Questions for Brindas School

Our friends at Brindas School made us a movie: http://cm1.galligani.eu/auroa-school/friends-2021-2022/

Dear Brindas School (CM2),

Thank you for your movie. We loved the way you used drama and dance!

We have some questions for you:

Tell us about your learning...
How are you doing with covid?
Do you have a uniform?
What do you like to eat?

Do you have a school canteen?  
Are you scared of your teachers?
Do you have a gym / physical education room?
Do you grow plants?
What do you like to do?
How long are your breaks during the school day?
Do you do writing?

Whats your favourite part about school?
What has been your greatest achievement?
What sports do you do?
Do you take classes to learn different languages?
What subjects do you learn?
What subjects do you like?
What subjects do you dislike?
What is your school like?
Are rats and mice pests in France?

What are you worried about? 

How do you feel about the future?

What are your favourite dinosaurs? 

Thank you, 

Māhutonga Matariki 

Hello friends from France!

We would like to say "Bonjour" to our friends in Brindas School in France. 

See their last message to us: http://cm1.galligani.eu/auroa-school/friends-2020-2021/

Bonjour friends!

How are you doing? We have just arrived back from Camp Kaitoke. We had a fun bus ride and got to watch a movie!

We did lots of fun activities such as a big zipline called the Super Fox, kayaking, abseiling, and crate stacking! We got to sleep in cabins and have meals in a big dining hall together.

We are having a Whanau Festival on the 28th of March. Our Whanau Festival will have fun and games, also food, dancing and music, we have been making Kowhaiwhai patterns (Maori patterns) to go with it and designed some posters to advertise.

We are very excited!

How have you been at school? Have you done much cool writing, reading or maths?

It’s really cool that you are learning English, we want to thank you for that. It’s fun being able to talk to your school all the way from New Zealand! Maybe we should start learning some French!

Did you guys have a good Christmas holiday?

We have been spending some time at the beach and once got to host another school!

We had a sandcastle competition and we also got to swim in the water!

We also have started a maths investigation.

What we did was pair up with a buddy and research a cultural pattern, then, we copied one and made our own one, after that, we put them on display.

While the year fives and sixes were at camp, the year fours made some awesome artwork of their Turangawaewae, inspired by the artist Heather Brown.

From Cleo and Mae

Bonjour Brindas School

Students at Brindas School have started their new school year. The students in CM2 have introduced themselves to us. They have made us a movie!  Please watch and make sure to comment on their blog: http://cm1.galligani.eu/auroa-school/friends-2020-2021/

We made some positive affirmation Art for our friends at Brindas School: 

Visualisation and Painting a Picture in the Reader's Mind

We have been thinking about the reading strategy of Visualisation. We have been linking this to writing and how we can paint a picture in the reader’s mind. We drew a picture plan of an alien then wrote descriptions. We sent the descriptions (not the picture plans) to students at Auroa School to see if we were able to paint a picture in the reader’s mind…

Sharing Our Poetry Writing With Brindas School

Our friends from Brindas School in France wished us a Happy New Year and made us a cool movie. You can watch their movie on their blog: http://cm1.galligani.eu/2019/01/28/good-new-school-year/

We thought that we would like to reply by sharing some poetry that we have written. 

Last night I saw the beach breathing. The waves splashing up and down the beach. The sand getting ripped up by the wind. The wood moving up and down on the swell. Last night I saw the beach laughing. The sea trickled away as it was tickled by the sand. The fish giggle as they play hide and seek. The shells laugh as the sea washes over them. Last night I saw the beach dancing. The sand was dancing up and down in the wind. The birds dive and hover looking for food. The sea puts on shows with its white-tips.

