MOTAT - Into the Machine

What a great day!  We had lots of fun experimenting and interacting with the exhibitions on offer at MOTAT.  The students were hyped up, excited to learn while exploring the Get Smart exhibition, the Laser Maze and especially Into the Machine, just to name a few.  There was a very knowledgeable man helping us out and explaining how lots of the simple machines worked.  With his help the students managed to build a gear system that took up two walls.

Great day, but tiring for all.  Big thanks to our parent helpers Natasha and Tara.  It wouldn't work as well without support from our parents, so thank you once again.

Super Stars for Week 6

Each day the students work towards earning points for themselves and their group.  At the end of the week the group with the most points wins a group treat and the 3 classdojo students with the most points get to pick something from the treasure box.

Top Group:

Table 4 with 47,800 points

Top Dojo Students:

Melinda - Still leading with 24 points
Eden, Jeremiah and Joseph - All have 21 points

GREAT JOB, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Our Champions

Today schools from our area had their best runners competing in the inter-school cross country, with the aim of finding the best of the best.

We had a mixture of Year 4-6 students representing our school including our very own Eden,  Shajna, Melinda and Symond.

They did our school proud and showed great determination and sportsmanship.  No matter what the outcome or the placing they learn a lot about themselves and perseverance.  You can't get anywhere if you don't give things a go!

Week 5's Super Stars

Each day the students work towards earning points for themselves and their group.  At the end of the week the group with the most points wins a group treat and the 3 classdojo students with the most points get to pick something from the treasure box.

Top Group:

Table 2 with 33,000 points

Top Dojo Students:

Melinda - 17 points

Eden - 15 points

Tevita - 15 points

GREAT JOB, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Testing Our Catapults

Room 21 spent the last 3 days testing our catapults based on 3 main elements:

Test 1: Accuracy - The students had 5 cotton balls to fire from their catapult into a bucket. The goal was to get as many of the 5 cotton balls into the bucket.

Test 2: Power - A weighted object (eraser) was fired from the catapult at a tower of plastic cups.  The goal was to hit and knock over as many plastic cups as possible, from the greatest distance away.

Test 3: Distance - A mini marshmallow was fired from the catapult. The goal was to have the marshmallow travel the greatest distance away from the starting point.

Everyone did an awesome job and their catapults performed well.  Here's the results!

Students	Test 1: Accuracy (Number of Cotton balls fired into the bucket)	Test 2: Power (Number of cups knocked down)	Test 3: Distance (Distance a mini marshmallow travelled)
Symond/Watson	2	2 cups @ 56cms	5.6 metres
Roman/Jeremiah/Pete	2	2 cups @ 61cms	4.5 metres
Pounamu/Tevita	1	3 cups @ 1.24 metres	6.1 metres
Dallas/Steve	2	2 cups @ 1.10 metres	2.9 metres
Marnika/Melinda/Joseph	1	2 cups @ 62cms	65cms
Brooke/Urvish	0	2 cups @ 69cms	1.15 metres
Eden/Shajna/Teratey	2	3 cups @ 68cms	1.9 metres
Petesa/Shicouner	1	2 cups @ 52cms	79cms
Ravneel/Sela	2	3 cups @ 38cms	3.2 metres
Valarie/Aki	1	2 cups @ 43cms	2.2 metres
Elizabeth/Sangiem	0	2 cups @13.5cms	1.82 metres

A Feed with Frank

Feed the Need have been supplying fabulous hot lunches to our students throughout winter.  Today we got to say goodbye with a spectacular shared lunch with Room 11 and ex All Black FRANK BUNCE!!!

After welcoming Frank and the team from Feed the Need with a school powhiri, students from Rm21 and Rm11 sat down with Frank and the team to a delicious hot beef stew with buttered bread buns.

Great food and good company:)

                   THANK YOU FEED THE NEED 

Making Catapults

As part of our topic 'The Middle Ages' we have been writing procedures.  One of our procedures was about how to make a catapult.  The focus was on writing a procedure using the correct text structure.

They had to show:

- a title that clearly says what they are writing about

- a goal that says what they want to achieve by the end

- materials needed

- a sequence of easy to follow steps (ordered correctly)

- use of bossy verbs (put, glue, cut...)

- use of time connectives (first, then, next, after...)

In pairs they worked together to follow their own procedure to make a catapult using ice-block sticks, plastic spoons, rubber bands, cardboard, tin foil, glue guns etc...

After they finished constructing their catapults, they had to decide whether or not they needed to revise and edit their procedural writing.

We ran out of time, but we will definitely be testing them some time next week!

Want to find out how to make your own catapult? - click here.

Interschool Netball

A big thanks to Raewyn for all the hard work she put into getting a new team together at such late notice.  Although the girls didn't get into the finals, they represented our school with great sportsmanship and pride.

It was such a nice day, considering the weekend weather.  The girls had a blast and enjoyed the experience.  Big ups to Valarie and Shicouner who hadn't played at all this year and joined the team the week before the competition.  Can't wait to see who gets player of the day and most improved player.  Some very hard choices!

