Kapa haka: Tōia mai

Tōia mai te waka nei
Kūmea mai te waka nei
Ki te takotoranga i takoto ai
Tiriti te mana motuhake

Te tangi a te manu e
Pīpī-wha-rau-roa
Kūi! Kūi! Kūi!
Whitiwhiti ora!
Hui e, tāiki e.

Haul this canoe
drag the canoe up here
to its resting place;
the Treaty gives us our autonomy.

May the cry of the bird,
the shining cuckoo
- Quee! Quee! Quee! -
signal a change for the better.
Draw together, become intertwined!

Enviro Group Wrap up for Zealandia

                                              Wow, what an amazing leak!

Last week we showed Karin Stillberg from Zealandia around the school site and she was pretty impressed by all of the work we have done.  She has asked that we write an article for the Zealandia magazine December issue about the journey we have been on.  Zach and the team have drummed something up so keep an eye out for their article.
We found it satisfying to explain to Karin the many different things we have been involved in and how it all fits together as we look towards a sustainable future.
It's true though that the work never stops!  We have taken on clearing the bank of Old Man's Beard, a massive job.  Thanks to our Weeding Warriors for not being overcome or daunted by this task.

The Beetroot Harvest!                                    

These guys are not the Weeding Warriors but the Beetroot Harvesters.  The Weeding Warriors were weeding of course.

Acceptable Use of Technologies Agreement and Staying Safe Online

We have been coming back to our Acceptable Use of Technologies Agreement. A major focus that underlies everything is digital citizenship. Students have taken home the WBS Acceptable Use of Technologies in the past, this was developed by students and teachers. Safety is paramount and we take this very seriously. 

The use of technology is a tool to help us to meet our strategic goals of educating for the future, providing rich and powerful learning opportunities and connecting learners.

Acceptable Use of Technology Agreement:

My School Values:

Respect ourselves

Respect each other

Respect the environment


The same values apply when I am online and when using the school’s technologies.

Some ways in which I can show what this looks like when using school technologies include:

Respect ourselves

I make sure that there is an adult in the room when online

I report anything to an adult that makes me feel uncomfortable

I look after my body and mind

Respect each other

I make comments in a positive, friendly way

I use manners

I support others in their learning

Respect the environment

I take turns when sharing technology

I treat all technologies with respect and care

I use technology as a learning tool, not as a toy

Our Digital Technologies Student Council Group have been making movies to share with others about the technologies agreement and the importance of our school value: Respect.

Mitchell: Technology and how to use it

When we use technology we need to stay safe online. Our main rules when we are on a chromebook is to show respect/ manaakitanga to others online, show respect to yourself online and respect the environment online. By showing respect online we need to listen to the teacher and do what they say we can do online. If there is not an adult in the room then we have to stay off of a computer or iPad. We also need to respect the iPad or computer that we are using and if it needs charge you need to take it to the charging station or safe and be responsible for putting it on charge at the station or safe.

Nell: 

Never tell anyone except your parents or other family members you trust your password. Remember that if you put something on the internet or YouTube it stays there forever. Your device is your own responsibility and if it gets broken or damaged it isn’t somebody else’s fault because you have to look after it and keep it safe the whole time. Don’t change your background or font in learning or school time. Always know where your device is and make sure you have a case or some sort of protection. Remember that your teacher can see your history and can disable your account.

Finlay: Technology 

I will respect iPads and chromebooks and the other stuff in the school. I will stay on task and not go on a different things on my chromebook like looking at random pictures online. I will not send emails while I’m meant to be learning. I will not use Add-ons on my documents like magic rainbow unicorns. I will not spend lots of time changing fonts I don’t normally use. I will only go onto school related things that I'm meant to do. I will on watch youtube and other websites only If I’m at home. I will only send positive emails to people.

Beach Week timetable!

We introduce the much anticipated..... BEACH WEEK 2018 PROGRAMME!

This is subject to change due to weather and many other reasons :-)
We would love any parent help that is available as it means we can get more kids doing more activities at any time. Email your child's base group teacher if you can come!

