Prize Giving 2018

We had a fabulous time at our prize giving.  We enjoyed watching the cultural performances and celebrating students successes.

From our room, Tulialo received the Year 3 Top Academic Award, DJ received the Year 3 Top Sportsperson Award, Iosefo for the Best Presentation Award and Willie received the Junior Citizenship Award.

Congratulations to all the students for their hard work this year!!

Junior Speech Finals

What a great final we have had!  The competition was tough and the topics were amazing.  

Our 3 finalists were Amera, Willie and Joseph.  They spoke confidently, remembered all their speech and looked at the audience. 

Amera spoke about 'Bulling', Willie with his topic on 'Earthquakes' and Joseph on 'Helping Others'

The winner of the Junior Speech Finals was Joseph and he received a trophy to take home.

Congratulations to all the students for standing up in front of a big audience and speaking confidently!

Sunny Athletics Day

It was such an awesome day to have our school athletics!  The sun was shining, the families were watching and we were excited. We lined up in our year groups and were ready to go.

We ran as fast as the wind and tried our best!

The winners in Year 3 boys: Joseph-1st, DJ-2nd and Iosefo-3rd

The winners in Year 3 girls were: Tulialo-1st, Amera-2nd and Ariel-3rd

Congratulations to all the runners for doing their best!

With their certificates!

Trip to Sylvia Park for Film Festival

The bus ride to Sylvia Park Movies and watching all the movies in a theater was so exciting.  It was great watching our movie on the big screen.  Everyone looked so BIG on the screen. 

The seats were big and comfortable too.

Our display: Rua

Public Viewing at night- with Tulialo and DJ who introduced our movie

Manaiakalani Film Festival- Teamwork

When something is hard,

Don’t let it faze you out,

Join forces and work it out,

Even if it’s a boulder on the footpath,

That’s what our movie is about,

TEAMWORK, by room 6 from Ruapotaka School

Together Everyone Achieves More

Teamwork inspires us,

Does it inspire you,

Let’s find out!

Assembly Time

It was our turn to take syndicate assembly today so we shared some facts about the amazing human body.  It felt good to share our knowledge with everyone.

For our class item, we did a dance to the song called "Kiwi Ukulele".  We were a bit shy but did enjoy performing for others.

Lungs and Breathing

We learned that our left lung is smaller than the right lung.  It breathes in oxygen and breathes out carbon dioxide.  We drew the lungs and used 2 balloons to show how the lungs work.

Our Brain, Our Boss

Our brain is our boss because it controls all our body functions. We drew the brains as a headband and used it show some of the things we can do like reading and writing.

Some facts about our brain:

• The left side of our brain controls the right side of our body and the right side of the brain controls the left side of our body.
• Faster than the fastest computer, our amazing brain controls every move we make. It lets us laugh and cry.  It allows us to learn new things and get out of the way of danger.
• Our brain keeps working even when we are asleep.  It sends the signals that make our heart beat, our lungs breathe and our eyelids to blink.

How Does Bile Work?

Liver produces bile which helps to break down fat so we did an experiment with milk and dishwashing liquid to see how it works. The chemical in the dishwashing liquid helps to breakdown the fat in milk.  We were so excited to see this reaction.

Studying Heart and Liver

We have been learning about our heart and liver and decided to look at a sheep heart and chicken liver.  We found the heart quite muscular and the liver was very squishy.

Some facts about a heart:

• The heart beats all the time.
• It pumps the blood around our body.
• Our heart is on the left side of our chest.
• It is about the same size as our fist.

Some facts about a liver:

• Our liver is the largest organ.
• It produces bile.
• It can regrow when a part of it has been chopped off.

Human Anatomy

This term we are learning about human anatomy.  We are really enjoying learning about our organs and how they work and for art we decided to make a skeleton using straws. 

We worked in teams.

Our finished skeletons.

Jovi Modelling Clay

Our challenge was to make 3D objects using jovi modelling clay.  These are some of the models we made.

We had some Room 9 students working with us too,

Shared Writing

Writing is something most of us do independently but we found it more fun to do group writing.  We all started our story then we swapped it with another person in our team.  We added our ideas, making some story funny.

