Well done Quade

Congratulations to Quade who won the best Intermediate Graphic Design Poster at the MOA Awards on Tuesday night. This was especially a great achievement as Room 4 were competing with year 5 and 6 students.

Moa Cluster Awards

We are only a week out until we have our Moa Cluster Awards night. Here is a trailer created by Jason Bloor.

Term 4

Welcome back to Term 4. We have a busy term ahead of us beginning with Lamb & Calf day this Thursday. Therefore we will be busy preparing for the displays for our classroom over the next 3 days. We will also be working on our end of year concert item and we hope to have our idea organised by the end of week 2, which will give everyone a chance to sort costumes and practice lines. 

Homework will be a little different for this term. All children will continue their reading and spelling as per normal. For maths children will be given a strategy/knowledge sheet that will be completed throughout the week. If you have any questions regarding homework, or you are wanting your child to receive extra homework please come in and see me.

Over the next 5 weeks Room 4 will be completing their final assessments for the year which will assist with completing their end of year report.

If you have any questions regarding the upcoming term please feel free to come in and see me.

Taranaki X-Country

It was a great pleasure to take our school runners to the annual Taranaki X-Country in Hawera yesterday. All our runners performed really well with special mentions to Emily Forsyth who was our schools top finisher with a 6th placing in the 13year old girls race. A big congratulations to Kyah, Caro, Tiani, and Bethany who won the 9 year girls relay race. 

X-Country 2014

Thanks again to Mr Bloor for another fantastic video on our School Cross-country. The weather even managed to hold off for us.

Market Day Video

Market Day Fun Day from Kolynn Tai on Vimeo.

We had a fantastic market day last Thursday. Room 4 managed to sell all their products they made and the children really enjoyed learning about repurposing. Here is an iMovie made by Quade which shows our Market Day.

Argument Writing

Over the past month Room 4 have been look at persuasive writing. Children have been learning about the structure of this genre and also how to provide quality reasons that support their standpoint. Our last topic was 'iPads in Classrooms. Students have put their finished arguments on their blog and we will be using this topic to learn about debates. We will be posting video clips of our classroom debates on the blog when we have finished.

Maths in Room 4

Maths from Kolynn Tai on Vimeo.

Mackenna, Ebony from Kolynn Tai on Vimeo.

Quads from Kolynn Tai on Vimeo.

In maths the squares group have been working on adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. Children are learning to use factors of numbers to help find the lowest common denominator. Here are a couple of our students showing how they add and subtract fractions with different denominators.

Repurposing in Room 4

Room 4 creating from Kolynn Tai on Vimeo.

Our group have been creating recycled cards for our repurposed item. Here is our video of how we create recycled cards. These colour cards we are doing are purple.

One of Room 4's groups are making recycled cards for their repurposed item. This is their video they made about how to make purple recycled cards.

Jorja/Madeline video of Kelly Tarltons

On Wednesday Me and my family went to Kelly Tarltons in Auckland. Here is the movie my sister made of the action:

Ryan K's Holiday in Fiji

This is a story about my family's holiday in Fiji.
We went on a plane from New Plymouth to Auckland then went on Fiji airways to Fiji.
When we got to Fiji everyone said "Bula" and it means hello and "Vinaka" means thanks.

We stayed at the Shangri la Resort and every morning I had a donut for breakfast. At the beach we went on the banana boat, a kayak and I learnt how to snorkel.I saw bats, sea snakes, crabs and a sea snail at the resort.

We went on a boat to South Sea lsland and went on a glass bottom submarine, it  went close to the reefs.

We met a man called Ace and he took us to visit his village and the school. He was the chiefs brother. At the school they didn't have any electricity or smartboards. They used chalk on the black boards.
I drank kava at the village, it looked like muddy water and tasted like wood.
I liked Fiji so much and the people are really nice.

"Vinaka".

Thank you for sharing your holiday with us Ryan. This is a fantastic post.

