Let's talk politics!

 Last Friday we had a visit from our local MP the Hon Michael Wood. He came to talk to us about New Zealand's government and how it all works. We learnt about the history of the Beehive and Parliament House. Mr Wood showed us a picture of the House of Representatives and where he sat in relation to the other members. He then showed us how many seats each party held and what that means for each party. We learned how new laws were made and why it is so important to have a democracy.

There were lots of questions (including 'does the whip actually have a real whip?') We had our own mock elections last year so we were pretty well informed about how and why New Zealanders should vote. We are fairly certain that in 8-9 years, all of Te Waka Ako will make sure they have their say, on voting day.

A huge thanks to Mr Wood for taking the time to come and visit us.

Family Fun Day

 On Friday the 19th march we had our annual Family Fun Day. This is a fantastic day of water, wheels and FUUUUUNNNN. 

We enjoyed a rotation of 4 activities, which we did in our Houses - Kea (red), Tui (Yellow), Ruru (blue) and Pukeko (green). Everybody dressed in their house colours which made for a very colourful day. 

The rotations were: 

Inflatable obstacle course

Wheels (bikes, scooters, skates and the funbox)

Inflatable waterslide and Pirate Ship

Pool and slip n slide.

Lots of family came and enjoyed watching all of the fun, we even managed to get some adults on the obstacle course. The sun was shining and man it was hot! What a great day. Here is a (quite long) slideshow of the fun we had.

 

WEEK FIVE LOCKDOWN

Instructions for the week. 

 Our 4th Auckland lockdown week ended with our awesome Te Waka Ako Freaky or Fancy google meet, amidst Earthquake and Tsunami warning alarms, as previously shared. It was a very fun meet and start to a more tumultuous day for many others. 

Prior to this our students worked hard to complete four tasks a day and log them onto a slideshow with links to their work. This way teachers and other school staff could mark the different components completed daily. For every completed, or sufficiently attempted task, students gained a house point. Our school is divided into 4 whanau based house groups that are named after NZ birds, are associated with colours and have students from all ages within the school in them. Pride in House Groups is strong so interest in how the groups were tracking was high. 

Students completed the Lockdown Creations slideshow and Lockdown Diary slideshow as depicted in this image. Work was loaded into choice boards and on pages in the Syndicate Site. The slideshows included sections to  reflect and share their experiences.

Our students will be sharing their slideshows on their blogs in Week 6.  Remember these can be accessed on the lefthand side of this blog. Check them out. 

Freaky or Fancy Friday Syndicate Meet

 We have had a very busy week with lots of Lockdown Learning going on. There has been outstanding creativity coming from our students, which has been a pleasure for the teachers to mark. Our class meetings have had the highest attendance we have ever had. Well done Te Waka Ako!

Please visit our students blogs for examples of their fantastic learning - art, science, fitness plans, video tutorials, read alouds, musical items, puppet shows, stop motion to name a few. We are very proud of our learners and the way in which they have kept up their learning and with such enthusiasm.

This morning we had a syndicate meeting where the students could come fancy or freaky. Here are some of our costumes.