Swimming in Rongo-mā-tāne

After Show Weekend the school pool was opened for business. Some of the children in Rongo-mā-tāne were super excited because it was their first time in the school pool. 

We've been practising lots of new skills like getting in safely, putting our heads under water, blowing bubbles, and just generally becoming more confident in the water. 

Lately, the weather hasn't been so great, but the children have been so brave getting in and enjoying it anyway. They love to show the teachers all of the different things they can do in the water. 

What's your favourite thing about the school pool?

Exploring the drawing tool in ScratchJR...

Students in Rachel's kaiāwhina group worked with Elizabeth today to explore ScratchJR.  Students learnt about the drawling tool in ScratchJR.  Our challenge was to draw a Minecraft character.  Some of us programmed our Minecraft character to move and some did a 360 turn!  These are some of our characters below...

Itty Bitty Beats and Suzy Cato Show

On Monday, Rāwhiti School were lucky to host a show from Itty Bitty Beats and Suzy Cato. We listened to some old favourites and some new songs too. 

First, they sang the welcome song from the 'You and Me' television programme.

We had the opportunity to 'Sprinkle A Little Sunshine'. 

We got to do some dancing.

Then at the end, they even sang a Christmas song from their new book.

https://www.ittybittybeats.com/

Active Play

When the children get to school in the mornings, there are a range of activities for them to choose from between 8.30 and 9.20 a.m. Some of our choices at the moment are:

... playing on Rapuara (the hill) and the surrounding playground;

... playing in the sandpit;

... the vet clinic in the studio;

... drawing or another art activity.

The Mystery of the Killed Rat

It didn't die from a cat because there wasn't any blood and it wasn't bitten. We made the box to put the rat in there. By Jacob

We think it was poisoned. We didn't touch it because we didn't want to get poisoned. By Beau  

First, I thought it was sleeping because it just lying down. I think I saw it breathe and its belly went up and down. It wasn't bitten, so we knew that it was poisoned. Its tail was as big as the whole school. It had straight lines on its tail and it was gross. We made a coffin out of a cardboard cookie holder and we put in long grass and leaves to make it kind of soft. I don't like rats! They are cheese stealers! By Tobias-John

Choice and Challenge - Boardgames

 On Fridays we have Choice and Challenge in the junior school. Rongo-mā-tāne and Papatūānuku get the morning to do fun activities and work on challenging themselves. 

One of the activities is board games. If they choose this they get to play all sorts of different board games. We have Beetle, Monopoly Junior, Buckaroo, Game of Life Junior, Uno, and Loopin' Louie. It's a great opportunity for everyone to practise our school values of resilience, self-managing, success, and integrity. 

There are always lots of laughs and team work. Sometimes a bit of healthy competition happens and that's ok, we work through it and come out happy in the end. 

"I like boardgames because I get to play games with my friends." - Noah B

"I like boardgames because you can literally play any one you want." - Devin

Maybe on a Friday you could choose boardgames and see how you go. 

The chicks visited Rongo-mā-tāne

On Monday morning the chicks came to the class so that people could hold them. They came from a farm. My family is looking after them and they will go back to the farm when they are a bit older. We had to put newspaper and a tarp on the floor so then they don't poop on the floor! My sister Charlotte stayed and helped. By Ashleigh

When I held the chick I had to put a towel over me. I had to be gentle because they will get scared. I liked holding it because it was cute and soft. By Indi-Lea

I held a chick. I had to hold it with two hands so it wouldn't fly away. You still have to hold it so gentle though and not make it squish. Thank you, Ashleigh and her Mum. By Tegan