Wednesday, November 30, 2022

2022 Cultural Festival

 It was wonderful to return to the Rocket Park last weekend to celebrate another cultural festival. This year Ōwairaka had 9 different cultural groups performing and Room 21 was represented in Kapa Haka, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands, Indian, African, Irish and Japanese. All the children should be very proud of their performances and didn't they look stunning?

Thank you to everyone for sharing photos that you took on the day. I have put a few on slides for you to see.

We hope to see you tomorrow evening for our annual Family Night which starts at 4.30pm. The children have all been told their times for dressing and I have also emailed you just in case they have lost their notice. See you all there!

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Year 3 - 6 Athletics

 The weather held out for most of the day and we were able to complete all our events except for the class relays. I was very proud of the effort that everyone put into participating in the track and the field events. Here are a few photos taken by our parents:

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Cricket Taster Sessions

 Over the past 3 days we have taken part in cricket sessions with some coaches from Auckland Cricket. We played games which helped us practise bowling, fielding and batting. It was a great opportunity to practise the values of honesty, cooperation and supporting each other too.

Did you know that our closest cricket clubs are Eden Roskill and Suburbs?  





Monday, October 3, 2022

Green Week - Insect Heroes

 There are many insects and invertebrates in our gardens that help us to grow the food we need. This week we learned about a few of these insects and what they do to help us in our gardens and school and at home. We will continue to learn about them next term as well. You can learn about some of these bugs from Ruud Kleinpaste.


Almost forgot ... Here is our "Let's Go Green!" photo for this term's Green Week. 



Art Exhibition

 Over the past term we have been creating pieces of art for this years Ōwairaka Art Exhibition. 

We were very privileged to have Sara Hughes, Niko's mum, help s with our collaborative piece. It was a popular exhibit amongst both children and adults and you can see photos of the various ways the blocks were rearranged during the exhibition on our class wall. The blocks are currently on display in the office reception area.


Eric Carle, author of the Hungry Caterpillar and other wonderful picture books, inspired the Still Life collages we created. This was our first time painting this year so the techniques we used were a great introduction to painting. This artwork can still be seen in our classroom.


Our papier mache pets were fun to make and will hopefully inspire the children to use papier mache at home. The finished cats, dogs and birds are all so different as were the names the children had picked for their pets. The pets have now gone home with their owners to look after.


What do you show when you have more space than you need? Your calendar art of course. Romero Britto was the inspiration for this year's calendar art. The colours and patterns are vibrant and perfect for calendars and diaries. Order forms will be coming out next term and I can't wait to get mine. You can visit our class to view the Britto Art on our wall.


REVIEWS FROM ROOM 21

"My favourite art  was the city and the owls art." -Masei


"What I liked the most was Room 25’s city because there were cars, people, superheroes, monsters, fire and even rainbow lights above it. The second thing I liked was making paper mache pets because we got to choose to make either a dog, a cat or a bird and its head was made of a scrunched up ball of newspaper, its body was made from a coffee cup and its neck was made from a toilet roll. The thing I want to do differently is make our own 3d planet." - Spencer


"Something I really enjoyed about the Art Exhibition was the mask art. It was AMAZING and colourful.The other one was the City. It was big and I liked how it was black and white and how it had windows and it was filled with towers. In two years time when I am a year 6 I would like to do 3d art." - Furtuna


"I really liked the different flags because some of the flags look like interesting types of new flags that you have never seen before. Second I really enjoyed the mere(a maori basher) from Room 6 because it looked like the mere and it had different details and patterns. In my opinion I would add some culture pattern on the blocks." - Melina


"The art exhibition was pretty cool because there was lots of different types of art works. There was cities, blocks, paper mache and birds there was even two birds one called pancake and the other called peanut butter. Next year I would like to do or see some clay sculptures." - Leo


"I really enjoyed seeing Room 24's art because it was kind of really cool just seeing their art. It was really colourful. I was really amazed when I saw room 18's art. I would like to do piskel."-Moin


