SPCA Visit

Today Tawhirimatea went to the SPCA to meet with Lindy Magee and present them with our fundraising cheque.  Lindy bought her lovely dog Panda.  

We learnt about dog safety and how to recognise when a dog is stressed.  

Lindy also told us about the 5 freedoms for animals: 

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst (food and water)
   All animals need clean water and a well-balanced, healthy diet. 
2. Freedom from discomfort (shelter)
   All animals should live in a comfortable place to keep them healthy and happy. All animals need shelter and a comfortable resting area. 
3. Freedom from pain, injury, and disease (medical care)
   All animals should be taken to a vet if they are sick or injured and given regular health checks. 
4. Freedom to behave naturally (exercise)
   All animals need enough space to move around and have regular exercise. 
5. Freedom from fear and distress (love and understanding)
   All animals deserve to be happy and live without too much stress.

These are what we strive for every animal in NZ to have. 

We also told Lindy about our learning last term and how we made the pet treats and sold them.  Some people read their stories about the abandoned puppies. 

This was a lovely morning and we are so glad we got to present the $380 that we raised because the SPCA sure needs it! Lindy told us that Gisborne has one of the worst animal abuse rates in the country and the SPCA looks after the vulnerable, sick and injured animals!  

Success for SPCA fundraiser!

 Today was a big success for the workers of MAPS (Makaraka Animal Protection Shelter).  Their market day raised over $360 for the SPCA which will be presented next term. 

A wonderful effort all round!  

  

The workshops were well received and information and questions were of the highest standard from both MAPS workers and the attendees of the workshops!

Everyone should have a little treat to bring home to their animals, we hope they enjoy them! 

Curriculum Evening Term 3, 2020

Our Term 3 curriculum evening was well attended by parents and students!  It was an ambitious evening with 3 big topics covered however we made it and really got a lot out of it!  

Big thanks to Tony Scrag for sharing his Net Safe presentation.  Tony is very knowledgeable in this area and is in a lot of schools.  He was able to share insight with us into what is standard practice across schools in Tairawhiti!  Don't forget to head over to Netflix to watch the documentary 

"The Social Dilemma" 

We also had an update from our Enviro group about what we have achieved and where we are headed at Makaraka.  Thanks for the great Mahi team! 

Here is their presentation: 

Lastly we raced through Maths at Makaraka covering topics such as:

• Prime Maths
• Mathletics
• Math Support Teacher

Here is the presentation:

Tawhirimatea Logo

Hokia ki o maunga kia purea e koe I nga hou o Tawhirimatea! 

Return to your ancestral mountains to be cleansed by the winds of Tawhirimatea! 

 Our class whakatauaki and waiata are the inspiration for our new class logo!  We looked at the creation pūrākau and learnt about how Tawhirimatea is the hou between Rangi and Papa and reminds us to never forget Rangi the sky father and our ancestors.  

In this logo designed by Christibel, Eden, Winston and Iyve you will see many Maori symbols - poutama - stairway to learning/heaven, niho taniwha, tukutuku stars, koru and more!  

Can you find these things in it? 

• Ancestors - Tipuna
• Mountain - Maunga
• Manutukutuku
• 4 winds - Nga Hou e Wha
• Family - whanau

Enviro Warriors @ Makaraka

Tawhirimatea and Tanemahuta went to the Enviro Centre.   We had a great time and learnt heaps about how to do our bit for the environment. 

We had 6 workshops with 3 teachers, Kauri, Kirsty and Steph. 

In the morning we participated in: 

• Gizzy Kai rescuea -  team of volunteers who reuse kai from supermarkets to give to the needy. 
• 6 R's - Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Replace, Rot - which order do they go in for the environment?
• Mara Kai goodness - Grow delicious veges for your dinner! 

After morning tea in the beautiful Mara Kai garden we had 3 more workshops: 

• Beeswax wrappers - How to make them.
• No Waste Lunchboxes - How many pieces of rubbish are in each lunchbox? 
• Enviro friendly school events - What is harmful and how to have fun for the environment! 

Call in to the enviro centre any time to buy eco products and also recycle some difficult item like tooth brushes, pens etc.  You can also make more bees wax wrappers and learn about all the things mentioned above!  

A great resource for Gizzy! 

Enviro schools with Kirsty

Today we had Kirsty come in to talk about the 5 guiding principles of Enviroschools. She started at assembly with the metaphor of a river and us all being on the waka of learning and creating a healthy community.

We looked at a picture of a community and were able to identify what is happening and how that is a good thing for our world! 

The 5 guiding principles are: 

1.  Sustainable Communities
2. Maori Perspectives
3. Learning for Sustainability
4. Empowered Students
5. Respect for diversity of people and cultures

When we have learnt a bit more and remembered the things that we are doing here are Makaraka we will update you further! 

Here is out Tawhirimatea Whakatauaki: 

Friday programme links all our learning together!

On Fridays we have a rotation where we learn Science, Dance and Drama and Music.  During this time we learn skills to create and show our understanding. The telling of a story using Mau Rakau and Korari moves is a process that was started on camp where we learnt some moves. 

While on camp we also created some Atua scupltures to represent our classes.  

Tawhiritmatea

Rongomatane

Tanemahuta

This learning, designing and creating has really increased our understanding of what the atua means and how important they are for all areas of our environment.

We have continued with this at school and today started creating sequences in unison showing the sea birds and the land birds.  Can you see these moves in here? 

Site dances

In Friday Programme we were looking at our special school places.  We really love to show off our school and we decided in groups to create a dance using these special places.  
We used the Pou which are for all our classes, the playground which we love to play on and the cycle track posts to play leap frog on. 

We were learning to include all our group members in our dance and use unison, canon stillness and movement.  We think we did great at all of this! 

The music was added in last to give it a really good feel.  This was so much fun and here are our videos: 

Pou Atua

Playground Fun

Leap Frogs

Youth Environment Ambassadors visit

On Thursday we had 5 Youth Enviro Ambassadors visit us to talk about fossil fuels, NZ's proposed law changes and to write a submission to the Government with our ideas on this.  Maya, Alice, Toby and Pearl and Sofia spoke to us about what they have been doing and how they developed their group.

After watching a video about fossil fuels, we then had a discussion about what we could do about it in NZ and put them together in a submission to parliament.

The submission process is an important way to have a say on what is happening with our law changes.  You can have your say without being 18 years old and having to vote. 

Here are some of our submission ideas: 

• Take alternative transport like biking or walking where possible.
• Buy Electric vehicles.
• Purchase products that are made by companies that are environmentally conscious. 
• Buy less plastic.
• Use reusable straws and bags. 
• Eat less beef and more chicken and lamb. 
• Write letters to politicians telling them how you feel. 

Be united and aim for the same goal!