Christmas Crafts
The children ran the first of their Christmas craft sessions. They did a great job in preparing their activity, making a prototype to share and knowing the steps to teach others.
Long awaited camp video ...
Camp Highlights!
Tree Climbing
It was cold. The ground was muddy and l was wet! It was the worst type of weather to do tree climbing. It was raining. Luckily we were under the tree so we didn't get wet. When we walked over, the tree climbing instructors told us how to put a helmet and harness on. After we did that we went straight over there was easiest, easy, medium and hard trees to climb. Obviously I would be on the hard one, because I am hard core. Finally it was my turn it felt like I had been waiting decades, but it was just 10 minutes! Finally I started to climb up the few steps. I'm gonna start crying I thought as I shoved myself up like a rocket for about 10 seconds and then I slipped on the branch, on no the yeah horas, and I quickly clicked on to the branch and pulled myself up like doing pull ups.
By Charlie R
Mountain biking
I felt butterflies flying around in my tummy as I knew the mountain bike track was slippery. It was because of all the rain we’d had, so I knew I had to be careful not to fall off my bike. Excitedly, we headed to the kitchen to meet Ross who was taking us for the ride through the forest. After we met Ross he took us to the shelter and he told us how to adjust our helmets so they were just the right size. Then he asked us to get into a line from tallest to shortest after we had got in a line I realised that we were in this line so they could give us the right size bike. Ross showed us how to adjust our seat and how to use the gears then we set off. First we went through a small little track that led out to a dirt road it was quite muddy we crossed it and saw another track we followed that track. We took the track for a we while and soon came out into daylight and to my amazement I saw a BMX track and I thought to myself I have been on this track before, the track was called easy rider. When we were at the BMX track we stopped for a drink then we turned around and started heading back the same way and about 500 meters on the track we turned right onto Perseverance and that lead us back to camp. When we were back to camp I could barely feel my fingers the were so cold. As soon as I stopped I felt a cold chill sprint down my spine.
By Ciara
Orienteering
Excitedly I got a map and listened to Mike the instructor speak about the rules. We were off orienteering in the misty wind of the cold freezing air on a Tuesday afternoon. We had to make up a team name, ours was the Beanie Bears. We got into our groups and I was with Sylvie, Georgia, Emily, Sabina and Glenn.
As we started searching we looked at the map and it said number 33 which was right in front of us. My hands were as numb as a camel’s hump in Antarctica. My teeth were chattering as we carried on walking to the next closest and biggest points. As we stopped to look back the other team was following us. So we quickly ran, so they couldn’t catch up to us. We were working as a team and listening to their awesome ideas.
The rain was pitter patting on us as we walked around the dark windy forest of trees. Mud was squelching from head to toe on us. As we ran to find the cylinders of numbers we were as stiff as clay. There was 10 more minutes according to Sabina. We listened to Glenn and he said we can take a shortcut to get lots of points. We passed Ciara and Georgetta’s team twice and it was next to a cylinder and we distracted them to not get them. 5,4,3,2,1 we sprinted to Mike, yay we were the first team there! As we counted up the score. Tribe 1 teamed up as 1 team so there was only 3 teams. In 3rd place is tribe 1, in 2nd place is tribe 2 ( not us ) and in 1st place is the Beanie Bears! Yay we won! As we walked back the shiver tingled between my body from head to toe. I can’t wait for camp next year 2019!
By Maya
Pools
Grey clouds hovered over me as I shivered when I stood onto the wet stone floor. My feet stung because of the icy ground. We were at the Hanmer Springs pools, me Mae and Charlotte B had already decided where we were going to go first.
We frantically rushed to the hydroslides and went straight to the Super Bowl. Me and Mae went on a double floaty first and Charlotte went on a single. We looked up at the high, tall stairs. As we got more up and up the chatting got louder and louder. My body felt like an icicle as the antarctic wind gusted by. When we finally got to the top the wet carpet was freezing my feet. It was nearly our turn, me and Mae were watching Charlotte make her way down. As soon as the green light went we raced down the slide screaming galore. We were giggling A LOT as we went round and round the bowl and then stopped at a halt to go down the hole to the bottom of the slide. Me and Mae luckily went down backwards which was heaps more fun than going forwards. Suddenly Mae fell off the floaty and was against the side of the slide and the floaty, the floaty was making her bang several times into the side. We were laughing even harder now. When we finally got to the bottom, we saw Charlotte waiting by the exit, me and Mae were still laughing an awful lot. Now was time to go on the other hydro slides.
