Coming up to end of the term!

 Kia Ora All,

This term is absolutely flying by and jam packed with a bunch of different activities. Here are a few reminders about what's coming up.

• On Wednesday the 9th of December the whole school will be doing a marae visit. A note went home about this on the 4th of November. All students in the school will attend for the day, but only year 5 and 6 students will stay the night. This is due to maximum numbers allowed for sleeping over. 
• On Thursday the 10th and Friday the 11th, all students from rooms 1 and 2 will combine for some outdoor activities. On the notice that was sent out of the 4th was a form asking for parent volunteers to help out on those two days. We'll need drivers and people to help out with biking, kayaking activities etc. Please let me know if you are able to help out as we are still a few helpers short.
• Sunhats are of critical importance this term as is sunblock. We have sunblock at school, but putting some on before school is recommended. Please send along alternative sunblock if your child is allergic to the regular kind.
• A reminder that any rubbish from lunchboxes should be going home (muesli bar wrappers etc). I'm planning on enforcing this a bit better because I've been a bit slack recently. 
• Please don't send chewing gum or lollies to school with your child. Lollies and gum aren't appropriate for school and, in my experience, rarely helps with children's learning. There has been a bit of a chewing gum spate recently. 
• School athletics day is Tuesday (tomorrow) starting at 12.30.
• We'll check homework on Tuesday this week. Book bags and homework books to school daily please.
• This class is a truely excellent bunch of kids and I am thoroughly enjoying all of them. Keep up the great work, parents and caregivers!

Rock On,

Mr M

Welcome to the start of Term 4

 Kia Ora All,

I hope everyone has had a fun and relaxing holiday and you are all ready to hit it hard for one more term. In true Motupipi fashion it'll be a packed term with plenty going on to see the school year out. Here's a quick list of things that'll put you on the front foot.

• As always, homework books and book bags to school daily please. I highly recommend helping your child learn their weekly spelling list as part of your home learning.
• New Maths Buddy Tasks have been set and will be available on Monday morning. I've tried a slightly different system and set quite a lot of tasks for the children to work through. They will have time in class almost daily, but Maths Buddy is also a great way of doing some maths with your child at home.
• The homework Teacher Task for this term is going to be times tables. I'll be sending home Yoda Tables, which we also do at school. Yoda Tables are an excellent way of practicing times tables and a great home learning activity.
• Reading daily is critical! I highly recommend a regular trip to the town library with your child to make sure they have books to read before bed. Doris at the library is an excellent person to talk to if your child doesn't have a current series they're into. We do weekly trips to the school library too. Daily reading is very important both for your child's reading ability and for developing their love of reading. 
• We're planning to do a smaller school production at school this year. The date isn't set yet, but it will be in the second half of the term in Week 7. It'll look a bit different to previous years, but it'll be every bit as entertaining. 
• There are a bunch of other events coming up so keep and eye on the newsletter to be in the loop.

In the last week of last term, Oakie's grandparents offered to perform some fiddle music and teach the children an Irish dance. Below is quick video of the session. As you can see, the students loved every minute of it!

Last term, as part of the Digital Technology curriculum, we made some videos. The students used an ipad to video, airdrop to transfer the files and they also used some functions on imovie to edit their videos. Enjoy learning all about fractions!

Another part of our Digital Technology learning has involved learning some basic coding using Scratch. You may remember the Binary Digits lessons we did via Zoom during lockdown. This is all related to a part of the curriculum called Computational Thinking. Below are some little projects the students have done. Even though the projects are quite simple, there were a lot of steps involved in their creation including learning how to copy and past an embed code and use gmail to email it to me. Click on the green flag to start each project.

I'm thoroughly looking forward to the oncoming term.

Rock On,

Mr M

End of Term

 Kia Ora All,

Notices

• Friday is the BTB points auction so small donations for the auction in to school this week please.
• Year 5's are at hockey on Tuesday at this point. A notice about this went home last week.
• Please check with your child to see if they have a photo for their character portrait if they are choosing to use one. 

Te Wiki o te Reo Maori

The week just gone was Te Wiki o te Reo Maori - Maori language week. To kick off at Motupipi, we took part in the Maori Language Moment. This is a Maori Language Week Initiative to have as many people across NZ speaking te reo Maori simultaneously. At Motupipi, we gathered all the children together for a kapa haka session. Below is a video of the students in action. As you can see, they're enthusiastic and well practiced. We have been doing a kapa haka session every Thursday morning for the past couple of years, so the students have a built up a decent bank of songs they can sing and know the actions to.

Throughout the year, we've also been working on some basic te reo Maori phrases, vocabulary and our mihis in Room 2. Alice has been coming in twice a week to support us on our journey, which is much appreciated. Here are a couple of Room 2 students giving a quick lesson about some of the things we've been learning. 

Mono Printing

Last week, when the year 4's were at hockey, the year 5's stayed behind and helped me mind the year 2's from Room 4 who also weren't over at hockey. They did a fantastic job and it was great to see some excellent leadership skills from the year 5's. Lani came in and helped run a print making session doing mono printing. We had another mono printing session on Friday when the rest of the class was back. Below are some pictures of the students in action.

What's coming up?

Kia Ora All,

• Wednesday is the Year 3/4 hockey tournament in Nelson. Please make sure your child is at school by 7.30am ready to go on Wednesday. A note went home about this on the 3rd of August. If you've misplaced it, here's a copy. 
• Year 5/6 hockey is on the 25th of August.
• A camp update went out a few days back. There will be a camp meeting for parent helpers at 3.30pm on Monday the 17th. If you're attending as a parent helper, and you can't make the meeting, please let me know and I'll schedule a time to go through safety / itinerary with you.
• On Friday we did some more work on Digital Technology by making some video updates about last week's miniball games. The kids are beginning to use imovie to add transitions into their movies. As they get better at making videos, they'll be learning more about storing and retrieving files as well as editing on imovie.

