Pohutukawa Term 1 Review

We have had a fantastic term of learning in Pohutukawa class.  Here are some of the students highlights.

BREAKING NEWS!

Early this term Pohutakawa went to camp at Aongatete Lodge. We did activities like rock climbing, challenge course, dodge ball and archery. It rained, sometimes heavily, but that didn’t stop us.

We learnt how to be safe in the bush, about the plants in the bush and how to use the bow and arrow correctly.

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By Bradley and Serene

 

Swimming Sports

On Monday and Wednesdays, Matahui School travel to Dave Hume pool in Katikati to practice our swimming strokes, survival skills and improve our dives. The year 5 and 6’s then went to Omokoroa No.1 School for Small School’s Swimming Sports. Our whole class participated and did very well in their chosen events. 

By Isla

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INQUIRY

Our inquiry for   this term is “The interaction between living things and earth depends on a complex web of processes”.

We have learnt how the earth orbits around the sun, giving us day and night, the seasons and a year. We have also learnt about the earths four spheres; geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. All these spheres interact with each to make life possible on earth. Sometimes these interactions are positive and sometimes negative, such as weathering and erosion.  We found out about this in the sandpit.

By Alexander

 

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Literacy, Writing Recounts

Room Pohutukawa learnt about figurative language and how to use different types to add description and depth to our writing some examples are; simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification and onomatopoeia.

Next we used this knowledge to write interesting recounts about camp or boat day.

Here are some of our favourite snippets.

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Maths

This term we have learnt or perfected various strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems  including; place value, family of facts, tidy numbers and column addition and subtraction.  Here is one example of how we can solve a problem.

 

TOP SCHOOL

Breaking news. Today Matahui year 5 and 6 students participated in their first top school competition. There were a range of interesting challenges such as leaky bucket and horizontal bungee. We had to work together to complete the challenges.

By Daniel

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Boat day

Boat day is a very special day for Matahui School.  It was my first boat day and I loved it. There where heaps of different activities including sailing, tubing and fishing but my favourite was kayaking. I learnt how to paddle and steer the boat really well.IMG_6976 IMG_7101 IMG_6927

By Louis

 

Shave for a Cure

Early this term I decided I would  like to raise money for the leukaemia shave for a cure.  I wanted to to include the school in my fundraising so I talked to Mr Muller, our principal.  We organised a food stall, had a wacky hair day and Denley and I shaved our hair at assembly.  I had spray in my hair so it hurt a little when it was being shaved.    I feel really great because I have never done this before and it feels good to be helping others.  So far we raised  $950.

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By Leo

 

 Art gallery and library

When we  went  to the Tauranga  Art Gallery there were beautiful  works of art  made by Richard Orjis that looked exactly  photos of plants.IMG_1471

Then we sketched some plants and used water coloured paints to add colour.  When we went back to school we used our art gallery experience to inspire our own water coloured paintings

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Happy holidays everyone.  I wonder what we will be learning next term?

 

Matahui School, Financially Literate Children

posted in: Class Blogs, Pohutukawa yrs 5,6 | 0

 

Over the last few weeks the children in class have been earning money in their online Banqer accounts.

Today we had a discussion about expenses, that in the real world while we earn money we also have to pay money for different goods and services.  In this discussion we also talked about the difference between paying rent and having a mortgage.

When I told the class that they would have to pay rent on their desks, $5 per week.  One of the students immediately thought that this was not on and that they would like to purchase their desk.  The cost of purchase was set at $1,000 as these desks are very high quality.

 

This same student came back to me later in the day to say that they think they will save up enough so they could buy two desks and then rent one out and at a lower rate than I was.This student displayed innovated and creative thinking.

Next week the student will be given the opportunity to create their own business.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

 

Matahui Paper Mill

posted in: Class Blogs, Pohutukawa yrs 5,6 | 0

This week in class we have been investigating the properties of paper; translucent, strong, insulator, non magnetic, flexible, thin, floats…..

Then we learnt the processes involved in making paper from trees.

From this discussion we then started our own Paper Mill.

First we shredded the paper.

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Then we blitzed the paper in the food processor to make a pulp.

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We added a lot of water to this pulp before using our screens to make our first sheets.

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We then taught our buddies how to make paper too.

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I wonder what other materials we could make paper from?

Room 1 and 5 enjoy a Teddy Bear’s Picnic

Room One’s inquiry this term is the question ‘What are our stories of the past and how can we tell them?’  We connected to the past by way of our teddy bears.  We invited our buddies from Room 5 to join us and we each brought along a special old teddy or soft toy. We enjoyed listening to their stories, followed by a delicious food at our teddy bear’s picnic!  Our buddies even made the bread rolls themselves!

