Gliding, Floating and Freestyle

We look forward to swimming on Mondays and Wednesdays and it is great to see lots of students making progress and having the confidence to learn new skills in the water.

Here we are practising gliding on our front.

 Students use kickboards to practise floating on their backs. 

 Always a pleasure to see students enjoying their swimming lessons.

 Ofeira gaining confidence to relax and float on her back using a kickboard.

I absolutely love when students are learning and having fun at the same time 

 Kitione and Codice move on to freestyle and demonstrate to the class the correct arm stroke and breathing technique.  Well Done!

Google Expedition

On Monday we explored a new App called Google expeditions which allows teachers to take students on virtual field trips to almost anywhere in the world.  We climbed rock walls and conquered El Capitan.  We walked with the gorillas in the Congo and swam in the tropical waters of American Samoa before venturing into the deep blue see and swimming with the sharks.  There were lots of Ooohs and Aahhs and lots of excitement as students navigated their way through new and exciting landscapes.

Mindful Award

Congratulations to Maddison Daniel-Webster for receiving the Mindful Award for DETERMINATION by working hard to complete tasks independently.

Our First Swimming Lesson

Kia ora koutou katoa.  While the weather this morning wasn't particularly warm, there was a stir of excitement as we got ready for our first swimming lesson.  The students eagerly positioned themselves on the edge of the pool with their feet in the water.  

Each student made their way across the pool and successfully submerged under water.  

Now it's time to practise blowing bubbles

 

Here we are learning to float on our tummy.

Wow!  Floating on our backs was a little tricky but we persevered and...

everyone worked together to help support one another. 

“Tau kē nei” 

Swimming is part of your child's education and an important life skill heading into summer.  Please ensure that your child has the correct swimwear and a plastic bag.  If your child is not swimming, they must bring a written note.  We look forward to sharing our next lesson with you.

Let's Learn to Swim

The Super Space Crafters start swimming this week.  Students will be learning to participate safely in a range of aquatic learning experiences which develop both their swimming and water safety skills.  

Our swimming days are: Monday 11.30-12.00 & Wednesday 12.00-12.30.

Please ensure that students bring a towel and correct swimwear.

Diwali

Last week, Rowandale School was  full of colour as staff and students dressed up to celebrate Diwali.     It was a fabulous celebration in which staff, students and their families came together to learn, about one the unique cultures of our school community.  

Durng the week, students were introduced to the story of Diwali.

Black Out Mufti Day

Today, we proudly came to school dressed in black to support the All Blacks making it to the finals of the world cup.  Thank you to everyone who brought a gold coin donation to school today.  Your contribution is greatly appreciated and will go towards supporting Ray Hammond & Louisa Wall to acquire incubators for premature babies.   Have a fantastic weekend and GO THE ALL BLACKS!!!

Our first class music lesson

This term for topic we are focussing on Music.  We have had specialist music teachers from Jelly Beans come in and take our class for music lessons.  Music is a popular topic in our class and we have all enjoyed learning how we can create our own music.  

 We are learning to create our own rhythms using different kinds of percussion instruments.  Can't wait for our next lesson.  Come back and check out what we get up to next.

Kia ora Fakaalofa lahi atu Malo e lelei Talofa

Welcome back to all our students! I have enjoyed hearing about how you spent your school holidays. Our first week back at school we immersed ourselves in the Niuean culture to celebrate Niuean Language Week.  Students learnt basic greetings, proverbs and the Niuean National Anthem.  

The whole school participated in a flag raising ceremony and listened to our senior students share interesting facts about the island of Niue.  We were also lucky to hear Mr Vasau and Miss Fuataga talk about their experiences and pride in their Niuean culture.  Did you know that Mr Vasau was the first Niuean principal in New Zealand?

Together we learnt the Niuean tradition of weaving using coloured paper.  Towards the end of the week we combined our individual work to create a whole class weaving display.

Balloon Rocket

In this experiment we explored one of the forces of flight called Thrust using a balloon rocket. Thrust is the forward motion created when the air rushes out of the balloon.  In the balloon experiment, thrust comes from the energy of the balloon forcing the air out.  

Check out this link for instructions on how to make a Balloon Rocket.
https://sciencebob.com/make-a-balloon-rocket/

Teabag Rocket Experiment

Earlier this term we began building our knowledge of flight.  There was a keen interest in hot air balloons and students were introduced to the concept that hot air is lighter than cool air.  To test this theory we carried out the teabag rocket experiment.  As you will see, the flame burns down the cylinder and heats the air inside of the tea bag.  Faster moving air molecules in the hot air rise and the cooler air settles beneath.  The rising hot air creates an upward force called lift and as the flame gets closer to the bottom, the ashes become light enough to fly.  

It's a Onesie Party!!!

Today was our Year 6 Disco and Mufti day fundraiser, with the theme being onesies.  There was a great mix of colours and styles and was awesome to see so many students and teachers involved. 

Motat Trip

Our trip to Motat provided an awesome opportunity for our tamariki to explore and engage in experiences that are significant to their learning beyond the classroom.  It was a fun and exciting day enjoyed by all and a huge thank you to our wonderful grandparents and parent helpers for your assistance throughout the day. 

All ready for our trip to Motat

Our Educator Abby discussing the forces of flight

Pilots in the making!

The Tram ride to Motat

       

Celebrating Tongan Language Week

Malo e lelei

The theme for Tongan Language week 2015 is Fakakaloa Aotearoa 'aki 'a e faiva 'a e Tonga - Enriching Aotearoa with Tongan arts.  This week The Super Space Crafters worked together to create a Tongan Ngatu (Tapa cloth) which was later pieced together with the Ngatu from other classes to create one magnificent piece to represent Rowandale School.

Students use their knowledge of Tongan design and symmetry which we have been learning about during the past two weeks to sketch and plan their own Ngatu (Tapa cloth).

Next, students used crayons to outline their designs before dying over the top with brown dye.  Once dry, scrunched it up to get the tapa cloth effect.  

Check out what we have so far!!
Whilst you can check out our class contribution in the hall, feel free to visit Room 17 to check out our classroom Ngatu.

A Superb performance from the Rowandale School Tongan Group to celebrate the last day of Tongan Language Week.  A special mention to the talented Lupe, Stephene and Aj from The Super Space Crafters for proudly show casing your culture today.  We are all very proud of you. 

Mālō ‘aupito to all the families that came in to celebrate Tongan Language week with us today.  Pictured above is Stephene Langi with her mum and family.  

Maori Language Week Challenge 4

E noho ra - goodbye from person leaving

E heare ra - goodbye from person staying

Maori Language Week Challenge 3

Challenge 3 Samoan Langauge Week

Week 2 Mindful Award

Awarded to Faith for consistency in all areas of her learning! 

We know our hundreds, tens and ones!!!!

The rectangles have been working really hard at identifying the hundreds, tens and ones in their numbers this week! Check out some of the numbers they made

The Healthy Vegetable Garden

The Super Space Crafters have had so much fun looking after the vegetable garden this week.

Our vegetable garden has grown so much over the last couple of weeks. We were so surprised when we had seen it on Monday.

We noticed that there were eggs underneath the plants.We think it was the caterpillars that laid the eggs on the leaves.

The white butterflies have been eating our plants and leaving big holes!

Today we put some white butterfly dust on the plants so the white butterflies will stop snacking on our plants.

Our big Silverbeet plants

Looking for slugs and snails

looking at our plants growing

watering the garden

Our plants with HOLES!!!

Looking at the caterrpillar eggs

Christian looking for the eggs

putting dust on the leaves