Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Te Mahia School Triathlon

The weather held off for what turned out to be an awesome day. All our Te Mahia School tamariki participated in our school triathlon. The following is what the children participated in:

5 and 6 year olds
Bike 2 laps of the netball court, run 2 circuits of the school playing field, and swim 1 length of the pool with a flutter board

7 and 8 year olds
Bike 4 laps of the playing field, run 4 circuits of the school playing field, and swim 2 lengths of the pool

9 and 10 year olds
Bike from Tuahuru Marae to Tokoroa, run from Tokoroa to school, swim 4 lengths of the pool

11 and 12 year olds
Bike from Greenings to Tokoroa, run from Tokoroa to school, swim 4 lengths of the pool

None of the children moaned, they gave it their all and did a splendid job! It was great to see the tuakana-teina support from Room 1 students who helped push some younger children on their bikes and ran alongside and cheered them on through the triathlon circuit.
I am very thankful to have such a great team at Te Mahia. Without all the support from my colleagues, whanau and parents the day would not have been possible. Thank you all for help and ensuring the day was a success.

Many thanks,

Miss Kereru

 
   

Gisborne Weetbix Tryathlon 2015

Gisborne Weetbix Tryathlon 2015

What an amazing day we all had in Gisborne last week on Wednesday!! The total number of participants in the triathlon reached a record number of 1,008 children. Our tamariki were fabulous, I think I was more nervous then them. I couldn’t be more proud then I am of our Te Mahia School tamariki, they represented our school with pride and we are very lucky to have such talented tamariki.
Thank you to all the parents who took the time to come and support the children at the Weetbix Tryathlon it would not have been possible without your help. It is definitely an awesome experience to have and I look forward to next years Weetbix Tryathlon with more participants from Te Mahia School. Ka mau te wehi koutou katoa!!

Nāku noa,


Miss Kereru







A week full of events!!

This week has been full of events, we had our school triathlon on Tuesday, 3-way conferences on Wednesday and Eastern Zone swimming sports tomorrow. Amidst all the out of classroom events, the children have been preparing their power points for their 3 way conferences, finishing off information reports on Mahia, working through their statistical investigations in maths and focusing on reading for understanding.
There is never a dull moment in Room 1, there is always learning to be completed, new strategies to learn and work on and new ideas to be written down. Next week we need to carry on with our inquiry learning that is focused on identity, our topic being 'Future kaitiaki of Mahia'.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

All in today's work..

What a scorching but very active day Room 1 has had today...
We started off the morning with fitness circuits. I am very pleased to see our House Leaders motivate the younger children through positive role modelling. Perseverance needs to occur more often in morning fitness.

We continued writing our information reports about our place, Mahia. Amidst this the Year 6's were doing a PAT Math assessment online. We are trialling the online assessments for some learning areas and so far it proves very beneficial to have. 
                                      
                                      

The Life Education Trust Truck is at our school today and tomorrow. Our senior class got to enjoy the company of Quentin and Harold the Giraffe this afternoon. The focus of their learning was on Social Relationships and identifying the qualities that make a good friend. Quentin also shared an awesome whakatauaki (Maori Proverb) that goes like this:

"Taputapu te korero" - "Words are sacred"
What we say affects others. When we speak with aroha we lift others up.

Decisions on qualities good friends should have. The before and after (much discussion)


This activity reinforced our Room 1 behaviour expectations that the children came up with in class. The main point the children came up with in class was respect for ourselves, for each other, for everyone. Not only respect for people's feeling's and emotions but also physically and respect with property/equipment. Like the children say "treat others as you would want to be treated."
Keep up the positive attitudes Room 1!!

Saturday, February 7, 2015

A new year, new faces in class, new learning..



A new year of school, new faces in class, new and exciting things to learn.. I am excited to be back at school and in the classroom after a very long holiday. The focus of the first couple days in class with the children were bonding activities and ice-breaker games to make our Year 6's feel welcome in the senior class. I am pleased to say that their transition from the middle class has been a positive one. The children are nearing completion of their profile pictures and have brainstormed and written down ideas of what they think identity means to them but more in particular on how they view themselves. The focus for inquiry this term is 'identity' and I am very excited to see where it will lead us. As a classroom we decided on behaviour expectations together, these have been written up and it is reassuring to see the children sticking to them not only in the classroom but out of the classroom too. The children have been enjoying their swim time and preparing for the Inter-School swimming competition later on in the term. We definitely have some eager swimmers in class with all the muggy hot weather we have been having, swimming is the best way to cool down at school!! Over the next couple of weeks the children will be assessed in learning areas. I am excited for the new year, and eager to get into learning with the children.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world" - Nelson Mandela