Thank you and Merry Christmas!

To my class - Room 11, 2008,

Thank you all for the wonderful year you have given me. I am happy that each of you were in my class - you all brought something different that made our class special. Good luck and keep up the good work for next year, be kind to each other and always do the right thing.
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas with your whanau and a safe and Happy New Year.

See you bright and cheery in 2009,

Lots of love, Koka Manny xo

Home time

On Friday we left to come home. All of us were different - we had changed. We had been fortunate enough to share these experiences together and everyone seemed to be closer. It was great - the conversations in the Red Van on the way back had changed too. Everyone was talking about things we had done on the trip and about how they couldn't wait to give their gifts to their whanau. As tiring as it was for us as staff, Koka Ritihia and I both agreed that it was awesome to see the joy on the kids faces and the feeling of togetherness. I wouldn't hesitate to put my hand up to go on another school trip, wherever it may be. It may not be next year but whenever it is, I'm keen!

Swimming

We went to the pools after catching the train from Wellington to Porirua. There was a wave pool there. After a siren went off and lights from the lighthouse, a wave started at one end of the pool. Lifesavers watched carefully to make sure the kids were safe and if anyone looked as though they were getting into trouble, they had a long, soft rod that they put into the water for the person to hold onto and they would pull them over to the side or to the ladder. There were spa pools there too and a hydroslide.

Check out the photos

Te Papa

We went to Te Papa twice on Thursday - once in the morning and back again after dinner. In the morning we went on the interactive rides. Everyone like the High Ride - we sat in seats that moved around and watched a film. You felt like you were in the film and you changed from one thing to another , you might be a netball, or a rugby player, or bungy jumper (Scary!) or skateboarder or riding a motorbike (which was the favourite!) In the evening we split into our groups and went around and saw the different exhibitions. The Discovery learning centres had activities and puzzles for kids. We saw lots amd learned a lot too. A great place that I will be sure to take my own family to .

Dinner and a movie

All the climbing and shopping gave our kids a really big appetite so dinner and a movie was the perfect way to finish the night. We went to Reading's food court and cinema. There were so many different types of food there - from curries to chinese to burgers. There was also Wendy's who make a fabulous frozen yoghurt! After dinner we went up the stairs to watch High School Musical 3. Some girls had dressed up as cheerleaders to go and watch the movies so we made sure to have a photo taken with them. Everyone loved the movies and the vans were buzzing as we headed back to the marae.

Rock Climbing

Rock climbing was really neat and I was surprised at how quickly some of you could scoot up those walls! I was impressed by all of your determination and so pleased that you all had a go. Well done!!!

Cable Cars

The Cable Cars were not as bad as what I had imagined them to be. It was neat going through the tunnels and seeing the museum at the top. The views of the city were beautiful and it was a lovely clear day as well.

The Wellington Zoo

The zoo was a neat place and all of the children were amazed at the animals. The chimpanzees were a particular favourite - they were really funny and were putting on a bit of a show for all of us - dancing and making noises, swinging and playing. There was a baby chimp called Beni. We saw him playing and swinging around. It was really cute. We also got up close to the giraffes. The baboons were funny too and they loved to eat raw onions! Have a look at some of the photos from our day.

The Wahine disaster

Koka Ritihia told us a story of the storm that happened that caused the Wahine disaster. She was growing up in Wellington at the time that it happened. We went to see the place where it ran aground. The kids had a photo sitting on the actual anchor that belonged to the Wahine. There is a playground there too, which is fitting because there were children that died there too. After a play on the playground, we headed off for the Zoo.

Capital E On TV

This place was cool. All the children had their part in creating a news type programme. They worked the cameras, the wardrobe and makeup, the control room. They learned how to present the weather and conducted interviews. It was a lot of fun and we laughed .... a lot! They learned that everyone needed to work together as a team in order for the show to be a success - a lesson that could be applied to a lot of things in life as well. The costumes were hilarious and everyone enjoyed themselves.

We are looking at making copies of their news programme available for sale.

