Waitemata @ Waikowhai Primary School

Here is a little peek at of our session yesterday with Tristar Gymnastics. They created a small Parkour circuit which Demitrius managed to do in 15 seconds with no mistakes. The rules were to keep you feet off the grass and make sure you did a shoulder roll not a head roll. Well done Demitrius!

Well Term three ended with some very tired but happy students in Te Ana Ako. Two extra happy students were Disaree and Brittany who both won 'Lunch with the Teacher' in our Citizen of the Week draw. Here is a pic of them with their lunch. Week one of Term 4 was spent catching up on holiday stories and adventures, and then straight into testing. Miss Daly is still away every Friday doing her Digital Fluency Course so she hasn't been to an assembly in 6 weeks! Week 2 was a short week. We have started training for Athletics by practising the High Jump, Long Jump and Sprints. We have also been practising our dance for production...which is in week 4!! I hope everyone has their tickets, its going to be a great show!

We were very lucky to have a professional scooter skills trainer come to us on Thursday. He show us how to put our helmets on correctly, brake slowly and perform emergency stops. He also showed us how to cross a pedestrian crossing properly and check driveways. What a great (but misty) morning!

Wow our new playground is here and its AWESOME!!!! We had an official opening today, the Kapahaka group sang a welcoming waiata, then Mr Craig (Board of Trustees chairman) officially opened it, by cutting the ribbon. The seniors took a buddy junior over first. Each class had a turn for half an hour, we went today and it was FUN. We have also had two new basketball hoops installed. We have 6 skateboards and 10 helmets that the school has purchased to use on our NEW RAMPS! So much fun to be had at school.

In Te Ana Ako we have  begun the Hells Pizza Reading Challenge. This involves students reading challenging books (preferably chapter books) in their own time. Once they have read a book they must give Miss Daly or Mrs Jones a VERY detailed description of the book. If either teacher is satisfied they have indeed read the book they get a clip off their pizza wheel. Once they have 7 completed clicks....they get a free pizza (healthy one of course!) Everyone is getting on board, food seems to be a great incentive! Here are some pictures of our readers during SSR time.

For Kiwisport this term we have been learning how to play Ki-O-Rahi. This fantastic game is based on the legend Purakau of Rahitutakahina and the rescue of his wife Tiarakurapakewai. A large team game played between 2 teams, kioma and taniwha on a large circular field. Played for 4 quarters or 2 halves of a set time, teams alternate roles of Kīoma and Taniwha at half or quarter time. Kīoma score by touching Pou/s with the Kī (for potential points) then running the Kī through Te Roto and placing it down in Pawero to convert pou touches into points. Kīoma stop the other team, Taniwha. Taniwha score by hitting the Tupu with the Kī. Kīoma will have Kaitiaki (guardians) around the Tupu to stop Taniwha from hitting the Tupu. Depending on which variation is being played, Taniwha must stop Kīoma from scoring by either touching, 2 handed touch, ripping the tag or tackling them in the appropriate area. We had a lot of fun learning how to play this game. here are some pictures. ...

Little Jack came to visit (Mrs Simpson’s new baby). Mrs Jones had a cuddle. He is very chubby and very very cute!

Wow we were so lucky to have New Zealand author Des Hunt come to visit us at Waikowhai! He was a very entertaining speaker. Did you know that he was a Science, Physiscs and Computer 101 teacher before he became an author? He applied his scientists brain to determine why his first book kept getting rejected. Who knew Science could help you become a better fictional writer! He showed us how he took an ordinary kitchen gas lighter and turned it into a missile launcher. Then he showed us how to build a story by adding conflict...more conflict and then an exciting ending. He modelled this by using a ramp and magnets. Then he showed us how to build tension. Tension can be where you know something bad is going o happen...but you cant look away (or stop reading). He demonstrated tension with a balloon. Des Hunt also told us about an author who got rejected 27 times. This author had a German surname and wrote stories that were a little bit different to other...

In Inquiry we are looking at 'Responsible Pet Ownership' as a focus for our Animal Inquiry. Whaea Anita had her friend come an visit us with her pet bird Sammy. He is a very special parrot who could talk! He wasn't very keen at first but after a while he got used to us all and started to repeat what his owner said. Eventually he got down on the floor and even jumped up on Joshua's arm!! We learned all about what it takes to be a good owner of a bird. Its a very big responsibility as Sam needs a lot of things to make sure he is happy. he can only eat certain foods, even though he will try to eat things that aren't good for him, like processed cheese. Thank you for coming to visit us Sammy.

Its Term 2 already! I hope everyone had a wonderful break, I know I did. This week we will be doing a short study on ANZAC day and what that day means for New Zealanders. We will not only be reading and learning about ANZACs but also using focusing our maths around the numbers/data from WWII. If you or your family members have any stories or memorabilia to do with either wars that you would like to share with us we would love to hear from you. Our inquiry this term is focusing on responsible pet ownership so we will be looking at the animals involved in the wars too. Ms Sands and Hauraki have put the crosses up on our special area outside the staffroom, on the grass. These will be up all week if you would like to have a look and remember those who have fallen. If you didnt attend an Anzac parade, here is a youtube video of Auckland's one at the museum. Nga mihi Miss Daly

Yay our two Taniwhas are up on our building thanks to Dave and his building skills. Kaiwhare was painted two years ago by Miss Daly and some Year 4 students. Mokoroa was painted last year by Miss Daly and some students from Mokoroa. They look great! Now the wonderful and talented Ms Sands is creating a Te Ana Ako sign to match the Te Waka Ako sign. We are looking so smart!

Yesterday we had a go at using masks and snorkels in the school pool. It was so much fun breathing under water and looking at our hands and feet clearly.

This year we decided to be a bit different and create a half self portrait. We included our name to the left and used a step by step process to draw our faces. Be sure to come to our Assembly in week 5 to see our finished faces or later in the classroom when they are displayed.

It's a new year and there are many new faces in our classroom.  First we have Mr Wallace who is a 3rd year student from Auckland University. He will be with us for 3 weeks, then he returns at the end of Term 2 for 7 weeks. We are enjoying having him in our class. We have also enjoyed......our chrome books! Its very exciting. We are learning with Gerhard how to be cybersmart every Wednesday. Everybody loves getting their chromebooks out. After our parents have attended the Kawa of Care meetings to learn how to be cyber smart at home, then some of us can take them home! Here are some pictures of us with our new devices. What a great first 2 weeks! Keep checking in for more exciting news