Rock On,

Mr M

Welcome to Term 3

Kia Ora All,

It's been a great start to the term and I've thoroughly enjoyed being back in the classroom after an excellent break. This term we've got a Digital Technology focus. We're going to be looking at working with technology to create an opportunity for the students to share their learning and interests. Below is a video a small group of Room 2 students made today about what they've been up to in the garden.

Keith, Bodhi and Sanai ran an excellent football session with the class today. They started off with some skills and drills and finished with a game. Below are some videos and photos of the session. Thomas and Te Aroha were both awarded Player of the Day.

Here are some photos from last term of the BTB points auction and the home learning certificate presentation. Congratulations to Mitchell who did the most homework out of all the kids in the class and reached the rank of Major. Also congratulations to Dayananda, who learnt both the multiplication and division permutations of all his times tables.

Rock On,

Mr M

Inquiry

Sedimentary Rocks

Sedimentary rocks are formed from broken down bits of other rocks or even from the remains
of plants or animals. The little pieces collect in low-lying areas by lakes, oceans, and deserts.
They are then pressed into rock by the weight of the materials around them and on top of them.

Metamorphic Rocks

Metamorphic rocks are formed when sedimentary or igneous rocks are affected by great
temperatures and pressures. They do not melt, but the chemicals they contain may change
their crystal shapes. The name metamorphic comes from Greek words meaning “change
of shape.”If there is a serious amount of pressure or heat, these stones undergo
metamorphosis, harden and create new crystals! This happens over time, and isn’t instant.
That’s pretty interesting.

Examples of metamorphic rocks include anthracite, quartzite, marble, slate, granulite,
gneiss and schist.

Igneous Rocks
Igneous rocks are rocks that have formed by the cooling and hardening of molten lava or

magma. When magma comes out onto the surface of the Earth, it is called lava.
Lava cools down to form rocks such as tuff and basalt (extrusive rocks).
Also, the magma may slowly cool down to form rocks under the surface (intrusive rocks).
An example is granite.

Igneous rock is formed in two ways.

• Igneous rock formed from magma that has become solid inside the earth is called intrusive igneous rock. Intrusive igneous rock cools slowly because it is inside the earth. Examples of intrusive igneous rock types are gabbro, diorite, and granite.
• Igneous rock formed from lava that has become solid on the outside of the Earth is called extrusive igneous rock. This can happen because of the eruption of a volcano. Extrusive igneous rock cools quickly. Some extrusive igneous rock types are basalt, andesite, rhyolite, tuff, obsidian, and pumice.

Volcanos

There are three main types of volcano in New Zealand:

• cone volcanoes (like Mt Taranaki)
• caldera volcanoes (like Taupo)
• volcanic fields (like Rangitoto)

Here is a link to the GNS website with more information.

Earth's Crust

Final Week of Term 2!

Kia Ora All,

Welcome to the final week of term two! It's been a great term, albeit it shorter than expected at the start of the year. Here are a couple of things to be aware of.

• Every term I run a BTB points auction. Over the term the students build up a bank of BTB points awarded for good behaviour, outstanding manners, great sportspersonship, excellent work habits and superb effort in their learning. At the end of the term the students use their points to bid for items which have been donated to the auction. I've asked students to bring in small items they no longer want to donate to the auction e.g., old toys, stationary items, books etc. Anything small and inexpensive is fine. The more items donated, the more fun the auction is. At this point, the auction is scheduled for Friday. 
• The Room 2 class camp will be a city experience in Nelson this year (as was originally planned, but I’ve managed to re-book the camp post lockdown). We’ll be heading over the hill on Wednesday the 2nd of September and coming back on Friday the 4th - this is week 7 of Term 3. We’ll be staying at the Nelson City Top 10. Cooking will be done on site in the kitchens at the campground. The fundraising committee is covering half the cost of this camp, so the billed total will be $85 per child. I’ll send out a finalised itinerary closer to the time as well as requests for camp parent volunteers. But for now, just pop this date in your diary and feel free to let me know if you’re planning to come.
• Homework books / times tables cards etc on Monday please!

Rock On,

Mr M

Welcome to Week 8

Kia Ora All,

The mighty Room Two have continued to heroically soldier on through their learning odyssey. Last Friday, we started back with our geology inquiry topic, which was postponed due to lockdown, and began looking at volcanoes in Aotearoa. First we talked about the three main types of volcano found here. Then we looked at some examples, found them on Google Maps and marked them in on a map of NZ which was glued into our inquiry book. We've also been talking about volcano vocabulary. If you want to know what a pyroclastic flow is, feel free to ask someone from Room Two. 

• Parent tchr interviews are in the final week of term. If you haven't booked in yet, now is a good time to lock in a interview.
• The year 2 - 4 students will be going to the Mini Outdoor Adventure Programme at Whenua Iti Outdoor Education Centre in Lower Moutere on Thursday the 20th of August.
• On Friday, almost all the kids were tested on their times tables. Friday is tables day and Monday is spelling day. Please make sure tables cards and homework book is in your child's book bag and ready for school on Monday.
• I'm trying to get the students back into the rhythm of completing their set Maths Buddy tasks weekly. I set four tasks each week and aim to check every Sunday to see how students have got on. I'm going to have a Maths Buddy points chart to celebrate kids who finish all their tasks. Completing tasks is in no way related to maths ability as I set appropriate tasks for each group or individual as necessary. Only one student completed all their tasks last week so I've extended the tasks for a few days. Students have time in class to complete tasks. It's also a good homework task for those who are interested in adding some maths into their home learning programme.

Rock On,

Mr M