These hydro slides didn’t need floats, they were longer, faster and scarier, the most scary one is named, “ The Black Hole” this one was black all the way down, and the only light inside were arrows, showing you the way. We frantically ran up the stairs, unlike the Super Bowl, we didn’t hear any talking as we went up the stairs, everything was as quiet as a mouse. When we arrived at the top, fog filled the air. Mae went first down the slide, no screaming was to be heard. Next was Charlotte, she shouted, “ MAE I’M COMING!” I heard Mae shout to Charlotte, “ HIIII! I sat down on the slide watching the red light constantly, waiting for the green light to go. As soon as the yellow light flashed to green, my hands pushed me down to the start of the black hole. I lay down on my back and looked up, the lukewarm water splashed on my face.
By Lola
Hydroslides
I took hold of a single raft, big enough for just one person. Shivering from the cold, I climbed up the soggy steps, to the entrance of the Superbowl. I finally made it to the top of the soaking stairs, seeing a short queue in front of me. I patiently waited for my turn to slide down. One person went… then another, and another. At last, it was my turn. I looked down at the Superbowl. I thought to myself, “What a GINORMOUS slide!”. Stepping into the lukewarm water of the entrance point gave relief to my frosty toes.
I sat down in the raft whilst holding onto the handrails to stop myself getting sucked down the tube too early. I intensely stared at the glowing red light, waiting for it to change. Suddenly, the red light turned into a shining green light! I used the handrails to push myself into the darkened tunnel… All was dark as I zoomed through the tunnel. All I could see was black, all I could hear was my raft as it speeded down the tunnel and all I could feel was the spray of the water, soaking my skin. All of a sudden, I saw light up ahead! I gripped onto the rubber handholds of the raft a little tighter! Then, I shot into the bowl!
Water sprayed me in the face as I came out of the tunnel. I screamed “THIS IS AWESOME!”. I hoped that I wouldn’t go down the last exit tunnel backwards. I swirled around the middle, getting closer to the exit hole every time. Finally, I was at the exit, but I was going to go down backwards! However, I managed to turn myself around with my hand! And then, I crashed into the wall of water at the end!
By Lachie
Climbing
The slick wet ground was littered with puddles of muddy water our shoes half submerged. But not mine! I seemed to be the only one who cared about wet shoes! Anyway yes we were at climbing, my teeth were chattering like castanets that's right I was as chilly as a camel in the Arctic, absolutely chilled to the bone. First I was a belayer in the example I was The Chief Rope Tactical Manager, and my job was to put rope in a bucket. After the example we to the pine tree and once again I was the put rope in bucket man. First up was Charlotte then me wait ME! Oh no this is not going to go well. I take my first shaky step onto the slippery ladder why me? Why now? WHY IN THE RAIN!? I scream in my head as I reach the top of the ladder I go under a branch securely wrap my arm around a branch “Can I come down, pppllleeeaaassseee” I whine “For StarClans sake” I yell in my head “ I’m not a squirrel!!”
By Cooper
Mountain Biking
Butterflies swirled around my tummy as I got my bike ready for a long ride ahead. As Chris (our instructor) took us along a track the butterflies stopped swirling and went wild. As we were biking along we heard like a million birds chirping in the trees. Suddenly there was a sudden hill up on the track and we could barely get up it! But luckily on hills it goes uphill and then down-hill! So I was quite alright with the hills. When we went through puddles it would always splash our socks and shoes until they were soaking with dirty water. The ground squelched below our wheels as we rode along the muddy track. After a while we came to a humongous park that was surrounded by towering trees. Chris told us to line up so we could do a slow race. And the last person to cross over the line was the winner ! Anyway after the slow race we could then decide if we wanted to do a fast race which I did. But then I came fourth. I was disappointed but at the end I got over it. After the ride around the park we carried on on to the track. Later on down the track we saw some people doing orienteering, so we knew we were close to the campground. A few minutes later we reached the campground and met up with the other biking group. They had a race and then we put our bikes away. That was the end of our biking adventure !!!!
By Emily T
It was cold. The ground was muddy and l was wet! It was the worst type of weather to do tree climbing. It was raining. Luckily we were under the tree so we didn't get wet. When we walked over, the tree climbing instructors told us how to put a helmet and harness on. After we did that we went straight over there was easiest, easy, medium and hard trees to climb. Obviously I would be on the hard one, because I am hard core. Finally it was my turn it felt like I had been waiting decades, but it was just 10 minutes! Finally I started to climb up the few steps. I'm gonna start crying I thought as I shoved myself up like a rocket for about 10 seconds and then I slipped on the branch, on no the yeah horas, and I quickly clicked on to the branch and pulled myself up like doing pull ups.
