waiata in sign (Mā is white & Pepeha).

We continued with our Matariki Pūrākau (stories) with The Seven Kites of Matariki. Sticking to the kite theme we read Daphne Lister's poem, The Kites, and finished the week by making our very own kites.

Ngā mihi

Matua Taki