Chinese Wall

This week, we learned a new game called 'Chinese Wall'.  It is a rather complicated game of team tag.  I'd explain the rules, but it would take up most of this page.  So instead, have a look at the video below and see if you can work out what the rules are.  Failing that, ask one of our girls!  :)

The Kahu Elections!

Last week, we went through the process of running an Election in our class.  The girls all received special 'Kids Voting' papers (they looked EXACTLY like the real thing) and got to cast their party vote and their candidate vote.  Some were on the Maori roll and some were on the General roll, so there were a few options to choose from.

Our issuing officers (Eva and Tamara) had a class list and crossed people's names off as they came up and collected their voting papers.  The girls had to fill out their voting paper in a private polling booth and then put their vote into the ballot box (where Tiara was on hand to help anyone who experienced any difficulty).  Once the voting process was complete, our returning officers (Jordan and Myra) tallied the party votes and the electorate votes for us.  Mr Dawson then put the results into an Excel spreadsheet, so we could see the percentages for each party and candidate.

It was a very worthwhile experience, especially as we had one voter who voted incorrectly (two party votes instead of one), and a couple of voters who wasted their voting power by voting for one of the extremely minor parties.  We had some very robust follow-up discussion around these issues.

Here are a few photos of the event, as well as the final results.  Looks like we're a left-leaning classroom!

Prepping for the Home School Partnership Expo

Next Wednesday (27 August) sees the return of the annual Home School Partnership Expo.  This will take place in the hall and will run from 9am until 6pm (though I advise you to get there well before 6pm, as teachers start packing up around 5.45pm).

Kahu has been very busy over the last few days getting artwork and displays ready.  Our focus will be on two of the values from the Marautanga, related to our current careers topic.

We are very excited about being able to display our work for you all and hope to see as many whanau there as possible!

Kapa Haka at Labtests

As part of Maori Language Week, we were invited to perform at Labtests in Mt Wellington.  This is the fourth year (I think) we have performed for them as part of their Maori Language Week celebrations.  We were welcomed with a powhiri, before we performed in typically awesome TWA fashion!  Check out our performance below.

(Thanks to Skyner from Kotuku, who was our cameraman today.)

TWA Perform at Manurewa Marae!

Last night, TWA performed at Manurewa Marae - check out their sensational performance (from two different cameras)!  Kau mau te wehi, tamariki ma!

Story of the Week

Our story of the week comes from Tamara, who has written about how much loom bands have annoyed her teacher.  Classic story, Tamara!

Wow their is a new popular thing at school want to know what it is yeah it is the crazy loom bands. Our teacher really hates them and he tells us nearly every day DONT WEAR THOSE ANNOYING BANDS AROUND YOUR WRIST OR ELSE I WILL TAKE THEM OF YOU and what does our class do….. yeah they still wear them and im like hahahha nek minute mine gets tackin of me and im like dammm it. Mr Dawson has a whole pile of them in his cupboard from people who do not obey his rules.TBH I am a really big fan of them and I wear  them nearly every single day. These bands are also really really really distracting and guess what….. you can make and do like 1 million or so things out of them. Its crazy because all of our class wears them and its so random. One of my class mates brang a whole packet of bands (not made) to school and out the door her bands went. I was like what a absoulute waste of money. He’s sooooooooooo Sad with a capital s because he can be nice and give them another chance but other times he just takes them of them and either tells them he’ll throw them out (in the bin) or we have to get a parent to come and get them. He specifically said that he will tell our parents the reason why he confiscated them.

More Kapa Haka

Today, we learned some actions to the waiata Matua Richard taught us a couple of weeks ago.  We didn't quite get through the whole thing, but it's looking pretty good so far!

Fun Fractions!

This term, Kahu has been doing a mountain of work on fractions.  We have been looking at lots of word problems, unpacking the maths in them, then devising strategies to solve them.  Here are three problems we worked on today, along with strategies and solutions from Eva, Tamara and Christina!

Can you work out how they solved the problems?

Tai Aroha

At kapa haka this afternoon, Matua Richard taught us a new waiata tautoko - 'Tai Aroha'.  We were very focussed and learnt the entire thing in just one session!  Here is our final run through - let us know what you think.

Year 7-8 Leadership Day

Today, all of our Year 7-8 students ventured to Finlayson Park for a fabulous leadership day.  The event was superbly organised by Matua Des and brilliantly run by MAIA, with the help of a number of wonderful Te Wānanga o Aotearoa students.  Here is a selection of photos from the day.

Fiafia Night Performance

Earlier tonight, our TWA Seniors opened our Fiafia fundraiser in spectacular fashion.  Check out their performance below - and please leave us a comment!

Story of the Week

Our story of the week for Week 9 is from Tamara, who has written a great story about Number Bowling, one of the maths activities we do in our class.  What I really liked about this piece of writing was that Tamara talked about what she liked about Number Bowling, as well as what she has actually learned by playing it.

Ka mau te wehi, Tamara!

PS Can any of you figure out how to get 28?

Today we had the privledge of having Matua Dudley in side our class to help us complete a few strategy’s. Number bowling has been really cool because Mr Dawson gives us new numbers every week and he makes it challenging enough for us.We did not quite finish the activitie today because we only had the numbers 8,5,2 and I can’t remember the last number.I even noticed Matua Dudley was struggling to work out the answer for 28.Mr Dawson said that he did this with his daughter and she got up to um.. can’t quite remember but yeah and I was like she must be pretty brainy because like he alway’s   talks about her and how she achves most her stuff (she must study a lot.)Number bowling is like uplifting because like I get better and better at it.One thing that I’ve also learnt is Bodmas, the B stands for brackets ( ).The O stands for operations like square roots  and something to the POWER of something.The D stands for division.The M stands for multipulcation.The A stands for addition  and the S stands for subtraction and their you go.Mr Dawson also gave us a way of saying 8 times 8 like I ate and ate and got sick on the floor.

Fibonacci Maths Group

In our Fibonacci maths group, we are learning to solve problems in a variety of ways.  Have a look at these questions below - can you understand how we worked out the answers?  Can you think of more ways of working out the answers?

Totara Park

So, Totara Park was a bit of a fizzer on Friday, as the pool had been double-booked.  Never mind, I got some good photos. Some very unimpressed girls in the last shot....

Te Reo Maori

Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, the Te Whanau Awhina teachers swap classes for half an hour and teach Te Reo Maori to a different ruma. Here are some photos from our very enthusiastic sessions today!

Senior School Tabloids

Today was the first day of Senior School Tabloids.  Check out photos, courtesy of our ace photographer, Rahera....

Kapa Haka

Exciting - today was our first kapa haka session of the year with Koka Kylie!  Here is a selection of TWA's performances.  Let us know what you think by leaving a comment!

Tenei Matou

Me Whakaiti

Haka Powhiri