Term+2

Term 2  Well, we had a big last week of term. We invited six classes to share our Whare Tapere. We learnt from our museum trip that a Whare Tapere is a house of entertainment and fun. A place where you leave your cares and worries behind. We had to do a lot of organising to allow people to leave their cares and behind!
 * Week 10 **
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We welcomed classes with songs (Haere Mai!), speeches and a haka. The boys got quite scary as they got more confident with their words and actions. We also started with a puppet show, telling the story of one of the Matariki legends. Matariki is a celebration of the maori new year. A winter celebration.


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Next we organised 12 stations that the students rotated around. We had quizzes, animations (explaining what causes winter), games, art activities, Mu Torere (Board game), Puwha, knee boxing, Ukelele,‘Tahi, Rua, Toru...’, ad other co-ordination games, a Matariki learning table, knuckle bones. media type="youtube" key="38hWbQZc858?rel=0" height="315" width="420" Here is the animation that Louis and Blake did for the Whare Tapere.


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Tiana and Olivia did a great job creating Matariki badges which were awarded to students 'having a go' and having the most fun. We got lots of positive feedback from classes about their experiences so we feel like we did provide some real entertainment and learning. A real Whare Tapere! media type="youtube" key="sGEbonuwUcs?rel=0" height="315" width="560" Read the new email for Stephanie http://islandghs.wikispaces.com/Stephanie%27s+Pacific+Adventure

 Check out our Whare Tapere invitation. We have invited six class to come and visit us next week. We will be sharing traditional games, music, animations, information, prizes and lots more. Whare Tapere is all about fun and entertainment.
 * Week 9 **



Here is our new logo for our Whare Tapere. We will be inviting classes to the Island to learn about Matariki, about the planets, about games and other exciting stuff!  Great to see some interesting reports coming in this week. This one is by Caitlin and you can see it on the school website too.
 * Week 8 **

Click here to see Taya's Olympic report! Click here to see Zoe's Olympic report!

 It was nice to have Millie and Shannon's dogs visiting this week!

 Over the last couple of weeks we have been doing lots of testing. We are finding out where our learning is at and what our next steps are. It is great to see people making jumps in their learning but it is also important to see where we need to still work. Interviews are coming up in Week 9 so make sure you have booked an interview time (for Year 4s).
 * Week 7 **

Make sure that you are getting on Mathletics regularly!! Basic facts is certainly an area we need to work at. Click on and practise now!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"> Here's a cool website to check out! It has all sorts of wonderful wonderings.

media type="youtube" key="81Z6KJoRwt4?rel=0" height="315" width="420" Here's Katie's movie about making a Saturn planet cake. Unfortunately the sound didn't come out but it's certainly worth a look. Well done Katie!

The Island welcomed two new students to their class room in the last week at Gulf Harbour School. A girl called Liberty and a boy called Jonathan joined The Island. Liberty’s family moved from China but she was born in New Zealand. Jonathan’s family came from Switzerland. Jonathan’s father comes from Germany and his mother comes from Venezuela. Liberty’s mum is from China and her dad is a kiwi. Jonathan and Liberty and Liberty have made lots of new friends. Now our class is made up of even more countries! We are so glad they have joined us. By Jack and Brooklyn
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Week 6 **
 * New students Reach the Island **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"> <span style="color: #ee3333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">We have started cross country training this week. We want students to participate as much as possible. Even if they have a bit of a cold, they can still walk. Walking is fine!! It is best to wear shoes to protect feet so trainers are best if possible. With this wet weather we have to take our chances when we can, so aim to leave gear in bags every day. Year 4 students can wear sports uniform. This week we have got a new student in our class. His name is Jonathan and he comes from Switzerland. He doesn’t speak English but he has already learnt a lot. Jonathan speaks German and Spanish. Welcome Jonathan!
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We are still learning our times tables and some people are getting better at it. What is 7 x 5 = ? We have learnt abut the word ‘orbiting’ with our vivid vocab. To ‘orbit’ means to follow a curved path around a celestial body (like a planet).
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We played Mu Torere and Puwha this week. We also did a Venn diagram comparing tradition Matariki activities to things we do now. We play a lot of things on the computer now!! Matariki isn’t just about stars it’s about family and friends.

This week we also Skyped Richmond View School in Blenheim. They anted to found out about the landscape around Auckland.

On Thursday we raced to the museum in the lighting fast bus. We were excited about the trip. When we got there we saw a volcano (a fake one). There was also a giant lobster - a real one under glass and a gigantic swordfish. We saw canons outside the museum while we had our morning tea.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Week 5 **
 * Matariki - Museum Visit **
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We learnt a lot about Matariki. We tried new games like Puwha and we played in the Wharenui. We also made a board game. We heard a legend, (an old story). On the way back we wanted too get in a taxi because they were going faster than the us. We crossed the Harbour Bridge and finally reached Gulf Harbour School. What an awesome day!

By Shay and Shannon

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">media type="youtube" key="RIW8iVAk3p4" height="315" width="560" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Tiana heads out to the Solar System!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">media type="youtube" key="Q_NHHJtWQOw" height="315" width="420" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Joseph should be on Master Chef!!!

Here's an email from Caitlin in England.

