Google Expeditions

Our Amazing Google Expeditions

On Monday the Mighty Ducks and Rowandale School were very lucky to have the chance to try out Google Expeditions.  It was awesome!

First, every Mighty Duck got their very own Google Cardboard Viewer to use.  Inside the viewer is a special phone that shows amazing panoramic pictures of places all over the world...even the solar system!

Check us out trying the Cardboard Viewers...

Next we went on our first trip on a deep sea adventure.  We checked out amazing coral reefs with scuba divers.  It was neat to see the colourful coral, the swaying seaweed and lots of tiny fish. The colours were so bright!

It all seemed very real and we felt so close we wanted to reach out and touch the seaweed...

Then we took a trip to the moon!  We all thought that the Moon looked very white and rocky.  It was incredible to see planet Earth all the way from the Moon.  Earth seemed very blue and green, and it was glowing. 

After our time on the moon we headed to Egypt to check out the pyramids.  We could not believe how big they were.  Everything looked very orange and sandy!  We talked about how old the pyramids are...they are very very old.  We saw the special pyramids built for a father and son, Khufu and Khafre.  It was hard to imagine how long it would have taken to build the pyramids.

We felt really lucky to have the chance to check out Google Expeditions.  It was really exciting and an awesome way to journey to places very far away from us. 

Term 4

Term 4

The Mighty Ducks have been hard at work this term - we have got off to a flying start!

In Week 1 we participated in Niue Language Week.  We learned some of the beautiful language and worked on weaving.  Weaving is an important part of Niue culture.  Check out our class work below:

We have also been participating in Jelly Beans music classes. We have learned how to keep a beat and make different rhythms.  It has been interesting learning how to play new instruments, like the Glockenspiel. We created our own chants and had a chant-off, played drums and used rhythm sticks!

FMS Sport has also been taking place each week.  We love getting outside in the beautiful weather to work on our skipping, jumping, balancing and throwing skills.  We especially love learning the new games the coaches have been teaching us.

Onesie Day

Onesie Day!

A big thank you to all of the Mighty Ducks who dressed in their comfy Pj's and Onesies to help celebrate Onesie Day!

It was a super comfy and fun dressed in our pyjammas. We had a relaxing morning, enjoying the disco and sausage sizzle.

What a great way to head into our holidays.

Busy Bee Cafe

Busy Bee Cafe

In Week 6 the Busy Bee classes had a fund raising bake sale.  The Mighty Ducks decided to make Lolly Kebabs! 

First we watched a video on how to make them.  It was neat to see the different lollies and shapes you could use.  

Next we wrote a procedure to make sure we followed the right steps.

Then we gathered our ingredients and materials.

We were very lucky to have Mrs R, our teacher aide, help us.  

Our Kebabs looked great.  They were very colourful.  They also tasted delicious!

Tongan Language Week

Malo e lelei!

Tongan Language Week

For Tongan Language Week the Mighty Ducks were to make a class tapa to add to a larger Rowandale School Tapa.

We were excited to get started.  We first looked at some examples of Ngatu, Tongan Tapa cloth.

We especially liked the Fata'o Tu'i Tonga.  It looked very interesting and we needed a ruler to help make the pattern.  We also liked the Manulua.  It is meant to look like bird wings. The Hala Paini symbol was also neat.  It represents the Norfolk Pine and has pointy tree branches, plus the sun and moon are apart of the design.  Another popular choice was the Ikale Tahi.  This bird shape is like a sea eagle in flight.  Lastly, some students chose to work on the Fetu'ufuka, which is a symbol of a comet.  

Everyone worked very hard on their chosen symbol.  We used brown, black and yellow, oil pastels to colour our patterns. When we were finished creating our designs we then used brown dye over top of the pictures to make them look more like actual tapa!

Our work was put together and added to the school tapa, which was placed above the stage in the hall for our special assembly.

Cook Island Language Week

Kia Orana! In Week 3 the Mighty Ducks celebrated Cook Island Language Week.

The Mighty Ducks had been working hard during the week learning about the Cook Island culture!

We first looked at the Cook Island Flag and learned that there are 15 stars on it and the colours of the flag are blue and red.  

We learned about the Cook Island Tivaevae.  It is a quilt with beautiful patterns on it.  We coloured some patterns using bright colours like the ones we saw.

Adeliya brought in a Cook Island pareu.  We really liked the bright colours.

At the end of the week the school celebrated with a special assembly.

Maori Language Week

Maori Language Week Day 2

Today's challenge had us asking one another "How are you?" (Kei te pehea koe?) and replying with "Good!" (Kei te pai!).

Maori Language Week

Maori Language Week

This is Maori Language Week.  Room 6 worked on greetings today.  

Madison and Abby demonstrate how to say hello to one person in Te Reo.  

Abby, Madison and Caysha show us how to say hello to two people in Te Reo.

Recycling and Refuse Centre Trip

On Tuesday we went to the Recycling and Refuse Centre in Henderson. It was amazing. We learnt lots about the 3 Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Check out the photos...

First we went on a walking tour of the centre. We had to wear helmets and high-vis jackets to stay safe.

We saw where people bring their wood, garden waste and hazardous waste like paint.

The next part of the tour was too dangerous to walk so we hopped on the bus. We saw where all the rubbish gets tipped and where all the recycling gets sorted.

After the tour we went back to the education centre. We looked at the worms in the worm farm and helped to look after the garden.

Finally we went to the classroom to learn about how to sort our rubbish. We learnt what we could recycle, what we could reuse and what could go in the worm farm.

We topped an awesome day out with a stop at Western Springs Park on the way home. We fed the ducks, saw some eels and played on the best park ever.

Samoan Language Week - Challenge 3

Wednesday's challenge was to say my name is ________ in Samoan - O lo'u igoa o______
Check out our video...

Samoan Language Week - Challenge 2

This week is Samoan Language Week and even the puppets in Room 6 are getting into the spirit of it! Check out today's challenge!

Madison 's Video on Wednesday, 6 May 2015

D'Arby 's Video on Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Abby's Video on Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Ryan's Video on Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Alirae's Video on Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Keziah 's Video on Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Measuring with ice block sticks!

This term as part of our maths we are learning about measurement. We started by looking at words to do with measurement like tall, short, wide, narrow, big and little and we talked about what they meant. We decided to do some measuring using ice block sticks and we measured how tall we are. We found that the tallest Mighty Duck is 11 ice block sticks tall!

ANZAC day

This week we have been learning about ANZAC. We have been finding out about what the soldiers went through and how they must have felt. We are preparing to commemorate and remember the people that gave their lives during the war. We listened to the Last Post song that is played at ANZAC memorials and thought about how it made us feel.

Here are some of the things we thought and felt:

"It made me feel strong like the soldiers." Madison

 "I am proud because they saved us by dying." Alirae

"It made me feel brave like the soldiers were." Trevor

"I felt grateful for the sacrifice they made for us." D'Arby