Kauri Big Splash

Today we had the Kauri Big Splash. Luckily the weather was beautiful so we didn't get too cold. There were both competitive and social races, altogether 10 races. It was fun watching everyone giving it a go and enjoying the refreshing pool. I'm happy that the school pool is now open.

Room 7 did very well and everyone had a big smile on their face. Well done!!  Below are a couple of pictures of the bucket race.

Black & White Disco

Here we are, all ready for our Black and White Disco.  We are celebrating the end of a great Term 3 and we are very excited about all the things happening in Term 4.  Camp, Cultural Day, athletics and Year 6 graduation for a start.

Happy holidays to everyone and see you on October 15 for the start of Term 4.

Visit from Tigilau Ness

We were very lucky to have Tigilau Ness come to Owairaka School. All of Kauri team have been reading Dawn Raids, and one of the characters in the book was based on Tigilau. He spoke about his early life and experiences and the Polynesian Panthers. We also got a chance to listen to some songs. It was a fantastic experience.

A saying from Tigilau is "Educate to Liberate".

Thanks to Taito and Lucas who asked questions on behalf of our class.

See a photo and video below.

Ako Hiko Film Festival - A Call for Change

Room 7 created this short film as part of a children's film festival - Ako Hiko Film festival. The theme for the films is Change. Room 7's film is a light hearted film about children protesting in different ways to change aspects of their lives.

Tongan Language Week

Malo e lelei.

During Tongan language week Room 7 created some Tongan language videos. Please see below.

Kauri speech finals

A big congratulations to Savina and Ileana for doing their speeches today in the Kauri speech final. They spoke about New Zealand's national bird the kiwi, and Kauri dieback. It takes great courage to get up and speak in front of a group. Well done, we are very proud of you!!!

If you want to listen to their speeches please listen below. 

The overall winners for Kauri were:

3rd= Alodia and Zoe

2nd= Luka and Licha

1st Bruno

Maths week

This week is MATHS WEEK!!!!!

We have been doing a whole lot of learning activities and daily problem challenges. Congratulations to Mozart whose name was chosen from all the correct answers for Year 5!.

This was the problem for Monday :

Assembly Room 7 & 20

Well done to all the Room 7 & 20 students who performed admirably in their Cook Island assembly today. You looked and sounded amazing!!!

Eating some Raw Fish

We have been learning about Cook Island culture and some of their tradition food.  We read a story "My Dad's Raw Fish". This is an account of how a Cook Islands Māori family prepares a meal of raw fish. Many cultural practices are discussed throughout the text. For example they need to eat all the fish and in the past the oldest had first pickings.

We decided that we would make and eat some:

The verdict: It was delicious/yummy/average/I didn't like the coconut!!!!

Film Festival

Today the Kauri team were very lucky as we were able to go and see 12 short animated films at the Civic.  The films were from many different countries and were all extremely interesting, usually with a great message.

I enjoyed watching all the films. They ranged from songs, dramas and comedy.

My favourite was a film called Awaker from the Czech Repulic because it had a surprising, almost magical ending. After collecting bells from all the households in the village, he invented a waking system, using the bells.




Another film I enjoyed was Boulle, where two fish had to learn to live together harmoniously in a small space.

We were very grateful to be able to watch these films in the stunning setting of the Civic Theatre.

Holiday postcards

We have been writing some Holiday postcards, here is a selection of experiences from Room 7's holidays.

Jack:




Jerico:




Savina:

Taekwon-Do

This term we are having six Taekwon Do lessons.  We had our first lesson today and it was lots of fun! We learnt about some punching, kicking and moving quietly.

Here are some photos:

Board Games with our buddy class.

To finish off Term 2 Room 7 and Room 20 (our buddy class) enjoyed getting together and playing various board games.  There was Twister, Jenga, Checkers, the Headband game, Snakes and Ladders as well as cards and building blocks.

Everyone really enjoyed playing a mixture of games and getting to know different people. Well done!

Arataki trip

Kauri classes Room 6, 7 and 8 went to Arataki in the Waitakere ranges last week. We were able to explore the forest, do a bug hunt and learn about protecting our environment. We would love to visit again! Thanks very much to Rangers Virginia and Stacey.

The Explorer rafts

Room 7 had a go at making some rafts using materials they could find around the school. The inspiration for this was our class book for this term - The Explorer, where the children make a raft to escape the Amazon Jungle and make it to safety in Manaus.

Matariki

Room 7 have been celebrating Matariki. As Matariki is a time of getting together on Friday we went to our buddy class Room 20 and shared some kai. We also made a Matariki Korowai and used our geometry and logic to solve some maths puzzles to name the Matariki stars.

Have a look at our photos in the pictures below.

Insect art

In Room 7 we have been studying insects and we also created some insect art work using watercolours. See the slideshow for the students' work.


 

Cross country

Last week we had our school cross country.  Well done to everyone who participated and gave it their best!

Bigfoot Bike Session

Wow! What fun. We had a great time learning about bike safety and then riding bikes.  Two of our students went from not riding to being able to ride, which is awesome. Check out some photos below.


 

Green Day / Samoan Language Week Assembly

Today at assembly we had some special guests from Auckland Transport to help support our walk to school day.  Congratulations to Haider and Ezekiel who received a prize for walking to school. 

We also were celebrating Samoan language week.

Finally Green Week - our wonderful certificate recievers. Congratulations to Lesieli who was the Room 7 receipents.