"I really enjoyed the piskel art movies because it looked AMAZING and it looked like Room 25 put a lot of hard work into those movies. My second favourite was the big great whale tail,I really loved it because of all the patterns and colours and it was just so colourful. Now my third favourite piece of art was Room 22’s SUPER DUPER clay leaves,they were just so AMAZING I loved them, I also think that the lines they did in the middle. When I am a Year 6 I would really like to do piskel movies like Room 25 did and put a lot of effort in it." - Nevaeh

"I really enjoyed doing the pattern masters project with my mum because it was very fun with the little brushes it was also very fun. I also really liked sticking the pieces of little paper on for the paper mache and lastly I liked colouring the britto art because it was so fun and vibrant. One thing that I thought that we could have done is to do a big class project." - Niko

"I enjoyed the big city with monsters because it is really interesting looking at the buildings with an abandoned hospital and people dying with blood in it. Second, I enjoyed the blocks that we made because you could touch it, play with it and the cool patterns and with lines on the side of the blocks. I would change a little bit of the blocks by adding different colours like purple or teal because the colours on the drawings are just light green and dark green." - Sarah   
 
"I really enjoyed looking at the arts at the art exhibition because there were lots of paintings and blending in the drawings. My favourite one was Room 25's artwork because it was 3d and it was very, very cool. There were lots and lots and lots of paintings. I would really like 3d blending in arts." - Xavier

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Clean Up Week

 

Police Dog Visit

Police dogs play a very important role in the police force and we were lucky to have been visited by some of these local animal heroes last week. German Shepherds are trained as police dogs because they are very intelligent, loyal and strong. It was very exciting to see their handlers taking the dogs through some drills for us.





Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Lost property

How many items of clothing can you count?
If you recognise anything please collect it from the hall steps before the end of term.


 

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Artist in Class

 With this term's theme being Artist Heroes, not only do we have one artist parent but we have two! Niko's parents Sarah and Gregor are both artists and have volunteered to share their talents with our class. 

The following slides are about the "Blocks", a collaborative piece that the children are working on with Sarah's guidance, which will be on display at the Art Exhibition next week. 

Gregor will be speaking to the whole of Pūriri Team on Tuesday afternoon in Week 10, the assembly which Room 21 will be hosting. Please come along to our assembly if you are free. It will start at 2.10pm.

Saturday, September 10, 2022

Mālō e lelei

 Last week we celebrated Tongan Language Week. During the week we learned how to greet in Tongan, we read about Ha’amonga ‘a Maui and "The Sons of Ma'afu (a Tongan legend) and we learned numbers and colours.

We were also visited by Phoenix, Litiane and Arianna who shared their culture with us. Malo āupito girls.

On Friday we dressed in Pasifika colours or in Tongan clothes, like Masei and Thaddeus. Both boys are wearing a tupenu with a dress shirt. Masei's traditional necklace was made by his grandmother.





Can you guess the fourth language? Hint - Niko wrote it.


Sneak peek ... Our papier mache pets are ready for painting. Watch this space.






Sunday, September 4, 2022

Hī Ika

 At this week's reo lessons with Whaea Kristie we learned the Māori version of Go Fish - Hī Ika.
He ________ tau?         Do you have a __________?
Ae, he _______ tōku.    Yes, I have a __________
Kaori, aku _______       No, I don't
We all know the numbers to ten. Other cards we learned are haki - jack, kuini - queen, kingi - king, hai - ace.
     

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Still Life

 Later this term is the Ōwairaka Art Exhibition. We have finished our first piece for the exhibit, a still life collage inspired by Eric Carle, children's author and artist.

Learning About Huawhenua

 

We are always excited to have parents and grandparents come along on Wednesdays to help out at our Garden to Table sessions. This is a great opportunity to meet your child's friends and get to meet other parents. Next week our session is in the afternoon block, 1.30 - 3pm.

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Giant Wooden Games

 Thanks to one of our Ōwairaka parents the whole school was able to play with some giant wooden games. We shared our session with our buddy class, Room 11. 