By Charlie R
Mountain biking
I felt butterflies flying around in my tummy as I knew the mountain bike track was slippery. It was because of all the rain we’d had, so I knew I had to be careful not to fall off my bike. Excitedly, we headed to the kitchen to meet Ross who was taking us for the ride through the forest. After we met Ross he took us to the shelter and he told us how to adjust our helmets so they were just the right size. Then he asked us to get into a line from tallest to shortest after we had got in a line I realised that we were in this line so they could give us the right size bike. Ross showed us how to adjust our seat and how to use the gears then we set off. First we went through a small little track that led out to a dirt road it was quite muddy we crossed it and saw another track we followed that track. We took the track for a we while and soon came out into daylight and to my amazement I saw a BMX track and I thought to myself I have been on this track before, the track was called easy rider. When we were at the BMX track we stopped for a drink then we turned around and started heading back the same way and about 500 meters on the track we turned right onto Perseverance and that lead us back to camp. When we were back to camp I could barely feel my fingers the were so cold. As soon as I stopped I felt a cold chill sprint down my spine.
By Ciara
Orienteering
Excitedly I got a map and listened to Mike the instructor speak about the rules. We were off orienteering in the misty wind of the cold freezing air on a Tuesday afternoon. We had to make up a team name, ours was the Beanie Bears. We got into our groups and I was with Sylvie, Georgia, Emily, Sabina and Glenn.
As we started searching we looked at the map and it said number 33 which was right in front of us. My hands were as numb as a camel’s hump in Antarctica. My teeth were chattering as we carried on walking to the next closest and biggest points. As we stopped to look back the other team was following us. So we quickly ran, so they couldn’t catch up to us. We were working as a team and listening to their awesome ideas.
The rain was pitter patting on us as we walked around the dark windy forest of trees. Mud was squelching from head to toe on us. As we ran to find the cylinders of numbers we were as stiff as clay. There was 10 more minutes according to Sabina. We listened to Glenn and he said we can take a shortcut to get lots of points. We passed Ciara and Georgetta’s team twice and it was next to a cylinder and we distracted them to not get them. 5,4,3,2,1 we sprinted to Mike, yay we were the first team there! As we counted up the score. Tribe 1 teamed up as 1 team so there was only 3 teams. In 3rd place is tribe 1, in 2nd place is tribe 2 ( not us ) and in 1st place is the Beanie Bears! Yay we won! As we walked back the shiver tingled between my body from head to toe. I can’t wait for camp next year 2019!
By Maya
Pools
Grey clouds hovered over me as I shivered when I stood onto the wet stone floor. My feet stung because of the icy ground. We were at the Hanmer Springs pools, me Mae and Charlotte B had already decided where we were going to go first.
We frantically rushed to the hydroslides and went straight to the Super Bowl. Me and Mae went on a double floaty first and Charlotte went on a single. We looked up at the high, tall stairs. As we got more up and up the chatting got louder and louder. My body felt like an icicle as the antarctic wind gusted by. When we finally got to the top the wet carpet was freezing my feet. It was nearly our turn, me and Mae were watching Charlotte make her way down. As soon as the green light went we raced down the slide screaming galore. We were giggling A LOT as we went round and round the bowl and then stopped at a halt to go down the hole to the bottom of the slide. Me and Mae luckily went down backwards which was heaps more fun than going forwards. Suddenly Mae fell off the floaty and was against the side of the slide and the floaty, the floaty was making her bang several times into the side. We were laughing even harder now. When we finally got to the bottom, we saw Charlotte waiting by the exit, me and Mae were still laughing an awful lot. Now was time to go on the other hydro slides.
These hydro slides didn’t need floats, they were longer, faster and scarier, the most scary one is named, “ The Black Hole” this one was black all the way down, and the only light inside were arrows, showing you the way. We frantically ran up the stairs, unlike the Super Bowl, we didn’t hear any talking as we went up the stairs, everything was as quiet as a mouse. When we arrived at the top, fog filled the air. Mae went first down the slide, no screaming was to be heard. Next was Charlotte, she shouted, “ MAE I’M COMING!” I heard Mae shout to Charlotte, “ HIIII! I sat down on the slide watching the red light constantly, waiting for the green light to go. As soon as the yellow light flashed to green, my hands pushed me down to the start of the black hole. I lay down on my back and looked up, the lukewarm water splashed on my face.
By Lola
Hydroslides
I took hold of a single raft, big enough for just one person. Shivering from the cold, I climbed up the soggy steps, to the entrance of the Superbowl. I finally made it to the top of the soaking stairs, seeing a short queue in front of me. I patiently waited for my turn to slide down. One person went… then another, and another. At last, it was my turn. I looked down at the Superbowl. I thought to myself, “What a GINORMOUS slide!”. Stepping into the lukewarm water of the entrance point gave relief to my frosty toes.
