Friday, September 25, 2009

Sharma's Career Choice



Father's Day Poem



Even though Father's day was long ago, our feelings
about our dads will last forever. Here are some students
either reciting a poem about their dads or telling you guys
about him. Check out this video!

Mele's Music Interview



Mele interviewing Seneti on their creation of their music video.
Seneti talks about what inspired them, working together
as a group and experimenting with different chords.
Listen to their music video after this.

Budding Musicians!!


At technology, a group of room 15 girls wrote a song and produced a piece
of music with the help of their music teacher, Miss Dekker.
Great stuff girls.

Valerie's Term 3 Reflection

This term has been a busy term this year. We have had to do a lot of things. Our open grade girls’ rugby team made it into the finals at Eden Park. Everyone was relieved because this was the first time we have ever made it into the finals. It’s a shame Courtney and I had to stand out of a few games because of our behaviour, but we had faith in the girls and they played some games without us but dedicated them to us. That was a good thing to do. The under 55kg boys made it into the finals as well. Year 8s haven’t had that much house sports that much because of our behaviour issues. But the house sports we have had has been fun ! We are already starting to organise and plan haka-waiata for next term. This is going to be hard but despite being a leader this is a job we have to do as part of our leadership. Next term will be a lot harder because of haka-waiata and other duties but for me term 3 has been a lot of fun. Technology has been interesting this term. Learning how to play the guitar was awesome. We have just finished our netball season as well which was cool. Playing netball every Tuesday was amazing because I love to play netball. A lot of sports have been happening lately such as touch trials, gutter board and the 1km run. It has been exhausting. Term 3 is finally over and we now have to wait for term 4!
Valerie Room 15.

Laykin's Term 3 Reflection

WOW!!This term was really awesome because we had lots of activities that were fun, exciting and terrific. P.Y.C.C was the best for me this term because we got to play all kinds of active games like basketball, octopus and my favourite game dodge ball. Those games had my heart pumping and jumping.

The other great thing this term was mathex. It’s like an active challenge and a brain testing challenge. We were against room 16 our next door neighbour (the other extension class). We were running, thinking, writing and sweating. At the end we had lots of people that were tired and worn out but enjoyed the Mathex.

There was also another fascinating thing we did. It was going to the Careers Expo where there was job information and opportunities. They were handing out tickets, pamphlets, books, pens, bags and even lollies. We had heaps of people running around looking for interesting careers. We had lots of fun there and learnt a lot from that place.

In the end term 3 was fantastic because we got to do all this things, learn all these new stuff for the future and know what to do for when we finish college or even university. MAN!! This term was the perfect.

By Laykin Room15

Matilda's Term 3 Reflection

During Term 3 we have had a lot of Sports Trials just as Basketball Trials Volley Ball Trials which was loads of fun but even though I never made it into any teams I still enjoy watching them practice.

Technology was super fun because I learned how to play the guitar and the piano. We made a song up with actions and it took us about nine takes which was quite funny but in the end we finished and turned out perfect. Thanks to Miss Decker I now know how to play a guitar and piano.

Mid-Year reports got sended out and I felt really nervous when it came because I thought it was going to be a bad report but when mum told me how I did I was not impressed but it was and effort. Next time I’ll do better in READING!

Term 3 was the BEST! Even though camp got cancelled and I wasn’t here some of the days but it was heaps of fun and I enjoyed it.

Room 15 Class Report - Working Bees, Striving to Achieve........




Room 15 students reflect on term 3 and share their thoughts.

“Making a music video with my friends in technology was the highlight for me” Mele

“The Tongan trip was the most awesome experience for me this term. Looking forward to going back to Tonga” Tipiloma

“A positive for me this term has to be rugby. It’s the first time the Open Grade Girls have made it to the finals and I get to be part of that team” Patricia

“For me the best thing this term would be League. We made it to the Champion of Champions finals. Great stuff guys!” Taverio

“PYCC is just great!” It is fun, invigorating and I get to lose some weight” Laykin

‘The trip to the museum was interesting. I gained heaps of knowledge” Melehifo

“I learnt how to play the guitar at technology. I’m thrilled and excited” Matilda

“PYCC is the best!” “Do you know why?” It’s because we don’t do work for a whole block” DJ

“A great achievement for me this term was to play for the school volleyball team. Being voted played of the day by my team mates at the EZ Volleyball Tournament was the icing on the cake” Kupakwashe