Elsa thought, "We should have had more time in the hall because  we did not finish all the activities. If we had more time we could have practised and got better at each activity too."


   




Sunday, August 14, 2022

Soup Weather

 This week our kitchen crew made delicious soup with homemade bread, followed up by lemon muffins. All the recipes for the dishes our class makes can be found on the Garden to Table blog. Thank you to our parents who volunteered this week - Shayna, Tevita, Bernice and Ini. If you would like to help us at Garden to Table this upcoming week, our session starts at 9am and finishes at 10.50am.

                  


Monday, August 8, 2022

Garden to Table

 Every Wednesday we have Garden to Table. Here are a few photos from our first week.

If you are able to volunteer in the kitchen we would love your support. Check our earlier post about Garden to Table that has the timetable on it.

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Auckland Art Gallery

 On Tuesday we were fortunate to visit the Auckland Art Gallery as part of our theme this term, Artist Superheroes. This was our first trip in two years which makes it even more special. I was very proud of the way Room 21 showed manaakitanga and manawanuitanga on this trip. Enjoy our slideshow.

Monday, July 25, 2022

Welcome Back For Term 3

 Kia ora koutou! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to Term 3 like I am.

This term our theme is " Artist Superheroes". We have lots of art (visual, drama, music and dance planned) beginning with a drama session this Thursday run by TAPAC. 

Next Tuesday we have our trip to the Auckland Art Gallery so please check that your child has returned their permission slip.


Next week we will also be starting our Garden to Table sessions. We would really appreciate your help in the kitchen on Wednesdays. You do not need to be an expert! Here is the link to the timetable.



This week's value focus is:

Also with all the winter germs around we will continue to clean our hands and work surfaces often. There is also box of masks in the classroom for any children who have forgotten their masks. 

If you haven't already booked in for your child's learning chat, there is still time.
Have a great term everyone!!


Wednesday, July 13, 2022

End of Term 2

 This term our Green Week we learned about the native trees we have in our playground. 

Also, as part of our Footsteps programme we were able to perform for the Pūriri Whā parents

Don't forget to book your learning chat in our first week of Term 3. Check the school newsletter or your emails for the link.

 Wishing you all a wonderful break with your whanau,

Maria

Monday, July 4, 2022

More Super Scientists

 Last week we had a visit from three scientists.

Stuart & Becky spoke to the class about their jobs as forensic scientists at ESR in Mt Albert.

 


The other scientist who visited was Sally Garrett who works for the NZ Defence force and travels to the Antarctic to carry out investigations about waves and weather.


Thank you again to all the super scientists who have shared their knowledge with our class throughout this term.

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Week 9


 Unfortunately many of the children in our class have been away due to winter illnesses over the past few weeks. This week we will spend some time catching up on work that we have missed. There will still be reading and times tables homework but no spelling this week. Next week we will resume spelling.

Super Scientists - On Monday we have Stuart Cooper, a forensic scientist, and on Tuesday we have Sally Garrett, a naval scientist visiting us. Exciting learning!!

Wheels Day is on Thursday at morning tea for Pūriri Team. Bring along your bike, skateboard, skates, rollerblades & helmets. Our new ramps have arrived and are ready to use. Don't forget a padlock for your wheels.

Garden to Table - Next term Pūriri Whā have Garden to Table every week and we need your help. If you can spare some time on Wednesdays we would love your help. Click here to learn more about volunteering.

IMPORTANT NOTICES COMING HOME THIS WEEK:

 The FOS Milo and Muffin Fundraiser is also on Thursday. Notices for this are being sent home on Monday. Please help support this fundraiser.

Footsteps Dance Performances - A notice will be sent home about this on Tuesday. Please check your child's book bag.


R21 Sport Stars

Congratulations to Finley, Leo and Sarah who represented Ōwairaka District School at the Eden Albert Cross Country event last Tuesday. You can see their results and photos of the event on the Sports Blog.

Photo: The Year 4 boys team - Finley, Leo and Pablo from R22.


Sunday, June 19, 2022

Matariki

 Happy Matariki everyone! 