By Solly

By Leo 

I listen to the kid laughing and talking to each other. The waves crashing down onto rocks like an anvil, The sand is as soft as a pillow. I take a step into the water and instantly I feel like I have stepped onto a block of ice strait out of the freezer. I go deep down into the sparkling, clear blue water, as I dived down I saw the things that will be unforgettable when my journey comes to an end. The fish are like bursts of colour underwater but I only got a glimpse because it’s like I’m a shark trying to eat them. As I am swimming the seaweed clings onto me like I’m a monster, The fish pass by and they look horrified! Then my journey comes to an end, my head pops up out of the water and at that very moment I can taste the salt water and smell the fresh air.
By Eva

Wellington wind

Windy wellington

Tree swaying in the wind

Jerseys blowing in trees

Hats swaying in the wind

Cat strolling around

Dogs jumping in the wind

People rushing to work

Dark clouds moan  

People waiting through the water

The sun rises as leaves run across the pavement

As kids rush to school

Windy Wellington

By Izar and Reuben

Being Connected is one of our learner attributes. 

100 Word Challenge: … but what colour should it be? …

We have signed up to the 100 word challenge. Some of our students decided to accept the challenge and write a story that included the prompt … but what colour should it be? … 

This has given us a purpose and audience for our writing. It is also a great way to edit our writing. Exactly 100 words is not easy!


“What colour should it be?” Asked Dave “Uhhh, blue.” Answered Danny “ Ok.” Concluded Dave “ lets do it” Dave and Danny started painting, Dave does the left side and Danny does the right side. After a hour of long hard painting, Dave and Danny finally get to the last stroke where a single screw stuck in the wall. Dave painted over the screw and the room was complete. All of a sudden, the room started to lean and the wall started splashing them with cold, fresh water. At this point, they couldn’t stand anymore, they fell into the water, and drowned.
By Henry

I squealed in excitement and raced up the stairs to my attic bedroom. I’m going to the mayors party! I’m going to the mayors party! Those words were racing around in my head. I finally reached my bedroom door. I threw open my wardrobe doors and looked inside. I had to wear a dress, it was the woman’s dress code, but what colour should it be? I had a jade green dress, a sky blue dress, a snow white dress, but finally I decided on a lilac dress. I grabbed some violet slippers and a purple ribbon. “Ready!” I shouted.
By Emelia

But what colour should it be? I wondered glancing at all of my clothes stuffed in the closet. Oh how I wish I could chose. blue leggings, red t-shirt? I emptied the last of the tops onto the floor and sighed. I gasped,there was a massive door in my closet. I unlocked it and saw a hole. I poked my head through. The tunnel was lit by dim lanterns that casted ghostly shadows on the walls. “Nell dinner time.” I pulled my head back out and rushed down stairs for dinner. Then I realised, the door was still open!!!
By Nell

“I finally get to dye my hair I’m so excited to dye my hair” said June “I’m only ten and I’m already allowed to die it”. “The only question is what colour should it be? Green? Nope too boyish. What about brown? definitely not. Hmm pink ? Too girly. What should I have? I can’t decide there are so many choices, purple, green, pink, yellow, brown, black, red, orange or white, even rainbow? Maybe some chicken soup well help me decide” June sat at the table trying to decide then she had an amazing idea for the colour of her hair.
By Yasmin

I decide what colour my room should be, Navy. Because I think that is a good decision.Then my friend walks in and says why not blue.Then I start to rethink my choice and doubt myself. But my the answer that was in my head was what colour should it be? I thought about it all day and then I thought pink because that shows powerful and fun and that is what I like. Then I change my mind the green is too bright. I decide to go with mint. It is not to bright but not to dull.
By Orla

What colour should it be? The crew didn’t know so they asked the schools. Each school said different colours. The crew choose a colour. But no one agreed. So they decided to think about it for a week. But it didn’t help. The schools grew impatient for the answer, then a kid in one of the school said “if you don’t know what colour you should chose why not choose a colour that the schools haven't said.’’ From that day, they thought of orange, a bright colour that no one said. Now there is the orange day parade. THE END
By Zoe

Skype with our friend, Serge from France

Today we skyped with Serge Galligani who teaches at Brindas, France. It is near Lyon. We have been collaborating with the school this year. Their blog is Today we skyped with Serge Galligani who teaches at Brindas, France. It is near Lyon.

We have been collaborating with his school this year. At the end of their school year (July), his class made us a movie. You can view it on their blog: http://cm1.galligani.eu/2018/07/06/bye-bye-friends/

He is visiting New Zealand at the moment and said that the country is very beautiful. Serge is currently visiting our friends at Auroa School in Taranaki, New Zealand.

