How will you survive "Tawhirimatea Desert Island"...

On February 3 we found ourselves stranded on the Tawhirimatea Desert Island!  We can only bring one object each that means something to us to help us survive the rough terrain,  extreme weather and tough times!  It takes grit and determination to survive this desert island!  How will we do it...

Here are some photos from our survival stories...

The titles from our stories are:

• E waka eke noa - We're all in this waka together! 
• We've got the power! 
• Could it get any worse? 
• We will survive! 
• Fire for life - where there's smoke there's fire! 
• Lost our way! 
• There's more than one way to scale a fish...
• Weirdest time of our lives! 

I wonder if 2021 will truely reflect these titles and the navigation of this Tawhrimatea Desert! 
How will you survive? Which Title best describes you? 

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

Look what's happening in Tawhirimatea...

Yay we are getting new doors!  They open out onto the covered deck and mean that we can have more variable spaces to work! 

We worked in the hall today so that we ween't in the way and hopefully it will be finished tomorrow!  It is looking great!

TED Lab - Tawhirimatea Engineering and Design Lab

Today we met Danielle for the first time in person!  She spoke to us about her job and how important it is to be able to work in a team with a diverse range of people and skills.  We really enjoyed hearing some of her stories and ideas! 

We formed teams of 3-5 people and. researched our roles within the team. This was really interesting - who knew that rocket teams need a meteorologist?  Or even a biologist?

We finished our session outside shooting our first raw PET bottle to see how the machine works!  Gee we are so excited to be designing, building and launching rockets!  

We can't wait until next week!  

What are learning maps?

On Thursday and Friday we drew and analysed our learning maps.  This is our first one for 2020.  What is a learning map I hear you ask... 

Learning Maps are a tool that supports children to be active and connected in their learning.  The children draw their current learning situation and then look at their map, talk to others and decide on a change they would like to make to help with their reading, writing and maths.

Every map is a 'right' map as it is drawn from individual perspectives.  The change priority that is decided on comes from what the learner feels needs to happen with the help of the teacher and their families.  Students may choose to share their maps with parents at home as they are all digital in a slide presentation.  They may also put them on blogs if they wish. 

From here we will be trying to make that change happen for the learners by reflecting each week and focussing on trends across our class that are common to everyone.  After a month we may reflect on our change priority and then revise, alter it or come up with a new one. 

In New Zealand in our curriculum has the vision that "young people will be confident, actively-involved lifelong learners."  Learning maps will take a large role in building the capability of children to be able to talk and make decisions about their learning! 

Ask a Makaraka Student about their learning and they will be able to tell you!

What strengths do we have?

Over the last couple of weeks we have been looking at leadership and what strengths we have.  We all have and need all the strengths but some of them resonate more than others with our personalities. 

Once we chose one strength we thought was strong within us we found others who had strengths that were similar to ours and created an image that reflected these strengths.  Some of the strengths include; creativity, thoughtful, peaceful, generous, helpful and many more!

Over the year we will develop and explore these more so that we can really get to know them.  These strengths help us to learn better and be better in the world.  I wonder how many strengths there are altogether? 

Here are some photos of our freeze frames.  Can you figure out which strength is which?

 

 

 

Tawhirimatea performs The Grinch at School BBQ

Our class item for the school end of year BBQ was the Grinch!  

We had a lot of fun performing this and practicing the dances. 

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Didn't our parents do a great job of the costumes!  

Feedback and comments from the community were outstanding and everyone enjoyed it!  

I wonder what Tawhirimatea will do for 2020...!

Watch our performance here! 

Beach Education was fun!

Oscar the sun-smart Beach Ed millionaire!  

What a cool (excuse the pun!) day at Beach Ed.  the sun wasn't that shiny but Makaraka Kids were! Ruaumoko and Tawhirimatea learnt a lot about Rips, beach safety and what being a life guard is all about.

Then we had water activities to build our confidence and skills in the ocean.  This included boogie boards, relays with the rescue tubes and how to float and fall in the waves.

After lunch was beach games like flags and then home!

We were all exhausted but we learnt a lot about the beach!  Look out for our Rip and beach safety tips coming up!

End of year Antics

What a fantastic end to 2018!  

Thank you to FOM's for the tasty Barbecue and all the classes for their entertaining performance!
  

Here is Tawhirimatea's performance which was 'pantomime-esq' and a lot of fun practicing!  Personally I loved the Year 6 boys as the Sugar Plum Fairies!  LOL!  

The final assembly was also a special experience for our Year 6's.  Tomorrow starts today!  Here is a link to some of the items they performed. 

Jillian's Video

Have a very Happy Christmas Everyone! 

Lord Nelson Visits Makaraka

Tawhirimatea loved having Lord Nelson in class today!  He is a special dog who belongs to Sam.  Sam is working on a project where he and Charlie are making a movie to show how pets can enhance your happiness and help you through your life. 

Nelson loved our class and certainly visited all the students in the school.  He is a very well trained dog and even had a shower before he came in! 

We can't wait to see Sam and Charlie's movie and the response they get from others about the happiness animals bring.  To quote Sam:  "Nelson cheers me up!  He is always there for me and I love how he plays!"

Tauranga Marimba Festival 2018

Marimba Festival 2018

Last week on Wednesday Nov 7 a group of students from Tawhirimatea travelled to Tauranga to perform in the Marimba Festival.  This is the first time that the festival has been held outside of Auckland and so we thought we'd better support it!  

The festival was held at Our Place in the centre of Tauranga City and is a community container mall type place.  It is perfect for small performances and events like this!  We had a great time and learnt all the songs before we went.  Gisborne students were certainly able to hold our own!  All that hard work paid off!  

We stayed at Papamoa and managed to squeeze in a swim in the sea before returning home.  What a great opportunity to learn some new songs all about the sea and perform with other students from the Bay of Plenty!  Everyone had a ball and we sincerely thank the parents and Jeremy for enabling us to be creative, have fun and show off some new skills!

Here are the songs we played: 

Surfin USA

The Ocean Refuses No River

Tauranga Moana

Tulevai

Ocean

Nervous Wreck

How Far I'll Go

Trillo - The Teacher's Turn! 

Drunken Sailor