Room 21 have been learning all about Matariki and why Matariki is important in Te Ao Māori (the Māori world). There are many stories which you can read about on our Room 21 Site. The following video also tells the story of Matariki.


How will you celebrate Matariki this year? On Thursday morning at 6am some of us will be meeting at the summit of Ōwairaka to view the Matariki Cluster. Come along and join us. Don't forget that Friday is a public holiday and we are back at school on Monday.


Photo updates of the Hikoi to Ōwairaka: 
I was very impressed to see Nevaeh, Finley and Daanya up so early - well done you three (and your parents of course!)




Sunday, June 12, 2022

Duffy Theatre

 The Duffy Theatre group have returned to Ōwairaka  to perform for us and remind us of the importance of reading.

Here are a few photos from the show and a synopsis:


Duffy and Scruffy have gone off to their Auntie’s farm because both their parents are essential workers and we are with them each step of the way as they tackle online learning, hand sanitiser, and life on the farm. Duffy finds it really tough to stay with reading through this time and we see him go on an adventure that reminds him why he loves reading and why it’s so important for him to be the reading super hero that we all know he is. The show is designed to be a light hearted reflection on a pretty trying time for Duffy kids, with reading and books at the forefront. 


Cross Country

 Congratulations to everyone who ran or walked this year's cross country. You can be very proud of your efforts! The weekly trainings really paid off for everyone.



We are very proud of the cross country stars we have in our class. 
Year 4 boys results:
 1st - Leo, 3rd - Finley, 4th - Peter (absent), 5th - Spencer and 6th - Niko
Year 4 girls results:
3rd - Furtuna, 4th - Sarah


Monday, June 6, 2022

Junky Monkeys

Here are a few photos that were taken last Tuesday during Pūriri Wha's session with the Junky Monkey facilitators.

Samoan Language Week

 Talofa everyone. Over the past week we learned some Samoan phrases, colours and numbers. We also learned about aspects of fa'a Samoa - the Samoan way.


We created slides to help you learn:

Sunday, May 29, 2022

Week 5 Important Notices

 Week 5 is a short week for our learners as we have a Teacher Only Day on Friday. Please check the school app and newsletters for further information.

Talofa, this week is Samoan Language Week. We will be learning about the language and culture of Samoa throughout the week. 


We have been training for Pūriri Team's cross country. Parents are most welcome to come along and watch the children run/walk on Thursday.   




Manuia le vaiaso - Have a great week! 

Week 4 Happenings

 Our sound topic is nearly complete. Don't forget to check out our Science Learning Journal we started in Week 3. Click on this link to find it again.

We had our first Wheels Day for Term 2 on Friday. It was fantastic to see so many children in our class bringing their wheels to school. 

Sarah helping Melina with her skateboarding technique.

Room 21's wheels.


Saturday, May 21, 2022

Wowzer What A Week!

 Week 3 turned out to be a very exciting week for us! Here are our highlights:

On Tuesday we had a special guest at the Puriri Team Assembly -

On Wednesday we continued to practise for the Puriri Crosscountry which will be held in Week 5. 


This week we carried out some science investigations around sound. For our first investigation we had to find different ways to change the sound we made with a balloon and a toilet roll. Visit Room 21 to find out our results.


On Thursdays we have "Footsteps".


Friday was "PINK SHIRT DAY" hence all the pinkness. Thank you for your kind donations to this worthy cause.

But what really put the wowzer into our week was this ... (check your volume is on)

Somehow I think next week will be a little less exciting 😁



Saturday, May 14, 2022

Wiki Toru

 

Last week we started our new Spelling programme, Word Lab. Our goal is to improve our spelling by learning about spelling patterns. Spelling will also be included as part of our weekly home learning. Please encourage your child to learn the words they bring home ready for our Friday check ins.

"Sound" is our Science focus for the first half of Term 3. Here is our learning journal to show you what we have learned about sound. We will keep adding to it each week.

Can you recognise the song we are playing on our musical straws?

It is Pink Shirt Day this Friday. A notice will be coming home today.

Have a great week everyone!