Beach Activities include:

- Swimming

- Playing at the beach/sport

- Weeding of the dunes

- 3rd places arts project

Equipment Needed

Beach Activities: Swimming gear, Towel, (boogie boards, wetsuits, beach shoes all optional), Hat, Lunch,
Water, Sunscreen

EOTC Activities: Running Shoes, Hat, Lunch, Water, Sunscreen

Pedal Ready: Bike (email Gabrielle if you don’t have one), Helmet, covered shoes, Hat, Lunch, Water,
Sunscreen

Pedal Ready (Y6 only)
Group 1 (Wed/Thurs) -
Isabel, Orla, Yasmin, Molly, Mia, Maddie, Greer W, Milla, Alba

Group 2 (Wed/Thurs) -

Daisy, Charlotte Ban, Edie, Steph, Eleanor, Jan, Ollie H, Ben, Peter, Greer T

Group 3 (Fri/Mon) -
Alex, Flynn, Nick, Jessie, Henry, Oscar, Luca, Zach, Max

Poetry and Fish’n’Chips 4th of December

Calling all Poets, Calling all performers

Performers at a previous poetry evening.

We are planning a low key celebration to wrap a year of fabulous learning.  On the evening of Tuesday the 4th of December, from 6:00 until 7:00 we will be sharing poems and songs performed by the Bards of Mahutonga Matariki.
Come and be entertained, amused, moved (to tears?) as you eat you Fish'n'Chips or what ever Healthy food option you might choose as an alternative.
We realise it is a busy time of the year and that some of you will have your diaries full already so we want to make it clear that this is a low pressure event. Join us if you can! Because it will be great!
Below is a taste of one of the poetic morsels on offer.

Planet  by Henry

Coal is smelting

The icebergs are melting

As mother nature

Cries in despair

Penguins glare

Their voices flare

With obvious fear

Yet you cannot hear

Over the long quaking

Sending teacups shaking

You’re only now waking

It lands with a ‘thup’

As the mushroom cloud goes up

And leaves a lump

Of buildings knocked down

Roofs flipped around

People being found

Sirens surround………...

Once Upon a Crime: Capital E

This week, we went to Capital E to make a movie. We all took on different roles to make this happen.

Molly: 

My role for Capital E was the Assistant Weather Presenter. We got videoed and what we had to say would come up on camera one. This role was easier than others because we didn't have to remember anything. First we chose our costumes and then we would wait for our cue to go on. When Beauty and the Beast was just finishing, then the presenters will say their part. Next the camera will turn to us. Yasmin started reading and then she would hand it to me. I would read my part then I hand it to Yasmin again. At the end we said together "good day to you all and back to the studio with Nell and Orla."

Orla: 

This week, we went to Capital E. We had different roles that we got assigned. I was one of the presenters. We had so many lines but luckily there was a autocue machine so we didn’t have to memorise them. We did 2 run throughs. We made it like it was on live TV so if we messed up we couldn’t stop and re-make the part. We had lots of fun. The people who began the scenes did such a good job at keeping the people in the show on track. They had lots of controls, headsets and lots more because they needed to stay in contact. Otherwise things would happen at the wrong time and place. We had so much fun and made a really cool movie. 

#Watch this space- we will post the other 2 movies when we have permission to upload these to YouTube.

City Gallery Visit: From Scratch 555 Moons

Orla: 

On Monday while one group was at Capital E the other was at the City Gallery. We saw an exhibition called From scratch: 555 moons. It was about a band who made all their instruments themselves they made them out of every day items.

Nell and Emelia: 

This week, we went to the City Gallery. Here we went to a exhibition called "from scratch: 555 moons." The reason it was called this is because it was focused on a band called From Scratch and it was all about their music. It was called 555 moons because it has been 555 moon cycles since they have formed. The band is called From Scratch because they make their instruments from scratch using every day materials. They also let everybody join their band even if they don't have a musical talent. For instance one of them was a geologist, another was an architect.  The cool thing about this band is that they play in a position of a symbol that represents their music, such as at one time they put their instruments in the position of a peace sign, because their song was protesting against testing nuclear bombs on Pacific Islands. One of their songs is called Pacific Plate. We went tried out some of the instruments and they sounded amazing.

