Tamariki learned to use the pen tool and colour tool to draw.

                                                                    Today, our Rangi team came together for our End of Term Sharing of Learning Assembly. We all shared the fun things we learned this term.

Every class shared something special. Here is what Room 14 shared:

• Writing: Tevita, Ilani, and Leiola shared their amazing pieces of writing.

• Conservation & Research: Ryder, Noa, and Ana Maria showed their cool posters highlighting our native endangered birds.

• Visual Arts: Other students showed off their colorful block painting art..

We also celebrated the achievements of our kids by handing out Maths Whizz certificates, Duffy awards, and sportsmanship awards.

At the end of the assembly, I could see each and every child feeling proud of their achievements, with some even feeling inspired to share their work next term. It was an amazing day!

What a fun and exciting Te Reo Māori Language Week we had in Room 5! Our tamariki enjoyed learning new kupu, practising their mihi, and celebrating te reo Māori through lots of fun and engaging activities.

One of our favourite activities was learning haka and practising our pūkana! The children had so much fun learning the actions, using their voices and showing confidence and enthusiasm. It was wonderful to see everyone getting involved and supporting each other.

We also learned about mihi and practised sharing our own mihi. The children enjoyed learning how to introduce themselves and proudly share who they are and where they come from.

Another highlight was learning about New Zealand’s longest place name. The tamariki were amazed by how long the name is and had lots of fun trying to say it together! They showed great perseverance and enjoyed learning the meaning behind it.

Throughout the week, Room 5 was filled with waiata, laughter, learning and te reo Māori. Our tamariki embraced every opportunity to learn new words, practise their pronunciation and celebrate te reo Māori together.

It was a fantastic week of fun, learning, confidence and whanaungatanga. Ka pai, Room 5! IMG_5101 copy IMG_5101 copy

This week, our school proudly celebrated Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. We began the week with a special opening assembly where we learned about the importance of te reo Māori and were introduced to a range of exciting challenges for everyone to take part in. The senior kapa haka group gave a wonderful performance that inspired us all.

As soon as the challenges were announced, many of our students were eager to participate. It was fantastic to see so much enthusiasm, and Room 10 was able to submit entries for each of the challenges. We loved seeing tamariki give things a go and celebrate Te Reo Māori in different ways.

We integrated these challenges into our literacy programme, using them during our reading and writing lessons, which gave students meaningful opportunities to use and celebrate te reo Māori in their everyday learning. On Thursday, students also enjoyed a delicious hāngī-style school lunch, which gave them an opportunity to experience another important part of Māori culture.

The celebrations ended with a closing assembly featuring the junior kapa haka group, followed by a powerful whole-school kapa haka performance. It was a wonderful way to finish the week and celebrate our learning together.

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori gave us a special opportunity to embrace the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. It was a week filled with learning, participation, pride, and a strong sense of belonging. We are excited to continue using Te Reo Māori and celebrating Māori culture throughout the year.

Paige and Borden from Kristin college visited Tukutuku Tamariki. They read  “The very hungry caterpillar” story  with our Tamari and made caterpillars with pipe cleaners. They brought lots of toys for our Tamariki and they took them home happily. Our Tamariki had great time engaging with the activities and toys they received.

Week 3

Room 13’s Busy and Fun Start to Term 3!

The first three weeks of Term 3 have been busy but fun! Room 13 proudly represented Samoa in our School Commonwealth Games. We enjoyed competing, cheering each other on, and showing teamwork and sportsmanship. In writing, we used our imaginations to create narratives about “Winning a Gold Medal in a Race”, describing the excitement and feelings of crossing the finish line.

Next came Te ’Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki ’Āirani; Cook Islands Language Week. We celebrated Cook Islands language and culture, practised counting in Cook Islands Māori, and explored patterns and symmetry through tivaevae, inspired maths activities.

We also began our From Mountain to Sea programme, learning about water as a taonga and the importance of caring for our waterways. These experiences have given us plenty to think, talk, and write about. What a wonderful start to Term 3!

.               

To celebrate Cook Islands Language Week, we learned to greet others with “Kia Orana!” and introduce ourselves using “Ko ___ tōku ingoa” (My name is ___). We created colourful self-portraits with floral crowns and added our introductions to our class display. It was a fun, creative way to celebrate Cook Islands language and culture!

Week 6:

Room 13 has been buzzing with exciting learning experiences, creative journeys, and celebrations!

Mountains to Sea Project

Our class was selected for the special Mountains to Sea project, focusing on caring for our water, ocean, and the living creatures across both land and sea. We explored:

• The Water Cycle: Learning how water flows through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection.

• Marine Life & Habitats: Studying shark jaws, dried blowfish, starfish, and sea sponges up close.

• Ocean Conservation: Discovering that New Zealand’s oceans cover 15 times our land area and host 80% of our country’s biodiversity.

• Habitat Observations: Looking closely at local waterways and learning practical ways to protect our environment.

Grease Production

.             

.     

Alongside other classes, Room 13 had the opportunity to attend a live performance of Grease. The students enjoyed experiencing the performing arts and seeing story, dance, and drama come together on stage.

Tongan Language Week

Guided by the theme “Ko ‘etau hiva, ko e fe’unu mahu’inga ia ki he mo’ui ‘a e Tonga” (Our music is a vital strand of our Tongan culture), we celebrated Tongan Language Week. Room 13 focused on learning about traditional Tongan Ngatu, exploring its cultural significance and intricate designs.

Maths Week Achievements:

A huge congratulations to our maths team, Room 13A, for placing 2nd in the in-school Mathex Fun competition! Excellent effort and teamwork from everyone involved.