I sat down in the raft whilst holding onto the handrails to stop myself getting sucked down the tube too early. I intensely stared at the glowing red light, waiting for it to change. Suddenly, the red light turned into a shining green light! I used the handrails to push myself into the darkened tunnel… All was dark as I zoomed through the tunnel. All I could see was black, all I could hear was my raft as it speeded down the tunnel and all I could feel was the spray of the water, soaking my skin. All of a sudden, I saw light up ahead! I gripped onto the rubber handholds of the raft a little tighter! Then, I shot into the bowl!
Water sprayed me in the face as I came out of the tunnel. I screamed “THIS IS AWESOME!”. I hoped that I wouldn’t go down the last exit tunnel backwards. I swirled around the middle, getting closer to the exit hole every time. Finally, I was at the exit, but I was going to go down backwards! However, I managed to turn myself around with my hand! And then, I crashed into the wall of water at the end!
By Lachie
Climbing
The slick wet ground was littered with puddles of muddy water our shoes half submerged. But not mine! I seemed to be the only one who cared about wet shoes! Anyway yes we were at climbing, my teeth were chattering like castanets that's right I was as chilly as a camel in the Arctic, absolutely chilled to the bone. First I was a belayer in the example I was The Chief Rope Tactical Manager, and my job was to put rope in a bucket. After the example we to the pine tree and once again I was the put rope in bucket man. First up was Charlotte then me wait ME! Oh no this is not going to go well. I take my first shaky step onto the slippery ladder why me? Why now? WHY IN THE RAIN!? I scream in my head as I reach the top of the ladder I go under a branch securely wrap my arm around a branch “Can I come down, pppllleeeaaassseee” I whine “For StarClans sake” I yell in my head “ I’m not a squirrel!!”
By Cooper
Mountain Biking
Butterflies swirled around my tummy as I got my bike ready for a long ride ahead. As Chris (our instructor) took us along a track the butterflies stopped swirling and went wild. As we were biking along we heard like a million birds chirping in the trees. Suddenly there was a sudden hill up on the track and we could barely get up it! But luckily on hills it goes uphill and then down-hill! So I was quite alright with the hills. When we went through puddles it would always splash our socks and shoes until they were soaking with dirty water. The ground squelched below our wheels as we rode along the muddy track. After a while we came to a humongous park that was surrounded by towering trees. Chris told us to line up so we could do a slow race. And the last person to cross over the line was the winner ! Anyway after the slow race we could then decide if we wanted to do a fast race which I did. But then I came fourth. I was disappointed but at the end I got over it. After the ride around the park we carried on on to the track. Later on down the track we saw some people doing orienteering, so we knew we were close to the campground. A few minutes later we reached the campground and met up with the other biking group. They had a race and then we put our bikes away. That was the end of our biking adventure !!!!
By Emily T
Hanmer Springs Camp
Waimakari had a wonderful three days at Hanmer Springs. Despite the wet weather everyone fully embraced all the great activities that camp had to offer!
Senior Team Camp List - Hanmer
As we start excitedly packing for camp, here is a reminder of the gear list.
Mufti - Wednesday 26th September
AMAZING ARTISTS...
W3 spent time today working on creating art using chalk pastels. Chalk pastel is a fantastic medium to work with - even though it is messy! We worked on blending colours so that warm and cool colours gradually changed and also looked at colours that contrast - that is, make another colour stand out! Come into the hub to see the work we've produced! Here is just a sample!
Term 3 Sharing Session
Cycle Safety Groupings
A notice came home Friday with this information :)
Talent Hour
On Thursday as part of the Big Day In, we had an amazing array of talented children perform in the Senior Talent Hour. This was a non-competitive, fun, "have a go" themed sharing time for Waimakariri and Otakaro children to showcase their talents and skills. We had dancers, comedians, musicians, clowns and gymnasts to name some of our acts! Check out some of the photos taken on the day!
Violent Volcanoes
Continuing with our Inquiry on landforms we looked at some images of powerful volcanoes in action. In small groups we brainstormed different questions we had about volcanoes. Then we ordered our questions from what would make a good inquiry question worthy of further investigation, to questions not suitable for an inquiry (open to closed questions). Open ended questions often lead on to further questions.
Next week we will be working on some digital presentations to share our learning about the Southern Alps. If your child uses an Apple device at school, please can you download a free app called Clips. Thank you.
Art's Programme
We have been learning rakau as part of our art's programme in Waimakariri and we've been working hard to learn a routine and sing alongside it to the song E Papa. Look at how talented we all are.
