'Planet Bubble' - Manaiakalani Film Festival 2021

Do you miss hanging out with your friends and family in person? Are you sick of being stuck in a lockdown? Well don't worry because many years from now you will look back and remember the time when you were affected by a global pandemic. Hopefully you will have created some good memories and will have continued to become an intelligent, resilient, resourceful and creative life long learner. Well, enough of the big words! 

Here are some facts about our movie:

1. 'Planet Bubble' was created by the teachers and students in Rooms 6, 7, & 8 (aka Room 678) in Team 4 from Pt England School. We are made up of Year 5 and Year 6 students. 

Please leave a comment on Room 6 (Ms Tuia) and Room 7 (Mr Hughes) blogs as well

2. Google Meets was a great way to include as many students from our classes as possible. 

3. It shares some of the ways that the lockdowns have impacted our lives.

4. It is kind of corny but creative - did you like the solution that the students came up with?

If you have watched our movie, thank you so much! Please leave us a positive comment. 

Term 4: Ta Tatou Korero, Ta Tatou Kowhiringa - Our Voice, Our Choice

 Our theme for Term 4 is Ta Tatou Korero, Ta Tatou Kowhiringa - Our Voice, Our Choice.

We will be focussing on understanding where we belong (family, religion, community, etc), our roles and responsibilities, and understanding the concept of "My Space, My Place". It is going to be a fun term of learning for us. It's all about identity and belonging so get ready for your learning!

Check out the video our teachers put together during the holidays for 'Tā tātou Kōrero Tā tātou Kōwhiringa - Our Voice Our Choice'.

Interview with Tupou Neiufi

 Today the students from Team 4 were so privileged to be able to join Team 5 in their online interview with Tupou Neiufi. Tupou Neiufi is a Paralympic Gold medalist who competed in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Team 4 first knew about Tupou when we started researching who some of the NZ Paralympic athletes were for the Tokyo Games. 

We knew that Tupou Neiufi was a paralympic swimmer and had participated in the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016. Today Mr Moran from Team 5 began the interview with Tupou. Many students in Team 4 were given the opportunity to ask questions. Tupou is a wonderful, talented and articulate athlete. She was happy to answer any questions that the students and teachers had. It was an absolute blessing and privilege to hear about her and her messages for our students. Thank you Tupou! Thank you Team 5!

Room 7 Google Meetings

 Many students from Room 7 have joined in on our Google Meets this week. We'd love to see more of you online at the same time! So far it's been great to see students asking lots of interesting questions and posting their learning on their blog. Keep up the great work Room 7!

We had a pyjama theme this morning

Here are some screenshots from meetings held earlier this week. Look at all those beautiful faces!

Kahzyilou and the Paralympics

This week in Team 4 we have been learning more about the Paralympics, our NZ Paralympic athletes and Disability. 

Here are some photos from a post by Kahzyilou in Room 7. She had a great experience actually wearing a real gold medal from a NZ Paralympic athlete a few years ago. You can find out more on her blog. Thank you for sharing Kahzyilou. 

 Here is some photos of me wearing Cameron Leslie gold medal at my aunty's  Wheelchair Ruby training at the spinal unit. The first photo is my aunty's wearing Sophie Pascoe medals. Also one other thing my aunty plays for the Wheel black that are competing against U.s.a  at 2:30 today but sadly my aunty is not there because she got sick.       

Room 7 Swimming in Week 3

This term the students in Team 4 were lucky enough to receive swimming lessons at the Glen Innes YMCA Pools. The students were put into small groups and each had a swimming instructor per group.  The students learnt about water safety and basic swimming techniques. Although it was only an hour lesson each day for a week, the students gained so much enjoyment and skills during the swimming lessons. 

Sailing Trip

This term a group of students from Team 4 went on a sailing trip. 

Volvo Sailing... Have a Go! is a schools programme designed to give students in Year 4s to 8 the opportunity to experience the thrills and spills of sailing in a fun, safe and well managed environment. 

This trip was funded by Rotary of St Johns and Yachting New Zealand to whom we are extremely grateful.

 First the students had to get into small groups of 3 to put together a small sailboat. 

Then the students changed into a wetsuit before receiving instructions of how to sail and navigate their boat when on the water. 

When it was time to launch off into the water the students became quite excited even though the water was quite cold. 

They spent quite a bit of time on the water, enjoying the view of the Auckland Harbour, and then had races against each other. 

The students all had a wonderful time. Thank you to our amazing instructors and to Rotary of St Johns and Yachting NZ. 

