Amber comes to visit

On Tuesday 29th of June, I brought my puppy to school.
The puppy’s name is Amber. I was really excited to share Amber with the class and all the things I knew about the breed of dog.
Amber’s full name is,Amber Autumn Vala Karaka O’Brien.
Amber’s breed is a Ridgeback and is found in South Africa. They are known for their strength and their special piece of hair that follows their backbone.
Amber’s has only a half ridge on her back so she is not able to take part in dog shows.
Did you know that 3 Ridgebacks can kill a lion! These dogs were breed for hunting.
Amber likes biting but we are training her not too. Her favourite food is egg and green tripe.

I enjoy having a puppy and being responsible for it. Did you know that I had to tell the teacher that I couldn’t learn my spelling because the “dog ate my notebook”. The teacher thought I was using this as an excuse but it was true! We both had a good laugh.
Sometimes excuses do come true.

Liam

Building with shapes

As part of our math’s we have been looking at 2D and 3D shapes. Jack and Mase thought they could use these shapes to build with. Jack B and Mase made a house out of 3D blocks. It was tricky to balance the blocks on each other but it was even trickier to balance the roof on. This was because it would not stop wobbling around. After that they made a backyard garden with trees in it. They even made a TV and chair on the roof of the house. They finally got to take pictures of it then smashed it to the ground.

By Jack and Mase

Science in the class

We have been doing some science about substances in the kitchen.
We mixed acids and carbonates together to see what reaction we would get. When we mixed baking soda and vinegar it fizzed releasing carbon dioxide.
The next day we made sherbet. The next day we blew up balloons with salt and soda water, as well as baking soda and vinegar. Then we made the baking
to see how heat helps release carbon dioxide.
Alex

Rapping science

Rapping with science

We did not know that science would make our toes tap and our bodies groove, but that is what we got up to today. Tom McFadden,a scientist from America, came to our school to share his unique way of teaching science. He is a science rapper. He danced and rapt his way around teaching us about water and D.N.A. It was exciting to take part and do some rapping ourselves. We didn't know learning about water as a solid,liquid or gas would get us tongue tied or exhausted from dancing. Check out his time with us.

Achiever of the Week.

Ukelele

This week we thought that we would share some of our music making in assembly. We are enjoying learning the ukelele and thought others might be encouraged to learn.

Geometry

Fun with shapes has been the focus of learning in our maths this week. Some groups got to make some three diamentional shapes using wine gums and tooth picks. This really took our interest in finding out the edges,faces and vertices each shape had. Some of us are now looking at how to make a net for a solid object. We are wondering what other 3D shapes we can discover.

Topic Challenge

Playing soccer

This week has seen us working on our skills to do with soccer. Dribbling and passing are the two things we have been practicing. We have begun to put these all into a game of indoor soccer. We all look forward to playing this at the end of our P.E. time.

Achiever of the Week

Extra Spelling Quiz

On Wednesday the 17th June, six pupils from North East Valley Normal School went to Tahuna Intermediate to compete in the annual Extra Spelling Quiz. They went to compete against other primary schools across Dunedin in speliing. We had two teams with three in each. In team one the member’s wereSione, Hamish and Briana. The other team included Emilly, Cyprus and Finn. The competition had a range of questions around place names, definitions, proof reading and many other tasks around words and language. The quiz went until 6’o clock. We were lucky to have people who supplied us with rides and helped us with the lead up learning to this quiz. THANK YOU TO THOSE PEOPLE. It was a great time and we are looking forward in participating in the quiz next year.
Hamish

Soccer

North East Valley Normal School played their next game this week against George Street Normal. It was a tough start to the game but by half time the score was 2 – 0 to the Valley. The team from N.E.V.N had to do a lot of passing until they finally scored the last goal of the game. The end score was 3 – 0. The player of the day was Kyle.