Report writing

In writing we have been learning to write information reports. So far we have written information reports on wetas and bees. This links to our invertebrate topic in our inquiry and also our Green Week topic of bees.

The below slide show helped us in our writing and research.

Bee Proactive

This week we have been learning about bees.  We learnt how they make honey and the different parts of the body. We also wrote a bee report.  Below is some of the learning we did.

Samoan Language Week

Talofa lava. Ua mai oe?

This week we have been trying to learn some Samoan with the help of some videos. See below.
We also watched the Samoan legend Sina ma le Tuna. (Sina and the Eel)

Chapter Chat The Explorer by Katherine Rundell

Room 7 are reading this book together this term. It is a book about four children Fred, Con, Lila, and Max who are on their way back to England from Manaus when the plane they’re on crashes and the pilot dies upon landing. For days they survive alone, finding water and food, somewhere to sleep, making a fire. They also make a raft hoping it will carry them to safety.  However Fred finds a map that leads them to a ruined city, and to a secret

So far we have learned a lot about the Amazon. The Amazon is in Brazil and the capital of the region is Manaus. There are piranhas and electric eels in the river.  There are many kids of animals in the jungle -  bullet ants, sloths, vultures and bright blue macaws,even some insects that they can eat!

We can't wait to find out what happens next!

Check out our Class site for Chapter Chat activities and questions

Hiwi the Kiwi

This week we had a visit from the FANTASTIC Mr and Mrs Minstrel. They helped us to understand how we can;

• Be safe while fishing on a boat- ALWAYS WEAR A LIFE JACKET!!!
• The importance of measuring our fish to ensure that they are the LEGAL size. Fish that are too small or to big should be returned to our ocean so that they can breed (sustainability).
• Always use a wet towel when handling fish. This helps to protect their scales. Consider fish scales to be like our sun block.
• The dangers of plastic and the negative effects it has on our birds and sea life.
• How to keep seabirds away from our fishing lines (by throwing water at them!)
  

We all learnt a lot from this show. Thanks so much to Mr & Mrs Minstrel for the information and entertainment.

Trip to Pak'n' Save

Room 7 walked to Pak'n'Save today to continue looking at food labelling. After walking around many fallen trees and branches we made it safely to our destination.  The groups all had fun finding various products in the supermarket and comparing sugar, fibre, salt and fat content.

Many thanks to all our helpers. We really had a good time and also loved our free lunchboxes.  We look forward to using our $60 voucher for a shared lunch in Term 2.

Last day of school fun

Room 7 decided to play a variety of board games on our last day of school.  We learned how to share, co-operate and also have some fun.

Food for thought

Today we had Adele talking to us about the different types of food, and we also learnt how to read food labels in preparation for our trip to Pak'n'Save next week.

Weetbix and Oats are the healthiest cereals - the most fibre and least sugar and salt.  Water and milk the healthiest drinks. 

Duffy Assembly & Daniel Faitaua

We were super lucky to have Daniel Faitaua be the guest speaker for our Duffy assembly this week.  Daniel spoke about the importance of reading, and how it had helped him in his life. Helped him to study, travel and be part of the One News team. He also spoke about the books he read with his 3 boys. (Horrid Henry, Captain Underpants and Tom Gates)  They spend an hour each evening reading and talking about books. How wonderful!!! He also can speak Samoan, English and Japanese. What an inspiration.

We also received two Duffy books each and decorated our box of books - see the photos below.

Duffy certificates

We had our Kauri assembly today and congratulations to Brandon and Amani who were awarded certificates. Well done for showing amazing Manawanuitanga (We are persistent, we are resilient and we love learning) and Kaitiakitanga (We are guardians of the environment).

Garden to table

This week at Garden to table we were able to harvest some potatoes - we had to dig really deep to find them all. We also weeded some of the beds so we could plant some kale (we love to eat kale chips) and broccoli.

In the kitchen we made sushi, some pickled vegetables, apple cucumber and small pancakes for dessert. Have a look at the photos below.


 

There's a boy in the girls bathroom by Louis Sachar

We have finished reading this book, and have really enjoyed all the activities and discussions we have had about the book.  Bradley wasn't such a bad kid after all. See below some of our creations related to the book.

Race Relations Day

Room 7 had a blast wearing clothing from our different cultures and trying different types of food.  We also learnt about different cultures, traditions and beliefs.

Green & Blue Day

We had great fun in Green Week & Sea Week, learning about our oceans and how to protect them.  We ended the week dressing up in our favourite blue and green clothes. Congratulations to Eliza who got a prize at assembly for walking to school and to Sanaa for receiving our Kaitiakitanga certificate for taking care of our compost and worm bins.

Swimming

So much happening in Term 1. We are loving the swimming during this hot, humid weather.  This week we have the professionals here to teach our kids. They will be with us for 5 weeks altogether.

Garden to table

Here we are at Garden to Table. Planting some Bak Choi and rocket and other delicious greens. We managed to dodge the rain showers and check out some of the amazing plants growing at Owairaka school before eating a delicious meal prepared by the other half of the class.  We are having Garden to table every Wednesday until the end of the term.

Room 7 First week.

We have had a great week getting to know each other . We have written our Pepeha and made some posters about Waitangi day after learning about this.

Here is one of the posters made by Richard and Lucas.

Congratulations - Savina & Ezekiel!

Well done to Savina and Ezekiel. They have shown our school values of Manaakitanga - We are caring, We are respectful, We are responsible and Manawanuitanga - We are persistent, We are resilient, We love learning in their first week. 

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