Capital E Soundhouse

After waking up, having breakfast and doing jobs we headed off for Capital E. We had a fair idea of what we were going to be doing but did not realise it would be so cool. In the morning, we went to Capital E Soundhouse. The children got into pairs and created their own sounds using Sony AcidPro, a music editing programme. You can listen to the awesome sounds they have created at this website. http://soundhouse.capitale.org.nz/schools/albums/2008/December/Waikirikiri%20School%20(011208)/

Arrival at Wellington

We arrived in Wellington at approximately 7.00pm and was welcomed by Matua-Kore Manuel, the caretaker of the marae. We stayed nice and close to the city centre - not close enough to walk but it did not take long to get to most of the places we were going to. Everyone was tired and hungry too so after making our beds and diary time some of us went out to get dinner. A long day of travelling and excitement about the next day's events resulted in a late night for some.

Day 1 - Palmy

In Palmy, we went to the Square and then went to have a look around. My group was Jason, Fin and Te Wairua. We went into an arcade and the boys discovered escalators. After about their 7th ride going up and down, the security guard came out and was watching us. I took one last photo and then we left. We were amazed at the amount of sculptures there are in other cities.

Our Wellington trip - Day 1 Sunday 30th November

We left on Sunday - all cheery and ready for the adventure that lay before us. I was in the Red Van with Gerry, Capri, Jahnesta, Joseph, Manaaki, Guy, West and our driver Matua Jason. We travelled without a hitch to Wairoa and then to Napier. In Napier we visited the National Aquarium, an amazing place. The kids could not believe it and were running around looking at all of the wonderful creatures. We were also lucky enough to make it to feeding time for the crocodile. We thought it was fake until it started swimming! I told the kids not to yell when it jumped up to get the kai and ended up screaming myself! It was soooo funny. We also saw sharks, a giant turtle, huge crayfish, big goldfish, seahorses and stingrays, water dragons and so many other things. There was a diver in the tank too. The kids beat him in a game of paper, scissors, rock. A conveyor belt took us through a tank and we were surrounded by the beauty of the underwater world. It had definitely changed from the time I had last been there as a child. We left the aquarium and had lunch at a nearby park and hit the road again - next stop Palmerston North

Back again

Kia ora everyone,

Well, we had a really wonderful time in Wellington and I enjoyed having the opportunity to spend time with the children in the class, watching the wonder in their eyes as some of them experienced some of the activities for the first time ever. A day by day breakdown with lots of photos will be up by the end of the week.
We are lucky to have another weta, which was discovered by my son John in the bathroom on Monday night. I'm a bit scared of this one because it is a lot bigger than the other one but it seems this doesn't phase the tamariki who get it out and play with it.

We also have two beetles that were found in the tree stump by Rms 9, 10 and 11. I think that the huhu grubs that we had would have hatched to look like these. We have not classified what type of beetles they are yet but we will have a couple of detectives on it asap.

School's nearly done for the year and for me it has been a great one. I think I'm the luckiest teacher in the school to have such wonderful children like all of you in my class.

See you at kura,
Koka Manny :)

Missing Kitten

Missing kitten
Its brown and black
Its has a furry body with four white legs
It has a soft body
It has green eyes
Its short legs and small body
Last seen 1 November on Saturday night
If you find it please return to 1 Edison street kaiti Gisborne .My phone number is 555 -4321 ask for Jason.

The name o f the kitten is Kaiti.This is what they look like...Thank you.

Term 4 Week 7

Kia ora all,

One more week before we zoo off to the capital city of Wellington. Yippee! If you are staying back at school then make sure you behave yourselves and have a great time in the activities planned for you. School photos are this Wednesday so make sure you are looking beautiful for the girls and extra smooth for the boys.

Coming up this week
Wednesday Koka Tui and also school photos

Lets have a choice week learning together

Koka Manny :)

Term 4 Week 6

Kia ora everybody,

Well, as you all know our class pet has escaped into the big wide world. You guys took such good care of her (or him?) too. We will have to try and find some other ngahere buddies to have as pets instead. The beetles were pretty cool too. I will put some more photos up too.

