Powhiri to begin Kotahitanga Week

This is Kotahitanga Week at HNI.  It begins with a formal Maori welcome to the year 7 students (manuhiri) from the year 8 students (tangata whenua).  After this we have the unveiling of each class's pou.  The week culminates in the Year 8's visiting Matahiwi, HNI's marae near Haumoana.

 Yana and Eleanor spoke about their Piwakawaka (fantail) design, why it was chosen, 

and how te caracteristics of this delightful native bird represent the class. 

Poetry- 'Remember when?'

These draft poems are modelled on a Sheena Cameron activity and are yet to be edited.

Remember when we made snow angels, and how they looked terrible?

That was winter.Remember the crisp white puffs of breath as we walked outside?Remember the cold dry air?  That was winter.Remember Amber hitting me with a snowball way to hard and it hurting for ages?  

That was winter.Remember jumping on iced-over puddles and the crunching sound that it made? Remember running around in uncomfortable sodden clothes? That was winter.Remember seeing the melted gray slush at school and stomping in it with friends? 

That was winter. Alice.

That was summer

Pool

We put the pool up

Swam with friends

It was cold

Just stood there

Park

Picnic At the park and family friends

Picnic smelled nice

Playing on the playground

Games with family friends

Home

Inside watching t.v

Drawing for fun

On the family computer

Went to bed and it felt good to sleep Anna

Remember when we were in the middle of Taupo we could smell the salfa leaking out of the ground?  

Remember when we were roaring up Mount Ruapehu in the car?

Remember when we felt the icy breeze on our hands and our face going down the steep slopes?

Remember when  we could hear our snowboards skimming up the snow behind us?

Remember when we could see the brisk clouds of our breath floating up into the white sky?

Remember when we tasted the chocolate of our milo swishing in our mouth? Toby

Remember the long road trips, the wind blowing into your face,

mum and dad singing in the front, me eating ice cream?

That was Summer

Remember the dirt smashing into your face the crowds cheering and

the engines screaming and eating hotdogs and chips at the speedway?

That was Summer

Remember trying to get the biggest splash in the pool?

Remember spending days on the beach?

That was Summer

Remember talking and laughing drinking soda?

Remember putting a helmet and ripping up the dirt and going blazing fast?

That was Summer

Remember cruising along on our bikes hearing our tyres hitting the tarmac?

Remember meeting family members and having a big feast?

That was Summer Sam

Science Tech rotation- watch how static electricity can affect gravity!

Cameron and Jordan playing around with the fundamental 

forces of nature.

Burger designing at Food Tech

Science tech rotation

Room 13 class leaders for terms 1 and 2

L to R:  Cameron Broad (class leader); Oliver Barclay (sports captain); 

Zoe Adams (sports captain); Lola McDonald (class leader). 

Congratulations to these four students who now have significant leadership roles

 in class, within Te Kanawa House and in the wider school community.  Ka Pai!

Science group A having fun in learning.

Padlet of the 'Arrival of the British'- Inquiry

Created with Padlet

'GetWise' financial literacy

Today we had a visit from Kimble, from the ASB bank, and he was running a course on financial literacy in the library.  He had Rooms 13 and 15 entertained with his anecdotes and information in the hour-long session.

 He admitted not all of the stories were 'true', but they were used to get our students thinking about their own choices and how these could affect their futures.


The second part of the hour was based on taking a Hawaiian holiday, with choices around the package deal, medical insurance options, and being involved in some dramas.  The winning team had the most money left over from the $2000 budget.

A very worthwhile hour and we now know Kimble washed windows when he had the aim of saving for a bike. The low-rider Chevy Impala was a different story!

Ben's Mihi via 'Chatterbox'

Some fun at Science Tech

And no, this is not the trial of the new school uniform.  The bags are 

to keep students dry (no guarantees).

First day of Science tech was Nucleation- not as dangerous as it sounds....? Ask Ben.