Hello The Island!

I am having lots of fun back here in England visiting my family. I have seen my Nannie, Grandad and Uncle James in Luton and now I am visiting my Dads family in Sunderland. Here is a photo of my cousin Catherine, Bethany and me. I have lots more photos to send from our camera when we return to Luton. I had an awesome time in Disneyland in Hong Kong. It was so hot! I miss you guys !

Love Caitlin x

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">media type="youtube" key="BDWDN47nOWs" height="315" width="560" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Ever wondered how to make astroid cookies? Alien Eoz will show you how!

Check out this cool website... Solar System Scope
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Week 4 **

This week we have working on multiplication and the idea that it is the same as multiple sets of something. That is, 3 x 4 is really 4 + 4 + 4 = Here we are using different equipment to learn.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">We are excited about next week's visit to the Auckland Museum. We will be looking at the celebration of Matariki. It starts with the arrival of a constellation of stars in the night sky.

Wow do you know what is happening today? The office and staff room is getting repaired. Builders have came to fix it up. They started to work on it on Wednesday. They started to put the scafolding up. We took some photos and you can see them below. Ethan n
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Construction At School **

media type="youtube" key="cZLraugsrnQ" height="315" width="560" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">We have had some very creative homework projects. It's great to see people trying different things. Here is Troy's great movie about the planet 'Melax'!

Check out Blake's great cooking.



We had fun with an iPad app called 'Chat-o-matic' on Tuesday.



This week we have been looking at a cool website called 'The Scale of the Universe'.

Thanks too, to Jill for suggesting the site!! It is amazing as you can look at an atom or the whole known universe. Use the sliding scale...

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">Here is sneak peak on to Stephanie's boat. Check out her cool bedroom with everything she needs. You can also click on the link below to see where their boat is. What an exciting adventure!
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 * Galley (Kitchen) || Bedroom ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px;">Click here to see where Stephanie's boat is.

We had a fantastic time this morning visiting Stephanie's boat. What an exciting adventure to head off on! We had fun looking around the boat and everyone was wishing they were heading off into the wild blue yonder! Special thanks to Chris, Debbie, Connor and Stephanie for welcoming us aboard the 'Kiwi'.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">Week 3 **
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">Tomorrow we are going to Gulf Harbour Marina to visit Stephanie's family yacht. They are heading off to the Islands and we going to keep in contact with them threw our website. Apologies for the short notice but Stephanie's is heading off on Friday. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">Here is a copy of the trip notice that needs to be signed and returned tomorrow (Wednesday). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">Oribiting The Arts Festival **

WOW! What a awesome night it was. We had the festival that night. We had Stu Duval story telling in room 45,dance’s,stalls and sculptures and heaps more. We nearly had the whole school come to the festival. And it was fun!! We also had welcomed everyone into the island and gave out cupcakes and necklaces. We had a awesome night.

By Anastascia.

The 'Orbiting the Arts' festival was a great success. Thanks to all the parents who visited and thanks to the students that worked really hard to get our room ready. The class can be really proud of the quality of their work. We would also like to thank all the parents that helped us on the way. Your assistance was invaluable!
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">Week 2 **

Below are four videos that we made as part of our journey...

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">media type="youtube" key="dQkY_QEOWLE" height="315" width="560" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">What our Class Tapa designs mean...

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">media type="youtube" key="T7OsLj8Q2ag" height="315" width="560" We are the Island,
 * Class Mihi **

Island of the brave,

in the Blue Tiki Team,

at Gulf Harbour School,

in Whangaparaoa ,

The Bay of Whales,

In the North Island of Aoteoroa,

New Zealand

Land of the Long White Cloud

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">media type="youtube" key="Ku5SnipJyk4" height="315" width="560"


 * Haere Mai Song - Welcome to the Island **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">media type="youtube" key="frHBASw1TDE" height="315" width="560"


 * Making Our Tapa Designs **


 * 1) First we looked at traditional tapa designs from the polynesian islands like Samoa Rarotonga . We found they were symmetrical. They are made with Mulberry trees and beaten with a club into cloth. They are natural colours like brown, black, tan and redish brown.
 * 2) We copied the traditional tapa designs using crayon and indian ink.
 * 3) Next we made our own tapa with symbols of ourselves like fish hooks, rugby balls, mountains, and trees.
 * 4) We also made class tapas and we decided to use blue ,black and white. Everyone had a different tapa design but we had all the same colours. We are the same class but different people.
 * 5) Finally we decided to do fluorescent tapas for the Blue Tiki Lounge

Hello everyone Mr Brown here! Thanks SO much for the emails. It really made my day to hear from you. Now to answer some questions. I am in Room 209 at the moment. My favourite ride was 'Splash Mountain' at Disneyland and yes, Mr Petrie does snore sometimes!!!!
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17.27272605895996px;">Week 1 **

Right now we are in San Francisco. It's a nice city. We are talking to the people at Apple computers for two day which is really interesting. They have lots of cool apps that you can use on the iPad. Some really good ones for learning. Today everyone got an iPad to use (not to keep) and there was no paper used. I have made you a little movie on an app called 'Explain Everthing'

Well, have a great weekend and I will see you next week!

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