P1110759Ellie is a snuggly elephant.  He is my toy.  It used to be my Dads when he was a boy.  The first thing he did was sit on him!  He looks like an elephant but he is yellow.  I like to hug him.  Ellie is cool.  By Sam

P1110758My Santa teddy is cuddly.  My Great Nana made Santa for me before she died.  Santa is snuggly.  I think he really likes me because I look after him.  By Blair

P1110755Miranda is my doll.  Miranda has long orange hair.  I got her on my first birthday from a Katikati shop.  I pushed my trolley around Katikati with her in it.  I was cute pushing her around Katikati.  She loves me!!  Miranda!!  She comes to some tea parties and sleeps in my bed.  She is knitted.  She’s a school girl.  I love Miranda!  By Aby

P1110757Toby is my teddy.  But Georgia had him when she was a baby.  Toby is a kind and cuddly teddy.  I love to hug my teddy.  By Gabe

P1110756Goody Goody Gumdrops is my favourite bear.  I like to cuddle him.  He looks cute in his T shirt.  By Saxon.

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My dog is named Troy.  Troy is a teddy.  He is a fast teddy.  I got him from my Mum.  My Mum got him from her friend and his sister.  He has got brown lines going to his eyes.  I like to pat his back.  Troy is cute.  By Nikora.

 

Can you match our water colour paintings with the photos?

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States of Matter

posted in: Class Blogs, Pohutukawa yrs 5,6 | 0

In class we have been learning about the different states of matter with our main focus being solids, liquids, and gas.  We have been learning about their properties and how some materials can change from one state to another.  Today we made ice-cream in a bag.  Our focus was how liquids can change to a solid by the removing of energy in this case cooling.  We discussed that the particle within the milk are becoming less energetic and merging together to form a tighter bond.  Here are some photos and the recipe we used.

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What you’ll need:
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk or half & half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons rock salt
1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
Ice cubes
How to make it:
Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!
Tips:
A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don’t increase the proportions more that that — a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.
Ice Cream in a Bag!
By: Nicole at kinderconfections.blogspot.com

Room 5 Assembly

posted in: Class Blogs, Pohutukawa yrs 5,6 | 0

Room 5 presented at Assembly on Friday.  We learnt how to play the song Seven Years and adapted the lyrics.

 

 

 

We adapted the story “It’s a Book” written by Lane Smith into a short play.

We  also present our ‘Selfie” art of what we did in the holidays.

DSCI0167Playing football for Barcelona.

DSCI0168Kakapo Ranger with winning trophy.

DSCI0169Winning the recent quidditch game at Hogwarts.

DSCI0170Winning gold at Royal Ascot.

DSCI0171Getting caught by a creeper on minecraft

DSCI0172Feeding an angle fish in Fiji

DSCI0173Preparing for battle against the dark force.

DSCI0174Watching an eruption while in Hawaii.

DSCI0219Sinking a hoop when training with the Tall Blacks.

What a talented bunch of children!

Matahui Magic Basketballers

posted in: Pohutukawa yrs 5,6 | 0

On Friday the Year 5 and 6 basketball team was looking pretty magical with their new uniforms, thanks to our kind sponsors.

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For many of the team this is their first season playing basketball.  Already ours skills have greatly improved from our first game. We are now passing with greater accuracy, have more control in our dribbling and displaying great defensive techniques.

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Our game against TWS Lightning Bolts was very close in the first two quarters with each team scoring goal for goal.  In the third quarter the Lighning Bolts charged ahead.  We came back in the last quater with the final score being 24 – 10 to the Lightning Bolts.

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We would like to thank our two amazing coaches, Philip and Mike, we love your positive energy and enthusiasm.

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What an amazing, team we have.

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EPro8 Challenge

posted in: Class Blogs, Pohutukawa yrs 5,6 | 1

On Thursday 2nd June we sent 2 Year 5 and 6 teams to the EPro8 Challenge.  This was our first time at the challenge and we loved it.

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We had a range of interesting challenges to solve.  We earnt points based on the complexity of the challenge.

Both our teams decided to build cranes.

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There were many challenges and a lot of problem solving

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We didn’t always get it right the first time.

 

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But with great problem solving and creativity nothing was impossible!

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It was very exciting when we completed a challenge.  We felt proud of the way we communicated with each other.

Art Gallery

Today Room 1 and Room 5 went to explore the Tauranga Art Gallery.  We observed the interesting and detailed Otherworld exhibition, paying particular interest to Peter Madden’s sculpture installation.  Peter uses a range of construction materials to create ‘Otherworlds’.

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Then it was our turn to use our imaginations to create our own ‘other worlds’.  We were very focused on each part of the activity and our creations are ‘Otherworldly’.

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We then made our own artistic group sculpture.

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Sharing lunch together in the park was energetic.

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