Fake Wasp Nest

There is a swan plant growing in the garden and it has been discovered by the monarch butterflies who have laid their eggs on the leaves. These eggs are hatching into caterpillars and now they are surrounded by their greatest enemies, the wasps.  According to our research, wasps don't like wasps from other nests in the same area so we have made a fake wasp nest to see if it will help to keep these pests away.

We will find out after the holidays if our plan has worked!

Poetry Recital

The challenge for us was to learn poems that were long and had interesting words.  We were very good at learning these poems and had actions to match the words too.

The three finalists from our class were Solomon, Amera and Shelan.  Congratulations on awesome recitals.

Solomon with his poem "Sick"

Amera with her poem "My Shadow"

Shelan with her poem "Monster"

Mrs Wishy-Washy Show

We were so lucky to receive free tickets to go and watch Mrs Wishy-Washy show at the Pump House.  We had to go all the way to Takapuna in a bus.  There was so much excitement in the bus as we went over the harbour bridge!  We saw the Sky Tower and lots of boats and yachts in the sea.

The show was so funny and it was great to meet the characters after the show.  We have read the books, now we have watched the show too!

The seats were so comfortable.

With the characters

The 'Jaffa' Race

As part of our Kiwiana study, we decided to build a steep path like Baldwin Street in Dunedin.  We learned that Baldwin Street is the steepest street in the world and every year millions of jaffas are rolled down.

We worked in groups to build our steep 'street'.  We used chairs, books, gutter boards and rulers and used marbles as jaffas.  It was fun to roll the 'jaffas' down our 'streets'.

Mrs Folu's Pigeons

Mrs Folu brought her 4 pigeons to school today so we invited room 1, 4 and room 5 to come and see them too.  We all got a chance to look at the beautiful white pigeons and then she released them. 

At first they didn't want to come out but then they soared high up in the air, on their way home.  Mrs Folu told us that they always got home safely.

We then used the pigeons as our main characters to write our narratives.

The release of the pigeons!

Cross Country Race

What a great cross country race we have had!  We had to run two times around the field and we all tried so hard.

Our winners for year 3 boys were Joseph in 1st place, Solomon in 2nd place and Malachi in 3rd place.  The winners for year 3 girls were Tulialo in 1st place, Ariel in 2nd place and Otolose in 3rd place. 

Room 6 can sew

What a challenge sewing has been for us!!!  We had to learn to thread, knot and make stitches, all in one lesson but we are quick learners and were able to learn to sew easily.

We are learning to stitch a koru as part of our Kiwiana topic and we have almost finished it.  We have learned that with sewing, we make a lot of mistakes but we are teaching each other.  We enjoy sitting in groups and working together.

Duffy Role Model Assembly

Michel Mulipola is a comic book artist and was our Duffy Role model. He talked to us about the importance of reading and shared some of his illustrations with us.  He has illustrated some school journals too!! 

Lesieli was lucky to get a Duffy book from him.

Spring is here!

Spring is here so we decided to start working in our garden. Our first job was to weed the garden.  We wonder what we will be planting?

Uptown Funk Dance

What a great time we have had dancing to Uptown Funk! 

Zoo Trip

What a lot of excitement we have had this Friday because we had a zoo trip!  We have been learning a lot about the zoo animals and were really keen to see them.  Most of us had never been to the zoo so it was very exciting.  Our favourites were red pandas, giraffes, rhinos, tigers and orangutans.

We were amazed to see how big the tigers teeth were and we couldn't believe how noisy the gibbons could be.

The prancing tiger, the  fast seal and the big elephants.

The baboons, the pink flamingos, in the Pridelands with zebras, giraffes and ostrich.

With our zoo educator, Fraser showing us the skin and the teeth of the giraffe.

The Tasmanian Devil, inside the Aussie walkabout and the orangutans. 

The meerkats, leopards tortoises and lovebirds

Let's Share for Our Show and Tell

It was exciting to watch DJ perform his magic, Shelan sharing her baby photo and Willie talking about his grandad.

DJ performing magic with cards.

Shelan showing off her baby photo

Willie with his grandad's photo.