Continue reading “Room 13” →

Today, we had a wonderful start to Te Wiki o te Reo Māori with an exciting opening assembly!

One of the highlights was seeing our Year 3 students take on the important role of MCs. They confidently guided us through the assembly and did an amazing job.

We also enjoyed a wonderful performance by our Senior Kapa Haka group. They brought lots of energy and pride to the hall while sharing Māori culture with us.

The four challenges for the week were then introduced, giving everyone an opportunity to learn, participate, and have fun with te reo Māori.

To finish the assembly, each class received a special taonga to enjoy and explore throughout the week. These taonga will provide a hands-on way for our students to learn more about te reo Māori and connect with Māori culture.

Today Room 27 learned to lasso and chop photos and images.

This morning Room 20 walked to Puhi-Kura to pull weeds. We were pulling weeds from around the base of the native plants so that they can grow bigger and stronger, this is called weed releasing.

‘I enjoyed pulling weeks because it was saving plants that were being suffocated.’

‘Me and Lucas made it light work.’

‘I really enjoyed it, it was my first time weeding.’

‘I love going to Puhi-Kura, it was fun there but I did not like the hot weather.’

‘I did not enjoy pullin gthe weeds because it was hot and itchy.’

‘I enjoyed it but it was hard pulling weeds.’

‘I enjoyed weeding, it was fun finding the roots of the weeds and pulling them out.’

‘I enjoyed helping mother nature.’

‘I was happy when I pulled out big chunks.’

After morning tea we spent some time in the school māra to feed and water the animals. Some of us helped to clean out the pig pen and house so that they had a fresh clean place to eat and sleep.

We ended the day with whole school kapa haka, we were practising for Te Wiki o te reo Māori in a couple of weeks time.

When the day began most of the students in Room 21 didn’t even know who Whaea Deirdre was but that didn’t stop us having a day full of fun and learning.

We began by feeding the pigs and chickens, the hardest part was that everyone wanted to do everything. We shared the jobs around as well as we could. The chickens were very popular, everyone wanted to try to hold one and find some eggs.

After morning tea we learnt about why we use all of the different bins at school. Instead of everything going in to landfill we use our recycling bins so that waste can be made into something new. We even have garden bed edges in our māra that are made from our soft plastics like chip packets and muesli bar wrappers.

Before lunch we had time to plant some spring seeds, we planted tomatoes and put them in the hot house to grow big and strong.

The afternoon was all about bees. We learnt why they are important, the job they do in our gardens, how to keep them and ourselves safe and even got to taste some delicious honey.

It was a busy day but hopefully the tamariki have lots to share about it.

Kia ora Whanau!

Room 20 has been very busy this term! I have come back from parental leave after getting to spend 2 weeks with my son who was born on July 11th, just 1 day after Matariki!

This term we have have Tongan Language week, Maths week and soon we will have Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori!

We have been learning a lot about Te Whare Tapa wha and how to manage all parts of our wellbeing.

We have started using house points to reward students for hitting our learning goals. It is working really well!

Im really looking forward to Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori in week 9.

Over the past few weeks, our learners have been busy exploring many exciting learning experiences. They had a fantastic time watching the Grease Young production at the Due Drop Events Centre. The lively singing, dancing and acting made the performance enjoyable and memorable.

In writing, students have been practising how to use speech marks for direct speech and adverbial phrases to add details about when, where and how something happens. In mathematics, they have been learning to represent tenths/hundredth as fractions and decimals and understand the importance of place value. It has been wonderful to see our learners participating enthusiastically and growing in confidence.

Kia Ora Whanau. What an amazing week we had with awesome events throughout week 5 – ‘Tongan language week and book character dress up day’.

Thankyou to whanau who put efforts in dressing up their child in Tongan attires and in costumes for book character dress up day. Attached are some clicks from week 5.

Thankyou.

Tukutuku tamariki enjoy doing animal play. Today they had a race  with their favourite animal costumes.

This week in Room1, we have been learning about the Magic e!

We have been calling it the Magic e because it has a very special job. When the Magic e appears at the end of a word, it gives all of its magic to the vowel. The vowel then says its long sound, its name! Once the Magic e has used all of its magic, it has no magic left to make a sound, so it stays silent.

Room 1 enjoyed spotting the difference between the short vowel and the long vowel sounds. There were plenty of aha! moments as the children started to notice the pattern in their reading and writing. It has been lovely to see them becoming more confident when sounding out new words.

We will keep practising our words over the next few weeks, so you might hear your child talking about the magic e at home!

Our year two tamariki – Anna, Soraya, Hinemoa and Luca have spent their digital time today creating a two truths, one lie project on Explain Everything (EE) App.  They had to choose two items that were true and one that wasn’t.  Take a look at what they created and shared below:

This week we had the absolute pleasure of celebrating Tongan Language Week here at WPS, and wow, did it pop off!

We kicked things off with a beautiful opening assembly, where our Junior Pasifika students put on some amazing performances and helped set the tone for a fantastic week of celebrating Tongan language, culture and traditions.

Throughout the week, students had the chance to get involved in a range of fun activities held during lunchtime. There was lots of enthusiasm as our students got stuck in and embraced all things Tongan and the opportunity to learn something new.

We wrapped up the week with a special closing ceremony, to celebrate all the hard work and participation throughout the week. And to top it all off, Room 1 took out first prize for their song performance video! Yay! Go us!

A massive thank you to all of our students, staff and whānau who helped make Tongan Language Week such a memorable one. It was awesome to see our WPS community come together to celebrate and show their support for the Tongan culture.

Mālō ‘aupito to everyone who played a part in making the week such a success!