Thursday, August 28, 2014

The Mighty Tohunga and the Little Baby Hikinui

Today, we have gone back in time and interviewed some major characters from the Legend of the Seven Whales. Here is a treat from Ezra and Taylor. Look for others on our student blogs! Also, look out for the stunning introduction by Jack!


Wednesday, August 27, 2014

It's Tricky (Our Production Rocks!)

We are very proud of our first performance in front of the school. We rocked! Here is a slideshow set to one of our songs to celebrate. The song is It's Tricky by Run DMC. Go the swordfish!

Baby Hikinui gets told off!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Māui and his first journey, retold by Kyra

We have been learning about myths and legends. Here is a fantastic retelling of Māui’s first journey by year five student, Kyra.



How do I retell a story in my words?
Step 1 Plan
  • Structure  
  • Order of events
  • Details (senses - dialogue - thoughts - actions - feelings



Introduction
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3
Event 4
Ending
Taranga taught the children how to talk and sing a waiata to Maui while he was in her tummy.They sang him this song “Taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha,
o roto, o pae, o waho e...

One day she went on a walk and she could feel a nigly pain. She fell to the ground yelling help.
Maui was born and his mum was really worried and her puku was sore. His mum taranga thought he was dead because he didn't move. Wrapped him in her hair and set him out to sea.
He sailed and then found Tama-nui- ki-te-rangi.
He went to find his mum and brothers but his brothers did not know who he was, Maui showed his brothers his powers and then they believed him.
He saw his mum and she asked him who he was, so  Maui sang the song and  then his mum realised it was him.
Hook
Details
Details
Details
Details
Details
Taranga had four children and was about to have a 5th.
Speech, hear.
Actions, feel, feeling, see.
See.

See, actions.
Speech, see.

Taranga had four children that she had raised on her own and was about to have a 5th. When it was born it will be half man and half god. Taranga taught her four children how talk and sing to Maui well he was still in her tummy. They were all very excited. They would talk to their pepe everyday. They sang to him, "taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha, o roto, o pae, o waho e…” One day Maui Taha asked Taranga, “When we are singing to our pepe, can he hear us?” 
“Yes my son, he can,” replied Taranga. From that day on, they would waiata, haka, and korero to their growing pepe.


One day when Taranga went for a walk on the beach she felt a niggly pain in her tummy. She could tell that Maui was coming. She couldn't walk any further and she felt really weak. She cried out “Help!” But no one could hear her. Then she started to give birth.


Maui was born but he did not move. Taranga accidently thought he was dead. She grabbed a shell and cut the pito, but he still didn't move. She cut her hair and wrapped him in it. Then she put him in the water and he floated out to sea. What she did not realise was that Maui was still alive.


Tangaroa had noticed Maui bobbing up and down in the sea and sent seaweed to wrap Maui in. The seaweed would protect Maui. The seaweed carried maui to his grandfather Tama-nui-ki-te-rangi. During the trip he sent a few of his other children to help Maui along the way. Maui then reached his grandfather.”What have you brought me? “ asked Tama-nui-ki-te-rangi. He saw Maui through the thick hair and then Maui sang the song “ taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha, o roto, o pae, o waho e…” He knew then that it was Taranga’s son and his grandson.


He grew older and got taught waiata, haka, taiaha and whakapapa. He also learnt how to control his powers. Every night as he went to sleep his grandfather would sing the song to him. “Taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha, o roto, o pae, o waho e…” One day he wanted to go and see his family. He asked his grandfather where he would find them. He got told all about his birth and were he would find them. Then he went off to the place he would find them. He traveled far and long until he came to the place where he would find his whanau. He saw a flicker of fire and heard some voices. When he got closer he recognised the song they were singing. Then he knew, it was his four brothers. He joined them and also tried to explain he was their brothers. They did not believe it was him until he showed he could do the haka, and showed his powers to turn into a bird. That's when they noticed it was Maui. They were all shocked.


