And the finalists are...

It was a very difficult decision this year with so many speakers presenting their speeches to such a high standard. However a decision had to made and the students from Room 13 that will progress to the Semi-Finals on Friday are:

Max Hahn
Phoebe Evans
Louis Rutherford
Euan McLaren
Charlotte Wilson

Congratulations finalists and to all those who presented!

And so it begins...

Today we sat the first of our two asTTle tests. This was a writing test that required the students to write about an imaginative event that didn't take place as was planned, hoped for or expected. This test challenged students to not be limited by their experiences and to create an entertaining story with a twist! We were particularly focusing on the students spelling, punctuation and grammar as this is a syndicate focus this year.

We also joined up with Room 14 and held our first production practice. Having heard a synopsis of the introduction we now understand how Ms Berry has turned the book, Uno's Garden, into a school play. We then choose and divided into our 3 dance groups; Animals, Activists/Hippies and Suits/Business People. Over the next few weeks we will be spending more time choreographing and practicing our dances until they are perfect!

Syndicate Assembly

Today we met as a syndicate and talked about what is coming up this week, what we have been achieving over the last few weeks and also what we aim to achieve.

• Hockey team is organised and slips need to be returned
• Girls football team still has opportunities available to participate
• Arts Club is up and running as an option for the Year 6 students.
• Speech Semi Final this Friday. Each class will be informed of their finalists by Wednesday.
• asTTle testing will be taking part this week, with both a writing and mathematics test being used to assess where the students are at.
• All classes inquiry homework underway...Keep referring to the marking schedule. And ASK A TEACHER if you have any concerns.
• Production practice starts today! You will need to be incredibly patient at times during this process.
• Some students had the opportunity to participate in the Hutt City Green Gold waste tour...With so many passionate students, it will be easy to continue our green gold path.
• Well done Year 6's earning 10 mins extra play for our syndicate!!! Keep up the good assembly behaviour.
• Focussing on being respectful and kind to all members of our school regardless of friendship circles. Remember: If a problem seems to big to sort out or continues...see a teacher.

Speeches

Speeches are well underway with a fantastic variety of speech topics and presentations so far. I have been very impressed with the preparation of the speakers. The top four speakers will advance to the speech semi finals and then from there the top 8 to the finals.

Well done those who have overcome their fears of performing!!!

Maori Language Week Challenge

With Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori (Maori Language Week) almost upon us the challenge for all Muritai School students is to do with the longest place name in Aotearoa and the second longest place name in the world.

The year 5/6 challenge is to be able to memorize as much of the place name as possible. The place name is named after the hill in which "Tamatea, with the big knees, who climbed mountains, the land swallower, who circumnavigated NZ, played his flute to his beloved. "

The place name is:

Taumata-whakatangihanga-koauau-o-tamatea-turi-pukaka-piki-maunga-horo-nuku-pokai-whenua-ki-tana-tahu.


This video will help with pronunciation although it is not perfect:

Up and running.

Day one, Term 3 and straight back in to it! Amoung other things today we revisited our informative and interesting reports.

Firstly the students had to identify the areas from their reports in which they can improve. Then they picked four of the identified areas to write this terms goals on. Some of the draft goals are as follows:

My goal is to take more care in the presentation of work I will do this by taking time and not rushing.


This term I need to recall my basic facts quickly and accurately by practicing them lots.


My first goal for the term is to participate in class discussion often and when speaking, talk clearly and effectively.


More to follow!

The love of the game...

In a break from classwork those students who were interested participated in the emotional drama of penalty shootouts during Euro 2012.

Matariki

With Matariki only days away Room 13 and 11 participated in a fun kapa haka session where we learnt the traditional Maori children's game of whai or string games. Many of the students were able to follow the complication processes to make the many different shapes possible.


Matariki (Maori New Year) is a time of celebration and many children participate in games and making activities during this time. Here are a few photos of Room 13 in action:

Keeping cool...

As an introduction to exploring insulation we did an exciting experiment today. In the morning the students had to create a container that would keep some ice from melting for at least 4 hours. After lunch the students then opened their containers up and saw the results which went into the inquiry books. We had a big discussion about why some containers worked and others didn't work as well.

How would you create an insulating box to keep ice from melting?

Uno's Garden

Uno's Garden - Homework Week 8

Understanding the need to protect and preserve our local environment

You have all read the story of Uno’s Garden.  Now use your thinking skills to answer these questions:

• Was it inevitable that the forest would change once Uno decided to live there? Do you think he knew this? How?

• How did his little cottage affect the forest?

• On the grey morning that the people of the city woke up and decided to leave, where might they have gone?

• Do you think the people of the city might have learned any lessons about taking care of the environment?

• What do you think they might do differently this time?

• What is the purpose of the 'completely ordinary Snortlepig' in the story?

• Can people live in harmony and balance with plants and other creatures?

• What are the lessons you have learned from reading this story?

Our Mark on the World!

Today as a continuation from Tuesdays introduction to Carbon Footprints the students had to identify all the things they and their family do that increase their carbon footprint. They then put all this info inside their own footprint. After this the students then thought about all the things they do or could do that decrease their carbon footprint and put it outside their footprint. Some of the ideas were collated on the board:

What do you do to increase or decrease your carbon footprint?

The incredible machine

Today in Literacy we looked at and explored how the incredible machine worked. 

"All the rubbish in the world gets sucked out and processed where all the bad stuff is cleaned away. It then goes through the pipes and it makes the slime."

"The machine sucks up stuff and it goes into the destructor and through the pipes into the big tower. All the bad stuff goes into the gooey room. The left overs shoot out the nostrils and powers the vehicle."

"I think what happens is that it sucks out all the boogers from peoples noses on Earth. It goes through the booger machine which processes it in the Tower. It then goes into the Jail for Boogers. All the good salty ones go through the nostrils and powers the booger lasers. The rabbit in the window eats all the left over boogers"

"Our explanation of this thinga ma gig is that we think that a little hole in the tower sucks up air in outerspace. It gets all the air that comes out of spaceships and goes through the chambers. Once it is used it then goes into the thingy machine and gets processed. The bad air comes out from the nostrilinator. The fans on the bottom keep it up and the laser at the back propel it."

"The Earth in the big bubble generates air and when it is used up it goes through the pipes into the bigger pipe. All the bad air gets processed out the the nostrils while the good air is reprocessed and put back into the Earth."

Whats your explanation for how this machine works?

Tuakana, Teina

Today with our buddy classes we all met in Room 13. Mr Chadwick shared some of the adventures his brother is enjoying while on a waka in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and then the students were organised into buddies and read a book together.

Twinkle toes...

On Monday we were lucky to be graced with the sleek, graceful movements of the NZ Ballet company who started by showing us how they warm up. They then showed us a few moves and parts of their upcoming show 'Cinderella'.

Run rabbit, run.

Today saw the year 3-8 students competing at Williams Park for the Muritai School cross country. It was a fantastic day seeing the house spirit, students giving it everything and the joy of being finished!