Tote tray construction | Thursday 23rd October | Can you help us?!

our creative 

tote trays

On Thursday 23 October, M13 are attaching tote trays to their desks so they can store their books underneath their desks. We were wondering if the parents/caregivers could come and help us attach them.

Avie has helped us to create some clever designs so the tote trays slot under our desks without getting in the way of our knees, using drawer sliders from Bunnings and wood.

Please email Amy <amyaustin@islandbay.school.nz> if you could come and help on Thursday!

from Ella, Joe, and M13 

Here's a prototype:

Mahuri Term 4 Newsletter

Kia ora parents, caregivers and children,

Term 4’s looking like our best yet: Rongoā Māori workshops with Enviroschools Rongoā expert Arihia Latham, Athletics day, the school fair, kids-as-experts-workshops, visiting William Kentridge’s The Refusal of Time at the City Gallery (for the Y4s) and creating a shadow pageant, swimming (for the Y3s), a student-led Amazing Race, walks to identify local native plants for Rongoā Māori, Zoo sleepovers, democratic classrooms, making kawakawa balm, walk to Red Rocks, hackschooling, school picnic, percussion jams…!

U-Learn conference

Last week Shanon and Amy A travelled to Rotorua with six other teachers from school for the U-Learn conference. We heard some fantastic international academics and New Zealand practitioners who gave us lots of food for thought that has inspired us to keep developing our teaching and learning practice. In M13 we are looking at how our classroom can be more democratic, handing over as much power as possible to children. Check out the hackschooling TED talk, posted below...

Inquiry: Rongoā Māori

Through the context of Rongoā Māori, we will explore the physical and chemical changes that occur to substances when they are mixed, heated and cooled. We’ll get hands-on, identifying and classifying local native plants, learning about their medicinal uses, and creating our own balms and other kinds of Rongoā Māori medicine. Enviroschools Rongoā expert Arihia Latham will come and run workshops with us in the Learning hub to teach us about Rongoā practices. Our reading and writing programmes will integrate with our Inquiry learning.

Our maths focus areas this term are Number, Problem Solving, Basic Facts, Algebra, and Statistics – probability. In physical education we will focus on athletics.

Music: percussion

We are running a music rotation this term – each class will spend 2 sessions with each teacher in the team, across the term. From rākau to sāsā to Stomp beats, we’ll be drumming and exploring different elements of rhythm, beat, and percussion.

Parent help

If you can support our class programme with either regular or one-off parent help, we’d love to hear from you. Spelling testing and reading with children are particularly useful ways to help. We always welcome parents visiting to read a favourite book or share some knowledge or expertise; even if you’ve already read to the class, we’d love you to come back again!

Home learning

A reminder to return home learning folders to school on Mondays. Each Monday children will bring home a new list of ten spelling words, an updated Reading log (if needed) and basic facts to be learned off by heart during the week.

Dates this term

Tuesday 21 October                         Rongoā Māori workshops in the Learning Hub

Wednesday 22 October                   Whole School Athletics Day at Wakefield Park

Thursday 23 October                       postponement day for Athletics Day
Friday 24 October                            Whole School powhiri, 9.15am

Monday 27 October                          Labour Day

Saturday 1 November                      School Fair

Tuesday 4 November                       M13’s trip to the City Gallery

Wednesday 5 November                 M12’s trip to the City Gallery

Thursday 6 November                     M14’s trip to the City Gallery

Tuesday 11 November                     Southern Zones Athletics

Tuesday 2 December                       Mahuri inquiry exhibition, 9am – 10.30am

Thursday 4 December                     Day walk to Red Rocks

Monday 8 December                       Amazing Race

Wednesday 10 December               M12 & M13’s zoo sleepover

Thursday 11 December                   M11 & M14’s zoo sleepover

Monday 15 December                      Whole School picnic

Tuesday 16 December                     Portfolios come home

Thursday 18 December                   Poroporoaki, last day of school

Thank you for your ongoing support. As always, if there is anything you would like to discuss regarding your child’s learning, please get in touch to make a time to talk.

Ngā mihi,

Shanon, Adele, Ximena and Amy

A special whanau time | by Luca

We carried the coffin down the road. It was surprisingly heavy. I was worried that a car would run in to us but my dad said that we would be more than fine. My mum and uncle walked ahead of us all carrying the front.

Once we got to the village hall overlooking Kapiti Island we all took our seats and took turns placing flowers on the coffin. It took a while to get everyone in but we managed it. Then it all started. My uncle gave the first speech then placed a red rose that he had grown with care onto the coffin. We had a few more speeches then my little sister had to be taken out because she was whining, as usual. After a while she came back but then she was more chirpy. Some speeches were a bit boring, I have to admit, and there were some lame jokes but otherwise it was OK.

I listened carefully when it was my mum's turn to speak and noticed a small tear running down her cheek. As soon as she sat back down she burst into tears. At the sight of it my sister did too so I held both their hands and they calmed down a bit.

Some of the information that was spoken I had never heard, like the leader of the squadron that my poppa used to be in told us that he had been in many crazy accidents even in his old age. Nothing could stop him from going to their Christmas dinner only a few days before he died.

All the speeches ended and we sang a song, then my nana put on a slide show with all the photos showing my poppa with someone else or just him. I was in lots so I felt as if a tremendous gift had just been presented to me. We watched the car that took my poppa's dead body to the crematorium drive away and then we went to my nana's for a delicious lunch.

Ireland | by Niamh

Ireland

The dusty blankets feel cosy. Old photos of guns and little girls rest on the wall. From downstairs I can hear laughing. I wonder when I can meet my aunts, uncles and cousins.

I was excited and shy at the same time. The house was creepy. The curtains shook and the wind howled.

In the morning

The sun shone through the windows. I got dressed and went downstairs. The house was quiet and I walked in to the living room. I snuggled up in my grandad’s armchair. Suddenly I heard a thumping sound. Someone was coming down the stairs. It was Thomas with a game of monopoly. He won.

I put on my jacket and went outside. It was a small garden (it wasn’t really a garden) and only the little plants made their way through the cracks in the concrete. I stayed out there until Grandma came down to make breakfast. I sat up at the table and ate my pancakes.

It was 4 weeks until we left Ireland and I wanted to make the best of it. In those 4 weeks I fed horses, met my extended family and had fun. Then it was time to go. I hugged my aunts and uncles and hugged them again. I can’t wait to meet them again.

By Niamh