What've We Been Up To?

 Kia Ora All,

Last week was a super busy one. We got up to all sorts, including making some no-sew bags with the help of Janet who came in to share her sewing expertise and patience. Also a special thanks to Amanda who helped out too. Amanda has been giving up her time 3 days a week to work with various students which makes a huge difference in the class.

I'm currently listening to this RNZ Kim Hill interview all about whales. It might be an interesting listen for you and/or your kids.


Enjoy these pictures and short pieces of writing about what we did with the t-shirt bags and why.

Rock on,

Mr M

Today our super cool class made some amazing bags out of old t-shirts to use to get our groceries so we can stop using plastic. Janet and Amanda came in to help us make the bags. Most people made drawstring bags. To make drawstring bags you need to cut the bottom of the t-shirt into strips and then tie the opposite strips together. Then do the same thing with the sleeves. After that get a long bit of fabric and cut two little holes in the neckline. Then thread the long bit of fabric through the holes, in one and out the other. That’s how to make a t-shirt bag.

By Louis

Today the 27 of March 2018, our class made fabric bags out of t shirts.We were doing this because we didn’t want to use plastic bags from supermarket. When you use plastic bags, they end up in the sea and kill whales and dolphins. We made the t shirt bags by first cutting off the bottom of the t shirt, then we drew a line with chalk.Then we cut little strips out of the bottom all the way up to the chalk line. We tied up the strips.Then we did the same to the sleeves. After we did that, we let Janet or Amanda put a safety pin on a strip of fabric, then put it through the hem of the neck line and threaded it through the whole neck line. Once it was right round we made the ends of the fabric line up, then tied the two ends up. Now you can put food in it and take it to the supermarket. It was the most exciting thing I’ve done in my life.

By Angus

Today our class at Motupipi made sensational t-shirt bags. We did this as part of our whale inquiry because plastic is bad for the ocean and sea animals. The people who helped Room Two to make the t-shirt bags were Janet, Amanda and a little help from Mr M. How we made it: we started by cutting the bottom of the t-shirt then we cut little strips off the t-shirt and we did the same thing on the sleeves. After we knotted the bottom of the t-shirts we knotted the sleeves. We attached a safety pin to a piece of ribbon and threaded it through the neck line to make the drawstring. It was super awesome.    

By Olive

Today our class made sensational T-shirt bags. Amanda and Janet helped us with them. We did it for inquiry because we are learning about whales. Sea animals think that plastic bags are jellyfish so they eat it.They fill up with more and more plastic and kadoosh they die.

  Ok so lets get on to what we did. We got an old t-shirt and we cut strips on the end of the t-shirt. We did the same on the sleeves.Then we tied double knots with those strips.What I did was I made a drawstring bag so you had to thread ribbon through the collar of the t-shirt and boom you're done. That was extremely fun!!!!!!!!

By Isla

On Tuesday 27th of the 3rd 2018 Room 2 of Motupipi school made mind blowing t-shirt-bags. Amanda and Janet helped us. We made them for inquiry to stop animals eating plastic. There are 35.8 million pieces of plastic in the ocean, that’s more than animals in the ocean. I thought the bags were spectacular. To make the bags we cut strips on the sleeves and the bottom and tied them together. Then we put a handle on and boom! Done. For about a week we were collecting shirts then today we made them. I made 3 bags but 1 was huge because it was a nighty. It was  an eye opening activity.

By Emily

Today our class made our own fabric bags. The reason we were doing it is that it is part of our inquiry to decrease the amount of plastic in the ocean. My Mum and Janet came in to help us at Motupipi school. Making the fabric bags was the greatest activity we had done so far! Most of the class brought in t-shirts for the bags, but some forgot to bring t-shirts so Mr M handed out some extras. Janet and Amanda got us started by helping to cut the strips at the bottom of the t-shirts and then did the same to the arm holes. We then tied the strips together. Then threaded a lace through the hem of the neckline at the top of the shirt. “Yay! Were done” I shouted. It was a terrific day!!!  

By Charlie

Today we made t-shirt bags for inquiry. Because we learnt all about the plastic in the ocean. We tied together the waist and arm holes. We also made draw-strings to open and shut them it was awesome and cool! Janet, Amanda and Mr M helped us do them. Plastic bags look a lot like jelly fish to sea creatures and kill the whales around the world so stop littering! The plastic could end up in beaches and oceans, it could even end up inside us!! It was super duper wicked.