Daffodil Day

This year the Daffodil Day was on the same day as our zoo trip so Mrs Vickers let us wear our daffodils for the whole week.  A lot of us donated towards the cancer society by giving a gold coin donation in exchange for a daffodil.

We also made some daffodils for our art.  We had to choose one daffodil for Mrs Vickers.  It was a very hard choice as we all had made great daffodils but Christina had the best daffodil so we sent her one to Mrs Vickers.

Learning about the Zoo

This term we have been learning about the zoo and the animals at the zoo.  We have been looking at some of the mammals at the zoo, reptiles and birds.

We now know that zoos help us to learn about animals so we can help to save their habitats.  We learned about  their diet and if they were predators or prey.

Our Show and Tell Continues

This week it was Kyronae, Ocean and Charle's turn to show and tell.  It always interesting to hear what our class mates say and we get to ask them questions too.

Charles reading a story about his uncle, Kyronae with the hair piece her mum made for a birthday party and Ocean with his book.

Dance Routine

We are so excited as we are learning a dance routine now.  We learned some steps this week and our dance teacher is going to teach us some more so we can have one full dance.  It is tricky but we are learning fast.

Watch our video below.

Let's Dance

We are very lucky this term as we are learning to dance!  A dance teacher is going to come every week for 8 weeks and teach us some different dance moves.  We started with The Hokey Pokey song last week, we wonder what we will do this week? 

Modelling in Our Samoan and Tongan Costumes

As part of our Samoan and Tongan study, we had to present an item to the whole school so we decided to do modelling.  We had to practise walking to the music, posing and working with partners and as a class. 

On the day, we had to come back early from our morning tea break so we could change into our costumes.  We had to help each other and the ones who didn't have a costume shared with others. DJ introduced us to the school and our modelling began.  We walked with confidence and enjoyed showing off!

Watch Our Modelling Video Here

Parents Visiting Us and Our Displays in Room 3

Wow! We have had 6 parents visiting our classroom and going to room 3 to see our Samoan and Tongan display.  They said that they enjoyed looking at our work.  Thank you for supporting our learning.

We also went to look at other classes displays.  We learned some new information and enjoyed looking at what they had done.

Junior Skip Off

Congratulations to Otolose for coming second in the Junior Skip Off.

Our skip off finalists were Otolose, Aleki, Tulialo and Iosefo.  It was a tough competition.

 We then showed off our skipping skills to the parents.

Show and Tell

It was Christina and Joseph's turn to bring something to share with the class.  Christina brought her Tongan fan that her grandmother had given her and Joseph brought a magnifying glass.  We were really excited to look through the magnifying glass as everything seemed so close and big.

Taekwondo

We were very lucky to have Steph as our taekwondo instructor this term. She taught us lots of different skills and on the last day, we got to break some boards.  There were 3 different types of boards to break, the green was the easiest one to break, followed by the white one then the hardest one to break was the yellow one.  

Joseph managed to break all 3 of them!!

Matariki Kites and Stars

As part of celebrating Matariki, we made Matariki stars using 4 stars in different sizes.  We used pastels to colour them then we placed them on top of each other and glued them.

We also made kites which we flew on the field.  We had to wait for the wind to blow first!!  It was very exciting to watch our kites fly.

Our video shows how much fun we had with our kites.

Celebrating Matariki with ti rakau, the Maori stick game

We joined with room 9 and Ms Riley on Thursday to learn how to play ti rakau sticks while singing  tītī tōrea.  We had to concentrate really hard so we could catch each others stick.

Lyrics for "E Papa Waiari"

E hine, hoki mai ra. 

1. E pāpā Waiari, 

Taku nei mahi 

Taku nei mahi,

He tuku roimata

Chorus: 

Ē aue, ka mate au;

E hine hoki mai rā 

Ē aue, ka mate au;

E hine hoki mai rā 

2. Māku e kaute

Ō hīkoitanga 

Māku e kaute 

Ō hīkoitanga

We practised playing the ti rakau sticks before meeting room 9.

Bubble Fun

It is very tricky to blow bubbles!  We mixed dishwashing liquid with some water, dipped our hands in it, made foam by rubbing our hands together and gently blew it with our hands parted.  Some of us blew really big bubbles.  It was a lot of fun and we ended up with very clean hands too!!