Science Box Experiments

It's not every day you have a scientist visits your class. An actual scientist in an actual white lab coat!
Shalini Guleria from Waikato University brought along a science box with different experiments for us to try. She talked about her job as a scientist before we conducted the experiments in groups.
One experiment used a balloon to bend the flow of water from a tap. Another used a magnet to magnetize a nail and pick up other metal objects. She also showed us an empty aluminium can trick and how to balance it on its edge. Cool as!
We are buzzing about science experiments and would love to do some more. Thanks Shalini!

Pirongia Forest Park Lodge Camp

It was a fantastic camp! The weather treated us so kindly and the activities were a blast!
The view from Ruapane (723m) was incredible!
The tramp really challenged some of us and we had to show resilience and perseverance.
The flying fox was a thrilling ride. We whizzed across the valley with the ferns and bush flying by.
The climbing wall also challenged us and many of us made it to the top!
Top team on the final day was all about teamwork and co-operation. The water fight at the end helped cool us down.
All up, camp at Pirongia was a blast :)

Cycling NZ Sessions

What a great time we had learning skills on our bicycles with the help of Cycling NZ.
Some of the activities included riding along a narrow strip, holding out our hand to high five a partner and the slow race.
On Friday evening, some of us were able to use our skills at the school roller disco.

Wallace Corporation Big Day Out

Te Whare Ruru put in a huge effort by planting over 400 native plants at the Wallace Corporation.

It is part of the riparian planting (streams and waterways) that has been ongoing since 2012. We had the assistance of Beccy from Enviroschools; Shalini, Hilton and staff from Wallace Corporation; parent helpers from Tatuanui.

We were pretty exhausted that afternoon back at school! Great job Te Whare Ruru!

Assembly Time

On Friday our class presented the assembly. We began with our musical learning around beat and rhythm. We used Djembe drums for Zum Gali Gali and drumsticks and buckets for Rad Rhythm 'The Exam'.
We shared about the iceberg illusion whereby the floating part of the iceberg is the success people see but below the waterline is the 90% of what people don't see such as perseverance, failure, sacrifice, hard work etc.
We shared our moving image artwork. We shared a bucket filling story along with pictures from the storybook by Carol McCloud.


Assembly Video

Piako Cultural Festival

Last week a number of our class participated in the Piako Cultural Festival hosted by Morrinsville Intermediate School. We were very proud of our performance and enjoyed dressing in our kapa haka costumes. We performed to the rest of Tatuanui School the day before the Festival (see photo).

Moving Image Art

We chose an image that showed movement. We translated the shape and included the colours of the rainbow - the mnemonic ROY G BIV   Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet.

Daily Huff 'n' Puff

Currently we are making great use of the court area with relay type fitness. It is also a chance for us to practise our skills of dribbling, passing, rolling and of course - teamwork!

Robots in the Classroom

We recently had a visit from Warren from Sitech. He showed us Bee-Bot and Blue-Bot and how to programme these small robots to follow a set of instructions. We were all pretty keen to have a go ourselves! Here is a group of us trying to instruct Blue-Bot through a maze we created.

Shrack

The re-use of a wooden palette to hold our class footwear.
Combine shoe and rack and you get "Shrack"

FEIJOA SMOOTHIES @ CAFE RURU

What could we do with all these feijoas falling from our fruit trees and rotting on the ground? Start a one day business - that's what!
So the Ruru Cafe' was born and we set to trying out our own recipes. Large fruit, small fruit, over ripe under ripe, skin on, carbonated, non-carbonated, ice cubed, and so on.
Advertising done - thanks for designing up Abby and Liam.
On the day we had 54 orders - all a $1 each.
What a huge team effort!
Sadly Mr H's blender started smoking at the end. R.I.P nutrifusion.

#GET NZ WRITING

Our class exchanged a writing project with Shotover Primary in Queenstown. Their school is near the Remarkables mountain range and close to the Kawarau River.
The writing challenges included a metaphor on a postcard, recording 6 words we liked the sound of, an 8 lettered word in braille and 4 better words for  'a lot'.
We loved getting their writing package and hope they enjoy the one we have sent them.

Tauhei Marae

We stayed overnight at Tauhei Marae. We were welcomed on with a powhiri. Ben did a whaikorero (speech). We sang songs (waiata). Also activities were stick games, flax weaving, poi and preparing food (kai) for a hangi.
See Maia covering the hangi with soil. The heat was intense!
We walked up a local hill called Pukemokemoke, which means lonely hill.
It was a very cool experience to be part of.

Swim to Survive

Life jackets in the school pool. Getting used to fitting them - which fit snuggly and which don't.
Helping each other out with sculling through the water and practising relaxing and floating.
All in preparation for next weeks trip to Bowentown Beach.

Class of 2018

So we begin another school year with new learning journeys to unfold!
We are an enthusiastic class of 29 Year 4, 5 & 6 students.