Teacher reading- The Invention of Hugo Cabret

I have started reading to Room 13 this fascinating novel by Brian Selznick, about Hugo Cabret, an orphaned boy who lives in the Paris Railway Station. The book's primary inspiration is the true story of turn-of-the-century French pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès, his surviving films, and his collection of mechanical, wind-up figures called The book's primary inspiration is the true story of turn-of-the-century French pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès, his surviving films, and his collection of mechanical, wind-up figures called automata.                                                                                                                                                 Admittedly, the class was a bit taken aback when I told them Part 2 of the story started at page 257 (how long would it take to read the novel?) but at the end of day one we had reached page 80 because of how the book is constructed- lots of illustrations and some pages have very few words.                                                                                                                                                            As we read we build on our knowledge of the story, the characters and the plot by expanding our concept web.  This is to help students understand how they can improve their own writing by determining all the myriad details, and the connections between them, at the beginning of the writing process.  Over the next few weeks the web will grow as I add new connections.

Some illustrations from the book:

Photos from the T.K. House swimming trials- it was NOT all serious!

More photos from the swimming trials-

'Workspace' - an example of how Homework might be issued.

This is a page from the class workspace, a Google Drive enhancement enabling me to outline work, projects and completion dates for any of the curriculum areas.  Students complete the work as per the page, watch clips or find and add their own.  This should be a great tool this year.

Today in history- the Hawke's Bay earthquake, 1931

After watching a video of the Hawke's Bay earthquake, groups had to consider three issues and comment, and recount some facts.  The issues were: benefits of earthquakes; problems following earthquakes; and interesting things occuring after earthquakes (i.e. dead fish when the land uplifts (Pandora Pond)). There was some interesting discussion and knowledge-building happening.
Today's learning will build into an understanding of how landscapes are formed over time by natural processes.

Here they are in all their glory: Room 13, 2016

Room 13 Honours Badge students 2015

Back row:  Sophie, Cassia, Lily P-B, Eva;
Front row:  Rebecca, Mankaran, Lily W.

These six students have met the school's expectations across all areas- cultural, sport, service, academic and technology.  Their Honours badges were well-deserved and reflect on them as engaged students who look for challenges. Sophie and Mankaran represented HNI at the regional Science Fair, with Sophie winning an award for her project on the most effective dilution of 'Worm Wee' as a fertiliser.  Rebecca won the national under 16 category for writing in the Rangitawa Publishing short story competition.

Forensic's and the police

Te Kanawa House had a special treat this week with Detective Constable Kate Hyde and Senior Constable Gavin Cross visiting as part of our Inquiry- 'Exploring the Unexplained'.  They were here to talk about the role of forensic science in their jobs and how new technologies are making crime-solving more accurate and faster.  Constable Kate took us through a burglary scenario with Constable Gavin going into the crime scene investigation itself, and the role DNA, fingerprinting and footprint lifters would have in determining a likely suspect.  The role of neighbours was covered, as in this scenario a neighbour had seen a local person acting suspiciously at the time of the burglary.

TK looking at evidence of a crime

Linda dressed in a containment suit

One thing many students found fascinating was the shape of their own fingerprints- arches, loops or whorls.  Overall, a fascinating insight into the various roles forensics plays in crime solving.

HNI Inter-House athletics day

The day got off to a cool start although we weren't shrouded in fog like last year.
However, as the day wore on the sun came out and we ended up with warm, pleasant weather.  The Houses assembled and moved through their rotations of 100m, 200m, shotput, discus, high jump, vortex throw, long jump and the much-needed rest area.
The day ended with the much-anticipated 32x100m relay race.  Houses were organised into teams of 16 girls and 16 boys, running along the 100m track and exchanging the baton.  The lead changed several times as fast runners overtook slower ones or, as happened all to frequently, a baton was dropped.  The cries from the teams made clear the anguish they felt as valuable seconds were lost.  Fortunately, T.K. showed it's true mettle and ran out worthy winners.
Now we just have to wait for the final individual and House results as assembly.
A school team has been chosen to compete at the SuperSix event at the Hastings Sports Park on 25thNovember.

