11 Apr 2018

Year Seven and Eight students celebrate a great term at Matahui

by Paul Evans | posted in: Class Blogs, Education - Primary, Kauri yrs 7,8, Matahui School Community, Outdoor Education | 0

What a wonderful term Team Kauri, the Year Seven and Eight students have had at Matahui School.

The students have been learning to build and learn within a team and advance their ability as leaders. This has been achieved through an amazing array of outdoor activities including two camps, and skill building activities such as swimming, a deep-water confidence day and kayak skill development at Waimarino.

We have studied of the life of William Shakespeare and written a short biography. Following this we traveled with the Year Five and Six students to Auckland to see ‘A Comedy of Errors’ at the Pop-up Globe Theatre.

Other E.O.T.C. experiences have included our infamous boat day and a whole school beach education day.

In the classroom we have focused our mathematics on number and algebra. There are several budding mathematicians! We have buddy read a book called ‘A race to the pole’, a chance for our accomplished readers to share with and support their peers. This book was also part of our inquiry this term which has focused on the motivation to discover and explore. The high standard of presentations that concluded the inquiry are well worth visiting the classroom to see.

9 Apr 2017

Kowhai class shared their learning at assembly

by Mary Woods | posted in: Class Blogs, Education - Primary, Education Industry, Kowhai yrs 0,1,2, Matahui School Community, Outdoor Education, Puriri yrs 3,4 | 2

**The value of the week was courage and we shared times in our lives when we have shown courage:**

Darcy: I showed courage when I first started school. I felt a bit shy.

Blair: I showed courage to make good choices with my brother.

Aby: I showed courage when the dentist pulled my tooth out.

Sam: At the beginning I felt really scared to go into the native bush. It looked like a big black hole. But the I did it. I liked it and I felt really proud of myself.

Lily: Dad wanted me to go on the chairlift at Cadrona. I felt really scared because it looked so high. But I did it and I had a really great time.

Aroha: I always show courage to tell the truth.

Kaida: I showed courage on my first assembly when I had to talk.

Gabe: I showed courage when Niki and I went on a bush walk with my Dad. It was really dark in there.

Olive: I went on a moving chairlift in Rotorua. I was really scared to hop on while it was moving. Someone helped me and I did it and it was fun at the top.

Saxon: I showed courage when I went to see the ducklings.

Niki: I showed courage to go into the alpaca’s cage at Gabe’s.

Cameron: I showed courage when it was my first time trying a new food – spanakopita –

and I did it and it was really yummy. I also showed courage when I had my blood test.

Our inquiry this term is the question ‘How can we express ourselves through the arts?’

We made a series of self portraits showing our different emotions. Can you guess how we are feeling?

We sang and played “Blue is the Sea’. The sea has many moods which we tried to express in this song.

We had so much fun at Boat Day so we made paintings of the day. We tried to paint like the impressionist Claude Monet. He thought about light and dark and reflection. His paintings often looked better when we stood back from them because he used little brush strokes. We also wrote cinquain poems. This is where you count the syllables in each line and the pattern is 2, 4, 6, 8, 2.

Boat Day

Black shiny tube

Bouncing on the water

I feel excited in my tube

Awesome!

By Blair

Boat Day

Small blue kayak

Riding the little wave

Happy and strong and really proud

Best day!

By Sam

Fun tubes

Black round circle

Spinning in the water

Fantastic fun in my fun tube

Big splash!

By Saxon

Big Boat

Yellow fast kayak

Paddling on the calm sea

Taking control of my yellow kayak

Waahooo!

By Aby

My boat

Small optimist

Sailing, turning in the breeze

I am the captain of my boat

Ahoy!

By Olive

Kayaks

Big fun kayak

Adventure on the sea

Nervous, excited, happy, proud

Magic!

By Lily

Boat Day

Fast red kayak

Paddling from side to side

So much fun circling and turning

Fun day!

By Kaida

Boat day

My boat is red

Floating, slicing through the sea

Having fun in my red kayak

Happy!

By Cameron

Fishing

Silver scales

Swimming in the water

I caught a fish on my fishing line

The best!

By Darcy

Boat Day

On the jetty

Fishing with my Daddy

First time fishing, my favourite

Love it!

By Aroha

Yellow Yacht

Sails flapping

Swishing, turning, blasting

I feel so great in the salty breeze

Fantastic!