Visit to the Marae

On Thursday the 3rd of June, North East Valley Normal School went to Puke Te Raki Marae at Karitane. They left school on buses. Once they all had arrived at the Marae, they lined up outside of the gates and waited for the karanga to call. When Mrs Kewene – Edwards called back and the school started moving onto the Marae. Once they were on the Marae they sat down and the speeches started. Kane from the Tangata Whenua spoke and a waiata was sung. Jesse then stood up next and did his speech and another waiata was sung. Mr. Edwards stood up for the Manuhiri and did his speech. Then the school stood up and sang their waiata. Once this was done Mr. McKenzie stood up and did his speech. Again the school sang another waiata. Once finished, Mr. Andrews gave the koha to the Tangata Whenua. The hongi was done by everyone followed by kai, which everyone enjoyed. Sharing the stories of the Marae and the meaning of the carvings was told to all before the children were put into their groups. Grace’s group went to Heidi and they made putiputi from the flax. They all thought that it was hard but they enjoyed it. The putiputi all looked beautiful. The next station they were told stories by Diana and then they were taught string games. Some children had trouble but laughed and enjoyed the challenge. The next group of children went into the Wharenui where Jesse told stories about how the South Island came to be. After lunch the children finished off one more station until it was time for the korero whakamutunga. The children thanked and shared the things that they had learnt from the day and then sang their song. It was time for the school to leave onto the bus. Te Awa planted the koha with his dad, meanwhile the school sang a waiata to say goodbye. Everyone got on the buses and returned to school. The children enjoyed their time at the Marae. They could not wait to tell their families about this trip. Grace Check out the video that follows my recount

Achiever of the Week

Soccer

On Thursday 10th June, North East Valley School soccer team travelled to the Gardens Football grounds to play against George Street Normal.
The game started off as a tough game with George Street scoring two goals. Passing and kicking by the North East Valley side saw the score at half time being 2-0.
In the second half, the North East Valley team had a good start with an awesome goal by Jack O.
The final score saw George Street ahead with 4-1. A fair play and ball skills were seen throughout this game. The player of the day went to Hamish for excellent defence. Watch out for the up and coming games and the skills that these players will show.

Sione
Jack O

Wide Horizons

On Friday some children where picked to go from Room 5, on a trip that lasts all of school time. Seven people got to go.
First these children went to the Macrae’s Gold mine but the trucks where not working because the ground was too wet for them to go round the slippery gravel track. So then the van load of children went to another part of the mine. They got to look for gold in rocks but they where not allowed to keep it, as it belonged to Macrae’s. Off they went to a playground to have lunch and to play. It was now time for a walk and a look at the museum. It had heaps of old machinery from farms. The children then went to the old Middlemarch train station. They had a good look around and Mr. McColl told them a story of when the train stopped and what it is used for now. Stories over, they hopped in the van and drove back to school. Everyone had a great time and learnt a lot. It was a great opportunity to get to have. They hoped they would get chosen again to go on another trip.

Latiesha

Achiever of the Week.

Mihi

On Thursday the 4th of June the school is off to Puke te Raki Marae at Karitane. Everyone is looking forward to it and all the things that they will be learning.
During this term, we have all been learning our mihi so that we can introduce ourselves and where we are from. It is hard to remember your mihi but once you do know it, it is easy. Here is an example of a mihi that we use at school. Our families also help us with some of this information too.
Jack B

Achiever of the Week

Clay Dragons

A few days a go Rm5 did some work with clay. They made clay Dragons.
It was fun and hard at the same time. The children had to do it in different steps because it was a weird shape to start with. They had to start by rolling the clay into a ball and shaping out the head.
It was an interesting experience and everybody’s looked different.
It was hard to do the details but they looked really good in the
end. It was a lot different to any of the art that we have ever
done before. People had spots, stripes and patches on their dragons
and they were all different shapes and sizes.
Most people put wings on their dragons but there were a few people who didn’t. The clay wasn’t that hard to work with
but with tricky details like spikes and wings that were up in the air it got a bit hard, especially when the clay started to dry up a bit. We are letting the clay dragons dry and if they stay together we will ask if we can get them fired. Watch this space for the fired results.

Jaani

Achiever of the Week

Tangaroa's Gift

When some of our class went on Wide Horizons, the children who were left behind got to paint a paua picture. The children looked at the art work of Reuben Patterson. He uses maori symbols and glitter in his work. We thought that this would make our art work interesting.
The children got a paua shape that the teacher drew for us. We drew some korus on the middle strip of our paua paintings. Next we had to check with the teacher to see if we could go over it in a black sharpie. Then after morning tea we got to paint them but instead of doing strokes we did blobs and blended the colours of paint that we choose. After that the teacher dried them with the dryer so that we could do the final part to the art work.
When they had all dried, two at a time, the children got to pick two different colours of glitter and sprinkle it on. When the glitter dried we put them up on the wall. They all look really good.
Briana.

Achiever of the Week

Dragons and Taniwha

Have you cheked out some of art work we have produced around Taniwha and Dragons. It was an interesting process with some wonderful results.