Friday 'FUN' Day

It was great to see so many of Room 4 dress up in their pyjamas. I look forward to seeing everyone dress up in their 'wild wild west' clothing tonight at the school disco.

Electives at Auroa

On Friday for electives Mr Chittenden takes kids down to Manutahi for electives. Int this electives we get to ride horses! We also get to gear them up. Here is a video showing Me and Harley riding the Horses.

Post of the Week (Netball Tournament Week 5)

On Sunday the 8th of June I had a netball tournament. I played WD,GK,GS. We lost both 2 games but I got 3 goals. Renee got player of the day and Paige got player of the whole game.

Well done to the Auroa 1 year 4 team, although the team had two losses the girls were playing against some year 5/6s.

Whiu, Peke, Peke Roa, Patu

In kapa haka today we learnt a new maori game. Children learnt how to pronounce some maori vocabulary and also practiced some actions to go along with the game. We are still practicing the actions for our school waiata and hope to have this finished next week.

Kapa Haka Group

Our Kapa Haka Group performed a himene at assembly that we have been practicing. It is called 'He honore'.

And the Winners are.........

We had a fantastic day making our lemonade. The children really worked hard at testing their drink and trying to make it the most tastiest drink in Room 4.  Thank you to Mr Spice, our Head Boy and Head Girl, Tom and Emily, who were our guest judges. They judged groups on their name, advertisement, and the taste of their lemonade. Well done to the 'Lemon Licious' group who came 3rd, 'Lemon Splash' who came 2nd, and the overall winners who were 'Juicy Lemon'. 

Topic Work

In Room 4 for our topic work we are having a class challenge...... Who can make make the best homemade lemonade. Children have created their own names for their lemonade and they have also made posters to try and promote their product. On Wednesday children will make their lemonade and they will need to bring a container or mixing jug to mix their lemonade. Some children will bring lemons that will be shared out amongst the class and the rest of the materials will be supplied.  Groups can also bring a lemon squeezer and a wooden spoon for mixing.

Let the challenge begin!

Caro in Fiji

Thanks so much to Caro and her family for sending through some cool photo's of their Fiji trip. This is 2 photo's of the Ollivers' feeding the turtles and iguana at Treasure Island. They also went snorkelling and saw some massive fish.

Room 4 students hope your are enjoying the warm weather over there Caro!!!

Ukulele Elective

Today we started our elective of learning about the Ukulele. We have 25 students in our elective. We learnt about the different parts of a Ukulele and learnt to use the acronym 'goats can eat anything' to remind us how to tune a Ukulele. We also practiced some simple chords.

Tuakana/Teina

On Friday we started back up kapa haka. We are still learning the actions to our school waiata and we have started practicing a himene. It was really great to see some of our senior students assist the junior students in helping them to practice the actions for our school waiata.

Using Popplet in Unit Work

We have been learning to use a new app called Popplet. We used Popplet as a graphic organiser to show what stages we think are needed to create a 'Fruit Burst'. This is Jorja's Popplet she created. Over the week the rest of the class will be posting their Popplet on their blogs. 

Term 2 Already

Welcome back for another busy term. By all accounts Room 4 had a very enjoyable and relaxing holiday with a lot of exciting activities. Although this is a short 9 week term it is going to be a busy term.

Making Tivaevae

Cook island from Kolynn Tai on Vimeo. Finally we have finished our Tivaevae quilt. A big thank you to Mrs Turnbull who helped sew the patches together. This video shows the making of our Tivaevae. Come into Room 4 and see our Tivaevae quilt on our wall.

Post of the Week (Week 11)

Our family went up the mountain today. We went on a walk to Dawson Falls. It was very fun. We got some water out of the river and drank the water. It was the best water I have ever tasted!!! We then had lunch at the cafe and then went to the visitor centre. We also went and saw the Dawson falls power station that was awesome!!! It was a fantastic day!!!!

This is a fantastic picture Katelyn. It looks like fun and I reckon that water would've been great tasting. I might have to take my family up there one day.

Mr Tai

Writing assistance from Senior students.