“The Endless Praise Youth Band was awesome this term. I was really motivated by them” Eli

“A trip to the Careens Expo was great this term. I found it inspiring and I got to talk about my career choice for the blog” Levi

“I feel proud of all the sports reports I have written for our blog page. My teacher says that I capture the action so well in my writing. “ Seneti

“I am top of the class for the number of published work on the blog. What can I say? I am a computer whiz” Boaza

‘I have improved a lot with my reading and writing. This is an achievement for me” Joel

“Rugby was fantastic this term. We always won and we got to challenge Viscount at Eden Park” Valerie and Courtney

“The thing I liked this term was accompanying the school teams when they went out to play sport. I get to capture the action by taking photos or videoing.” “That was so cool!” Sharma

“Our Duffy Book Assemblies were fantastic this term” The guests who spoke to us were awesome role models. They were Geoff Knight and Billy Graham.” Storm

“ESOL has helped me with my reading, writing and speaking English. Thanks Mrs. Baker! Zeenat

“Geometry was cool. Angles and more angles, tessellations and transformations. We enjoyed geometry” Patrick

“Researching Discoveries in medicine was interesting. Inquiry learning is an awesome way to learn” Daniel

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Elain's Art

Aoina's Art

Jorjah's Art

Sela's Art

Chyann's Art Work

An exciting and fun-filled trip to Rainbows End

It was the most exciting day of the week which was on Sunday the 30th of August. 20 Tamaki Intermediate students and I went to Rainbows End.
Instead of moving around with Jorjah, I went with my cousins Jerome, Jason and Sione. When we got in, the first thing we said was “What should we go on?” ”What ride should we go on?” At the same time we all mentioned excitedly “The Roller Coaster!” So we ran straight to the Roller Coaster but the line was so long that we had to stand on the stairs just to wait to get on the ride. Eventually we got on the Roller Coaster.
For my cousin Sione it was his first time ever going on it. He sat next to me. When we were about to go down the steep part, he was the only person who screamed like a girl, then what is even worse than going down the steep part, he screamed until the ride had finished. When we got out we looked at him he had tears coming down his cheeks and he would not stop crying. He said that he would never go back on a roller coaster again, but when we were going on the power surge ride, he ran off and went back on the coaster.
The next ride we went on was the power surge. Now this was the funniest ride we went on. One of my cousins was laughing so much that his spit was falling out of his mouth and dripping on the opposite person we were laughing so much.
Later on we went to get something to eat. While we were eating we caught up with Sean and Joseph and his team walking by. It was 12.00 when we were eating. Then suddenly we realised that Jason ran off we took an hour just looking for him. We found him in the arcade centre playing games. At that point we were annoyed so we told him that we will be going on the log flume. As soon as we got on one of the logs it started pouring down with rain, we got so soaking wet that the boat was ¼ filled with water. Then when we were in the part where we were sheltered we squeezed all the wetness out of our clothes, the coolest part was when it was dark as the night sky, we discovered that only the white things would glow, like my shoes were white and so it was glowing that was so cool. Our last ride was on the fare fall. We were so high up that when I said “are you alright to my cousin the seats dropped down when it was falling it felt like my whole face was going to rip off, I screamed my head off until we stop. By the time it was 5pm we waited until my aunty picked us up and took us home. Over all I had a fantastic day and i really enjoyed myself. I would like to say thank you Mrs. Waetford.