If you would like to leave comments on here, ask your whanau to sign you up and get an account and password. It's all free and just takes a bit of time to set up. Then you will be able to post your awesome poems and stories on the blog for everyone to read.

For those of you who are coming to Wellington, YAY One more week to go!!!!!! If you are not able to come, we will miss you guys and we will send you a postcard. I hope I'll be all right after the Cable Car ride. You all know how I feel about heights. (Scary!)

Ka pai those people who have presented their eportfolio to their whanau.

Today is fun Friday so let's have a lovely day together. Have a neat weekend and go the softball players,

Koka Manny :)

Vote for our Pet name reopened

Due to popular demand, I have reopened the poll for the voting of our pet weta who still has no name! The poll will close at 2.25 on Monday November 17th so please make sure you vote so you can have your say

Peace out,

Koka Manny

PS Our class rules!!!!

Term 4 Week 5

Kia ora everyone,
Welcome to Week 5. Back to our normal programme this week with lots of learning and researching questions we might have about te ngahere. We will also be competing our mosaics and working on our Eportfolios, getting them ready for the conferences next week. Be sure to see the office to secure your appointment time.

Upcoming events:
Tuesday - Koka Racheal
Wednesday - Koka Tui
Thursday night - Twilight Athletics

Good luck to all those competing. Here's to another great week.

Term 4 Week 4

Kia ora everyone,
Hope you had a fabulous weekend and had a good break with your whanau. I saw some of you trick or treating for Halloween and your costumes looked really cool. We didn't go out on the Friday night with the boys because someone went for a surf (Lou!) but we took them to scare their nannies on Saturday instead.

Coming up this week.....
Monday - finishing off high jump for athletics
Wednesday - Koka Tui will be teaching you
Thursday - Whetuara kapa haka. We are on at 1.15pm

We will also be getting arty with mosaics. You have made some lovely magazine ngahere mosaics and I am looking forward to working with you using the tiles.

REMEMBER
Be safe if you are going to be having fireworks. Be sensible and enjoy yourself. They can be very dangerous and you could get seriously hurt

Looking forward to my week with you,
Koka Manny :)

Speeches

Congrats to our speech finalists and placegetters.

Here are the results:

Year 3 - 1 st place = Kingi Koia
- 2nd place = Renee Apanui

Year 4 - 1st place = Sarah Margaret White
2nd place = Capri Brown

I was very proud of all of you, even those who didn't get a place. It takes a lot to get up and speak in front of an audience. Well done!!!

Our class pets

We now have a new member of our class - our pet weta, who was found on my jeans while I was ironing. We have learned a lot about weta and many of you have also researched facts about weta in your own time.

Ka pai koutou.

We also have 3 fat, wriggly, scary huhu grubs which I am a bit scared of, but because all of my students love them I guess I'll have to get used to having them in the class.

Hope you all like the photos

Term 4 Week 3

Kia ora everyone!

We have a really busy week this week. I hope you have had a good three day weekend and are ready to come back and give it heaps.

Here's what's happening:

Tuesday - Senior Athletic heats in morning
- Athletics with Matua Phil in the afternoon
Wednesday - Whanau Reo Rua Speech finals.
Thursday - Senior Athletics finals
Friday - Koka Manny out of class and Koka Tui as your reliever

Welcome to Room 11's page

Kia ora everybody,
Welcome to our class blog page.

You will be able to leave messages for each other and have a look at the neat things we are doing in our class.

This term's mahi.....

Te ngahere.... We will be learning about the forest and the creatures within
Oral Language and Writing - describing things, using nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs
Maths - NumPa - Addition, Subtraction and Place Value
Health and PE - Athletics heats and finals in Week 3, Swimming after Labour weekend
The Arts
- Kapa Haka Performing in Whetuara (schools festival) week 4
- Mosaics creating mosaic design using paper and tiles
Te Reo learning the names of things that live in the ngahere
ie manu, weta, otaota, ngangara, kiwi etc