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.

Rainbow Run

Last Friday we went over to the High School for the rainbow run which was a fundraiser organised by their Year 11 students. We had to go for a long run around the High School grounds and around Taylor Park. At various stations along the way, some High School students would throw powdered paint at us so it was just as well we had come prepared with a change of clothes! By the end of the run those of us who chose to have paint thrown at us were completely covered in brightly coloured paint. It was very tiring but it was so much fun! The money raised is being donated to the Milton Food Bank.

Book Week

From Monday 22 May till Friday 26 May, it was Book Week at Milton Primary. On Monday the student leaders went around the classrooms where they are wet day monitors and read the children a story. On Tuesday our caretaker, Mr Wilson, was the guest storyteller in each classroom. There was a Kahoot quiz in the library at lunchtime on Wednesday. On Thursday, to celebrate book week, we were allowed to dress up as our favorite book character. Everyone enjoyed seeing the other students costumes and their amazing ideas. Some of the costumes on display were Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, Snow White, Spiderman and various witches and princesses. We also had a book fair running throughout the week in the school library. There were chapter books and picture books for sale to help raise money for the school library. The books are amazing and very interesting to read. We love reading at Milton Primary School.

Tahu's Visit

On Thursday 11 May Tahu came to visit us. She works at the Orokonui ecosanctuary and she came to help us prepare for our whanau group trips next week. She brought some friends along to help her and each class worked with them for about forty five minutes. She started by telling us some stories about the history of our country going back millions of years and singing a song about the special place set up to protect the environment at Orokonui ecosanctuary. We did some role play about how to keep the pests out and then we went outside where we learnt about some native plants and we each made a pretend poo ball to demonstrate how birds like the kereru help spread seeds. Finally, we used a tracking device to track down a kiwi statue just like they do to keep track of the kiwis at the sanctuary. It was a very interesting and enjoyable session and we learnt a lot about New Zealand's history and its native plants and birds.

Mandarin

Our new mandarin teacher, Amy, took her first lesson with the class at the start of the term. She started off by going over some of the simple greetings we had learnt previously but in a fun way. She has been teaching us how to introduce ourselves and how to introduce someone else. We also learnt how to tell the time. In our last lesson Amy taught us how to make paper lanterns like the ones in the picture below. It is fun to learn a different language and we are looking forward to many more interesting mandarin lessons throughout the year.