Technology Challenge

Next term, we have the Technology inter-school competition in town. What better way to start rehearsing than getting stuck into some practice challenges. Today's task was to design a marble track...

Congratulations to Kristine and Jack's team who came first equal, Khalos who came second and Deniss's team who came third.  All teams considered the judging criteria very carefully, talked about how they could make their design robust and tested their design until the very end.  There will be heaps more challenges next term as we get our teams ready for this challenge!

Room 1's Gardens looking fabulous!!

Room 1 was out in full force this morning weeding our classroom gardens, putting in a top layer of compost on the garden beds and covering our gardens with seaweed mulch. The mulch will prevent weeds growing through and also provides nutrients for the vegetable plants. Getting rid of grass and logs around the cabbage tree proved challenging and difficult but nothing our students couldn’t handle!! Our Room 1 gardens are looking beautiful and just in the nick of time with the centennial only days away.

A big mihi to Grace Ormond who had given freely of her time and cleaned our Room 1 forest, we now can see our gardens and the children can care for them easily. Tēnā rāwā atu koe mō tō awhi, me tō manaakitanga mai, hei tiaki i a mātou.

Kaitiaki/Guardians of Mahia

Our inquiry this term was identity. Room 1 focused more in depth on the topic ‘Future Kaitiaki of Mahia’.

The children learnt about:

• Identity and self-identity.
• Identifying that they the students are future kaitiaki of Mahia too.
• Identifying other kaitiaki in Mahia (kaitiaki artwork).
• Issues in our arae and forming small groups to research and come up with solutions to these issues.
• Issues such as rubbish, freedom camping, crime and fisheries.

The children learnt to:

• Take in knowledge of our area.
• Learn about issues in our area
• Form and asks questions.
• Gather and synthesise information
• Develop own ideas and perspectives on a selected issue.

Ānei ētahi Katiaki o Mahia

The children enjoyed the kaitiaki artwork they produced in class and learnt that kaitiaki is not just people.

Here are some other kaitiaki in and around Mahia. The name of the kaitiaki is given (if known), the type of creature it is, and the location of the kaitiaki.

·      Taramangamanga/ Te Kuri A Maahu (Dog) – Rock by Dedben Whaanga’s but back towards Whangawehi way

·       

·      Whakikino (Stingray) – Out the front of Tuahuru, looks after all the people

·      Kaiwaka (Shapeshifter) – Whangawehi Jetty Area

·      Moremore (Shark) – Goes all the way down to Hawkes Bay and back

7 whales of Ngai Tu – Cover the waters from Paritu right around to Waikokopu

·      Tukorehu

·      Tupai

·      Tutewiriao

·      Tutamure

·      Tumatauenga

·      Tutarakauika

·      Tunui Ika

·         - (Koura) - Blow hole out Blacks Beach/Te Urutī

·          - (Ruru) – Up Parakiwai Road next to Aan Hoek’s house in a gulley called Maimai Keke

·          - (Tuatara) – Down Nukutaurua past Papa Peter’s Bach up on a hill by a big slip

·      Te Toka Matiu (Rock) – Ruawharo turned his children into stone as mauri (life force) and placed Matiu at Waikokopu

A big mihi to Rohan Ormond for sharing his knowledge of some of the Kaitiaki around Mahia. The children thoroughly enjoyed creating their masterpieces and sharing their own creative ideas with each other.

Tau ke, Room 1!!

Searching for whitebait eggs!!

Enviro Schools- Whangawehi

Room 1 tamariki were on the hunt for whitebait eggs on Wednesday afternoon down at the Whangawehi River. They were learning about; the different types of whitebait there are, the different types of vegetation they could see, the weather conditions, how to use GPS, and the different types of birds they could see. Sadly we couldn’t find a single whitebait egg but the tamariki know what to look for and where they can find whitebait eggs next time. Everyone enjoyed the muddy surfaces and slippery rocks resulting in some tamariki falling over and getting wet. The sound of laughter was infectious! Learning more about our whenua, our place is what Te Mahia School children enjoy. Thank you to Matua Arthur and Whaea Jenni who led the way with this project, will definitely have to wait for the next spring tide to have another go.

Duffy Role Model Assembly

We were very fortunate to have Diana Queenin at school this afternoon sharing her interesting experiences and passion for reading with our Te Mahia School tamariki. Diana has travelled to many places in the world and shared with us some treasures she acquired along the way. Her treasures included a stingray barb, different types of fossils (a geode, trilobite and ammonite), a nautilus shell, the skin of an Egyptian cobra, and an empty shell of a horseshoe crab.

Diana worked at the New York Museum of National History (this Museum is seen in the children’s movie ‘A Night at the Museum’) and mentioned to the children that she had to study a lot which involved a lot of reading before she could work in the museum. Her job involved talking to people about dinosaurs and sea life, some of the many wonderful artifacts in the museum.

Diana is an enthusiastic reader and captivated our tamariki with her exciting stories she told. She encourages everyone to read because reading is key to knowledge and learning.

Thank you for sharing some of your special treasures and inspiring stories with the tamariki of Te Mahia School!