By Ramona

My Trip to Rainbows End

One cloudy afternoon 20 students from Tamaki Intermediate School went to Rainbows End because they had been working hard at school.
On Sunday the 30th of August I collected my things together with my blue card and got ready to go to Rainbows End. When I was ready, I got in the car and Mum and I headed off to Rainbows End. My heart was jumping for joy.
When I got there I went to the Tamaki Intermediate group. They were in the left corner outside the gate. The lines were packed and I got a bit lost in my confusion. .Miss Waetford then asked us to line up and swap our blue cards for tickets. When we got to the counter we had to then swap it again for a wrist band that then acted like a ticket to go on the rides. Our wrist bands were lime green.
We then got into Rainbows End and got into a group. Miss Waetford then said that we were going on the fear fall first. I was very nervous because I had never been on the fear fall before. I didn’t really want to do it but I felt like I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. So when it was our turn to go on the ride, my heart was beating faster than a pair of bongo drums. I was very scared, too scared in fact. Thinking about it now I still get scared. I thought that I should quickly escape through the exit door but I didn’t. I quickly strapped myself in before I changed my mind then closed my eyes and waited for it to be all over. Before I knew it we were up high in the sky. I bit my lip and waited. I then said hey, “When is this going to drop?” As soon as I said drop, it dropped and I was lifted off my seat and screamed the whole way down. When we slowed down I slammed back into my chair.
After the frightful fear fall, we went to the Power Surge. We had to wait in line for about 20 minutes before we finally got our turn. I closed my eyes for almost the whole time on the power surge. When I opened my eyes we were at the top so I closed them for the rest of the ride.
Then it was time for us to go on the gold rush ride. We saw the sticky TV people Drew and Sam. We talked to them. Then we went on the pirate ship and on the log flume. All the rides were fun and exciting. Some were fearful. Before we headed home we had one more go on pirate ship.
So after all I had a pretty good day and I would like to say thank you to Mrs.Raj for selecting me to go there. Thank you also to Miss Waetford for accompanying us. A big thank you to my Mum who made the time to drop me and pick me up.

By Jorjah Room 16

Room 16’s Awesome learning Report

With Miss Walley on her big Overseas Experience in Britain, we wondered who our teacher would be in Term 3. It was good to know that Mrs. Raj and
Mrs. Bailey would be our teachers. Our fears were gone before long.
Mrs. Raj taught us a lot. We read a lot of interesting stories and did reading activities according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. Our reading activities are interesting and are displayed with pride on our classroom walls.
We have all improved in our writing too. We have written explanations, instructions, poems and recounts. A lot of our writing is podcast and uploaded to our blog. Each one of us students has done work for our blog and this has made us gain confidence in ourselves.
In Maths we have learnt about shapes, rotations, tessellations, symmetry, fractions and algebra patterns.
Mrs. Bailey has been a real good teacher who taught us Te Reo Maori, Science and P.E. We learn a lot from her. She has helped us do ‘Inquiry learning’ about healthy food.
This term we learnt a lot about healthy eating, being fit, relaxing, sleeping enough and not getting caught up in the “Grease Trap” of advertisements which make us buy and eat junk food that is not healthy for us. X-Country has made us more fit and keen. We have become healthy and fit this term.
In this busy term we still fitted in singing, choir practices, drama, fitness runs, assessments and much more. Term 3 was very good. We are looking forward to term 4 which we know will surely be ‘fun in the sun’!

By Synergy and Sela
In term 3 I have learnt how to name food in Samoan. I also learnt how to say sentences like ‘’Ou te fiafia e ai le keke’ which means I like to eat cake.
In ICT we have been going to the ICT lab to do our work. We did a photo story where we had to choose pictures and write captions to go with the picture. We also learnt how to put music on our photo stories. There was a lady who came to help us in the ICT lab and she was most impressed with how Huingamate worked.
For topic this term we have been learning about healthy food and unhealthy food and how they are advertised.
For technology we were in music class with Miss Dekker. I know how to play some songs on the Ukulele now. It was fun in the music class with Miss Dekker.
For mathematics I learnt what a denominator is and what a numerator is. I also learnt about angles and that a whole circle is 360® and half of a circle is 180®.
This term the school councillors were running a gutter board competition. We all had to take part in. Gutter board is a fun game and our class champions are Malama and George.

By Alysha

Room 11 had fun learning in Term 3

In the past eight weeks on Fridays, Room 11 and I have been going to do art in the art room with Mrs Baker. She taught us how to draw all sorts of fruit shapes. I was also rewarded by Mrs Baker. She gave me my own art book.
Throughout this term during writing lessons, I have learnt how to write explanations and also instructions.
Miss Parker taught me how to work out fractions. We have been doing activities such as how many pieces of pizza there are and how many have been taken away. We also learnt other things about fractions such as adding fractions and subtracting fractions. That was fun.
This term I also learnt to speak the Samoan language. We also learnt how to say sentences about food in Samoan.
Miss Parker filled my brain with information about healthy food and unhealthy food like Kentucky fried chicken and how it is not good for us. We also learnt about healthy food such as rice, pasta, fruit, vegetables and nuts.
In technology we have been working very hard with Mr Brainch in Hard Materials. He taught us how to use tools and to be careful when using tools as they are dangerous. He taught me how to use tools I have never used before.

