2021 Here we go!

 Welcome back to Te Waka Ako's syndicate blog. We are all very happy to be back at school and leaping into a new year of learning. 

We had a lot of fun with bubbles. We had to design a game that would be played using two bubble wands. We then taught our game to another team and vice versa. It was a lot of fun...although the wind had a lot of fun too.

We have hit the ground running with learning all about the Te Tiriti o Waitangi - The Treaty of Waitangi while we work towards developing our own syndicate treaty. Did you know that not all the Rangitira (chiefs) of the iwi across Aotearoa signed the treaty? Some didn't even see it! There are some very important differences between the two versions (English and Te Reo) of the treaty too. Possibly because Henry Williams and his son Edward translated it in just one night! The other reason is because some words like 'Sovereignty' didn't have a direct translation into Te Reo, the closest they could come up with was Kawangatanga, which didn't exactly mean the same thing. In the English text, Māori leaders gave the Queen 'all rights and powers of 'sovereignty' over their land. In the Te Reo text, Māori leaders gave the Queen 'te kawanatanga katoa' the complete government over their land.

It has been very interesting learning about one of the most important events in Aotearoa's history and why is is still so important today.  We can't wait to share with you our finished treaty.

Wonder Project!

 We have been very lucky to have been part of the Wonder Project. This is a programme where we learn all about Newtons Laws of Gravity AND get to build and launch bottle rockets. This was a 9 week programme that we completed with the help from our awesome ambassadors Sihang and Melissa. These wonderful  people are engineers in our local community who gave up their time to help us become scientists. 

Watch out video and see how much fun we had!

Ako Hiko Film Festival

Kia ora. Here are our four fantastic Ako Hiko Film Festival entries. The theme was 'Kindness'.  Our students had many challenges (Lockdown 2.0) whilst filming these 3 minute films, but we reckon they did a pretty good job! These four films were all shown at the Ako Hiko Film Festival screening at St Lukes cinema last night! Hope you enjoy.

The Act Of Kindness

The Lockdown Show 

The Kindness Comedy

Don't judge a book by it's cover

Kids Voting : Te Pōti a Ngā Tamariki 2020

 Te Waka Ako participated in a mock election programme, Kids Voting: Te Pōti Ngā Tamariki.

It was an interesting process to be a part of and we learned about our roles in the election process and to have a say on decisions that will affect our futures and our lives. 

Before we could cast our votes we needed to do our research on the different political parties. Who are the members of each party? What are their top 3 Party Policies? We worked in groups to look at each parties policies and who our local candidates are. 

Then it was time to vote! We were provided with official voting papers and ballot boxes to cast our votes. 

Results:       

Party :

                    Labour = 45 votes

                    Green Party = 10 votes

                    National = 4 votes

                    ACT = 2 votes

                    New Conservative = 1 vote

Local Candidates :

                    Michael Wood =  60 votes

                    Parmjeet Parmer = 2 votes

                    Golriz Ghahraman = 2 votes

                    Alister Hood = 1 vote

                    Charlene Pehi = 1 vote

                    

                    

            

Art Art Art!

 We have been getting very creative in Te Waka Ako this term. While some students have been busy making movies for the Ako Hiko Film Festival (we will post those next term) other students have been busy making amazing mono prints and Tapa Cloth squares. 

Here are our monoprints

Here are some pictures of our Tapa Cloth squares which we have put up in one of our windows.

We also entered our local Bunnings Spring Mural competition. They supplied a board and some paint and we got to paint our interpretation of 'Spring'. We decided to use the string pull technique and create a field of Spring Lilies. Here are some pictures.

Tongan Language Week

 This week we celebrated Tongan Language Week.  Each morning we learned some new words and greetings and listened to some songs. Some of the songs help us to remember how to say a greeting or how to say the days of the week.

Malo e lelei  = hello

Toki sio = goodbye

Malo = thank you

Four of our Tongan boys decided to wear their formal Tongan costumes. They looked so handsome! They shared with us the names of each piece of clothing and where/when they would wear them. Then we had a Kahoot about tongan language and culture. No surprises but they came 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

For lunch they brought in a special treat, traditional tongan food. They ate Lu sipi, Kumala, Keke site and Fusi. Here are some photos of our Tongan students.

Ms Sands in Waipu with Ginger and Apache

Hey there, Te Waka Ako, in particular. It is great to see some of the things you have been up to on your blogs. I thought I would share some of the activities I have been doing during your lockdown period in Auckland. Of course study has been happening too, but the call of the outdoors is strong! Also Ginger and Apache (my two cows) like attention. I have added some video clips of some of the food they get as extra to their grass, as the cold wet weather means the grass doesn't grow very quickly and they get hungry. Plus they like variety like people and any other animals. 

  

      

I have also made a fire pit, a stepping stone path and two seats around it. Then I developed the land with new soil, bricks and pots etc. It was a very muddy frustrating job at times but I am happy with the finished product and have had one fire so far. The cows like it! I need to sort the wood that is in the paddock before I can have another! I didn't realise I would need a drain underground when I first made the fire pit so had to go back and dig one in after some torrential rain created a fish pond of my fire pit! Here are some pics of the process. 

Well that is a bit of a marathon post! Enjoy being back together in the syndicate. Take care of each other and stay safe. You got this. Kia kaha. Laters.