Buddy Reading

Every Tuesday for the last term and a half, Room 21 and Room 8 meet in the school library for buddy reading.  The older students are paired up with the younger students. During the buddy reading process the students:

1) Discuss the book they are reading with the younger students.  They look at the pictures and discuss what's happening.  This is a good opportunity for them to pull out specific words or names of characters in the story.

2) They read the book together while the older students try to model good reading behaviours - where to start reading, how to stop at a full stop, pointing to each word as they read it, sounding out words they don't know...

3) Finally the younger students take over and read the book to the older students all by themselves.

It's been such a rich experience for the students.  Great self-esteem boost as they are engaged in the process and are more motivated to read.  The younger students feel a sense of accomplishment while building fluency and reading skills that will help improve their reading ability. The older students get to consolidate their own reading and questioning skills while being mentors to the younger students.  

Everybody wins!

Planting Our Strawberries

Members of the Health Crew prepping the garden and carefully planting strawberry plants.

Fruit Trees for Schools

Our school now has some orange and feijoa trees growing within the school grounds thanks to the efforts of our caretaker and some members of the Health Crew.  They have spent two days prepping and planting the trees and planting some strawberries.  We were very lucky to get on board with Fruit Trees for Auckland to receive fruit trees for FREE!  We look forward to watching them grow.  Our Health Crew have big plans for this area and this is a big step towards achieving their goals.

Great job team :)

BIG, BIG THANK YOU to The Mount Eden Village People and the Auckland Council.

http://www.mountedenvillagepeople.co.nz

"The future is not some place we are going but one we are creating."

Find out how to be a part of Fruit Trees for Auckland 2016 below.

http://www.fruittrees.org.nz

Our Trip to Tiritiri Matangi

Everyone had to be at school by 7.30am.  We had to go on the bus and the ferry to get there.  We all had to have three to a chair on the bus, so we were all squashed together.  We had to be in Auckland City by 9 o’clock, so the teachers looked a bit worried about making it in time for the ferry.  It was a quick walk to board the ferry, but we made it just in time. Before we got on the ferry we had to scrub our shoes on the brushes so there was no dirt on them just in case there were bugs or diseases on our shoes that could harm the wildlife on the island.  We hopped on the ferry, sat down and had something to eat.  We spent the time talking, playing and taking photos.  On our way we saw Rangitoto Island.  When we got to Tiritiri Matangi we had to walk down the rail and hold on to something so we didn't slip.  We all sat down and the man in charge introduced everyone to the group and told us where the toilets were.  We were going on a long hike so we needed to go to the toilet before the walk.  When my group and our leaders got to Tiritiri Matangi we went with Jeremiah’s brother and Izzy’s mum.  Our guide took us up a steep hill and we looked at some plants.  There were lots of patterns, flowers and birds.  My group saw a stitch bird, or as the guide says ‘Hihi’, that’s the Maori name.  We saw a cheeky looking fantail jumping around in the grass.  There were long water trays in different parts of the trail where the tui birds drank and played as we stood quiet as a mouse staring at them.  The pukeko bobbed up and down near the water looking for worms and insects to eat.    Just before we got to the top we saw pretend insects hiding in the plants. We had to see how observant we could be.  We found them all. Once we got to the main building at the top of the island we grabbed our bags and sat down in the courtyard for lunch.  After lunch we worked in our groups on a scavenger hunt to find information about some of the wildlife on the island.  We looked around the courtyard and inside the main building.  There was an interactive screen and a microscope with lots of different slides.  Our group went up the long stairs to look at the lighthouse.  We saw fat looking pukeko called takahe running around by the lighthouse.  They are related to the pukeko.  We could see all around the island and across the ocean.  It was really beautiful.  It was a little sad to know that eventually we would have to leave, but it was nice to know that all the birds and wildlife were well looked after.

Medieval Visit

On Wednesday the 17th of June, Leabank Senior School got a visit from a special guest Steve Heke.
He showed us some of his armour and talked to us about what the tournaments are all about.  He is part of a club that practises throughout the week and anyone can go along and join.  His armour is handmade and the helmet was really heavy.  It has to be strong enough to protect his head.  He knew a lot about knights in the olden days and battles.  It was really informative and we got to see some olden day weapons and armour that they would have used in the Middle Ages.

Lessons from High Wire

At High Wire we did activities that built trust and brainstormed what we could do as role models. Our tutors Carli and Rachael are nice people and have been teaching us about 'selflessness' - not being selfish, sharing with others.  For example if someone doesn't have lunch you give them some of yours, that's what selflessness means.  The Young Leaders are lucky to go out of the school grounds and represent our school in such a fun place.

Written By Brooke

Highwire Recount

Yesterday I went with some of my peers to High Wire. Angela is the lady who drove us there. While we were there Carli and Rachel our tutors explained what selflessness means. Part of it is don’t judge a book by it’s cover, honesty is the best policy.  We all got to introduce ourselves and learn to work as a team to get past the lava. We also learnt how to make pizza, it was so delicious! Young leaders are lucky to have the opportunity to take part in the activities and lessons at High Wire.

Written by Marnika