MOTAT School Trip

Room 11 at MOTAT

Pulling themselves up

Pulling themselves up

On the Tram #1

On the Tram #2

Matariki Glow Show at Hawkins Theatre

We were lucky enough to get to see the Matariki Glow Show at The Hawkins Theatre today.  The story of the Matariki whanau, and how the youngest sister played hide and seek amongst the sea.  Back in the classroom we used sequencing of beginning, middle and end to retell the story to clarify it.  We also looked at the questions who, what and where to help guide our answers as the Glow Show wove in and out of characters, time and space.   We were not allowed to take photos of the show, but here is a quick pic of Room 11 before the show started.

Physical Science - Finding the Centre of Gravity (Balance)

Tiana, Holly, Odin, Nicole, Lily, Aden, Manvir

Freya and Odin

Diljot and James

Ngarea and Kieren

As a class we read 'Balancing Act' (independent reading for some students, shared reading with the teacher for other students) a School Journal article about a Wellington artist, Stavros Kyriakides, who makes balancing rocks and driftwood sculptures on the beach. 

To get us started in how to find the centre of gravity we looked for equipment on hand: a pencil - here are some pics from class this morning.  The children were extremely successful in finding the centre of balance of a pencil.  But, to make it harder, the students were then given a peg to put on one side of the pencil, and the children found out the centre of gravity had changed and they could no longer balance the pencil on their finger from the middle of the pencil and they had to shuffle and shift the pencil to find its 'kiss point' (Stavros Kyriakides' turn of phrase to find the point of balance on objects that are balancing on each other).

The Bike Track is now Open!

After a long wait the School's bike track opened. Middle School are able to zoom and whizz about the bike track on Wednesdays and Fridays.

This is what Brooke had to say about the Bike Track. 

"Today I went to the new Bike track. The bike track was the colour of ashes. And my bike was as black as the sky at midnight. I zoomed over the hills. I could feel the breeze as cold as ice but refreshing at the same time."

Here are Diljot's thoughts. 

"Today I went on the bike track it was fun but I almost crashed into somebody. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster and I when zooming across everyone and I was nervous so much and some people watching us on the bike track and my friend will cheer for me."

Music - Sound Art - Alan Bagnall's Hailstones

Room 11 explored the rhythm of their voices today in reciting Alan Bagnall's Poem Hailstones.  Curriculum elements are imitating simple rhythmic patters and holding a rhythmic pattern while others are playing a different pattern.  You will see in our slideshow videos, the first 2 are slightly cacophonous but by take #3 the children are harmonising their rhythms.  You can listen to an official version with school children but with better acoustics HERE.

Topic and te reo

The students in Room 11 explored the 'balance' of the ecosystem in Tide Pools tying the science of marine life there with the Maori world view of necessary balance.  To that end, the students found out what creatures live in the tide pools and what those creatures are called in te reo.  The students made painted seahorses (kiore moana), origami limpets, origami crabs (papaka) and fish (ika) and they made brown seaweed (rimurimu paraone) - the seaweed is still in progress.

We were really lucky that Hiwi the Kiwi came to visit the school too and so the students were able to compare and contrast Tangaroa's Rules of the Sea (throw the first fish caught back to sea) to Hiwi the Kiwi's (fish for the future) and really get thinking about getting the right balance for sustainability.

Here is Stephanie's writing on Hiwi the Kiwi's visit and a light comparison to Tangaroa's Rules.

Reader's Theatre

Today a mixed group of readers read a play called Professor Clever.  Ella, Kieren, Tiana, Kaylan and Isaac had time to learn their lines and then perform their play to the class.  Here is a short clip of the reading.