By Ocean

Term 3 in Room 12

This term we have learnt many new things. We have learnt how to create our own menu based on healthy food. In our menu we put our own breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts and beverages. Miss Popata said some of us can put them on our class blog when we have finished.

Miss Popata taught us algebra and it is really easy because we learnt how to make patterns and find the rule for it.

This week we learnt how to create our own book review using the story that we are reading. In our book review we had to have a title, author, setting, conflict, theme, climax, and a resolution.

We have learnt many new subjects and it is very exciting.

By Jasmin

Room 12’s Amazing Term 3

This term we have learnt how to design our own menu’s using our restaurant names too. In our menu we used healthy food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and beverages. Our menus look stunning.

These past few weeks we have been learning algebra. At first it was hard but now I know what I am doing and I really enjoy it. Maths is my favourite subject anyway.
In the last 2 weeks we have been writing book reviews. We had to read a journal and write a book review based on the journal. It is really easy to write a book review now.

It has been a really exhilarating term.

By Robin

An Exciting Term 3

Term 3 started with great excitement. Our topic for study was “Grease Trap”.
This term we did Explanation and Instruction Writing. These two are related and they both tell us how something is made or done. Instructions are full of commands and we use the instructions to make something. We use an explanation to find out how something is done, or how and why something works. We did lots of writing and Mrs. Nirmala says that we are really good at writing. We read School Journals, Chapter Books, advertisements, newspaper articles and many more texts. We are becoming fluent readers too.
In Geometry, we used protractors, compasses and rulers to draw and measure shapes. We know that the study of geometry is all about sizes and shapes. We learnt to draw circles, made tessellations and drew 2D and 3D objects. We really enjoyed drawing circles. It is not that easy as it looks. In Numeracy we are learning about fractions. It is really hard for most of us but we are trying our best.
We are becoming fitter and healthier because we do fitness runs and also fitness stations on Tuesday’s, Thursday’s and Friday’s. We could do the X-country run very well because we practiced running. The year 7 teachers organise house sports activities every Friday and we love it. We thank the teachers for this. We also did Gymnastics this term. We were scared in the beginning but developed confidence later. Gymnastics helps us to strengthen our body, develop flexibility, self-discipline and self confidence.
We have singing on Monday’s and we enjoy it. The best part is we are getting used to singing as a group and we have developed confidence to sing in front of people and we are not nervous any more. Hope the last term of the year is as good as the last three terms.

By Maroussia

Room 9 ‘s Highlights of Term 3

Term 3 has been very busy for us. Students have been involved in a variety of activities throughout the term. Some students travelled to Tonga and met with distant relatives while back here at Tamaki the rest of us competed in a mathematics game called Mathex which involved a lot of running if you didn’t give the correct answer.
We enjoyed a visit by an Australian music group called ‘Endless Praise’ whose message was “Make Good Choices”. We ran in the school cross country and played in the class gutter board competition.
The highlight of the term had to be the visit by fitness guru Billy Graham who had us all in hysterics. He was an ex professional boxer and danced and skipped around the stage like a teenager reminding us “Not to be afraid to ask for help”. Not bad for a man in his sixties. These are some of the highlights for the term.
By Berttina and Xeneqe

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Eid-al-fitr

Zeenat tells her class about the significance of Eid.

During the month of Ramadan Muslims observe a strict fast and participate in peace activities such as charitable giving and peace making at the end of Ramadan. Muslims throughout the world observe a joyous three day celebration called Eid- al-fitr. (The festival of fast-breaking). Eid-al-fitr falls on the first day of Shawwal, the month of which follows Ramadan on the Islamic calendar. It is a time to give, in charity, to those in need and celebrate with family and friends the completion of a month of blessings and joy before the day of Eid. During the last few days of Ramadan, Each Muslim family gives a determined amount as a donation to the poor. This donation is of actual food – rice, barley and dates to ensure that the needy can have a holiday meal and participate in the celebration. This donation is known as sadaqah al-fitr (charity of fast –breaking)

On the day of Eid Muslims gather early in the morning in outdoor locations or mosques to perform the Eid prayer. This consists of a ceremony followed by a short congregational prayer. After the Eid prayer, Muslims usually scatter visit various family and friends, give gifts, especially to children and make phone calls to distant relatives to give wishes for the holiday.

Zeenat Room 15