To the Highest Bidder...

In Te Maunga we had an Easter auction. We have been working hard in class to earn Class Dollars to spend on our first auction for the year. 

Our teachers got all sorts of goodies for us to buy. We sat down in class after lunch with our little slips of paper ready to place our bids on all the exciting things we liked the look of.

By the end of it all some people had gone home with a great haul of goodies. In the end we had a lot of fun, won a few things and learnt that hard work really does pay off.

Sea Week Visit

On Wednesday March 24th we had some visitors come in to school to teach us all about underwater life.

We learnt the rules around fishing, about the life we can find underwater in a 1 metre square area.

We measured fish to see if they would be legal and used some cool contraptions to make sure shellfish were the correct size.

We learnt about all of the different sea life we might find underwater. We saw coral, anemones and urchins, along with all sorts of other fish.

Finally we all practiced what to do when saving a beached whale. We covered the whale in blankets, made a chain to the water (sandpit), and dumped our water on the whale to save it.

Tsunami Surprise

What a day Friday was! We were all ready for our last day of level 2 at school when all of a sudden the bell rang... and rang... and kept ringing. We all lined up by the gate and headed for higher ground.

We trudged up the hill slowly, lungs bursting and legs on fire by the time we were halfway up. Finally Ms. Simmonds turned around and we all sat down on the hill. 

It was quite a scary time for us. We all sat quietly in our classes waiting for the all clear. After an hour we were all getting a little bit worried that we were going to have to stay the night!

Some of the people came out of their houses and brought food and water for us. It was awesome to see that people would come and support the youngest in their community. They even offered the use of their wharepaku for our school.

When we were finally given the all clear, we were so excited to get back down the hill. It had been such a stressful day that we ended up spending the last part of it playing on the playground and eating ice-cream that Mrs. Lindsay brought over because we had been so mature and well-behaved!

Whanaungatanga For All

This week we had to deal with tighter restrictions because of Level 2 and a visitor to class. While we always try our utmost to have good hygiene, moving to Level 2 meant further restrictions that made things a lot less exciting for our learners.

One thing that was exciting was the unintended arrival of a visitor to class. Lilly found a bird that was unable to fly out in the playground so she brought it back in to class. We gave it a box to perch in with some familiar surroundings and fed it some mashed egg. The box was kept on top of the fridge to get some of the warmth coming off it.

Our feathered friend hasn't returned or written a letter (rude) but we are all sure that it has flown off to greener pastures.

Weeeeeeee're Baaaaaaaaaack

Welcome one and all to the 2021 season of learning in Te Maunga. We've had some exciting changes in class and everyone is absolutely fizzing to get back into it! We have a new teacher in the building, Penny who has stepped up from being a teacher aide last year! We also have Suzi and Elly joining us as teacher aides and they have loved their first days in Te Maunga.

Today we received the first round of new Chromebooks for learners that have purchased them. This just added to the heaving excitement of being back at school this year.

While we enjoyed our holidays it has been awesome to catch up with old friends and make some new ones in the first few days!

Te Maunga's Magical Class Trip

 On December 2nd, Te Maunga had a class trip to Kerikeri. Our first port of call was The Parrot Place. It was absolutely amazing seeing the colours on all the birds! We had never seen anything like it! Everyone had a chance to get a bird to perch on them and we all had a great time.

Next we popped off for a spot of lunch at the Kerikeri Domain. Laura scuttled off and when she came back there was a plethora of pizzas for everyone to devour! What a delicious way to refuel.

Lastly we went to the movies to watch The Secret Garden. We already knew most of the story since Penny had been reading it in her very authentic accent. We even got to indulge in an ice cream and a drink there!

Awesome Athletic Adventures

On November 27th Paihia School wandered up to Bledisloe Domain for the annual Athletics Extravaganza!

There were hundreds of kids and parents all excited to get started and show their athletic prowess.

We ran, threw, jumped and laughed our way to an awesome day out with the other schools.

Thanks to Mrs. Williams for organising this great event, the PTA for selling such a great feast and all the participants for their tremendous efforts on such a hot day!

Cross Country

Today was our annual Cross Country. We were so glad that we got moved to Level 1 so that it could take place.

We all piled into vehicles and headed off to Bledisloe Domain. The PTA had some delicious food for sale but we knew we couldn't eat too early or we would get a stitch later in our run!

The little kids all ran first until it was finally our turn. We ran around the field and then up the hill. Our lungs were bursting but we managed to make it to the finish line. What a perfect way to end the term!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

A huge thank you to everyone that voted for our America's Cup video!!!! While we didn't win a major prize, we were lucky enough to win a consolation prize... A new Sphero Robot! Thank you so much to Genesis Energy for sponsoring this awesome competition.

We are going to have a whole lot of fun learning with this little ball of energy!

Quiet on set!!!

For the past month, Te Maunga has been an absolute madhouse! We have been writing scripts, making props, finding sets and playing dress ups. We made movies!!!

We had some hiccups along the way but we managed to come up with some outstanding stories and beautiful cinematography.

You can check out all of the movies on our class Youtube site here

Hunting For Treasure

On August 28th, Paihia School ran a fundraiser for ex-pupil Sam Godsiff-Johnson. Sam was raising money for the charity I Am Hope. Our school ran a treasure hunt to support the cause!

The junior students got out just before morning tea and hunted around for some pictures of gumboots that would land them an exciting prize!

The senior students were called out just before lunch for their turn. Mrs. Lindsay hid tiny pictures of gumboots and the students set off! They peered high and low and some were able to get a hold of their little pictures.

Once all of the gumboots were found, Mrs. Lindsay called each winner up one by one to receive their mystery prizes. Some students won ice-cream, some won bouncy balls, others won headphones. All had a great time and contributed to an awesome cause!

VOTE FOR US!!!!!!

We have entered a competition to have the America's Cup Trophy brought into school and to win $3000 of learning equipment. This is the video we made.

All we need is for people to vote for us! You can vote once a day so please support us!

Maths Week

Last week we celebrated Maths Week. We had a series of fun problem solving tasks to do in groups and we had prizes for groups that were able to solve the puzzles and for working collaboratively.

On Friday Mrs. Cameron had a car full of balloons and everyone had an opportunity to see it and to guess how many balloons were in the car. After all of the guesses were tallied up, only one student had guessed the exact number of balloons... It was Tamati from here in Te Maunga. Tamati got a hamper full of goodies he can use at school.