SCIENCE SUPERSTARS!

 SCIENCE SUPERSTARS! An amazing start to Term 3...

I'll bet you're wondering what happened to the Science Superstars in Te Kinga; Kaelyn, Pippa and Michael. In the last week of Term 2 they entered their board in the John Paul II Science Fair and guess what?! THEY CAME THIRD! Here is the proud moment...

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!...

Because they placed in the John Paul II Science fair they qualified to enter their COMBUSTION CONUNDRUM into the Westland Science Fair, and in this competition they placed SECOND! Well done Kaelyn, Pippa and Michael you are our very own Science Superstars! 

End of Term 2

 Lake Day to end the Term...

We had a beautiful day down at the lakeside to celebrate the end of term. Here are the highlights...

We also met the challenge of inventing team games for the rest of the class to play - well done everyone - your games were SUPER-FUN!

Week 9

 Week 9 in Te Kinga

This week Kaelyn, Pippa and Michael had to complete their entry for the John Paul Science Fair coming up in Week 10. The group decided to test the hypothesis that 'Home Made firestarters are as effective as shop bought ones'.

First they had to make and try out a lot of recipes for firestarters - this was really fun and also interesting to see how flammable each ingredient actually was...

Next they had to trial each fire starter they decided was a good product with store bought products - so this meant a trip to the beach by the lake...

Can you guess what the result was? The group will be presenting their findings this week at the John Paul Science Fair...

Meanwhile back in class...

Students in Te Kinga were asked to create games for our 'Game Day' next week. The focus was on involving all team members and developing at least one physical skill... look out for more to come!

Week 8 in Te Kinga

 MATARIKI 2022

This week was a very special week at our school, and for New Zealand as we celebrated our first Matariki as a nation. 

Learning about Matariki - by Morgan

Matariki is a celebration of Māori New Year. This year Matariki is celebrated on the 24th of June. There are nine stars of Matariki. They are called;Matariki, Tupurangi, Waipuna-ā-rangi, Waitī, Tupuanuku, Ururangi, Waita, Pōhutukawa and Hiwa-i-te-rangi. 

The Matariki cluster appears in the north-east of the sky in New Zealand every year. When the Matariki stars show up closer together, this means it will be a cold year ahead but if they are further apart that means the weather for the year will be warm. 

Matariki is normally a time spent with friends and family. People celebrate Matariki in many ways like making traditional Māori kites (manu tukutuku), remembering people you have lost and storytelling. 

Matariki Day at Lake Brunner School

This year we weren't able to have our Matariki evening as planned so we had a Matariki celebration day instead! 

Michael, Fletcher W, Blake and Riley spent the day helping others (and Pauline) to plant their family trees. This involved a lot of hands on work - they did a fantastic job!

Over the day our students in made a ‘Wish Star’ or recorded a ‘Future Goal’ star. Krystal lent a hand to cut out stars for everyone! 

Matthew and Nic played Whano Whano (a traditional game to better the footwork of young Māori warriors) with everyone - this was both fun and challenging. Then we played a new game called Matariki ball. The challenge for each team was to get their objects down to the Matariki cluster target at the end of the court - we loved this game! 

Olivia made ‘Grateful’ treats with everyone all day! This included savoury puffs, chocolate muffins, fudge cake and chocolate chip biscuits. At the end of the day we gathered at the planting site and everyone spoke about something they were grateful for. We then got to eat our ‘Grateful Treats’ for which we were very grateful for! We hope you had a wonderful Matariki celebration over the weekend! 

Weather Haiku

 Te Kinga students created some multimedia weather haiku today - enjoy!

Week 6

 Week 6 in Te Kinga

This week we had a lot of people away with all sorts of bugs so on our Year 6 Tech Day we were able to make the whole school and staff fritters...banana for the students, sweetcorn for the adults! Yum! 

We also spent some time making some prototype kites - manu tukutuku  -  for upcoming Matariki celebrations. With more rain than wind, we didn't quite get 'take-off'. But well done Thea and Pippa regardless! 

Matariki Lanterns

We also made some Matariki Lanterns. We discovered that it was quite tricky to put the holes in the tins but we got there in the end. When everyone has a chance to complete one, we will share how amazing they look lit up in the dark! 

Matariki Scratch Artwork

We started these beautiful artworks on Friday - more to follow...they take a while to dry!