Thank you to Emily, Lucas, Brylee, and Meg who came into Room 4 during our writing lesson to help some of our students complete their recounts. The group helped edit our writing and assisted with posting onto their blogs.

Post of the Week (Week 10)

On Sunday we went to Macy's 4th birthday party.  Macy had a ladybird theme.  She had a bouncy castle and heaps of cool friends to play with.  We had a fun day.

This is a photo of the delicious ladybird cake and my friend Macy.

Tivaevae (Our progress so far)

Tivaevae on PhotoPeach  

 Room 4 have been learning about the Cook Islands and specifically about tivaevae. Tivaevae is a special quilt that is used in many Cook Island ceremonies such as birthdays, funerals, and special hair cutting ceremonies. For art we are making our own class tivaevae. Students learnt about the designs on tivaevae and about the Cook Island Hibiscus flower. So far we have made a draft of our tivaevae on paper. Next week we start painting on individual calico squares which will then be sewn together to make our tivaevae. Thank you to Mrs Turnbull who cut out the calico squares.

Weetbix Triathlon

By all accounts it was a fantastic day at Ngamotu Beach for the annual Weetbix Triathlon. Well done to all the Auroa Students who took part in the triathlon.

Post of the Week (Week 8)

We all know what a sunset is right? But not all of us know what makes the sky red right? Well now  your about to find out. The atmosphere scatters light, not all light though. The atmosphere is better at scattering blue light away which means that blue light gets dispersed all throughout the sky pretty easily. But red light is more likely to pass right through,which is why things appear redder on the horizon: More of the bluer light gets scattered away, while the red light comes (mostly) through to you.

This is also a great post Teague. Well done on researching information about sunsets. Great post.

Post of the Week (Week 8)

On Saturday I went to the Hurleyville pumpkin festival. There was a lot of things there but the one thing I liked was the coconut throw. I had to throw strong balls at four coconuts and what ever I hit I get.

So I lined up. The ball was in my hands and i threw it and it hit it! "Wow" said Dad as he handed me my next ball. "Nice job."

I threw my next few balls but I didn't hit it again. "Nice hitting said the lady as she gave me my coconut."Wow thats heavy" I said as I heaved the coconut over to mum.

That day was a day I will never forget. Well done Mackenna. I am really impressed at how well you have aligned your 4 photos. That is an interesting way to open up a 'nu'! Great post.

Swimming Sports 2k14

Auroa swimming sports for 2014. 

Post of the Week! (Week 7)

This is a great picture showing Katelyn E going on the Flying Fox.


On Saturday I went to Pukekura park with Nana, mum, dad, Grandad, my cousins and my two sisters.  I went on the fast flying fox, the slippery slide, the big climbing net and the bouncy tramp.

This is me on the fast flying fox!

Kapahaka at Auroa School

We have finally begun a Kapa Haka group at Auroa School. It was great to see so many enthusiastic students learning our school waiata today. Next week I will be meeting with our school kaumatua to learn the actions associated with our school waiata Nga tai tamariki.

The 'Silly' Song

In Room we have learnt a song. We call it the 'Silly' Song. Room 4 students have a challenge of finding out exactly what this song is called and any information they can about the song. Remember Room 4 to post your comments underneath this post. Parents are more than welcome to help out as well.

Post of the Week

Every week in Room 4 there will be A 'Post of the Week', where Mr Tai will go through all Room 4's students blogs and see which Post he likes. This week's winner is Kaydee who shared a photo of a snapper she caught near Kaupokonui Beach.  Also Mackenna used Educreations to solve Mr Spice's weekend word problems. You can see this on Mackenna's blog mackennacauroa1.blogspot.co.nz/. 

String Cages

Today Room 3 and 4 have begun to make string cages. This is similar to making paper mache but instead of paper we use string. Today the students have started this art project by first blowing and tying their balloons, and then cutting string, covering it with glue and wrapping it around the balloon. Over the next week we will continue to post about our progress with creating string cages.