Term 4 - Forensics

Room 1 is learning about forensics and the many things involved in forensic science.

Before we started learning about forensic science, students did a brainstorm of all key words they knew already. Here is a wordle to show their ideas.

MELVILLE'S GOT TALENT

At the end of Term 3 Miriwera (Melville) hosted an action packed evening for parents and the community showcasing our tamariki's artistic and musical talents. Room 2 students entered all three categories and came 1st in the group category; 2nd in the class category and 3rd in the individuals. The Year 8 and Year 7 teachers even performed!! Here is the video presentation submitted by Rm 2...they are sooooooooo talented! Enjoy.

Waikato Te Awa

Our main topic for Term 3 was learning about the history of Waikato River or "WAIKATO TE AWA". Part of our reading programme was a Maori myth telling the origins of how the river was formed. The myth is called "The River that Ran Away". It is a delightful story about Tongariro and Taupiri growing up together and then parting when marriage took Taupiri to a new home. Taupiri became ill and felt the waters from her homeland could heal her. She sent her servant to retrieve water from Tongariro mountain. Tongariro created a crevice from which a small stream began its journey back to Taupiri. This stream became a river known as Waikato te Awa. This artwork showcases Room 2 students interpretation of a snipet of the story. They then wrote a blurb about their representations. The overall effect is stunning and sits proudly on display in the classroom. Titiro mai!

Geometric Shapes

Room 2 students have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes. At the end of our geometry unit, they used this knowledge to create artshapes using crayon and dye. The class display looks fantastic. Here are some outstanding examples.

PrEP

Melville Intermediate School had a very successful PrEP day, with lots of stalls selling a lot of hand crafted items, and yummy kai (food). There was a lot of preparation leading up to the day, making stall signs, advertisements and planning how they were going to pay back their loan. Here are some of the outstanding stall signs our class created!

Term 3 - Simple Machines

Over the Term Room 1 learnt about simple machines!
They wrote an explanation on an everyday item we use and completed a detailed diagram to explain how the item works.

The students also had to investigate how a marionette puppet works and create one of their own, here are some examples of their fantastic work!

Essay Writing

Room 2 students were posed the question "Should Maori Language be Compulsory in Schools?" Their writing structure was based on the Hamburger model, that is, introduction (the bottom bun), filling (middle) and conclusion (the top bun). The class started with a brainstorm to gauge initial thoughts and feelings. Students also used a variety of 'thinking tools' to write down their ideas. This topic generated a flood of opinions and perspectives from my 30 students. Since we had covered the Treaty of Waitangi in Term 1, and then Maori Language Week this term, students had formed a predisposition about this hotly debated topic. It was therefore heartening to read that from the 30 students, Alyssa chose (and rightly so) to argue against the language being compulsory. Alyssa believes..."Outside of school, my family and I are hardly ever involved in any Maori activities. Learning te reo Maori would be an awesome skill, but not as important as the other compulsory subjects such as maths, reading etc". On the other hand Daniel says..."It is important for New Zealand’s heritage to keep the language alive, and if we do not encourage it then only a few will be able to talk Te reo and a part of our heritage may be lost". Stay tuned for some more excerpts from Room 2 students.

Quiz Champions!

Congratulations to these Tauira (students)
from Room 7 who correctly answered the
questions for our Quiz. Tino pai tama ma!

Matua Adam Whauwhau

On Thursday the 30th July, Miriwera were privileged and honored to have Matua Adam Whauwhau come to our school assembly and speak about Te Wiki o te reo Maori. He spoke eloquently and passionately about Maori culture and language and what it means for himself and his whanau (family). He talked about dying languages (in particular Maori) and how out of 390,000 Maori in the World only 40,000 go on to learn the language and out of that 40,000, 5,000 are fluent speakers of Maori (Census). Matua Adam believes that initiatives such as Te Wiki o te reo Maori may go a long way to ensuring the longevity of Maori language and culture within Aotearoa.

Here is some video footage of Matua Adam at Miriwera, his guitar playing and singing is amazing!! - Tumeke Matua!

Maori Language Week Video Competition

Here is Room 1's entry for the Video Competition:



For the competition, we wanted to show how we use Te Reo Maori (the Maori language) in the classroom. Our class does karakia (prayer) everyday and learns new waiata (songs) but we wanted to have a video that was different to other entries, so we chose to show how we use Te Reo in P.E.

Maori Language Week Poster Competition

Well done to all the students who entered the poster competition for Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori. There were a lot of fantastic entries. Here are the finalists of the poster competition:

Quickfire Korero

The long awaited 2nd and 3rd episodes of Quickfire Korero are here!! Enjoy...

Kai time at Miriwera

To celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori, staff at Miriwera were treated to a delicious Hangi! The hangi was prepared by Matua Justin of Room 17 with help from students in Rooms 1 and 2. After lunch, it was very hard for staff to go back to work!! Traditionally hangi is cooked in the ground, special hangi stones are heated to a high temperature and then the baskets of kai are placed on top. Wet bags are then placed over the kai to keep in the heat. Dirt then covers the entire ensemble. Kia ahatia, (however) the world of the hangi has evolved and can now be cooked in gas cookers, much faster and less mess!! Here are some photos of today's feast.