Jude, Eloi and Zoe were able to speak to him in french. We spoke a mixture of french and english.

In France you can eat snails, but Serge does not like them very much.

Serge's school is a very big one and they have boys and girls, just like at Worser Bay school and Brindas does not have uniforms either.

In Brindas, Serge’s class has few devices. Serge uses his camera to make movies. The class share one computer.

It was great talking to Serge today and learning about where he is from. We look forward to collaborating more in the future. 

By Ridley

Brindas

Problem Solving: I am a thinker!

Students have been working on problem solving in Maths. You may have seen some of these on Seesaw. Our big focus is explaining our thinking and justifying our answers. Please continue these conversations at home...

After camp, our students made up their own problem solving activities for each other. We also sent these to Room 3 at Auroa School to solve. Students at Auroa School have made some problems for us. The photos are of us working on the problems that they wrote.

We have been working through a thinking process for problem solving. This is linked to our learner attribute: I am a thinker!

The problems on the slide below are from Auroa School:

Here are some of our camp problems. Can you solve them? 

Skyping with Auroa School

Yesterday, we Skyped our friends at Auroa School in South Taranaki. We talked about the year and what we have been doing recently. They have been doing athletics and lots of other work. They have something called Harold the giraffe http://www.lifeeducation.org.nz/ . They are learning about a Growth Mindset and we are too. They have had a good start to the year and we are looking forward to Skyping with them more and learning together.

By Yasmin

Bonjour Brindas School!

Our friends at Brindas School sent us a game to play. We had to guess who the students were from their descriptions. We think that their English is very good. 

We asked them some questions about schools in France and they answered. You can read their responses on their blog. They asked us some questions too. Our students responded: 

Stuck in the Sewer: Travelling Tales

This is a Travelling Tale named "Stuck in the sewer" created by 5 schools from around the world. This was made by students from schools in USA, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and New Zealand. Thank you to Isabel, Gina, Lachlan, Hugo W, Reuben and Izar for helping to write the end of the tale. 

 

Skype Buddies

Recently we have been Skypeing with Aurora School. We have been reading and sharing poems and art with them. We have been doing a display of poems and art to go with it we decided to pick an animal and did a poem and picture to go with it and the poem is about the wind wishing to be an animal. These are some animals we did cat, dog x3, giraffe ,whale, pig and fox .

Sometimes we talk about what we have been learning  at school or we read together or they show as some work they have been doing.They are doing a presentation for some of their work and they are going to send it to us.

Today they showed us a display that they have been making about us. If you come into the classroom, you can see the display that we made about them.

By Yasmin, Orla and Isabel

Reading our poems

Today we met with some kids from Auroa School. We shared our wind poems poems and they read poems to us. At the end we had a joke session. By Yasmin

Poems based on The wind is tired of being blamed for everything!

The Wind Is Not The One To Blame

The wind wants to be a Whale,

It wants to migrate through the seven seas,

It wants to splash its tail hard on the ocean,

It wants to move gracefully through the water,

It wants to be loved by everyone,

It wants to be a beautiful, graceful whale.

By Alba

The wind doesn't want to be blamed

The wind doesn’t want to be blamed,

It wants to be a pig,

it wants to roll around in mud,

it wants to eat scraps,

it wants to walk around with potato on it’s head,

it wants to walk around in gumboots,

It wants to flick its curly tail.

By Mia

The wind wants to be a fox.

It wants to pounce and bounce in the midnight sky.

With a push and a jump

And scuttle  and a rattle

And a flick of a tongue

By Isabel

The wind is tired of being blamed for everything

The wind wants to be a cat.

It wants to attack everyone one by one

With a tiny pounce,

a big meow ,

And  and  in a flick of its tail

The wind wants to be a snake

It slithers around buildings

With a tight squeeze,

A fierce strike,

And a rattle of its tail.

By Orla


The wind

The wind wants to be a dog

It is playful and listens

He just wants to do good

He wants a family to love him

He wants a home to sleep, eat and live in

And wag his tail

By Hana

The wind is tired of being blamed for everything

The wind wants to be a giraffe

It wants to gallop and prance around and be free

With a sway of its tail

And a kick of its hoof

It wants to be tall to see the beautiful view

The wind wants to not blamed for everything

By Yasmin

The wind is tired of being blamed for everything

The wind wants to be a kitten.

