Matariki acrostic Poems

 Kia Ora Bloggers,

We have been focusing on Matariki for the last couple of weeks. This has meant that we have read lots about this special celebration. Last week, we also had a special Matariki day where we joined our buddy classes for different activities.

This week, we have been working on sharing our new knowledge in acrostic poems. To start, we shared what we already know and then used these to craft sentences using the letters of the word Matariki.  Have a read of our creations below.

We would love some of your positive, thoughtful and helpful feedback. 

Olympic Ambassador Visit

This week we had a very special guest star at our school, Richie Patterson. 

He was INSPIRING!

He spoke about his journey from a young age to becoming a New Zealand representative in weightlifting. He talked about the the Olympic ideas of Friendship, Respect and Excellence. He also told us how resilience played a big part in his success. 

Growing up, he became interested in may different sports. He represented school in rugby, cricket and athletics (in Year 8). 

In high school his sporting interests grew and he was involved in rugby, cricket, hockey, squash, athletics, touch rugby. He began weightlifting at age 14 and was selected to represent NZ as an Under 16 Weightlifter.

From 2006-2016 Competed in the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games. Placings include a silver medal at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010 and a gold medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Currently holds all the New Zealand records in three weight categories – 77kgs, 85kgs, and 94kgs. He is only the second New Zealand weightlifter to compete at three Olympic Games.

Now Richie runs his own gym and coaches other weightlifters. He is heading to the Olympic games in Tokyo in a few weeks in the role of coach for the weightlifting team. Watch to see if you can spot him (and see if he runs his finger along his eyebrow - that's his secret way of saying 'hello' to New Zealand).

What are some of the things you are passionate about and would like to achieve? Maybe you could let us know in the comments.

Measurement in Te Ana Ako

 Mālō bloggers, 

Over the last two weeks, the Middle Syndicate has been investigating measurement. At first, we estimated (guessed) how big things were in our classes. We used popsicle sticks and blocks to measure a range of things and objects in our learning spaces.

After that, we created our own measuring tools as we learnt more about centimetres and unit measurement. 

We started to measure things again, this time with our rulers. From handspan, to leg length, to the distance around our head. We even measures the size of our feet and compared to the rest of the people in our class. 

Finally, we did our own experiments seeing how big different creatures are around the world and how their sizes compare to each other. We even measured how big a blue whale is and used the corridor of our classrooms. Can you guess how big a blue whale is? 

(Waving to show the size of a blue whale)  

Thanks for reading, 

Philippa Werry - a special guest for the middle syndicate

 Talofa Lava Bloggers,

This week we were very lucky to have the New Zealand author Philippa Werry visit our syndicate via video call.  She has written lots of books, including picture books, novels and some of the readers we use at school including stories in the school journal. She was really interesting and humorous, giving us lots of great advice and information.  One interesting fact was that her first story was published in the newspaper when she was 6 years old. It was still saved and glued into a scrapbook that she showed us, very precious!  

One important message that she shared with us was how important it is to edit our writing. Taking the time to do this before you publish is really important! We got to ask lots of questions to find out about her job and some of the connections that she has to other New Zealand authors.

Finally, she read us the start of one of her stories. It is called, "The best skateboarder in school" and you can find it in School Journal Part 1 Number 3 2003. We really enjoyed this and we are looking forward to exploring more of her stories. A special thank you to Mr Hing-Windsor for organising this for us. 

Have you had a visit from a school author? Do you have a question or comment? We'd love some feedback below.

Tofa soifua

Student Led Tookits

This week we had the pleasure of learning about different apps and technologies from students in the senior school.  Workshops were run throughout the day with students choosing three to learn about. 

There was something for everyone, including:

• Google Maps
• Google Slide Animation
• Word Art
• Piskel
• Drones
• Sphero
• Makey-makey
• Brainbox
• Webcam Toy
• Music Lab
• Book Creator
• Incredibox

The presenters did an amazing job of showing students how these apps and technologies worked and then helped out as students then gave them a go. 

What an awesome day!

What are some apps that you find fun and helpful? Perhaps you could recommend some that we could check out in the comments below.

Cameron Pools Swimming

 Kia ora bloggers,

Over the first half of Term 2, the Middle School have been going down to the local swimming pool to learn how to be water safe. 

 

 We have done a lot of different activities, from floating with milk bottles to using lifejackets when our lifeboat gets flipped in the pool. We have loved learning more skills to stay safe in water and the using equipment in the pool. 

 

 We have improved a lot over the sessions and have become more confident in our swimming and being in water. 

Have you learned any water safety skills? Did you learn them in your pool or a local swimming area? We would love to hear your ideas in our comment section below.

Middle School Zoofari Trip

 Talofa lava bloggers,

On Monday the 24th of Monday, the middle syndicate was lucky enough to visit the Auckland Zoo to participate in the Zoofari experience.  The first exciting highlight of the day was a trip to the Zoo on a double decker bus!

When we arrived, we were greeted by Lizzy who gave us lots of information during our briefing and set us up for our class guided tours along the African Safari track.  Our Zoo educators were amazing, they had lots of interesting things to share with us and things that we could feel while we were learning.  

Then, under the guidance of our awesome parent helpers, we explored the zoo, ticking off the different animals that we visited on our map.  It was really interesting to have the chance to find the animals that we like and have a look at their habitats and how they can be adapted to them.

The final main event for the day was a second educator session. During this time we watched a feeding session for the spider monkeys. We also found out that we can do our bit for conservation by making sure that we buy paper with this special logo so that spider monkey habitats are kept safe.

Have you been to the Zoo before? Do you do something to protect animals?  We would love to hear what you do in our comment section below.