They all asked him questions but Maui just kept on saying that he was their brother. During all of that, Taranga was watching. She had no idea who this man was, but she had a weird feeling in her puku. Maui walked up to her and Taranga asked “ Who are you?” 
Maui song the song again, “taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha, o roto, o pae, o waho e…” That's when Taranga realised it was Maui. She give him a big hug. Taranga told Maui how she had always thought he was dead. All of Maui’s brothers welcomed him. Now Maui is known as Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

A Message From Miss Eglinton

Hi Room 6,
I just wanted to thank you again for such a wonderful 3 weeks. It went way too quickly! I had a lot of fun with you all and more importantly, learnt so much. I will see you again very soon and in the meantime here are some cool photos I took on my last day.
Oh, and welcome to Toothless, Liquorice, and Randy!

Miss Eglinton




Saturday, August 16, 2014

Production Build Up

We have been working very hard with Room 18 and some of Room 5 in creating our legend in the production. The production "Journey Through the Legends" is going to be amazing! Our legend is the "Seven Whales" and the audience are in for a treat. Here is a slideshow from one of practice days. It is set to one of our key songs, "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin (an oldie but a goodie). Enjoy!


Monday, August 11, 2014

Korito and the Axolotls

BFF!
Korito is the name of one of our new pets. He is one of four axolotls in our old fish tank. They were given to us by the HNI teacher, Kelly McIlroy, after she visited our class with other teachers from HNI. She loved Fish n' Chips and told us about her axolotls that were breeding. One thing led to another and we got some new pets! Thanks, Kelly!

I have named one of the pets, Korito, after one of the Seven Whales in the legend which we retell for the production. Ben plays this role. Korito sounded a little Mexican to me, and another name for axolotls is Mexican walking fish: "Australians and New Zealanders frequently refer to the Axolotl as the Mexican Walking Fish, though the Axolotl is not a fish but an amphibian, a salamander." (Axolotl.org)
Just hanging out, waiting for a name...

Now, we have to name the other three. Here are the contending names. You can vote on the poll on the top right side of our blog. As there are three to be named, you can choose multiple answers. The axolotls already have a blog, run by Kyra and Maia. Check it out!
  • Captain Cabbage
  • Liquorice
  • Dorito
  • Taco
  • Toothless
  • Randy



The final results: Toothless, Liquorice and Randy join Korito!


Computer Parts



Computer Parts from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Check out Jaidyn's creative inventions from the weekend!

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Netball Winners!

Not sure about this shot, Brooklyn
Stand proud, girls!
Every weekend, loads of Room 6 children go out and play in a variety of sports. At assembly on Friday, a number of Room 6 netballers got awarded with medals and certificates for their efforts. Congratulations, Rosemary, Kyra, Maia, Brooklyn, Julius and Mary!
Kia kaha, Julius!
Winning smile, Rosemary!



Room 6 represent!

Friday, August 8, 2014

Learning Fun with Miss Eglinton

Miss E's Medal Chart
For the last two weeks, we have been lucky to be learning with the wonderful candidate teacher, Miss Eglinton. She is in the first year of her teacher training and has been making a fantastic contribution to the learning and culture of Room 6.


What will happen next?
Miss Eglinton been reading the class the mysterious and adventurous novel, "The Ghosts of Young Nick's Head" by Sue Copsey. Room 6 love it! One group of students have been creating their own retells of the chapter, "Plunged into Darkness". They have been focusing on adding interesting details through choosing emotive language. Check out Ben's example here!


We have also really enjoyed our Commonwealth Games challenges. Look at the awesome medal chart that Miss Eglinton created! Can you guess which country each flag belongs to?

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Wonder Character Art


Here are four of our awesome Character Traits artworks based on the characters in the book, Wonder. We used lots of our reading comprehension strategies to summarise our chosen character. You can see more examples on our Wonder page! Artworks will continue to be added as students finish them in their iLearning time.

Via by Maddison
Auggie (August) by Taylor


Summer by Mary
Jack Will by Liam