By Jarvis

Today our class made some fabric bags out of t-shirts it was phenomenal. It was a part of inquiry, because we

Are trying to stop millions of plastic bags going into the ocean. There is 35.8 million bits of plastic and junk in the sea, that’s more than all the different species of fish! We had Amanda and Janet to help, and Mr M helped a little bit. I made an awesome bag out of one of my old t-shirts. First we cut some frilly bits at the end of the t-shirt then we tied them up twice. We threaded the string through the neck line, then we were done - bingo! It was super duper awesome.

By Ashton

Today our class made breathtaking blissful bags out of old t-shirts! With help from the stunning Janet, the mind blowing Amanda and a little help from the delightful Mr M.   You might be wondering why? Why did we make these bags out of fabric? We done it for our inquiry and because plastic is killing our whales and we have to do something about it !!!:[ To  make them we got an old t-shirt and cut some strips on the bottom of the shirt and did the same with the sleeves. Do you remember that bit we cut of the bottom of the shirt? Well your going to need that. Do you know how we got the handle thing on the bag? We put it through the hem of the neck line! Well that was confusing I hope  there’s a video on the Mr M’s blog to show you how you really do it!!

These bags are super duper awesome!! Make them please!!!!

By Aurora

Today  our class made astounding bags out of t shirts. We made the t shirt bags because there is SO MUCH PLASTIC in the ocean. If any fish, turtles or whales find a plastic bag in the ocean, they could get their head stuck the plastic bag or they could swallow the plastic thinking it is jellyfish. First we got a t shirt and cut little strips in the bottom of the t shirt. Then we tied the strips together in a most sensational way. Then we did the same with the sleeves. Put a drawstring in then ka-bag you are done. I made it sound quite easy but it was hard and delightful at the same time. I could already tell that the t shirt bag was going to be useful.

By Malika

Today the class made t-shirt bags because we are learning about the great plastic problem. We made them in the morning so we got lots of time to get them finished. We did it because we want to stop the ocean from getting filled up with plastic. We worked with Amanda, Janet and little bit of help from Mr M. We only used old t-shirts so that we wouldn't use new ones that we didn't to give away.I hope that the ocean doesn’t get filled up with plastic .

By Ryan

Today our class made some awesome bags to keep our environment healthy because there are 35.8 million pieces of plastic in the ocean. Also, we are doing this to save our whales and other animals. Because the ocean gets polluted with plastic. We had help from Janet, Amanda and a very, very little bit from Mr M. We made these mind blowing bags by cutting the bottom of a t-shirt into strips and tying the strips together, then we did the same with the sleeves. After that, we made a hole in the neck line and made the handle. That’s how we made the amazing bags. I really enjoyed it so you should too.

By Scarlett

Today in inquiry we had Janet and Amanda come in and  help us with making our own fabric bags. They turned out GREAT! We did it in our class. I made mine for my Mum, Dad And Summer. We wanted to try and stop people from using plastic bags, like Mum and Dad. They use too much plastic bags. We also did it because there's nearly over 35 million plastic bags in the ocean. Whales think plastic bags are jellyfish. Whales eat plastic bags,and get poisoned WE could even get it in us, and kill us! Anyway BAN PLASTIC BAGS!!!!!  

By Mav

Today our class made legit t shirt bags. We did this as a part of our whale inquiry. We should stop using plastic because it kills our sensational whales. There are around about 35.8million pieces of plastic in the ocean which poisons our whales with chemicals.These days, we need to stop using plastic. Now we need to look out for what we eat because all our fish could be poisonous or have plastic in them & if we eat them, we could end up with plastic in us! If we keep on using plastic, whales will fill up with plastic & they just die. Is that what we want? No so stop using plastic!!

By Lochie

Tuesday the 27\3\18 Janet and Amanda helped our class to make a t-shirt bag so we could stop using so many plastic bags. The reason why we did this is because there are 35.8 million bits of plastic in the ocean. That's more then there is sea life.
By Anoghus

Inquiry Update

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

We've finished working our way through our whale inquiry immersion questions. The students are now either going back and finishing tasks they didn't get completed the first time around and getting them signed off on our sticker chart or, once they've done that, they're starting to make up their own whale questions to research further. They'll choose a method of presentation once they've done some research so keep and eye out for more amazing whale information coming your way very soon. Here's a some pictures of some of the boys in full whale research flight.

Also, here's Scarlett's whale video that she and Carmyn finished off this week.

