Poetry Recital - middle school

 Middle School Poetry Recital Finals 2013

In the last week of term 3 the annual middle school poetry recital finals were held in the hall. Our judges were Janet Keen and Mrs Cato. Janet gave a very complimentary review of the competition in her weekly newspaper column. 

The standard was very high this year with all finalists having memorised their poems and many children used expression in their voice and gestures.

Alex Veper and Poppy Martin represented room 6 in the year 3 section and Tom Parry, Joseph Boles and Naina Michael represented room 6 in the year 4 section.

Children from rooms 6, 7, 8, 14 and 15 participated in the recital.

Tom gave it his best using expression and gestures.



Joseph gave an excellent recital but had his poem cut short by early clapping.

Well done to Tom and Joseph for giving it their best and making us proud.

Poppy went the extra mile and included props and a costume as part of her recital.

Alex wrote his own poem for the competition. Here he shows us his participation certificate.

Kate won the year 3 section with a magnificent poetry recital showing public speaking skills of the highest order.

Room 6 Assembly Term 3

 Room 6 Assembly Term 3

Last Friday at the end of week 9, Room 6 students ran the school assembly. This was the second assembly that Room 6 have run this year. A new group of students got the chance to participate and practice reading clearly in front of an audience. All the children learned their words perfectly and spoke clearly to the assembled audience.

The assembly was opened by Joseph who welcomed everyone to the hall. 

Josh introduced the prayer which was Hail Mary or Awe e Maria in Maori. He did the sign of the cross in French and then Maori.

Tae'o asked the school to stand for the singing of the National Anthem.

Claire and Anna played us a beautiful piece of music on their ukeleles.

All of Claire's guitar students played us a couple of pieces together with some musical accompaniment.

Willem asked Mr Macmillan to present the Principal's Awards to some worthy students.
He wore his Dad's tie especially for the occasion.

Mr Macmillan presented the Principal's Awards.

Teachers and pupils admire the wonderful assembly put on by the marvellous students of Room 6.

Enterprise - Children's Designs turned into flies.

Enterprising - Dream Big and Make it Happen 

Last week during flytying Mr Bach tied the fly designs of about 16 children in our fly tying class. We had been trying to design a fly that would catch more trout, or catch anglers as a top seller to fly fishermen. In order to design such a fly we looked at what trout eat and the various colours, shapes, movements, sounds and smells that they are attracted to, because trout associate them with prey and food. We have also looked at trout fishing techniques, trout behaviour and likely places in rivers and lakes to catch trout. Mr Bach has tied everybody else's flies at home from the children's designs to the best of his abilities given the details in the designs. This week we are going on a trip to the Utuhina Stream and will have fly fisherman Gary coming to talk to us about his techniques.

Enterprise - Dream Big and Make it Happen.

 Fly Tying - Enterprise

Children from throughout the middle school have been coming to room 6 twice a week this term to learn about fly tying, fly fishing and how to design a customised fly, that will hopefully catch more trout. The children have been looking at what to do if you have a dream to become a better fly tier and fisherman and even make some money out of it. The children are posing with Mr Bach's 16lb (7.25kg) brown trout he caught in 2005 after over 30 years of trying to catch such a huge trout. Mr Bach caught his fish on a standard fly customised to his own design after lots of testing and designing.

Wacky Hair and Sock Day

 Wacky Hair and Sock Day

Wacky Hair and Sock Day was to raise money for the Special Needs Christmas dinner on Friday 30th August. Room six won the the class prize for its overall participation in Wacky Hair and Sock Day  Even Mr. Bach got involved, grudgingly, when swarmed on by teachers and children with hair colouring and pipe cleaners. Some children in room 6 really got into the wacky hair theme with some excellent colours and styles. Look below at all the awesome looks.

Willem












Koby

Tyler

Charis
                                                                            Wylie

Joseph

Tae'o

Alex

Ryan

Mr. B

Patrick

Tom

Enterprise

 Enterprise - Term 3 Concept

In term 3 for our Enterprise Concept we are splitting up into different classes to Dream Big and make it happen - as our key understanding tells us. We are going through the process of pursuing a dream, such as being an artist, musician, chef, author or master flytyer and fisherman. Mr Bach is of course leading the flytying brigade - and has an enthusiastic bunch of 30 boys and 2 girls, looking to design a new customised fly pattern to sell, or just catch more trout. We will be visited by two local fishing experts and go on a trip to a nearby stream.

Willem shows off Mr Bach's special fishing hat, in which he keeps all his old and famous flies. Mr Bach also shared his books, magazines, flies and flytying gear with the children.

 These sorts of images are good to use to talk to children about describing settings (places) in their writing, or orally. Mr Bach took these photos on Saturday morning with the sun coming up through the fog, behind the reserve, at the back of his house.

 When describing settings we are thinking of what the setting looks like, sounds like, smells like and feels like (or makes us feel). Characters can also be described within these scenes -  what are they doing? And there you have the start of a story or narrative. We are focusing on poetic writing this term, which includes poetry and story writing.

Holidays in Northland

 Holidays

Yes, even teachers get to have holidays eventually from school and teaching!! Below are a few shots from Mr Bach's recent trip to Paihia with his family during the July school holidays - fishing from the Paihia wharf of course

 Mr Bach thinking about next term's enterprise plan already?!

Paihia is a beautiful spot. Did you know the name Paihia comes from a mix of Maori and English. The Reverend Thomas arrived in the region and exclaimed that it was Pai (good) here - and with here becoming hia (Maori transliteration) the name Paihia stuck.

Paihia is not even really cold at all in the middle of winter.