Ki-O-Rahi Champions - By Sally Matene

Ki-o-Rahi Champions

Last Thursday my team and I went to the Ki-o-Rahi tournament in Kaikohe at Lindvart park. The people that were in my team were Armani, Taonga, Tamaiti, Andy, Kohl-lee, Angel-Rose, Marta and me. When we started the game we were versing Waima school.

It was my first time playing against other schools.  I was super nervous because I was one of the youngest in my team and I didn’t want to let them down. The captain of our team was Andy.  Waima wanted to be kia oma, so we started off being Taniwha - that’s the team that hits the tipu and stops the other team from getting tries.

I was starting to get frustrated.  It didn’t help that the referee was confusing me. He wasn’t making sense.  He didn’t even know the rules which was annoying because
the other team was fending and having two tags on one side.  Matua Matt said “you can’t do that! That’s cheating!”  He ended up explaining the rules to the referee which made me and my team feel better and not as frustrated as before.

This game was a little intense because they were Kia-Oma and we were Taniwha. So kiaoma has 2 people guarding the tupu. The ki starts in Te Marama.  They have to throw the ball to their teammates who are the kaitiaki standing in Te Ao by the tipu. Then they look for people that they can see from their team to throw the ki to. The aim is to hit as many pou as you can before you get ripped.  Anyone can run around trying to get the pou but as the Taniwha it was our job to double rip them so we can get a hand over for our team. We’re also trying to stop them from scoring tries.  The number of points depends on how many pou you can tag.

So my job was to rip tags from the other team.  I thought I did good.  I got one double rip for my team which helped Marta, Helam and Andy hit the tipu and get us points. When we were ki-oma my job was to hit the pou.  I hated it when they were chasing me because I was scared they would rip me or get the ki off me.  I still got the try which was cool.  “Shot Sally!” I remember hearing Matua Matt yell out.
We ended up winning. The score was 11-1 to Tautoro.

I enjoyed playing Ki-O-Rahi.  It was an awesome day out competing against other schools.  I also liked working with my team.  We ended up coming first overall.

By Sally Matene

EPro8 Challenge

Four of our students (Kohl-Lee, Tyrone, Chace and Shalom) competed in the regional Epro8 challenge.  There are roughly 7,000 students around New Zealand that take part, and funnily it was the first time it had come to Northland.

The ePro8 challenge focuses on engineering, problem solving and coming up with innovative ideas - hence how they got its name.  It was an amazing event that the children thoroughly enjoyed being apart of.  They had to option of completing 4 challenges each with their own set of criteria.  Their aim was to complete as many tasks or criteria as possible, accruing the allocated points for each task.  The team with the most points would qualify to compete in the semi-finals and finals the following week.

The tamariki loved every aspect of this event.  They learnt a lot along the way - the importance of communicating and listening to each other, working as a team, reading and following instructions, planning and following those plans, even working to time constraints.  

This event has motivated our classroom to learn more about electronics, circuits, constructing 3D objects to suit desired goals, coding, electricity, coding....

If you are interested in learning more about epro8 here is the link.

 Here they're trying to attach a light to shine on 'uncle' who struggles to wake up in the morning.  They've set the light to turn on when the sun rises and alarm goes off.

 Each team were given their own workstation with all the gadgets they'd need to complete the tasks.  These included batteries, cogs, wheels, screws, joiners, wingnuts, pulleys, reels, axles, gears, buzzers, multiboxes, solar battery, magnet sensor, lights, switch boxes, push buttons...

This is them learning how to construct a bed that was at least 45 cm wide and 1.2 m tall.

Swimming in our new pool

 

The tamariki were bouncing with excitement.  They couldn't wait to dip their toes into the pool.  It has been a long time coming with lots of fundraising and support from whanau to ensure that learning to swim became a reality for the students here.

We spent Monday having fun, learning how to be safe in and around the pool area, and making sure that students understand that they are responsible for bringing a towel, swimming togs, cap and goggles daily.

 

As the week has progressed the students have been discovering their capabilities, learning how to breathe, kick, how to use their arms to slice through the water efficiently.  Their goal is to beat their time of swimming one full length of the pool for freestyle.  It has been very interesting with a few talented swimmers demonstrating their skills and confidence in the water.

I've discovered that good listeners progress, whilst those who don't...won't.

The students will have reflections to share with you all shortly.

Nga mihi.

Our First Assembly for 2018

It has been an exciting two weeks.  We've been focusing on our classroom learning culture - what that looks like, what will help us be successful in our learning, possible barriers and how we can overcome them.

Room 5 were tasked with establishing a classroom treaty.  They discussed key values that they felt were important to demonstrate not just within the class, but the school also.  They each voted on their top ten picks (thank you google forms) and a select few students put their hand up to work with Matua Matt in making a video that demonstrated these key values.  I hope you enjoy.

Tenei te mihi rātou ko Tyrone, ko Sally, ko Victor-Jack, ko Yvette, ko Marta, ko kohl-lee, ko Matua Matt mo ō rātou mahi he kiriata poto hei whakaatu i tātou ākomanga me kura waka hoe. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou.

Thank you Tyrone, Sally, V.J, Yvette, Marta, Kohl-lee and Matua Matt for your short video work in promoting our class and school values.

We hope you enjoy.

WHAT A DAY

I had envisioned this really exciting day where everything ran smoothly.  I had worked for days leading up to today and planned really exciting activities.  The learning environment was set just right.  My class site, learning groups, visual aides, were ready to rock and roll....BUT then the truly unthinkable happened.

My laptop wouldn't turn on! When it did (eventually) the projector wouldn't mirror my screen.  As a teacher of tech savvy students on 1-1 devices it's equivalent to code red - the world's about to end!

I'd just built up the hype and anticipation to problem solving challenges...I had the attention of every single one of my students.  In the corner of my peripheral vision however (whilst having a mini meltdown), I could slowly see and hear the students lose focus, start talking about issues that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were focusing on.  "Whaea what are we doing?" "Whaea my chromebook won't turn" (tell me about it)..."Whaea can I go to the toilet?" Whaea Gaylene so and so said ....." gah! I quickly discovered two things.

1. I need a working computer, internet and projector in order to function.
2. What the hell is plan B?

Plan B = good old kanohi ki te kanohi teaching.

We spent today going over class expectations, rules, and building positive relationships.  Created a padlet  discussing our class treaty.

The students were put into groups to compete in differing challenges - perseverance, positive comments, working as a team, devising strategies, respecting one another were key ideas that students identified as enabling them to be successful.

Overall, aside from the hiccups - it was a great day.  I'm excited for what lies ahead for the students in my room.

Bring In The Crowds

As part of our financial literacy program, students in Room 5 have been learning some of the basics of creating a business. Each team has created a product or service they could sell at Tautoro School's Market Day. They had to create a plan and a budget that included their costs, expenses and expected profit. 

Yesterday as a class we looked at what makes a good advert.

The success criteria we came up with was:

• Happy/exciting background music 
• Clear information about product/service 
• Big words Consistency in theme/color/design
• Words/phrases to hook in buyers (bargain, One time offer)

Some students completed their advert today. What do you think?

Movie Making - Possum Problem

At the end of last term my class put together storyboards and scripts. They then recorded their play using different shots and editing skills.

This is the work of Neko, Andy, Tamaiti, Sonny and Tehanah. I hope they are proud of their work. I am!