White Ribbon Ride

Another great day to be at Upokongaro School!

The white ribbon riders stopped at school,

We welcomed them in true Upokongaro style!

We had rides around the field on some very cool bikes!

We joined the riders in town and marched together to support the anti violence message.

Upokongaro school support the white ribbon riders!

Handwriting - getting our letters the right shape!

We are learning about starting our letters in the right place and getting them the right shape and size.  Way to go Sam - your letters are fantastic today!

Fishing at Whangehu

Last week the middle and senior school went fishing to try and catch some Kai Moana as part of our school wide healthy eating unit.  We had hoped to bring home something for the 'cook off' planned for this week.  Malcolm and I were the only representative's of Puanga to attend the fishing trip and unfortunately we didn't catch any fish.  However,  Malcolm came very close to reeling something in but the 'big one' got away.  He was a very enthusiastic and patient fisher man!

Mr Brown gives final instructions

The boys get their rods ready

Te Raukotahi watches on as Malcolm shows his fishing skills.

"Last Wednesday I went fishing with the middle and seniors at Whangehu.  It was fun because I nearly caught a fish but I didn't.  I cast my rod then my spinner came off.  I had to get a hook and sinker.  A couple of days later I brought Mrs Meade's rod.  This made me happy."  Malcolm.

The kids in the junior room didn't go fishing but did write about their day without the 'big kids' at school.  The kids had to use their thinking hats to add good points, bad points and feelings to their writing.

Ihaka wrote . . . . . "Last Wednesday the middles and the seniors went fishing at Whangehu river.  We had the playground all by ourselves.  I was disappointed because I didn't go".

Benson wrote . . . . . "Last Wednesday the middles went to the river to fish.  I didn't go.  I felt happy because I played on the playground with no big kids!"

Pae Tamariki

Congratulations to the tamariki of Upokongaro School on an awesome performance at Pae Tamariki at the end of term 3.  We are super proud of you all! 

Book day!

In week 5 we had a book character day.  All the children in school came dressed up as their favorite character.  Check out our cool costumes!

Sequential Patterns - Maths

Today we had a visit from Ma Rose who brought in their new dog to share with us.  Takahia has a lovely retired Greyhound.  What a sweet dog!  She let us pat and cuddle her.  Thank you for sharing your new pet with us!  Maybe she might like to come cross country training next term~!

Oh Mr Brown!  Stop photo bombing!

Maths time in Puanga!

For the first few weeks of the term we are learning to skip count.

Did you know you can skip count 'shoes in toes'?

The challenge is on . . . . can you count to 30 in 2's as fast as Mrs Calman?

Wrapping up Term 1

Who am I?  Where to I belong?

As part of our inquiry learning last term we were learning about where we are in the world.  

We quickly looked at Japan, Samoa, Ireland, Australia and then New Zealand.  

We talked about what made us 'Kiwis' and our customs and culture different to other countries.

Or next step was to look at where we are in New Zealand and what was significant about Whanganui and Upokongaro.

Our learning lead us in the direction of the water cycle and this was linked to our Mountain, River and sea.

To wrap up our learning at the end of the term we went for a trip along the Whanganui River to understand how the river flowed to the sea.

Here are the photos of our trip!

Here we are on the railway bridge crossing the river.

We looked down on the river and talked about how big it was.

We climbed the Durie Hill tower and saw the river and mountains.

 We ended up at the beach and played in the sand.

What a super day!