Totara Wearable Arts

During the first three weeks of the term, the Totara team are designing their Wearable Arts costumes.  They have come up with a design and their theme is Yin and Yang - so their designs have had to be based on opposites e.g rich and poor, land and water.

The children are having a great time and working collaboratively together, which at times can be a challenge but they are keeping a growth mindset!

Anti Bullying Campaign

Anti Bullying Poems - by Tiwai East

Words Hurt - By Jack Brown

They make you feel worthless and small

Whilst they stand big and tall

They try to control you, get in your head

They say words that should never be said

You try to stop them, but it never works

Everything they say really does hurt

In your head they always are

They stop you from keeping on going like road tar

A friend is the only thing you want

But, the bully's are always there to haunt

They make you feel like clay

They build you up then ruin your day

Bad hate they keep on sending

In a bully's life it's really trending

They bend your mind, keep bending and bending

After all this it might not be a happy ending

Words Hurt - By Fiona Xu

You know what you say
Might hurt someone else
So think before you speak
It will help a lot

When your having fun
Others are in pain
They can fake a smile
But certainly not a heart

Once you say something mean
It takes time to heal
Don't do it in the first place
And apologise if you do

You don't know what they've been through
Everyday they wake up, hope they don't exist
All they need is a friend
And that friend can be you.

Words Hurt - By Brooke Holland

Walking through the darkness,
As we speak,
Wanting to jump off the highest peak,
It's not okay.

They feel alone while trapped in a dome,
Bullies make you feel like not wanting to be alive,
We need to help them strive.

Enough should be enough,
But that's not what bullies think,
Lets all stand together in pink.

Anti Bullying Campaign

Over the past two weeks we have been doing some focus learning around Anti-Bullying.

Here are some poems some Tiwai East students wrote:

Day By Day - By Thomas Brocherie

Day by day,

They need a friend.

While you come,

And make their lives want to end.

It could be on the internet,

Or in the playground,

Calling them names,

Making them feel down.

Put yourself in their shoes,

Being called ugly every day.

Certainly,

I don't think you'd find that okay.

If you do,

Make a mistake.

I'm sure they'll let you have,

Another take.

Day by day

You'll be their friend.

No one will come

And make their lives want to end.

Words Are No Joke - By Isla 

Day by day your treated like dirt 

Because the truth really does quite hurt.

Words hurt if drowned fear but don't

Forget your friends are here.

Most days you try to stay but others

You want to fade away. 

Punches are one thing words are another 

They make you want to scream and stutter.

You've acted tough

But enough is enough.

All they need is one true friend 

Before they want to reach their end. 

Words Hurt - By Billie-Jo 

Bullying is not okay,

But all the words they lay.

With all your words that overload,

Their heads might explode.

Words hit like knifes,

It changes lives.

All they want is to disappear,

And when the end is near.

Remember life isn't a movie 

Don't end it,

It may feel like drowning in a pit.

But you are stronger than you think.

Waipara Camp - Room 21, 22, 23

During Week 5, we had a superb time on camp at Waipara.  There were lots of students who pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and showed a lot of 'bravery' during a number of activities.

We were extremely fortunate that we had an amazing bunch of parents who supported us.  We are very grateful to Mr Hendo who stayed on for the entire week to support Mrs Gilmore and Miss Hurley.

Just like Room 18, 19, 20, we were fortunate to take part in a number of activities across the three days, starting with a long river walk and then some free time on the first day.  We then had a Quiz and a Wearable Arts competition.
On Tuesday we had a full day of rotations which included Water Slide/Flying Fox, Giant Swing, Flying Kiwi, Raft Building, Kayaking, Confidence Course and Tree Climbing and then we did the Blind Trail at night.
On Wednesday, we continued with the rotations and ended with a yummy lunch.  It was a fabulous time had by all.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible!

Swimming Sports Fun!