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Year 5/6 Poetry Competition
Congratulations to the Waimakariri students who represented our hub in the Senior Poetry Finals today. Mr Williams had the difficult task of judging and choosing the "place getters" from a very strong field! He said it was the highest standard of presentations he has listened to in all his time at St Albans School! WOW! Congratulations to Alfie (1st) Georgetta (2nd) and Emily F and Mia (3rd=) for impressing so well upon Mr Williams!
Tom Fedro Art
Earlier on our blog, you will have read about the Tom Fedro Art W 1 had been learning about. After three art sessions, we now have a number of completed works! Over the next few weeks we plan to complete the rest! We are really proud of the work we have created!
Eco Expo Day
Last week our amazing group of Eco Warriors ran an Eco Expo that was attended by all children and many parents, here at St Albans. It was the culmination of a lot of work, undertaken in their own time, related to their passions about making our world more eco friendly. It was great to see many of the ideas we had learnt about in Term 2 as part of our 4Rs inquiry being incorporated and expanded on. Eco Warriors, you are making a big difference in our school and community! Well done - we loved the ideas and messages you had to share!
Writing
The writing focus for the first few weeks of this term has been poetry. This week some of the children wrote their own poems about a waterfall, including some of the language features they have been learning about - similes, metaphors, personification as well as higher level vocabulary.
Arts Programme
As part of our Term 3 Arts Programme, we will be having a Māori focus using rakau and poi. We had a great first session.
RED and BLACK Day!
What an exciting day the children had today, starting with the Super Rugby Cup visit before school. It was a sea of red and black showing huge support for our Crusaders who play in their final tomorrow. Some of the children did some rugby drills, both Year 5/6 hubs chanted and cheered to be TV1 stars today! There was a live feed this morning on TV1 Breakfast. Keep an eye out to see if we feature on One News at 6.00pm tonight!
Making a chemical volcano
Last week, W3 began their science rotation looking at chemical reactions. We had great fun making volcanoes and making observations. The cool red lava is the result of a chemical reaction between the baking soda and vinegar. In this reaction, carbon dioxide gas is produced, which is also present in real volcanoes. As the carbon dioxide gas is produced, pressure builds up inside the plastic bottle, until the gas bubbles out of the volcano. This week we're looking forward to planning our own investigation.
What's new in Waimak!
Tom Fedro Art
This week W1 started a focus on the artworks of American artist Tom Fedro, who enjoys producing pop art based on people and animals. Over the next few weeks we will be developing our drawing skills and focusing on size, proportion, blending bright colours to create a Tom Fedro master piece. These images show our first session, looking at recreating works through observation of the artworks of others. We are really looking forward to the next session!
This year the Senior Poetry Competition Final will take place during Week 5 this term, on Wednesday the 22nd of August.
Waimakariri will hold their home-base competitions the week prior to the senior finals, with finalists being confirmed by the end of Week 4. This will allow an additional five days of perfecting performances before home-base finalists perform in front of parents and invited guests. Home-base recitals will be performed to the hub children only, as we believe that this allows for children who may be feeling nervous to feel more at ease standing up in front of their peers only.
The children should now have found or be searching for the poem they will perform within the hub competition. The criteria below has been shared with the children and is the marking schedule teachers will be using when picking home-base finalists.
Waimakariri will hold their home-base competitions the week prior to the senior finals, with finalists being confirmed by the end of Week 4. This will allow an additional five days of perfecting performances before home-base finalists perform in front of parents and invited guests. Home-base recitals will be performed to the hub children only, as we believe that this allows for children who may be feeling nervous to feel more at ease standing up in front of their peers only.
The children should now have found or be searching for the poem they will perform within the hub competition. The criteria below has been shared with the children and is the marking schedule teachers will be using when picking home-base finalists.
Please find below some useful websites that you can use to help find your child a suitable poem, that they will need to learn OFF BY HEART. It would be a good idea to make sure a copy of the poem is at school, so that your child can use allocated time in the class to practising their poem, and if it is required to prompt your child during the performance if they forget their lines.
http://www.shelsilverstein.com/
https://www.poetry4kids.com/
https://www.poemhunter.com/roald-dahl/poems/
http://jackprelutsky.com/jacks-poems/
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poems-kids
We have discussed not using KENN NESBITT poems this year as these are often done a lot iin the junior and middle school. Do come and see us if you have any questions!
http://www.shelsilverstein.com/
https://www.poetry4kids.com/
https://www.poemhunter.com/roald-dahl/poems/
http://jackprelutsky.com/jacks-poems/
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poems-kids
We have discussed not using KENN NESBITT poems this year as these are often done a lot iin the junior and middle school. Do come and see us if you have any questions!
Term 3's Inquiry
This term our Inquiry will be based around landforms. Initially we started by brainstorming what we already knew about the earth and what it is made of. Some of the children recorded their ideas onto post-it notes and then grouped similar ideas together. The following week we used a different colour post-it note to record what we now knew.