By Nikora

Blue Boat

Fast kayak, bright blue

Floating, paddling, speeding

Happy, smiling in the kayak

Boat day

By Gabe

We had lots of fun experimenting with the rhythms in ‘Cockroach Sandwich in my lunch’.

What a great term of learning we’ve had!

1 Mar 2017

Kowhai class, Matahui School, at the Tauranga Art Gallery and Library

by Mary Woods | posted in: Class Blogs, Education - Primary, Kowhai yrs 0,1,2, Matahui School Community, Outdoor Education, Teacher Blogs | 2

We had a wonderful day visiting the Tauranga library and art gallery.

First we visited the library where Penny read us some stories

Here is Lily’s story:

On Thursday we went to the Tauranga library and Art Gallery. At the library we read some stories called ‘Sad the Dog’ and ‘Boa’s Bad Birthday’. In Boa’s book he was excited that it was his birthday but when he got presents that he couldn’t use, he was sad. Then when he got Dung Beetle’s present he loved it and thought that it wasn’t a bad birthday. In Sad’s story he was sad because his owners didn’t love him. The artist used facial expressions and sad colours. When Sad felt happy the artist used bright colours.

Next we went to see Richard Orjis’ garden. We observed some things. He expressed his feelings for plants. Then we went to the art gallery and studied Barry Dabb’s art. He expressed his love of colour and he loved his paintings to be BIG!

And a snippet of Sam’s story: Richard Orjis expresses his love of nature, growing a wild flower garden.

And Cameron’s story: The wild flower garden was pretty and Richard was expressing his art.

Great observation going on in Richard Orjis’ wild flower garden!

This great observation continued at the Art Gallery with Fiona when we looked closely at wild flowers and sketched and painted them with water colours.

And together we created our own wonderful wild flower garden!

We also enjoyed seeing Barry Dabb’s paintings.

Here are snippets of our stories:

*On Thursday we went to the library and art gallery. I love the big paintings. Barry loved the colours and so do I! By Aroha

*Richard showed that art can be in the form of plants. It doesn’t have to be paintings. He has his own individual style. Barry makes his paintings look real. The illustrator used the colours of the fish in the book to show feelings. By Aby

*Richard Orjis expresses his love of plants and nature. Barry Dabb made big paintings of Cook Island flowers. His art expresses happiness! By Blair

3 Sep 2016

Room One visits the Katikati Murals

by Mary Woods | posted in: BLOG, Class Blogs, Education - Primary, Kowhai yrs 0,1,2, Matahui School Community, Outdoor Education, Teacher Blogs | 1

Our inquiry for this term is based on the question ‘What are our stories of the past and how can these be told?’ We are very fortunate to have the wonderful Katikati murals close by, for us to explore and find out the history of Katikati and stories of the past, told through a visual art form. Here are our photos, paintings and stories.

My mural is Jimmy Culpan’s Packhorses. By Nikora

Jimmy Culpan’s job was to take food and supplies and newspapers to the bush men so they could survive. Today he would go by car. He had two pack horses called Bess and Carr. Jimmy was 17. I think it was a hard job. It was a long way and sometimes it was muddy.

Sunday in the Bush Camp

By Sam

The bush camp men must be tired from working all the days except Sunday. They have different saws. They need to sharpen them to make them good at cutting down the trees. Jimmy Culpan is there with his pack horses. He brings supplies and letters.

The Waitekohe School By Aby

The Waitekohe School had 33 kids. It was quite small. Our school is also in katikati. Now Waitekohe School is a house in katikati. I even saw the house after the trip to the katikati murals. It was just one class room. They only used chalk to write on blackboards. The children were 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 – all those ages. They all learned different stuff. The Waitekohe School had no jungle gyms. Our school is much better because we have a playground, with a big orange ball swing, monkey bars and a sooper dooper flying fox!

Rev. kattern’s ostriches By Saxon

Rev. Kattern’s is chasing ostriches down the main road of Katikati. They escaped from the farm. The girls used the feathers on their hats.

Sunday in the Bush Camp

By Blair

Sunday is a day that the bush men get a bath. They were probably stinky because they have dirt because they work all week cutting kauri trees. They cut their hair and they eat. The miss their family.

This is Waitekohe School. By Kaida

They had one classroom for all the children. Big children and little children.