Quikfire Korero

Staff at Miriwera were interviewed today and were asked 'quik quiz questions'. The concept was stolen (oops we mean borrowed) from CODE on Maori Television. Here's just a couple of examples from our wonderful staff at school. Kia ora koutou for being such 'good sports'. Watch out for the interview with Mr Day, a highlight of the week!!!!

Cultural Performing Arts Roopu (Group)

This is footage taken on Saturday 25th July 2009 at Frankton Markets, Hamilton, New Zealand. Our CPA group is practising very hard for their upcoming tour to Ahiterieria (Australia).

Maramataka - Days of the Week

To celebrate Te Wiki o te reo Maori, students from the Year 8 Te Ao Ipurangi class have been in the schools TV studio presenting the days of the week. We have uploaded an example of their mahi (work) Tirohia (take a look).

QUIZ QUESTIONS

Day 1
"You're not in Guatemala now Dr. Ropata" - Which Maori actor plays Dr. Ropata?

Day 2
Who is the kaitiaki (guardian) 0f wild or uncultivated foods?

Day 3
PANGARAU - maths
Rima tekau ma toru - Wha tekau ma rima =
(the answer must be in English)

Day 4
Which Melbourne Storm player's surname rhymes with Roopu?

Day 5
MATARIKI
Name one of the seven sisters?

FINAL ANSWER CLUE:
twinkle, twinkle little star...

TE WIKI O TE REO MAORI - MAORI LANGUAGE WEEK 27th JULY-31st JULY 2009

This week we are celebrating Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori - Maori Language Week! To mark this special event, TAI will be running competitions for the MIS classes to participate...titiro mai!

Quiz - Each day a question will be posted on this blog. Answer the questions from Monday 27th July through to Friday 31st of July. Once you have collected each answer, take the first letter of each of the days words and formulate a new word in Maori. When you have your answer take the 5 words along with the new word to Whaea Haylee. The first correct answer will be declared the winner and will feature on this blog.

Class Competition:
1) Classes have three topics to choose from to celebrate Maori Language Week.

(i) Create a two minute video/photostory/slideshow on 'Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori', think about the history of Maori Language week, what it means today, what it means to you and your class;
(ii) Develop your own class myth or legend;
(iii)Create and film a lesson in Maori;

For every class who participates, they will get a chance to choose from a lucky dip kete. The winning class will receive a kete of Maori resources for the classroom. All entries must be completed by Friday the 31st of July and handed into Room 1. The following week, the finalists will be placed on the TAI blog for viewing and voting. Winner will be announced on Monday the 10th August.

2) Poster- Create a poster advertising "Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori". Include interesting facts, e.g. where did it all begin, what it means to Maori, . The poster can be made by hand or computer. Must be A3 size, be bright, colourful and imaginative. The finalists will be placed on the TAI Melville blog and the winner announced on the 10th August. Entries must be received by Friday 31st July at 3pm. The winning poster will feature on the TAI blog!

For more information on Maori Language Week click here.

Destination Aotearoa Online - Part 2

Here is another one of the glogs students made of the different destinations and attractions available in that area. They learnt how to hyperlink images and text to other glogs they created or other useful websites.

Poneke - Wellington

Destination Aotearoa Online!

Room 1 has been working hard this term on their topic Destination Aotearoa! Here is a peek at what the students have been working towards - A class glog with information on different places to visit whilst visiting Aotearoa.


http://8kb09.glogster.com/Destination-Aotearoa/

Maori Place names - Part 2

Students in Room 1 are currently presenting their slideshows to the class - their work will be posted soon. The destinations they chose to present were:

Poneke
Taupo-Nui-A-Tia
Rotorua
Akarana

Can you tell what the English translations are?

Destination Aotearoa - Maori place names

The topic this term is Destination Aotearoa and students have been learning the Maori place names for destinations in our country. Students have used visual cues to help remember the Maori place name by finding images of attractions in their chosen destination. This is one of the slides used in class to help them remember Kirikiriroa (Hamilton) and Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland).

Room 1 and 2 students - Kapa Haka

Room 2 students Victor and Ashleigh were practising their presenting skills and put it to good use by responding to some great video footage from Mr Lamshed's class in Australia!! This was followed by an impromptu haka demonstration involving Room 1 and 2 students. Titiro mai!

Room 2 students at play

Room 2 students were experimenting taking photos with the class digital camera. We looked at composition, lighting, shape and tone.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Some of Room 1's BEAUTIFUL work!

One of the first projects the students in Room 1 worked on was combining Maori visual art and Te Reo to create their Taku Whanau posters.

On their posters, each koru represents a certain member in their whanau (family). Students also learnt to say a small whakapapa about their immediate family, where they introduce each of their family members. Their whakapapa was published and presented with their Koru poster and they turned out looking Fantastic!!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.

Ukelele Video

This is Jayda and Ashton from Room 2 who are very talented musicians, here they are performing a couple of waiata (songs) on their ukelele's.

This is the first post of our new blog, YAY!! This is a photo of Room 2 students at Ruatuna Camp in Term 1.

Kia Ora Koutou!