Welcome back to Term 3!!
We have all had a great first two days back at school, it is fantastic to see everyones smiling faces and listening to the amazing holiday fun the children had! Our hub newsletter will be going home by the end of the week via email and this blog. Until then, pop in and say hello - we would love to see you and catch up!
Bio Plastic
During our Inquiry this term we have become even more aware of the harm plastics are doing to our environment globally.
We all made a more environmental friendly type of plastic known as bio plastic. It is made from renewable sources like plant materials and can break down (decompose)easily.
Here is the recipe we used if you would like to try it at home:
How to make Bio-Plastic
Ingredients
We all made a more environmental friendly type of plastic known as bio plastic. It is made from renewable sources like plant materials and can break down (decompose)easily.
Here is the recipe we used if you would like to try it at home:
How to make Bio-Plastic
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon of cornflour
- 1 teaspoon of vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of glycerin
- 4 tablespoons of water
- a few drops of food colouring
- Add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch into a saucepan of the stove. Add 1 teaspoon of vinegar. Do not mix!
- Add 1 teaspoon of glycerin, don’t mix!
- Slowly 4 tablespoons of add water.
- Add a few drops of colouring if you desire and stir.
- Place saucepan on stove and continue to stir quickly.
- Mix for approximately 2 minutes until the mixture forms into a gel.
- Splodge mix onto baking paper on a tray.
- Spread out with a knife but not too thin.
- Leave to dry for 2 days.
- Done! Now you can enjoy your homemade bioplastic.
You could try changing one of the variables in the recipe to see if you can alter the properties of the plastic e.g. make it more flexible or stronger.
What would happen if you doubled the amount of glycerin?
What would the bio plastic be like if you used a different type of starch? E.g tapioca instead of cornflour.
What would happen if you doubled the amount of glycerin?
What would the bio plastic be like if you used a different type of starch? E.g tapioca instead of cornflour.
Week 9 - Totara Bake Sale & Parent Inquiry Sharing Session
Big Day In
As term two comes to an end we are planning a Big Day In for the children from Waimakariri and Ōtākaro on Wednesday 27 June.
This will be a great day with lots of fun activities.
Children are invited to wear wild and wacky (or sensible!) mufti for the day. We encourage the children to also incorporate pink into their outfit to support Olivia, Mille and Matilda’s term one/two inquiry raising awareness of breast cancer. A gold coin donation for the Cancer Society is invited.
We will also be screening two movies - children will opt into the one they would most like to watch. The choices are Wonder or Cool Kids Camp. Both of these movies carry a PG rating. If you prefer for your child to not watch either movie please let your Home Base teacher know.
The day will also involve an Escape the School challenge where the children work in teams to solve problems and escape the room they are in!
We will provide pizza and chips for lunch on this day.
Kind regards
Ōtākaro and Waimakariri teachers
As term two comes to an end we are planning a Big Day In for the children from Waimakariri and Ōtākaro on Wednesday 27 June.
This will be a great day with lots of fun activities.
Children are invited to wear wild and wacky (or sensible!) mufti for the day. We encourage the children to also incorporate pink into their outfit to support Olivia, Mille and Matilda’s term one/two inquiry raising awareness of breast cancer. A gold coin donation for the Cancer Society is invited.
We will also be screening two movies - children will opt into the one they would most like to watch. The choices are Wonder or Cool Kids Camp. Both of these movies carry a PG rating. If you prefer for your child to not watch either movie please let your Home Base teacher know.
The day will also involve an Escape the School challenge where the children work in teams to solve problems and escape the room they are in!
We will provide pizza and chips for lunch on this day.
Kind regards
Ōtākaro and Waimakariri teachers
Scholastic Book orders are due tomorrow - Tuesday 22 May 2018!
Entertainment Book 2018/2019
Entertainment books for 2018 - 2019 are now out. Consider buying your new one through our PTA. $14, of each book sold, goes towards the development of our new playground! If you are new to Entertainment Books here is a link to further information: https://www.entertainmentbook.co.nz
Entertainment books for 2018 - 2019 are now out. Consider buying your new one through our PTA. $14, of each book sold, goes towards the development of our new playground! If you are new to Entertainment Books here is a link to further information: https://www.entertainmentbook.co.nz
eco-Depot - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink
This week we started our home base visits to the eco-Depot, we will continue to add photo's to this collections. This education experience was amazing and everyone learnt something new to help reduce the amount of waste we add to landfills. The session was interactive with a variety of hands on activities and key information to develop our understandings. Thank you to the parents who made these trips possible by coming with us to ensure student safety and support in learning. Tino kino te pai whānau!