Rock On, 

Mr M

The Week 8 Update of Greatness

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

We had a huge week last week with triathlon training, general reading writing and maths learning and also cracking on with our inquiry. Speaking of which, the students made some videos of themselves talking about what we learnt about whales this week. The idea was to put together a little sketch with one student pretending to be a reporter and the other pretending to be a whale expert. We used an app called Screencastify on the Chromebooks, which was new to most of the class. We'll be doing more of these as the year progresses. Feel free to leave a comment talking about what you enjoyed about the videos and a suggestion about how we could make them BTB (better than before) next time.

In other news:

• I'm on the lookout for dress ups that the students can use for plays, making videos etc. Anything you have that you could donate to a class dress up box would be much appreciated.
• I'm also on the lookout for old t-shirts that we could cut up. I've got a project in mind that requires t-shirts that are ready to be repurposed, but clean (i.e., not rag-grade). Any donations gratefully received. 
• Triathlon on Friday!

Rock On,

Mr M

Week 7 Update

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

We've been burning through our World of Whales inquiry. Here's a pic of the students beside our inquiry wall. In the background you can see some lift-the-flap toothed whale fact files shaped like orcas. You can also see some colourful fact files about baleen whales on the right hand side.

Here are some whale art pictures we did on Friday. The concept was to cut out a picture of a whale and use it as the basis for an art work with the rest being filled in with paint. The technique we worked on was creating a composition with a foreground, midground and background. 

 --- Also of Interest ---

• Swimming sports is coming up on Wednesday. 
• Training for the triathlon will also be kicking into gear this week to build confidence and endurance in running, biking and swimming. 
• Class camp will be going ahead in Term 2 at this point. I'm looking at a trip to Nelson for a few days to do some activities that enhance next term's inquiry topic.

Rock On,

Mr M

Week 6 update

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

Last week felt like a big one - it was only the second 5 day week since school started!

We had Mike Ogle in to talk about Blue Whales last week. He had some great slides, photos and an amazing recording of whale sounds - not to mention his phenomenal knowledge. The students were enthralled for a good hour and would have carried on asking him questions if there had been time. 

During the meet the teacher evening there were some really good questions about how to get the kids writing at home, particularly boys who might be reluctant to write and find reading and maths much more appealing. I'd say go for shorter tasks and give them the opportunity to feel successful early. One thing I like doing is list writing, here's a list of possible topics:

• favourite toys

• parts of a motorbike

• favourite foods

• hated foods

• how to scare mum, dad, sister, brother etc

• scary things

• list of things to do on the ideal weekend

• stuff I'd rather be doing if I didn't have to write a list

Also, making quizzes is a really popular activity. Take this quiz with your child to see if making a quiz is right for you.

Should You Create a Quiz - Quiz Do you like creating crazy questions? Do you like asking people to make choices? Do you like thinking up things for people to make decisions about? Do you like coming up with questions and a variety of answers? Do you like Quizzes? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions you will definitely enjoy creating your own quiz!

Mr M's guide to creating a quiz

Your quiz should have:

• 5 - 10 interesting questions.
• Appropriate format e.g., multiple-choice where you give the quizee several answers to choose from, a straight yes/no quiz or invent a scoring system.
• Your quiz can be as silly or sensible as you like.
• Don’t forget to include a scoring system

Good luck and rock on,

Mr M

Spelling Ideas

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

Bored with copying out spelling words over and over again to learn them? Here are some other ideas that you could try. Sometimes using different visual or tactile activities can be effective depending on how your child learns best.

Rock On,

Mr M

Week 5

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

Week 5 is upon us already. Here's the heads up.

• Great job with homework overall. Fantastic to see some really solid home learning going on. Just a gentle reminder to send your child's homework book to school on Monday as it's a real pain to set them up, check spelling etc if it isn't at school.
• I'm going to be testing essential spelling this week so you'll probably notice a difference in the types of words your student brings home in the next week or 2. Currently they're from inquiry, incorrectly spelt words from their writing or interesting vocabulary from around the classroom.
• We're starting numeracy in Maths this week. For this term in numeracy, we're spending roughly a 5 week block looking at addition and subtraction. Maths Buddy tasks will be set weekly that tie in with this so please make the most of that opportunity if you have the internet at home. If you don't, your child still gets plenty of time at school to complete tasks.
• Meet the teacher evening is this Wednesday. Room 2 is at 6.30 I believe.

Rock on,

Mr M

Welcome to Week 4

Kia ora Koutou Katoa,

Welcome to Week 4. Here is a quick heads up about what's happening.