This is the Rugby Celebration Sculpture near the City Gallery

What packaging is on our lunch boxes?

Today we did a mini Statistical Inquiry, asking the question:
What packaging do we have in our lunch boxes? 

We found out that most people bring things that are compostable or not in any packaging. The next most popular packaging was for the landfill. 

We then discussed about how this effects our rubbish system at school and if anything needs to change.

We came to these conclusions

* we should have a bigger compost bin that students are responsible for emptying

* we need to understand what parts of our lunch box can go in to each bin 

* it would be great if we talked to other areas of the school and saw if they had the same packaging in their lunch boxes

We also found a GIANT strawberry in a lunchbox!

Incredible weather for Student Council

What a stunning day we had of Student Council today!

ENVIRO GROUP: Today we did some weeding down the bank, watered many of the plants - including our own thriving vegetable garden and used the resources the Bush Builders team from the Zoo gave us. It was a beautiful afternoon out in the sun!

PALS: We had such a great time leading games over the last 2 weeks for anyone to join in at lunch time that we decided we would organise some more! However, this time, we wanted to make them all active. Today at Student Council, we all invented our own sports games in groups. All of the games were unique and creative, using a wide range of different sports gears for different and interesting purposes! We tested them out with each other so that they are ready for next week.

Each day different groups of PALS will be playing their games from 1.10pm when the music goes on. Make sure your there!

ICT GROUP: The ICT group are working on projects and making workshops to help others with technology and ICT.

Library Group: The students below are helping to sort books.

Break down time

In maths we have been looking at how long different items take to break down and drawing timelines to show this. There have been some surprising results, like a computer takes 1,000,000-2,000,000 years to break down and a plastic bag 500-1,000 years.



We have also reflected on this and how we can do things differently given what we've learned. We looked at things our whanau did at the fair to have less plastic rubbish and were grateful for the steps they took to look after our environment. We did some quick writes about these.






Quick writes

Plastic
Why is plastic free peninsula a good idea? Because it is helping the environment stay clean and reduce the amount of plastic in the world that will reduce the amount in the sea. Every individual needs to change the amount of plastic they and the world are using because otherwise the world for the next generations will not survive the world with the toxic fumes and plastic which can kill you. I believe that we can help and pick u the amount of rubbish in the world we need to think as a world to put the rubbish in a safe place for everyone not just distribute the rubbish everywhere we can make that one place safe and help save the world. We need a way to clean the oceans and a safe place to put it. Singapore has a law for not littering and it is a very clean place.
WE NEED TO KEEP THE WORLD CLEAN!!!
By Orla


Why is plastic free peninsula a good idea? Plastic free peninsula is a good idea because less bird, sea animals and ect won’t die thinking that plastic is food that they can eat. Some people are doing these things that there saying that there not going to use plastic it a store or something, like new world said that next year they are not going to use plastic bags and instead you bring your own reusable bag otherwise you have to carry your food or things to the car with no bag. Lots of people are taking plastic free peninsula very serious so then they do something to help the world. Here a fact in Singapore if you litter or drop plastic and leave it on the ground you could get locked up so that’s why Singapore is very clean. These are some of the reasons why I think plastic free peninsula is a good idea.
By Eva


Because plastic is making animals sick because the are eating plastic bits which kills them because they can't get treated, but another bad thing is that we end up eating the fish that have little plastic bits which is GROSS! But on the positive side at the Worser bay school fair we didn't use plastic bags in the clothing area, instead we used paper bags and a lot of people brought their own bags. And we used paper plates, cups, bowls. And we sorted out the rubbish into bins like Plastic, recycling and paper. And in Singapore there is a law that you can't litter and you can be locked up!! Done Done Done! SO DON'T LITTER!!!
By Daisy


Quick write Plastic Why is plastic free peninsular a good idea? I think/believe that if we didn’t have plastic free peninsular we wouldn’t have as much creatures like seagulls, fish and whales there are over 3 massive islands that are filled with plastic all together it is about the same size as Australia and 50 years ago all that wasn’t there. In Singapore your not allowed to litter and if you do you you will get locked up.
By Maddie

Where we Dance! Interpreting the Statistics.