Art: tile carving and screen-printing

We have been trying out tile carving in class.  First, we draw a design we like on paper (if it has words we need to write these backwards) and then use this to make an impression on the tile.

The lines are drawn in using a Vivid and this gives us a clear line to follow (and avoid with the carving chisel). We want to leave the line raised above the rest of the tile, by carving out everything else, so when we print the lines will make an impression on the paper.

Next, we place the tile on a carving board so we can safely carve the design as shown here by Jake and Hayden.

.Here are some photos of printed work.  We discovered more material had to be removed from the tile to ensure a 'clean' backround without paint streaks.

Planetarium visit- Napier's Holt Planetarium

Yeasterday Rooms 13 and 17 visited the Holt Planetarium as part of this term's 'Explaining the Unknown' Inquiry topic.  Mr Gary Sparks led a discussion on the night sky, explaining the history of constellations; using stars for navigation; and the history and future of the universe.  He said Antares, a red super-giant star in the constellation of Scorpio, was big enough to enclose Earth if it was in the same place as the sun!   Lucky it's not.  Also, if we travelled as fast as the fastest man-made object, something which can orbit the Earth in an hour, it would still take 75,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri, the closest star to Earth other than our own sun.  Light from Alpha Centauri takes four years to reach us, travelling at a fraction under 300,000km/second.  So humans have a long way to catch up to that!

Eva, Sahmara, Rebecca: in-class Media Studies video

My 'Lost Thing' story- Cassia

For writing Room 13 watched “The Lost Thing” movie (based on the picture book by Shaun Tan). Mr Birnie gave us a task to make up our own Lost Thing story. This is my story.... 

The lost thing

Let’s just face it, i’m lost. Nobody wants me. I just get ignored like i'm nothing. Humans just walk past me as if i'm invisible. I feel like I don’t belong here in this city.

I start to cry. A little girl picks me up. She pats my head and says, “it’s okay you will be alright”. I ask her what her name is but I don’t think she understands my language. We are playing ball now, it’s really fun. We spend hours playing but then it starts to get dark and she leaves me.

I felt so lonely once she left. A garbage truck drove by and a piece of paper glided out and stuck to my face. I peel it off and start to read it. It says ‘walk to the left’ and has an arrow that points that way. I decide to walk to the left because I have nothing better to do. I walk through the night.

In the morning I come up to a huge building. and the arrow points to a door. I knock politely because I don’t know what’s going to happen. A little colourful mechanical mouse peeps his head out. He goes back in. I start to walk away, but then I hear loud clicks. I look behind myself.

The door opens and all I see are lost things just like me. I walk in. All the lost things are playing and having fun. All of a sudden I feel like I belong.

Tijuana's observational writing.

We have been dissecting lamb hearts as part of our 'Healthy Bodies, Strong Minds' Inquiry unit. Then we had to write our observations as we cut into the heart and explored the interior.

Tijuana:

General description:

Size- 13.5 cm / Clenched Fist

Shape- Big Slug

Colour- Maroon with white patches

Texture- Surface is slimy and smooth

Some parts look rough

Smell- Meat

The heart is just the size of a clenched fist, but I also measured it and it was 13.5 centimeters. Inside is basically just red and white patches, the red parts are just muscles and the white patches are fat. If you go close to it, it only smells like meat.

As you are cutting open the heart you are cutting a thick muscular wall of the heart. When you touch the inside of the lambs heart the major blood vessels are strong but smooth and have a creamy colour.  

If you cut open the lamb heart inside are ligaments inside the ventricles that look like spider webs.  They look really thin but they are really strong and hard to break, and it helps contract the muscles during heart beat.Their colour is white.