Yesterday during CRT with Islay and Caroline, we became bone experts! Did you know that a human body has 206 bones, and 27 of them are just in your hand? We learned how bones keep us strong and how to look after them. To celebrate our learning, we traced our hands to make awesome ‘high five hands’ to share with each other. We also put our teamwork skills to the test by building a full human skeleton puzzle. It was so fun figuring out exactly where each bone belonged!

During CRT with Islay, Papatūānuku has been learning about the human body. We discovered how the brain acts as the ‘boss’ of everything we do and explored how the right and left sides of our bodies work together.

For the last few weeks, we have used our ‘brain gym’ to practice tricky exercises, like walking in sync with a buddy. We also got creative by sculpting mini brains out of clay and building moving hand models using straws and string. It is amazing to see the fingers move when you pull the strings!

Our resident scientist (Lenny’s Grandad, John) came to visit our studio and showed us his homemade telescope. We found out how a telescope worked and then scanned the sky for objects. We also learned about the night sky and what we could see at the moment – Jupiter, Venus and of course the moon – it is a half moon at the moment!

Then, last Friday, John returned for rocket launching – what a great event! We mixed baking soda and vinegar together to make the reaction that launched the plastic bottle into the sky! It was amazing and some flew very high! You could watch this video and try it for yourself.

We had a great time discovering lots more about space.



This week, we have been learning about the different planets in Space. After learning about Te Marama and the phases, we wanted to investigate what else was out there. Whaea Koha read us information about the 8 planets, and we had so many questions. We found that 4 planets were rocky and 4 were made of gas. They all look so different and are different sizes. We are practising learning the planets in order from the Sun. We can’t wait to continue this learning this week!

We have had so much fun today during choice & challenge! Thank you to our tuakana who ran mau rakau, poi, play dough making, maker space & colouring. We also had pink shirt day today to stand together against bullying, remember if someone is saying mean words or trying to hurt you, say stop & tell an adult!

Today’s morning CRT session was full of creativity, coding, and conservation. We worked with Elizabeth and started by listening to the story Somebody Swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts. It’s a powerful (and a bit heartbreaking!) tale that helped us investigate what happens when para (rubbish) ends up in our moana. We learned that many of our beautiful sea creatures mistake plastic for kai.

Bee-Bots to the Rescue! To put our problem-solving skills to the test, we used Bee-Bots (which we called “Moana Bots”) and moana maps. The mission? Operation: Ocean Clean-up.

We came up with our own games: some programmed Moana Bots to collect para or rescue a Hector’s dolphin. We had to watch out for the Taniwha, Lion’s Mane jellyfish, or seaweed! For every successful mission, we used sea pennies as rewards.

After a quick break for morning tea, we had our first Lego Robotics session. For most of us, this was a brand-new experience! The room was full of the sound of Lego rummaging as we searched for the exact pieces we needed. We worked with a buddy, followed instructions, and collaborated to build our very first vehicles.

At the end of Term 1 we remembered the events of Holy Week and took part in a recount of the events leading to Jesus’ crucifixion. The Year 7 and 8 students read through the Stations explaining and helping us reflect on what it may have been like if we were there. It was moving as the students reverently walked through the different freeze frames. Thank you to Mrs Gannaway, Mrs Hanne and the intermediate students for their hard work.

Every Monday Justina comes in and shares her knowledge of Korean culture and language. This week we enjoyed a spicy treat. Apparently it was the second cup that really hit the spot. The drinks were close at hand!

Last week we were visited by Marian College Principal and 2 former students. They sat down with the Year 7 and 8 girls and shared their experiences of high school. It was great to see Carys and Jennifer again and hear their stories.

Last week, we learned about Anzac Day. We listened to stories and poems and reflected on the sacrifices made by so many. To bring our learning to life, we also created a beautiful poppy wreath, proudly displayed in our studio window.

Today, on Anzac Day, that learning became something even more special.

Early this morning, Zayieh and her family attended the Dawn Service in Cathedral Square, Christchurch. They laid our studio wreath at the war memorial. Seeing our work included in such a significant ceremony was incredibly powerful and something we will all remember.

A huge thank you to Zayieh and her family for suggesting this idea and for representing our class in such a meaningful way.

If you’d like to see this special moment, you can follow this link to watch the full service, or skip ahead to 1 hour and 14 minutes.

“We will not forget.”

Every fortnight, the Cool Rise Team comes into our studio and takes us for some different activities – like Beebots, Art, and Mindfulness.

In one of our sessions, we talked about mindful breathing, slow breathing to blow our worries away! We practised slow breathing by blowing bubbles, and then we made giant bubbles. Here are some of the giant bubbles we made – they were amazing!

After reading our shared pukapuka, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we were interested in how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. We did some learning about metamorphosis and the steps of the life cycle. We had fun creating headbands to help us remember the life cycle. The next day we did some procedural writing and wrote each step of the life cycle. Some of us used Explain Everything to record ourselves as we could add more detail then when we wrote our ideas down. We experimented using procedural language such as first, next, then, finally. Watch our video to hear our explanations.



Twas a cloudy morning when we set off to the beach but by the time we arrived the sun had burnt through and it was awesome. Archie, Tom, George and Jacob (?) taught us about the dangers and skills we need to conquer the waves.m Hugh and Liam went out the back while the rest of us endeavoured to stand up.

We owe a big thanks to Jasper’s Mum for taking a random idea off facebook and turning it into a reality for the tamariki in our studio.
She created a set of roads for us to use with our new set of cars. They were made using fence pailings and paint.

These have been truly cherished by our tamariki- thank you for your mahi! Now for the next project…

This week we were excited to welcome Bishop Micheal to our school. He joined in with our virtues assembly, adding his wisdom. After this he came to the class and shared some more. We were all inspired with his words and will be chasing goals as we grow!