Where we Dance! Interpreting the Statistics.

This was really interesting to start our Inquiry because we found out a lot of information from a simple survey.  The key findings after we analysed the data were:

• Most kids feel pretty safe in their neighbourhood our community
• The majority of kids know their neighbours, at least one or two houses
• Many kids are driven around the neighbourhood
• Most would prefer to walk, scooter or bike

The main purpose of the survey was to find out what 3rd places are used by kids.  It was interesting to note that the beach and parks are popular but that many kids said they don't have any other 3rd places at all.

We are looking at trying to develop connection points in the community; places for kids to meet informally (bumpy places), places they might want to stay in and return to (sticky places).  We think that children should be encouraged to play together and find each other in these places.  The more they do this, the safer the neighbourhood!

What ideas do you have? Please leave a comment.

Inviting our neighbours to the fair!

We know that the fair is an extremely important event in our calendars. We appreciate all of the families and whanau that help to make the fair happen.

On Wednesday afternoon, we made invitation cards that we can drop off at neighbours and friends to personally invite them to the fair.

We explained
- WHY the fair is awesome (!!!)
- HOW our family is involved in the fair
- WHY people simply won't survive if they don't come

We hope to see everyone there!

I am connected! Playing Monopoly at Lunchtime

As part of our PALs, different students have been leading activities.

Matthias and James lead games of Monopoly outside on Wednesday.
It was awesome to see lots of different people come to play and be connected with each other.

Where we Dance: Community Groups

Where we Dance!

Our focus Learner Attribute this term is 'I am Connected' so we have been thinking about the places outside of home and work where we meet and play.  We are interested in the idea that some people belong to different groups within the community.  We have asked the question, who are those groups and where do those groups meet?

This brainstorm captures some of our first ideas.

These kids belong to Miramar Rangers, one of the really popular groups for our students.  Can you see any familiar faces?
We have begun mapping these groups so that we can better understand who we are connected to.

Where we Dance: Third Places

Elinor came to talk to us about her project. This was the beginning of our own Inquiry entitled, "Where We Dance." This was the hook to get us thinking and asking questions...

Elinor is interested in urban design. Urban design is the planning of towns and cities. It is not the architecture of buildings, but the spaces around them and how to organise things like transport and housing.

Some questions that urban designers ask would be: 

How do people travel around? 

Is it by car or bus or walking?
How does where people live and where they go to work or do other activities shape their choice of transport?
What transport choices are available?
How do the physical characteristics of a place shape how people use it?

Sustainability and environment are also important in urban design.

Social Cohesion

Social means society or the group of people that you live with. Cohesion means togetherness or connection, if you write a story then you want the different parts to work together to make a coherent story. Social cohesion means how much a group of people are willing to work together as a group or cooperate, to follow the same rules, share values and work towards the same goals.

Social capital is the resources that come out of people working together or social cohesion. In some societies social cohesion is so low that the people don’t have things that we take for granted. For example, places that are experiencing war, don’t have safety, roads, school...

Think about whether your class is socially cohesive and whether you use social capital. Being able to go to the beach is an example. This is an awesome resource that is looked after by our community, by doing beach clean ups and  planting there, you can use it as part of the school because you follow the rules down there. Rules include not going in the water, or running off or leaving it covered in rubbish.

Living in a society that has high levels of social cohesion and social capital means that you have a better quality of life. This leads to better health and well being and more options of what to do in life.

There are some people who say that if children are able to get around a city by themselves then it means that the city is well designed and inclusive for everyone who lives there, and it probably means that it is well designed in terms of environmental sustainability too. However, in New Zealand the amount of travel children do by themselves is decreasing and this means that there are more trips made by car, with parents driving their kids around. Elinor is interested in finding out about the things that might make children who live in suburbs more active - for example walking or biking to school more often.