I like my classroom now and I like painting. The children wrote on blackboards with chalk.

My mural is Sunday in the Bush Camp. By Gabe

In the camp men had a holiday on the Sunday. They sharpened their saws. They had a haircut. They bath. I think the bush men would like having a day off from cutting down trees.

12 Mar 2016

Room One explores the rock pools at Mauao

by Mary Woods | posted in: BLOG, Class Blogs, Education - Primary, Kowhai yrs 0,1,2, Matahui School Community, Outdoor Education, Teacher Blogs | 0

We wondered

We explored

We observed

We discovered

We shared

28 Feb 2016

Room One had fun on Boat Day!

by Mary Woods | posted in: Class Blogs, Education - Primary, Kowhai yrs 0,1,2, Matahui School Community, Outdoor Education, Teacher Blogs | 2

Room 1, along with Asha and Bryleigh from Room 3, and our wonderful student leaders from Room 6 -Kayla and Grace, had a fantastic day at our annual Boat Day at Omokoroa Beach. We started the day learning to paddle in kayaks, then sailing the optimists. After morning tea we had fun at Beach Olympics and then we went fishing out on the jetty. Our biggest catch was Bryleigh’s starfish! Our final activity of the day was heaps of fun -floating and balancing on the tubes. Thank you to Grace and Kayla and all the parents who came along to help and make the day such a fabulous experience.

25 Feb 2016

Room 5 & 6, Romeo and Juliet at the Pop-up Globe Theatre

by Paul Evans | posted in: Education - Primary, Kauri yrs 7,8, Outdoor Education, Pohutukawa yrs 5,6, Teacher Blogs | 0

On Wednesday the 24th of February Room 5 and 6 from Matahui School supported by some fantastic parents made the trip to Auckland to attend a performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Pop-up Globe Theatre.

2016-02-24 13.26.48 2016-02-24 14.31.33

What a wonderful experience! We were filled with the artistry, drama and wonder of Shakespearian theatre. The performance had us spellbound.

2016-02-24 14.36.02

9 Nov 2015

Room One has fun at the Mud Run!

by Mary Woods | posted in: BLOG, Class Blogs, Education - Primary, Education Industry, Kowhai yrs 0,1,2, Matahui School Community, Outdoor Education, Teacher Blogs | 0

25 Oct 2015

Bike Safety with Room One, Matahui School.

by Mary Woods | posted in: Class Blogs, Education Industry, Kowhai yrs 0,1,2, Matahui School Community, Outdoor Education | 0

Room One enjoyed a week with Constable Ros Frost learning about bike safety and road safety. We rode our bikes…..

. ….on the court

.

…around the cones.We stopped at the Stop sign. We rode our bikes on the grass.

…on the driveway.

We took off our trainer wheels!We checked for any traffic that may be coming.

And on the last day we all enjoyed riding down Lancaster Road with Constable Ros! Here we are practising our stop signals.

20 Sep 2015

“UP TO YOUR NECK IN IT!

by Mary Woods | posted in: Class Blogs, Outdoor Education, Principal Blog, Teacher Blogs | 0

MATAHUI MUD RUN – SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2015

Remember playing a game at school called “ Stuck in the Mud?” Well at Matahui School we are about to give you the opportunity to do this for real. Yes, this year we are set to launch the first ever Matahui School Mud Run on Saturday 7 November 2015 so set aside the date.

Matt Griffiths (with the support of our wonderful neighbours at the school, Terry Hobart and Peter and Hana Sherwin), has developed a course that will provide everyone participating with the chance to get muddy as they manoeuvre their way through a course that will provide both challenge and excitement.

The emphasis is less on making this a highly competitive event – though there will be prizes – rather, an occasion that caters for families and teams of enthusiastic “mud people” as a community event that will raise funds for charity and the school. Taking part in a mud run may be a new experience for you, but don’t worry. It is more of a “wade” than run and whilst you might feel it is a challenge,one of the benefits is that you get a cost effective beauty treatment that has no rival!

Additionally, on the day of the Mud Run we will be hosting approximately 100 motorcycle enthusiasts who will roll into school on their classic motorcycles for a lunch break. This “stopover” will certainly add an interesting dimension to the day, especially if anyone is keen on classic bikes.

All you need to do at this point is keep the date free, think about a “costume” for the day that will handle a mud bath and wait for additional information we will send out in the near future.