Kapahaka

For the last 4 weeks Room 26 and Room 24 have been doing kapahaka on a Friday morning. This is a separate programme to those who are performing in the cultural festival and it has given everyone the chance to see what kapahaka is all about.

Today I (Ms A) was sitting in Mr McKenzie's office doing some work when I heard the boys begin to perform a haka led by Thomas. It sounded so brilliant that I jumped up and went to check it out. The girls then performed a poi song that they had only just learned, which was also very well done. All of the children enjoyed these lessons and hopefully this will lead to some of our Year 5's taking more of an interest in our school kapahaka group next year.

Poetry Recital

Last week we held the annual Room 26 Poetry Recital. The class have been working on their poems for most of the term, both in class and at home. We have been focusing on different aspects of recitals such as the use of expression, using pace for effect, volume, clarity and gestures/actions. Ms Pelham was the judge for our recital and our buddy class were part of the audience. Ms Pelham had the extremely difficult task of choosing our winners, along with some highly commended awards. Here were out results:

Year 5:
1st Place - Jake
2nd Place - Chloe
Highly Commended: Kahn and Paige

Year 6:
1st Place - Emma
2nd Place - Lydia
3rd Place - Thomas
Highly Commended: Ibrahim, Anastasia, Ryota and Ambyr

Jake, Emma and Lydia went on to recite their poems in the senior school poetry recital on Tuesday. The standard at this event was incredibly high and we were so proud of how all 3 of our class mates went. We also had some excellent results:

Emma received 3rd place in Year 6!
Jake received 1st place in Year 5!!

Well done to everybody who performed in both the class and the senior school recitals.

Calendar Art

Here is some samples of our calendar art this year. If you like the look of these, check out the Room 26 folder in the office and order your own calendars, cards, diaries or notepads. A copy of the artwork is also on the wall in the classroom.

Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori

Week 1 of this term was National Maori Language Week. We refreshed out knowledge of maori days of the week, numbers, greetings and instructions along with learning some new words and phrases to use at home and in the classroom. Our biggest goal was to perfect our mihi. A mihi, or pepeha, is a way to introduce yourself to others. It shares information about the land that we call home, our family and our community. Here is the mihi that we used in Rm 26:

Tena koe/korua/kotou

Ko _______________ te maunga (mountain)

Ko _______________ te awa (river)

Ko ___Hato Opani___ toku kura (school)

Ko _______________toku matua (father)

Ko _______________toku whaea (mother)

Kei ______________ toku kainga (home)

Ko ______________  toku ingoa (name)

Ko ______________ toku ingoa whanau (family name)

No reira
Tena koe/korua/kotou, Tena koe/korua/kotou, Tena koe/korua/kotou katoa.

We now have several children in Room 26 who can recite their mihi off by heart - Ka rawe!!