• Statistics is still on the go. I think the settings on the quizzes that I sent through last week may have been wrong as I had feedback from a parent that they were unable to access them. Could you please click here and give them another crack for us? If you still can't access, please let me know. 
• Guitar and ukulele lessons are go. Had a fun first session last Thursday. If your child is participating, feel free to add that into the the 'Extra Curricula" section of the weekly homework.
• Please send your child's homework book to school every Monday.
• Meet the teacher evening is this Wednesday. Room 2 kicks off at 6.30pm. 
• The whale Inquiry is progressing. I'm looking at booking an expert to come in and give a talk soonish. At this point we're up to publishing a little presentation about Tooth Whales.

Rock On,

Mr M

Room 2's Amazing Questionnaires

Kia Ora All,

We've been learning about statistics by creating surveys and graphing the results. Here are our latest questionnaires which we created using Google Forms. Please vote for your favourites and keep and eye out for the results, which we'll share with you when we're done.

Rock On,

Mr M

Some photos of the first two weeks.

Here are some pictures of the beginning of our writing programme in week 1.

Here we are brainstorming what we already know about the focus questions that we're going to be learning about as part of our World of Whales inquiry.

 Learning how to play the maths game Four In A Row. Hopefully you've played this with your child as part of home learning.

Here we are doing our first piece of publishing: a desk mat displaying interesting information about ourselves. 

Rock On,

Mr M

Welcome to 2018!

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

Harere mai and welcome to 2018. It looks like it's going to be a cracker year with a great bunch of kids. 

I had a super holiday break, mostly hanging around the Bay with my family, taking the kids swimming every day and generally enjoying life in paradise. 

Class Programme

Maths: We're starting off the year with a statistics unit. We'll be surveying the class and school community about various favourite things, organising the results, graphing them and interpreting the graphs. If you're looking for home learning to fit in with this you could create a survey with your child, record the results on a tally chart and create a bar graph showing the results.

Reading: For the first two to three weeks I'll be doing some group work with the students and also the usual testing to see where they're at so that I can determine what their learning needs are. I aim to set the scene for a positive year of reading and actively model the enjoyment of books. 

Writing: For the first few weeks of the writing programme I have some fun and engaging writing activities planned, as well as some activities that will help me determine student needs. As with reading, the first few weeks are about getting to know the students as writers and setting the tone for a fun year of writing. 

Inquiry: The Inquiry topic that I have planned for this term is called The World of Whales. To introduce the topic, Mr Cullen came into class the other day to show the students some of the amazing photos he's taken while diving with whales and also some pictures of local whale strandings. I've planned about 5 weeks of worth of different learning activities covering various aspects such as: what whales are, how they live, and why they are becoming endangered. After we complete the first 5 weeks of learning, students will decide on their own questions to research. We'll post some writing and videos of what we're up to on the blog as the term progresses. 

PE: Swimming is the main for focus this term - please send togs along with your child every day. We'll also be working on small ball skills.

Te Reo Maori: We had our first whole school Kapa Haka session on Thursday, the students were really enthusiastic about it and I thought they made a great start. We'll also be learning a basic mihi over the first few weeks. A great home learning task around this would be to talk to your child about a significant river and mountain associated with wherever they are from as this is part of the mihi. For example, those from Takaka will talk about Parapara as their mountain and Parawhakaoho, Takaka or Motupipi as their river. If you don't know the te reo Maori names for the mountain or river, it doesn't matter - we can look them up at school. 

Homework: Those parents who had students in my class last year will notice that I have a more prescribed homework system this year. I've reverted back to a system I used a few years ago before starting a blog for my classes as I hope that it will be more accessible to the parent community out here. I understand that there isn't always time for homework, but I do hope that you all take advantage of the homework I send home regularly. Please send the homework book along to school every Monday. 

Guitar / ukulele lessons: This year I'm going to run guitar and ukulele lessons once a week during a break time. If you'd like to sign your child up for lessons, please send me an email at: tmcarthur@motupipi.school.nz. I'll be in touch when I've got an idea of how much interest there is - if there is a lot of interest then I may have to put some students on a wait list. The lessons will suit beginners and students who have some experience. You will need to have a guitar or ukulele at home to practice on. The lessons are geared towards giving students an introduction to the instrument. The lessons are free, but it is expected that there is a commitment to practicing regularly.

Communication: As always, we have an open door policy here at Motupipi. Please feel free to pop in and say hi. If you have questions, concerns or similar you can email me, ring me at school or pop in to see me. There is also a parent / teacher communication section on the homework sheets, which I'll try to make sure I read weekly. 

Rock On,

Mr M