Social Resilience

Social resilience is the ability for a social group to cope with adversity. An example of social resilience is after the Christchurch earthquake the Student Volunteer Army got together and helped the community. After the Kaikoura Earthquake the community at Takahanga Marae fed people who were affected by the earthquake. The Marae was better equipped to respond to the people who were affected by these disasters than the government was.

Cultural Sustainability

Cultural Sustainability means thinking about the cultures and traditions of the place that we live in. It means how much they are still used now and how they might be conserved or used more in the future. This might be linked with indigenous culture or of the beliefs and practices that have developed within a group. 

More than Human... 

"More than human" thinking is similar to cultural sustainability. It involves thinking about what has been here in the past and what could be here in the future. The emphasis is on plants, animals and ecosystems and how these things can all exist together in an urban environment. In Wellington we are lucky because the city is compact. It takes up a smallish space so we can get out into nature fairly easily. There are still plenty of things we could do to make life easier for other species to live in the city. Sometimes this can be a bit of a problem if roots or animal behaviour isn’t compatible with human life.

So how can we go about building these things, what are the foundations we need?

Inclusivity, equality, safety, democracy or shared decision making, having everyone - and everything!- represented in our society.

Third Place

One sociologist who has done some thinking about this talked about something that he had noticed and called it third place. Third places are... not your first place, which is home, or your second place which is work or school. They are ...These places are similar to ‘sticky places’ or ‘bumping places’ which are spaces that make people hang around or bump into each other. Sometimes urban designers add them in their designs, so that people living in or using the same area can have a chance to meet and maybe get to know each other. Sometimes they just happen. 

Third Places should be: 

• Inclusive
• Public
• Friendly or social
• Comfortable to hang out 
• New experiences
• Interesting or fun!
• Support independence

Worser Bay beach is a third place because you will probably see friends there or at least find some other kids to play with. 

Elinor told us about the project that she is working on and will be helping us with our Inquiry. Our students have been thinking about the spaces in our community. Here are questions that we have been considering.

How do you feel about third places now?

How do you use them?

What do you think is missing?

What do you think that other people would like or use?

How can we make them better?

What does better mean to us?

Football Skills with Team Wellington

On Fridays we have been learning football skills with Team Wellington. We are very grateful to have this opportunity. 

Team Wellington are kindly sharing their knowledge and skills with us. It is a great opportunity for us to work with different people at school and build on our large ball skills at the same time.

Personification Poem by Theo and Liam

The game of football As the Game kicked off the Ball rolled around the pitch tirelessly.

Not knowing where he was, 

he soard happily right across the other side of the pitch 

and was smashed hard into the back of the net...hard. 

Arrrrrrgh!!!!!!!!!That hurt!

Football by Max

The football whizzed into the goal, 

The crowd shouted cheerily, 

as the ball flew back to the middle, 

Smiling as it went. 

The whistle blew the ball flung to the other side of the pitch 

As the player headed into the top right corner of the goal.

Experts helping the coaches to work with the younger students.

Lunchtime PALS, what a success!

If it is a rainy day there is a group of PALS that can come into Tautoru and Autahi to entertain them.
Recently it has been sunny so another group of PALS have been organising games outside to play
with everybody. These past few weeks have been really successful with everybody enjoying their lunch
and morning tea.

On Monday we did jump jam with Gina, Talia and Maddie in the courtyard, Tuesday we played stuck in
the mud and fishy swim with Caleb, Ella and Nuala on the top grass.

On Wednesday the Computer Club thrived, and on Thursday Football happened!

We look forward to Friday where Alex, Flynn, Henry and Oscar are organising a game of Capture the
Flag. As well as this, Matthias has been organising a fun game of Monopoly at lunch in the Library.

This has been a great opportunity for leaders to step up, and for connections to be made between kids
in Autahi, Tautoru and Mahutonga/Matariki. We are connected!

By Daisy and Greer T 

Wow, so many people playing Football!

Jump Jam on Monday