Kōkōkaha – Powered by Wind

We have been grateful to be part of the "Have a go" sailing programme run by Worser Bay Boating Club. The sailing was facilitated by Yachting New Zealand qualified kaiako.

Tui: Sailing is a fun activity that involves bravery, grit and most of all having fun. On our first turn we could only get about a metre from where we started and that was when I was controlling the rudder (The turny bit). But when I was the person doing the accelerating (by pulling a rope thingy), we went much further and had a great time. So after that we were really keen on sailing but we still were nervous about going far out. So that explains why you need bravery. Why you need grit is because it’s WAY harder than it looks, especially on your first try!!!

Soma: Sailing was so fun but when you come to big waves and big gusts of wind, it wasn't pleasant. I wish we could do it more, even though I thought it was scary enough to do it once. Thank you teachers for organising this wonderful experience for us.

Amber: I used lots of character strengths to even have the strength to get onto the boat. I was very nervous before but then it turned out that I didn't need to worry at all until we started spinning and almost capsized. But that ended up being fun. Me and my partner Greer did really well!

Samuel: I felt nervous before I went sailing. While sailing it got really rough. I still felt nervous. I used Grit to get through it. I even went again for the second time. It was fun!

Olive: Sailing was kind of fun. There was a lot of yelling on our boat. Mostly because when I accidentally steered us out to deep and then we got stuck in the swell. To make things worse, my partner got hit on the head by the swinging crossbar and couldn’t control our speed, which was terrible when we started to tip over. Basically, when you start to tip, you need your partner controlling the speed to be able to slow you down. Thankfully the wind holding us up dropped and we came crashing back into the water. One little thing. WE WERE STILL STUCK IN THE SWELL!!! I called the rescue/coaching boat over and they towed us back to shore. That was our second run. Our first run was pretty much the same, except I didn’t get struck in the head by the crossbar. And we didn’t get towed back to shore. Instead of getting towed, the coaches yelled at us and we eventually got back to shore using their advice. We had to use a lot of verbal connection and perseverance to stop us from capsizing. Thankfully my partner was OK and so was I. I think we were just a little shaken up, that’s all.

Charlie: Sailing was really fun because the waves were huge. Getting in was more dramatic than it should have been, mainly because me and Luca tried to take it in and it get on being swept out so we were holding onto it for dear life and then we got 2 more people to help us and it turned into a rescue. But apart from it was quite nice. we did 360's in 1 second flat and we nearly capsized about 6 times. But thats all the exciting stuff we did.

Food Glorious Food!

 We have been having a go at preserving food ourselves, preparing things for our food festival on Thursday the 8th of December. 

Liora's group are making ginger beer while others have made sauerkraut, artichoke hearts from the garden and we even had a go at making mozzarella! Well, we might have overcooked the cheese but we'll try again.

This group are drying or dehydrating fruit and vegetables.

It' s great hands-on learning and the best part is, we'll be able to eat it all!

I am Powerful

Our Learner Attribute this term is "I am Powerful." 

Students are receiving Principal Awards for being powerful... 

But, what does that look like? and how can you be a powerful learner? 

We are working hard to overcome challenges at Bootcamp

Being Powerful is overcoming challenges.

We are excited about our learning in Kapa Haka. Learning rakau is challenging!

Being Powerful is being excited about learning.

We are challenging ourselves in our whānau group

Being Powerful is challenging yourself.

Being Powerful is knowing that sometimes not knowing is good!

We have been planting, growing, harvesting in our environment. We are making pesto!

Being Powerful is making decisions about your environment.

We are sharing our learning from our "Do good, feel good" Inquiry. We are thinking about we can affect change.

Being Powerful is taking action.

Being Powerful at Basketball training!

Being Powerful is about not giving up!

Eastern Zones Athletics

We had an awesome time at Eastern Zone Athletics on Wednesday. We all had to dial up our Grit! 

Thank you to our wonderful parent community for helping us with this event.

Year 6 Tramp

 "We walked up the hill, the sun was blazing down on our heads, the insects came out and the fantails fluttered and played. Above, the Tui squawked from the nearby tree.
After about 2 hours, we reached the hut and we ran into the Kea room excitedly and started setting up our sleeping bags. As the kids chatted about the lyrics we made on the walk of a little bit of a version of the wheels on the bus go round and round. It didn't really sound like that, it sounded more like; "the John on the bus goes yell yell yell." - Ella

"So the first week of Term 4, the year 6’s got to go on a super fun tramp at the Orongorongos.  We walked to Turere Lodge and got there around 1:30, me and my friend were at the front for most of the way there and back. The floor was so slippery that we slid along the hallway and were nearly tripping over each other!  We went to a swimming hole which I didn’t really go in but it was freezing because I went up to my waist!  I loved it, it was so fun!!!" - Nina

"We walked up the hill and the sun was shining down. people were slowly snacking on sweets. There were lots of birds flying around.

We walked along the track singing our own version of the wheels on the bus which sounded a bit like this: the john on the bus goes yell yell yell and we were singing a lot of the way.

We stopped at Midway bridge for a snack. After 2 hours of walking we arrived at Turere Lodge everyone excitedly ran to their cabins.

We all played together and went down to the swimming hole which my friends and I had discovered when we went on a tramp for one of our birthdays. We also played ultimate frisbee.

When we got back to the hut we roasted giant marshmallows " - Lisa

The History of Food: How cultural developments over time have changed the food we eat and how we process it.

 As part of our new Inquiry we have been exploring the history of food, how the way human development has changed what, and how we eat. 

                                Timeline of our first thoughts around human development and food.                        

Although we have just started work on this, here are some of the things we found out.

The Paleolithic era, a time of the hunter gatherers saw early hominids eating what they collected; fruit, berries, roots, fungi, grains and occasionally meat including small reptiles and insects. The main form of processing food was cooking using fire. Evidence suggests this began about 2.5 million years ago. As well as this some foods may have been preserved by fermenting, possibly burying it; drying or salting.

                Timeline after some research. 

About 10, 000 years ago the Neolithic era saw people begin to farm. They ceased to roam looking for food but cultivated crops (Horticulture) and began to keep animals (Pastoralism). 

We are going to keep exploring the technologies involved with processing and preparing foods including fermenting, salting and making cheese to preserve milk. 

We are going to learn more about how food is processed and prepared and then we want to have a celebration of food in which we bring and share food connected to us. Keep an eye out for details.

Green Day

We are getting into the garden again next Tuesday.  We will spread the compost we made a year ago in the garden beds after weeding. Convolvulus is the great enemy, spreading its prolific roots, creeping into view and the STRANGLING our plants.

After putting energy into preparing the beds we will plant some new seedlings and seeds. The Year 6 Students are leading this, leaving behind fertile and fruitful gardens for us to pick from next year. This is a great example of Positive Purpose as they engage in a task which will benefit the whole school community.

Please pick up an extra plant on your weekend visit to Bunnings to contribute to the gardens. We would love you to come and spend some time with us on Tuesday too, even if you can only spare ten minutes. As well as being a nice way to connect, with your help, we might actually get the job done!

And, the gardens will look great for the fair too!