Kapa Haka

On Friday 19th October people from Room 2 and Room1 did their first Kapa Haka lesson. We learnt actions and Maori songs, with a lady called Mawera. We are learning songs for an end of year production.
The boys have also learnt the Haka. We learnt that a Maori, who was about to be killed, made the Haka. He asked a man if he could hide in his kumara pit because he was hiding from another tribe who was trying to kill him. A few days later when the enemy tribe returned he said under his breath, “Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora”, which means “tis death, tis death, tis life, tis life.” He eventually escaped and he thought those words gave him strength and saved him.
Some comments from the class:
Amy-It was fun to learn a different culture.
Ethan-We had to practise the haka a lot.
Tessa-We learnt the words and actions quickly.
Megan-It was fun to learn all the actions and the words.
Holly-It was a different experience.

Term Four Art

For art we have finished our puppets and are moving on to a topic called FRAMED. So far for homework we were asked to search for photos of underwater sea creatures, make a list of sea creatures and find our favourite creature to jump out the side of our frame. We also found underwater scenes we liked and finally drew sea creatures from different viewpoints eg front view, back view, left side view, and right side view. Mrs Wilson is planning to have a cardboard frame with Maori or Pacific pattens round the frame. Our 1 or more chosen sea creatures made of paper mache will make a 3D effect popping out of the side RATHER FISHY!!! P.S. here is a photo and background of what Tessa will be using as her background.
By Tessa and Alana

CURRENT EVENTS

This term we have started to work on current events by starting off by two house groups (Awaiti & Okuti). Mrs Patten has picked 2 people from the 2 house groups to share news each day. 1 person had a card telling what type of news they were to write about eg Local News (about Banks Peninsula)- National News( About New Zealand)- International News (About the World)- Sport (Sport in the world)- Free news (Any news you like to do).
You have to tell the class who, what, when, where, why and how about the news event. There will be exciting news every week with these reports.
Logan did his report on Jet boats racing up and down South Island Rivers.

Christchurch Schools' Music Festival

On Friday some students of the senior school participated in the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival. There was a practice at the Christchurch Town Hall and this is also where the performance took place. The practice started at ten o’clock and finished at 12:15. Mr Oswin said that we had concentrated and sung so well and were a wonderful choir. It made us feel really proud of ourselves.
That night was the big night we were very nervous and were warming up when the managers came and told us that we were about to go in to the auditorium and perform our songs. Some of the songs we sang were Sounds of the Singing School, Born Free, Clowns and Ode to Joy. There was a childrens' orchestra and if you were there and closed your eyes you would have thought that it was an adult orchestra. It was amazing how many people were at the festival 1200 people singing and 2000 people in the audience. It was a really fun night and we can’t wait till next year.

Scale Drawing of Our Classroom

This term we are drawing scale drawings of our classroom and we have to get the right size for the map.
#1.We have to get the width of the paper to 75 cm and then the length to 80 cm
#2. We have to sketch the outline of our classroom
#3. We have to make a model on our sketch
So far we have done #1. It was hard getting the measurements right and drawing the lines straight. To do this we put the ruler at the bottom of the page and then drew a little line. Then we drew a long line across the top using a ruler and pencil. Next we cut it out with some scissors.

Maths!

We are learning about symmetry, rotation,translation and reflection.
We are mainly learning about symmetry so far. Finn is learning about making lines of symmetry on shapes and making 1 whole picture look symmetrical on both sides. Eden is learning about how many times a shape can be halved by the number of shapes there are in one shape i.e. finding the lines of symmetry. We also learnt how to make 1 shape into 4 by folding the paper four times and so we created 4 lines of symmetry on the new shape.

Retelling a Greek Legend

Poros of Malia
All reading groups had the goal of rewriting a Greek legend from the point of view of one of the characters in the story. This was to be a different point of view from which the legend was written in.

………..I felt the atmosphere wrap around me like a blanket. I wished there was a breeze. We were all naked, of course, but I noticed the other athletes were sweating. It wasn’t just the heat, we were all nervous.
Just a few minutes ago I’d been fully aware of the drink and food vendors. Gradually I started focusing on my task. Everyone was watching me. I tried to ignore them; I had won at the Olympics four years ago. The other competitors knew I was the one to beat. I knew the other competitors were good as well.
I looked at a special point halfway down the track. I knew it was the crisis point where the pain begins. We moved up to the starting line. The race began. I didn’t think any more about the competitors, I knew I could beat them.
Suddenly, a smile crept upon my lips. I was Poros, the Olympic Champion, I would win again!!
Retold by Holly.
Chosen by Mrs. Patten to be posted on to the blog.

VOLCANOES!!!!

This week we are learning about Volcanoes.
Learning Goal: WALT write a brief and accurate definition of a Volcano.
We’ll know we’ve achieved this because… We have
#1 Read information from at least 2 reference sources e.g. www, books, CD ROM’S.
#2 Gathered the main point and recorded them in a useful way.
#3 Written a brief and accurate description from these notes.
#4 Shared our definition with the class and received feedback from them.
Definition of a Volcano
A Volcano is a mountain that is made by plates that form the earth’s crust. A volcano erupts from natural causes e.g. earthquakes or when the earth’s temperature reaches an incredibly high state. The volcano spews out a jelly like liquid rock or magma. The lava flows like thick oozing mud. It travels a long way crashing through stop signs, houses and roads until it finishes ending its long journey into the ocean.

Jump Rope

Jump Rope Jump Off was on 19th of September. There were 10 skipping tasks that we had to complete. The tasks were a range of activities like long-rope challenge, obstacle course and basic skills, just to name a few. My favourite task was the obstacle course because you had to skip over benches and small hurdles. We were timed I did 42 seconds but I tripped and still got a good time.
I raised $20 for the National Heart Foundation. I thought I did a good job.