PES FiaFia 2021

 FiaFia 2021 finally happened! After being cancelled last year due to Covid 19, and two brief lockdowns earlier this year, our school FiaFia event eventually went ahead. There were 17 amazing items made up of cultural items as well as modern dances and performances. We were also blessed to have a gigantic canopy built called 'Te Kapua' (also known as 'The Cloud') which was built just in time to provide shelter for FiaFia. The food sold at the food stalls prior to the performances were delicious. The children performed spectacular items in a front of a crowd of just over 2,000 people. Here are some highlights from FiaFia 2021. 

Niue FiaFia Group Item 2021

 FiaFia 2021 was pretty amazing! All of the items were fantastic and every student involved were absolute stars! This post only shares the performance of the Niue Group for 2021. The tutors were myself (Mrs Lagitupu) and Ms Teleso. 

Well done to Antzell for doing a great job as leader of the group. Well done to Siakupega who led the takalo (Niue haka). Here is a photo and footage from the Niue Group 2021. 

Ramadan with Zaria and Swaimah

 This morning I was treated to some special treats from a student in our class - Zaria. She was very kind and decided to share some of the delicious treats that her family had made to celebrate Eid. When Zaria explained to me what Eid and Ramadan was about, I decided that it would be a great opportunity for her to share her understanding with the rest of the class. 

After morning tea, Zaria shared a presentation that she had made last year with her sister Zaeeda about Ramadan. Another student in our class (Swaimah) supported Zaria by sharing her experience with Ramadan as well. Muslims around the world celebrate the festival of Eid (or Eid al-Fitr) to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. 

They did a wonderful job sharing a bit about their culture and how they celebrate the end of Ramadan. Here are some photos from today. Thank you so much Zaria and Swaimah!

Welcome to Term 2! Watch This Space!

 This term our school wide theme is called 'Watch This Space' with a focus on Planet Earth and Beyond. At the start of each term we have an immersion assembly in the hall to introduce a new topic. To inspire our students, our teachers participate in an immersion item or performance. This term the teachers from Team 4 decided to create a movie to share what our focus will be in Team 4. If you have enjoyed watching the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, then hopefully you will find some humour in our creative attempt to engage and inspire our students with their learning. 

Term 1 Photography Task

 The term one rubric task for Team 4 required taking photographs of taonga (treasures). Each student who went to the Creative Space with Ms West would take photos outside on the school grounds. They captured images of plants, trees, water, birds, insects and each other. The focus was on capturing and then editing an amazing photo. They had to think about the layout, texture, details, lighting, perspective and focus of a photo. Up to five photos were then selected to submit in a presentation along with a description about why it was a taonga (treasure). Here are a few photos from the students in Room 7. Enjoy. 

Jin - Year 6

Eva - Year 6

Swaimah - Year 6

Room 7s Digital Noho

 Today Room 7 held a Digital Noho after school at 5pm. A Digital Noho is an event where each child gets to take their chrome book home and joins their class and teacher on a Google Meet. Now most of our students have their own chrome books anyway, but this was a great opportunity to see whether students who usually borrow a loan book to use at school, were able to access their learning online from home. Well done to all the students who attended our Google Meet today! 

Lockdown Special 2: Get ready for Google Meets with Mr Goodwin

 During this week (Term 1 Week 5) we have continued with our online learning programme. Our students from Team 4 have been able to access their learning from our Team 4 Site. The teachers from rooms 6, 7 and 8 decided to combine the classes to run the Google Meets together. Luckily we have some clever people like Mr Goodwin who have created resources like the one below to help us to run our Google Meets more effectively. Check it out. 

Plus if you're interested, you can check out the Cybersmart Challenges here on this link. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits our school!

Today our school was very lucky to be treated by a visit from our very own Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She came in response to a movie and letters sent by students from Room 21 and Mrs Moala. Their movie and letters were about our new school lunch programme. Our school has been enjoying the free lunches and we are so grateful to be receiving a healthy lunch for all of our students. Aye and Nadia from Team 5 were also lucky to interview the Prime Minister. Well done to the videographers and photographers: Finau, Kristopher and Maddison too!

Level 3 Learning from Home and in Bubble School

 Starting today (Tuesday) our students are now learning from home due to the Level 3 Lockdown in Auckland which began yesterday. Well done to the students who managed to join their teacher and class on their Google hangouts. Student learning can be accessed from the Class site. 

Bubble School has also started for the children of parents who need to go to work. Here's a photo of some of our bubble school students watching PENN (Pt England News) today. 

Welcome to Room 7!

 Room 7 is an amazing class in Team 4 made up of Year 5 and Year 6 students. For the past week the students have been getting to know each other better and many have made new friends. Like in most   classes, the students have been getting used to the new routines and expectations. This week the Extension class and Creative/MakerSpace classes have also begun which is quite exciting! 

We'll keep posting student learning on this blog throughout the year. Please feel free to leave a positive comment on our class blog.