Cross country Fun....
Today we all took part in the St Albans School Cross Country event. We had been training a lot over the last few months leading up to today and for our Year 5s, doubling the length of the course from middle school was a daunting prospect! We were delighted with all our tamariki - not only with their efforts but with their mindsets and attitudes too! Tu meke Waimakariri hub!
Runathon Fundraiser
On Wednesday the weather decided to be nice and we were finally able to hold our Runathon! The teachers were so proud of the heart shown by our learners to run with passion, pride and commitment to raising money for their camp in Term 4. Impressive work tamariki!! Here are some photo's of both Ōtākaro and Waimakariri children, tino kino te pai!
Cultural Shared lunch fun ...
End of Term 1 Cultural Shared Lunch
Please remember to bring a plate of food from your culture to share at our lunch on Friday.
Celebrating Term 1!
We were all very excited to have our families come into our hub today to share the learning that has taken place this term! As the day went on, the anticipation grew! We had worked very hard to complete a range of activities for sharing, which included cultural artworks, a Pepeha, reflections, information posters and pieces of writing. A huge thanks to those of you who were able to come and share in your child's learning! It was awesome to see the pride that gleamed from the faces of our tamariki as they shared their learning with you all!
We were all very excited to have our families come into our hub today to share the learning that has taken place this term! As the day went on, the anticipation grew! We had worked very hard to complete a range of activities for sharing, which included cultural artworks, a Pepeha, reflections, information posters and pieces of writing. A huge thanks to those of you who were able to come and share in your child's learning! It was awesome to see the pride that gleamed from the faces of our tamariki as they shared their learning with you all!
Congratulations Waimakariri!!
Thank you to everyone that supported the tamariki in our hub to sell hot cross buns. Due to our collective hard work Waimakariri won the prize for selling the most hot cross buns! We shared ice blocks this afternoon - what a treat! Thank you to Becky and the PTA for organising this as a camp fundraiser. Remember to keep collecting sponsors for your next camp fundraising, our Runathon in two weeks time.
Why St Albans School is Special to Me
As part of our Inquiry 'OUR BIG BACKYARD - OUR TURANGAWAEWAE' we have been looking at places that we belong to. In writing we focused on what makes St Albans School special to us. If you get a chance to pop into our hub ask your child to show you their writing.
Why St Albans School is Special to Me
By Cooper
Florida has the best beaches! China has pandas! But I’ll bet my biscuits they don’t have a school like St Albans!
Nestled amongst the vegetation in St Albans lies St Albans School, the best school for young learners - terms and conditions apply! Our modern spaces make learning fun! There are lots of desks so our kids don’t have to work on the floor. Thanks to our modern learning environment our children can experience different teachers for different subjects.
Our staff has roughly forty to fifty adults. We have cracking caretakers, kind kids, terrific teachers, perfect principals, super staff, lovely librarians and fantastic friends. But best of all everyone follows the values.
My favourite things at St Albans School are reading, learning how to interact and be safe on the web. As well as great subjects we also have great learning opportunities like road patrol and T.O.M. (Tournament of Minds). We also have fun activity days like Book Character Day, when you dress up as your favourite book character and bring your book. If your costumes good enough you win a book of your choice.
Some of my most memorable moments At St Albans School are Eco-warriors, Tournaments of Minds, Discovery Time, Book Character Day and winning with my toothless costume, road patrol and being in my first class, Room 5, with Mrs Craig.
Well those are the things that distinguish St Albans School from the rest of your old everyday schools. Now I hope you see why St Albans is special to me!
By Cooper
Florida has the best beaches! China has pandas! But I’ll bet my biscuits they don’t have a school like St Albans!
Nestled amongst the vegetation in St Albans lies St Albans School, the best school for young learners - terms and conditions apply! Our modern spaces make learning fun! There are lots of desks so our kids don’t have to work on the floor. Thanks to our modern learning environment our children can experience different teachers for different subjects.
Our staff has roughly forty to fifty adults. We have cracking caretakers, kind kids, terrific teachers, perfect principals, super staff, lovely librarians and fantastic friends. But best of all everyone follows the values.
My favourite things at St Albans School are reading, learning how to interact and be safe on the web. As well as great subjects we also have great learning opportunities like road patrol and T.O.M. (Tournament of Minds). We also have fun activity days like Book Character Day, when you dress up as your favourite book character and bring your book. If your costumes good enough you win a book of your choice.
Some of my most memorable moments At St Albans School are Eco-warriors, Tournaments of Minds, Discovery Time, Book Character Day and winning with my toothless costume, road patrol and being in my first class, Room 5, with Mrs Craig.