On Friday 8th February, Hinau and Totara made their way down to the Kaiapoi Aquatic Centre to take part in the KNS annual Swimming Sports.

There was a lot of participation, many close races and lots of people being brave!  It was awesome to hear and see the great sportsmanship being shown both in and out of the pool.

Congratulations to all of our students who got involved, we are proud of you all!

Our C Grade Swimmers having a blast with Mrs McCarthy and Mrs Hunter

Bike Safety

This week, we worked with Constable Ken on learning some essentials for keeping safe on our bikes.

Unfortunately, the weather has been very up and down and not all groups were able to jump on their bikes and get outside.

We did however, all learn about safely fitting our helmets, road rules and laws, and how to check our bikes before riding them.

Production!

Little Red Rockinghood was a hit! We are so proud of every one for their full participation in this wonderful show.

Beeswax Wraps

On Friday we had Lesley Ottey come in to take a group of students through the process of making Beeswax wraps.

Technology Open Day!

Great to have so many parents come through the technology enter today to see what our students have been doing!

Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori - Tiwai West

In Tiwai West, we celebrated Maori language week last week by integrating Maori language into our classroom activities.
We began the week on Monday by looking at different Maori myths and legends in small groups for reading. Each group read the story and then had to act it out in the group.
For PE we looked at traditional Maori games such as rakau, poi and taiaha. We learnt about the tikanga surrounding these activities and had a go at doing them.
For writing each class read one of the Maori myths and legends and then had to retell the story in their own words and change one part of the story.
Room 18 read Maui and the big fish.

Here is Lucy's story where she has changed the ending of the original myth...

Once upon a time there was a strong Maori warrior called Maui. He had 4 foster brothers, thery were all jealous of him. One night while Maui was sleeping his 4 brothers planned to go fishing the next morning. Little did they know that Maui could hear them. Maui woke up early the next morning and went to hide in the waka and waited for his brothers. The brothers set off to go and find a nice fishing spot. Once they had found one Maui wasn't satisfied so he jumped up and startled his brothers. Maui grabbed a paddle and started rowing. The brothers started to get tired and begged Maui to stop. Maui being Maui, he rowed through the night following the light that the moon provided in search for the best fishing spot. The next morning the brothers weren't happy so as revenge they did not give Maui any bait, so Maui cut his nose with his fish hook and smeared blood all over it. Flinging the hook around his head like a helicopter he chucked it as far as he could. The hook had caught onto something big. Maui yanked and yanked his rope in hope that it would float to the top. He used all his strength to pull it up but the boat started to go on a lean. Maui gave it one last pull and the boat tipped over and the land rose. It caught the brothers, but they had no way of getting home. Today we know that land as the North Island.


We enjoyed celebrating Maori Language week and exploring different Maori activities within our programme.

Swimming!

Tōtara has rocked at swimming lessons at the Kaiapoi Aquatic Center over the last two weeks. The weather held up for us and we enjoyed walking to and from the pools each day. We are thankful for the opportunity to be able to improve our swimming skills during school time. Even some of our teachers have enjoyed getting the pool!

Check out these photos.. Please note, no teachers were harmed in the making of this video! The acting here is Shortland street worthy 😀

Te wiki o Te Reo Māori - Tiwai East

Tiwai East Update!

Kia ora!

This week our students have been celebrating Māori language and culture in many ways. Throughout term 3, we have been learning Māori games such as poi, mau rakau and taiaha. Here are some videos of some of our students playing these games and experimenting with movement:

We completed a fun activity called Poi E eye spy. We watched the 1960's music video for Poi E and tried to find all the words listed. Can you do the same?

Many of our students entered the school Māori language colouring-in competition. Ka pai to everyone who had a go. The winners from our team were Kirsten and Flynn.

Through the term, we've been learning Māori language around "Nga tau" - numbers and the calendar. Our students have created a calendar page for their birth month using te reo Maori. They finished these this week.