Week 1 2022

We are so excited to be back for 2022!  Its great to see and hear how all your holidays went!  

With this hot summer wether still upon us (not today though!) it was great to have our school pool on hand and sparkling!  

We played some getting to know each other games and began working on our school and personal pepeha!  

We learnt that knowing yourself and feeling Kia Maia is very important!  Thanks Mr Swann!  Can't wait to see our class korowai up on the wall!  

Shakeout 2021

On Thursday 28 October, we had a drill to practice what to do in an Earthquake at school.  There were 2 messages: 

Drop - get down on the ground.  Don't panic!  Listen to the teacher or adult in charge. 

Cover - Get under a table or chair close to you.  Grab on to it.  Listen to the teacher or adult in charge. 

Hold - Stay there until it is over.  Listen to the teacher or adult in charge. 

and be aware of the type of earthquake it is...

If it is:

Long or Strong
Get Gone! 

This could mean a Tsunami is on it's way.  We are in yellow zone so we aren't in too much danger but we will evacuate to Ormond if need be.  

We all did so well!  We did have to practice twice though because the first time we did exactly what we shouldn't do!  Panic, yell and be excited!  We learnt that no we need to stay calm, keep quiet and listen for instructions!  

Tino pai rawa atu Tawhirimatea! 

Production rehearsals continue in Lockdown!

This year the production may look a little different! Lockdown has put a little spanner in the works! 

 We will let you know how we are going to proceed once we know how much time we have. In the mean time we have been doing online script writing and rehearsals! 

 Those that have joined have been loving it and having a lot of fun learning about the characters.

Lockdown Maths Lesson

This is our maths learning during lockdown!  

Samoan Siva

On Fridays this term Koka Tania has been teaching us the Samoan Siva.  She is a dancer herself. There are different moves for the boys and girls so far we have done verse 1 and the chorus.  This is a lot of fun and the music is great to listen to! 

Here are the actions can you practice them at home? 

Boys actions

Girls actions

Why is the May Fly endangered?

Over the last 2 weeks the Year 5 and 6's attended a learning day immersed in the environment out at Waikereru Reserve on Riverside Road.  The Wildlab is funded by Air New Zealand and offers integrated learning about our environment through science, the arts and on location experiences.  

Here we are watching an actor give us information about why the May Fly is endangered. 

We climbed a big hill and looked at the surrounding geography learning about how the reserve was rebuilt from barren farmland. 

After lunch we spent some time down at the river looking for May Fly lavae in the river.  The May Fly is an insect that decomposes the algae and provides nutrients in the water for higher species such as fish and birds.  They need 95% pure water to survive!  This is why they are endangered - our rivers are shockingly polluted!  The May Fly is an interesting insect!  What facts did you learn? 

Some people would like the Waimata River to have the status of a person so that it can be treated better and we can prosecute anyone who pollutes it!  What do you think about that? 

Makaraka School - Learning on the beach!

We all love Kai Moana!   The mighty Tangaroa provides a large variety of Kai that is very good for us!  From  fish to shellfish to seaweed there is something for everyone!  

On Monday May 10, our whole school went to Kaiti Beach and Gisborne Fisheries to learn about Kai Moana in the natural environment and how it is processed after it is harvested. We ended the day with a walk to collect rubbish!  We need to look after Tangaroa!  

At the rocky shore we had Amy from the Marine Reserve came to talk to us about the Moana and help us to identify some of the species. We spent some time looking around the rock pools and even found an octopus hiding in there! 

AQ highlight at the beach was the lunch Mr Swann made for us!  Mussels on the open fire!  We learnt that you can harvest them and eat them right on the spot!  

Yum

We had two fisheries officers come and tell us about their job and how they check the boats and catch that people do around the East Coast!  

Make sure this doesn't happen to you! 

Mr Zame showed us around his family business.  How fish are processed and bought into the factory.  We saw the pools of crayfish waiting to go off to China!  They love East Coast Crays!  

What a fun and exciting learning day!