It wants to curl up on a couch with a bowl of milk

It wants to run around free

It wants people to pat it and give it a ball of yarn

The wind does not want to be blamed

The wind wants to be a puppy

It wants to bark when people say no

It wants to be loved  with every ones heart

It wants to find a bone easily

It wants to be allowed inside in bad weather

 

By Isabella

Weather Poem: reading with our friends from South Taranaki

Today we read a poem with a reading group from Auroa Primary School. We read a tounge twister poem about the weather. Our school focus this term is about being connected and we are enjoying connecting with our friends in South Taranaki.

Weather - Poem by Eve Merriam

Dot a dot dot dot a dot dot

Spotting the windowpane.

Spack a spack speck flick a flack fleck

Freckling the windowpane.

A spatter a scatter a wet cat a clatter

A splatter a rumble outside.

Umbrella umbrella umbrella umbrella

Bumbershoot barrel of rain.

Slosh a galosh slosh a galosh

Slither and slather a glide

A puddle a jump a puddle a jump

A puddle a jump puddle splosh

A juddle a pump a luddle a dump

A pudmuddle jump in and slide!

Newlands Mystery Skype

Some of us Mystery Skyped a class from Newlands Primary School. We recorded our progress on Twitter 
@MatarikiWBS 
#mysteryskype 
It was fun having to research and find places on a map.  We took turns and asked questions to each other to narrow it down until we got the correct school.


Newlands mystery Skype from Matariki on Vimeo.

Whangarei Mystery Skype

Using Twitter to record our progress

Some of us Mystery Skyped a class from Whangarei Primary School. We recorded our progress on Twitter @MatarikiWBS #mysteryskype. It was fun having to research and find places on a map.  We took turns and asked questions to each other to narrow it down until we got the correct school.

Whangarei mystery Skype from Matariki on Vimeo.

Today's Visitor: Robert Gordon

Molly A: Today a man called Robert came in and talked to us about his radio career. He tried to get a licence to be on the radio but he failed. You need a license for getting a radio station so you don’t do anything nasty. He talked about when he started trying out for a radio station and when he stopped.

Josie & Millicent: A man called Robert came into school to talk about his radio life. He talked about what he enjoyed about it. He talked about how competitive the radio industry was. When he was at university, he started a pirate radio station. His station was soon closed down by the post office because they did not have a licence so they didn't say nasty thing about other people. They were on television once because of his station and they had to wear stockings over their heads so people didn’t know who they were.

Liv: It was so exciting! He also mentioned the fact that he wanted to play sports but didn’t because his brother was better than him and he didn’t want to show that to others. But then his brother hurt his hip and now Roberts probably better than his brother now.

Danielle: Now he is working behind a desk at a computer helping people at the Commerce Commission.

Charlie: Robert wanted to play sports, but he didn’t because his brother was better than him so he didn’t want to embarrass himself.

Takehisa: I liked the bit where he talked about Tennis and other sport stuff.

Elliot: I like the part when he talked about using American accents and he changed his voice lots.

Jack: I liked the talk about the radio stations and how they have changed over time. He was really interesting because he told good stories.

Hanne-I liked how Robert was very interested in radios and I liked how funny he was!

Khailin: I liked learning about the radio stations. And how they became so popular. Angelina: I liked learning about the radio it was very funny to listen to him talking in funny accents.It was fun hearing about radio.

Message from Robert, "This morning I went to Worser Bay school and talked to lots of children there.  The class was very welcoming and made me comfortable talking about myself and things I have done in radio. The questions the children asked were excellent! Amongst other questions, I was asked about my music preferences when I was at university, whether I played an instrument, and whether I was still kept up the friendship with the radio people I worked with. They were all great questions that help understand what the person talking to them is like and what makes them tick.

After I finished talking to them, the children clapped and sang to me wonderfully. And then, in the afternoon they published a blog article about my talk. My workmates at the Commerce Commission were most impressed!"

A big thank you to Robert for coming in to talk to us. Here is a song to say thanks...

Singing from Matariki on Vimeo.