Orokonui Trip

We were all excited to visit the Orokonui Ecosanctuary especially after the postponement of our trip earlier in the term. It was a perfect day and we were ready to start exploring as soon as we arrived. We were shown some of the traps they use to catch predators. Tahu told us a story and we watched a video about how the sanctuary came to be established and what the area was like earlier in its history. We were split up into three groups and then we set off outside. One activity involved scooping out water from the pond and looking for the tiny creatures that live there. We then used a tracking device to locate a kiwi and tried to spot small skinks among the rocks. Finally we went on a short bush walk where we identified some of the native plants and birds. We learnt so much about how important it is to care for the environment and what we can do to help.

Musical Instruments

As part of our study on the science topic “Sound” the children were asked to create their own musical instrument. They were encouraged to get some help from their parents and they were able to copy existing instruments or create an original one. Each child had to give a short presentation to the class explaining what their instrument is, how they made it, how it produces its sound, and what they thought they might change if they were to make it again. They all did a fantastic job and there was a wide variety of different musical instruments on display.

Whanau Day

On Wednesday 14 June we had a whole day in our whanau groups doing fun activities. Miss Keene organised eight different activities and each group got to do six of them. We spent about forty minutes at each activity. Some of the activities were learning how play maori instruments, making masks, baking maori bread, making poi, and several different art/craft activities. We also had a chance to visit the museum’s starlab which was set up for us in the school hall. When we went inside it we talked about the stars of matariki.

Everyone was asked to bring along a plate of food for a shared lunch and we were all entertained by a performance by the school’s kapa haka group at lunchtime. We all had a wonderful time and are very grateful to all those who contributed to making this special day such a huge success.

Success

This term, the concept we are focusing on is “Success”. A group of mostly Year 5 children wrote statements about what success looks like and what it means to them. They were inspired by reading some statements on this subject by some famous /new Zealanders like Sir Edmund Hillary, Jonah Lomu, Lorde, and Ritchie McCaw. Once they had written a paragraph about success they selected two or three key statements about it and created a slideshow on this topic. If you would like to view this slideshow, please click HERE.