Cross Country

In preparation for the school cross country this week we have been working on building our stamina and core fitness levels.



We have started the day with some quick warm up exercises.



Then we finished the session with a quick beat race/relay.



We look forward to seeing a big turnout of parents next week to cheer everyone on!

Planting Dunes at Worser Bay Beach

On Thursday this week a group of children went with Wanwan and the senior school to Worser Bay Beach to plant some dunes.

We did some prediction before we went. Here are some of our prediction

I think we are going to plant mini sand dunes.

I think we will get wet.

I think we will be planting two or three each.

I think we are going to dig  with our hands.

I think we will work together to plant.

I think the sand dunes will grow really big.

I think when sand dunes are seeds  they are really small.

I think we will be cold.

I think we will take turns to plant.

I think there will be big waves.

I think we will sink into the sand a bit.

I think we will have to move sand dunes to plant new ones.

I think we are not going to water the sand dunes.

I think the people we are working with will have uniforms.

I think that people are coming to help us plant the sand dunes.

I think the weather could change.

I think the plants could grow or not.

I think the tide could be high tide.

I think we will be planting a bit further away.

I think it will take 5 minutes to get to the beach.

By Evan, Greta and Otto

Here are some photos:

Here is a recount of what happened

So what happened was a literacy group[called monkeys]and some seniors went to plant some sand dunes.

Sand dunes are used to stop waves from damaging buildings and hurting people. That's why we were planting them. We were planting in bad weather. It looked like it was going to rain any moment! One of us kept stepping on the plants. John said: stop running up and down the sand dunes Nye. You're squashing the sand dunes! It was a bit crazy with that going on but believe me things were still going okay.

I managed to make a buddy with one of the year five or six. He dug holes for me to plant sand dunes in. I can not remember his name but he’s a great buddy.  

And that’s what happens when we went to plant sand dunes!!!

by Nye and Pyrenees

Here is the HOW TOs

PLANTING SAND DUNES. first you dig a hole. then you put in one fertilizer. after that you grab a mini sand dune ( or pingao )  and put it in the hole. close the hole with sand and make sure that the plant stands up

By Marnie and Octavia

Cross Country Practice

This week we had our cross country practice. Everyone tried their best...


Here is a time-lapse video of our practice.

Do you have any tips for cross country? Leave a comment and tell us! 

Problem Solving Thursdays

We have been working in teams of four to solve maths problems.



The students have had to share our maths knowledge, listen to others ideas, and sometimes, think outside the box!

Measuring objects around the classroom

Thursdays are an opportunity for Scott and Wanwan's maths groups to put maths into a real world context.

We have spent the last couple of weeks discussing what we measure and putting into practice.



Today we selected a non-standard unit to measure different objects.




We recorded our measurements and will look at our results next week!

The song we sang at Assembly

This is the song we sang in the assembly today.






Here are the words and its translation

Pūpuritia te reo

Tō ana te reo Māori (sow the seeds of te reo Maori )

Mai (i) te puku a te tangata (from the peoples' belly)

Whakarongo, Titiro, Korerorero (Listen, look and speak it)

          

Pūpuritia te reo (hold onto te reo)

          

Pūpuritia te reo (hold onto te reo)

(Boys) Kia mau kia mau Kia kaha e !

   

Measurement in maths.

Scott and Wanwan's maths group have started an inquiry into measurement.



We have spent time measuring a variety of objects in the class with non-standard units, such as, blocks, coins, sticks, and other objects.



We have made sure that when we are measuring objects we are using things that are the same size and shape to measure with.

Our place and people of the past.

As part of inquiry into the connection people have to a place we have been looking at old photographs, maps of our area, and imagining what people that lived in Miramar in the past may have used in their everyday lives.







The students brainstormed ideas, drew pictures, and created objects out of  plasticine.

Matariki Waiata and story

This week we've been learning a new song about Matariki. Many of you have shown your talent in singing! Here is the video of the song.




Lyrics and translation: 
Waiti Waita Waipunarangi
Tupuanuku Tupuarangi Ururangi e
Koinei nga tamariki o Matariki (These are the children of Matariki)
Nga whetu e piataata i te rangi e (The bright stars that shine in the sky)
Nga whetu e piataata i te rangi e (The bright stars that shine in the sky)

Here is also a story of Matariki, can you hear out all the names of the stars?




What do you think of the story? Have you heard of different Matariki story? Feel free to leave a comment and tell us!


Here's a little more about Matariki

Turangawaewae - where we stand

We have started off our inquiry: Turangawaewae - where we stand with different activities!
One of them is exploring Miramar with map app/google map.

We are looking at maps to find out what does our land look like? Can we find our school, our homes or places we recognise.

We had discussions about what a peninsula is! Lots of interesting comments. Some thinks peninsula is a reserved land (fair enough, it's easier to keep the pests out!)

Many pointed out the airport and the golf course.

Do you know where this is? maybe you can find your house in this picture!

Some pointed out this is Worser Bay School and wondered what was happening when the picture was taken?



There were many wonderings during the process. Do you have more wonderings? leave a comment!

Significant Places from the Past!

What do you SEE, THINK, WONDER?

Our Inquiry this term is focused around the Maori concept of:

Turangawaewae - Our place/s to stand

We will be exploring the following ideas:

- Places have significance and are used for different things.

- The past is important to people.

The link above will take you to a padlet post. The picture in the background is an old one! Many years ago it was a place of significance in our community.

Can you guess:

-What it is?

-Where it might have been?

-What it was used for?

We will be spending a few weeks looking at photos from the past of places that were (or still are) significant around our peninsula.

         

        

     

Playground Inquiry - Taking Action...

As part of Inquiry we have spent a lot of time exploring our playground and creating new games we can play (with and without equipment) during break times at school. We have had so much fun working together and thinking up exciting games.

During the last week of this term we decided it was time to Take Action. We had to think of ways we could be powerful to make improvements to our playground. 

To begin with, we had to spend some time discussing our ideas as a group. It was challenging trying to agree on one idea but we tried our best to collaborate and acknowledge everybody's ideas.

Once we had decided on a way we could improve the playground we got busy writing letters and emails, making posters and videos to advertise our ideas and creating things we could put into the playground.

Here are some awesome ways we thought we could improve our playground:

- Take more care of our lunchbox rubbish and pick up any rubbish that is lying around the school.

- Build an outdoor shelter from tents and plastic so we can play outside even if its raining.

- Create instructions for new games we have made up and put them up around school for others to play.

- Have more building "stuff" we can use outdoors to make huts, forts and obstacle courses with.

- Create a bike track around the school and on top grass for wheels Wednesday.

- Have some ramps we could put out for wheels Wednesday.

- Make feeding huts for birds to shelter in.

- Have an art gallery that children can draw in and put their artwork up in.

- Collect items that can help us make an outdoor music area.