It was a very exciting afternoon - the seeds we had sewn earlier in the year for the hue or calabashes or gourds or tahā - we're not too sure which name to use - had grown to a point they are sending out the curling fronds that like to hold on to something so they can grow. very exciting - Leo and Stone chose to plant them out. Tēnā kōrua! I can't wait to see them grow!
Marise had very kindly brought in some moustache shaped cookie cutters - so continuing on with our theme using the 'm' sound we made marvelous moustaches to munch on Monday!!!
We have been working with the sound 'm' this week. We have created a book - "My Monster munches " with each student contributing an idea. We then created an artwork which we presented at Hui-a-kura this week.
On Thursday along with many other schools throughout the motu - Ōtaki School participated in the New Zealand Shakeout. At 9:30am the bell rang for a long time - we stopped, dropped and covered our heads. Then we all went out to line up in our meeting area in front of the Whare Manaaki. We then did practised what we would do if there was a long and strong earthquake - our tsunami drill. We walked down to the Domain - the safe zone if a tsunami were to happen.
Then as a school we sang hari huritau to Tawhirimātea because it was his birthday!
So wonderful to be back at school again - nau mai haere mai! We made some pretty fancy hats this week with our focus letter being 'h'.
When we first got back into class we looked at ways to keep ourselves safe i ngā wā katoa, all the time, not just at this time as we return from a Lockdown. One of the best things we can do is to cough and sneeze into our elbows, and to wash or sanitise our hands thoroughly.
What to do if you cough or sneeze... Click on the link to see the book we have created to read in our class...
We did an experiement that showed how effective soap is to repel germs...
We also practised washing our hands thoroughly (ngā mihi ki a Whaea Amiria Stirling for the inspiration for this video!). The song happens to be twenty seconds long - which is how long you should wash your hands for...
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We have been reading a number of narrative stories to support our writing this term. Rona and the Moon is one book we have read. We have also learned the waiata "Rona" for our Kapa Haka bracket. The book mentions calabashes and the waiata, taha. I have sourced some seeds from Ngā Puhi ways (if anyone has some locally grown gourd seeds, from plants grown to produce these types of containers we'd love them!!)
So we have sown the seeds inside - ready to plant out once the weather warms up a bit. Exciting!!
We also sowed some sunflower seeds directly in the garden outside our classroom window.
Ngā mihi ki a koutou! It has been great to be back at school and amongst students - kanohi ki te kanohi - again! Tamariki were so pleased to be back and see their friends again and enjoyed the familiar routines of school anō!
We are very sad this week as we see four students move on to Waitā Room 10. To toast them as they move on we made fresh juice - using carrots, apple and orange to make a delicious juice. Lots of giggles as some marvelous moustaches were created as a consequence!
Cam visited Ōtaki School this week to teach us about Rippa Rugby. Tamariki learned different skills - like passing and catching the ball. They especially loved the rippa 'bullrush', with many tamariki running in circles and really keping Cam on his toes!!
Maverick read a book this week. It was about shadows. It had a clock in it that Whaea Nicky said in the old days when she was young was how we told the time. It is a tricky thing to understand how we can tell the time by the shadows that we see throughout the day - so - Maverick became our sundial. Each hour we drew an outline around his shadow and recorded the hour next to it. Over the following days and despite the rain, many tamariki stood in Mavericks shoe prints, and found out what time it was.
How lucky are we to have such awesome lunches at Ōtaki School!! We had butter chicken for lunch today! Tino reka! Thank you to all whānau who are supporting our healthy food kaupapa! Morning tea - a sandwich and a piece of fruit. Perfect for growing bodies and brains! Water only e te whānau! All the classes in Matariki have fruit/vegetables as they come in from lunch. Ngā mihi mō ō koutou tautoko- together we can achieve great things for our tamariki!
It was a very exciting afternoon - the seeds we had sewn earlier in the year for the hue or calabashes or gourds or tahā - we're not too...