Well those are the things that distinguish St Albans School from the rest of your old everyday schools. Now I hope you see why St Albans is special to me!
Odd Sock Day - Tomorrow - Wednesday 21 March
Tomorrow we are asking everyone to wear odd socks. Tomorrow's odd sock fundraiser means children wear their school uniform but are encouraged to wear odd socks. Please bring a gold coin donation.
Book Character Day
We had a great day dressing up as some of our favourite book characters to celebrate the opening of our wonderful school library. See if you can guess which characters the children and staff in Waimakariri have come dressed as...
Maria Gill Author Visit
We were lucky to have a successful author come and speak to the children on Friday about her books and life as a writer. It was very interesting and it was a great ignition session for our Book Character Day. We are looking forward to seeing everyone dressed up on Monday.
North Zone Success...
A huge congratulations to Mae for her recent success in the North Zone Swimming Sports. Mae came 1st in the Year 6 Girls' 50m Freestyle and 2nd in the Year 6 Girls' 50m Backstroke events. This is a huge achievement in a very competitive zone. We wish you all the best for the Canterbury Centrals next month Mae!
A huge congratulations to Mae for her recent success in the North Zone Swimming Sports. Mae came 1st in the Year 6 Girls' 50m Freestyle and 2nd in the Year 6 Girls' 50m Backstroke events. This is a huge achievement in a very competitive zone. We wish you all the best for the Canterbury Centrals next month Mae!
Reminder Zone Swimming Tomorrow!! Good luck to everyone who is attending!
Beautiful Afternoon ...
Headphones
If your child has some headphones please can they bring them to school on Monday. Any type of headphones will be fine. Thank you
Big Day Out Fun!!
What a fantastic day we had at Margaret Mahy playground and a round of mini golf. The weather was perfect, the children had a lot of fun and we have some aspiring golf pro's. Thank you to our parents for your help and support to make this trip possible. Check out some of our photo's.
Writing - The Best Part of Me
Waimakariri have selected their favourite body part to write about. They had to consider what the part physically looks like, what the body part enables them to do and how it can make them or others feel.
Spencer Park Big Day Out
Due to the bad weather our trip to Spencer Park will not go ahead today. Children are still able to wear mufti and we will have a sausage sizzle lunch at school. We will look into the possibility of arranging another day at Spencer Park in the upcoming weeks.
Thank you to all our parents who made themselves available to support our trip. I will be in contact, if another day is possible to check your future availability.
Thanks,
Carmen )
Thank you to all our parents who made themselves available to support our trip. I will be in contact, if another day is possible to check your future availability.
Thanks,
Carmen )
Aquagym - check out some of our amazing swimmers!!
Waimakariri Hub Treaty
Following on from finding out about the Treaty of Waitangi, Waimakariri created their own hub treaty. After brainstorming ideas in small groups and recording them on post it notes we found that we were able to group them together under our St Albans School Values. These were then used to create our Treaty which we all signed. This was then followed by the traditional sharing of kai!
Welcome to Waimakariri 2018
Kia ora whānau,
On behalf of Waimakariri Hub, I wish to extend a very warm welcome to our returning Year 6's and our new group of Year 5's and their families. We are set for an exciting year of learning, new experiences and fun. Our teaching team consists of Mrs. Hollie Scadden, Mrs. Julie Worthington & Mrs. Adela Brown and Mrs. Carmen Aldridge. We are all very excited to get to know your children, our families and work with you all throughout 2018.
This blog is a communication point between school and home. This home page links access to the Learning, Notices and Contact pages. We hope this blog will be your 'go-to' for key information and sharing. Our contact emails are on the contact page.
Our teaching team looks forward to meeting you over the next couple of weeks!
Ngā mihi,
Carmen on behalf of Waimakariri Hub
On behalf of Waimakariri Hub, I wish to extend a very warm welcome to our returning Year 6's and our new group of Year 5's and their families. We are set for an exciting year of learning, new experiences and fun. Our teaching team consists of Mrs. Hollie Scadden, Mrs. Julie Worthington & Mrs. Adela Brown and Mrs. Carmen Aldridge. We are all very excited to get to know your children, our families and work with you all throughout 2018.
This blog is a communication point between school and home. This home page links access to the Learning, Notices and Contact pages. We hope this blog will be your 'go-to' for key information and sharing. Our contact emails are on the contact page.
Our teaching team looks forward to meeting you over the next couple of weeks!
Ngā mihi,
Carmen on behalf of Waimakariri Hub
Term DatesTerm 1 - 1 Feb till 13 April
Term 2 - 30 April till 6 July Term 3 - 23 July till 28 Sept Term 4 - 15 Oct till 18 Dec |