Armistice Commemoration

This upcoming Sunday will mark 100 years since World War 1 came to an end and to commemorate this occasion at school we held a special memorial which Mr Johnston led. WW1 ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. We had the whole school attend, representatives from our Board of Trustees, and a representative from the New Zealand Defense force. To open the memorial, Ofa started said the prayer which was followed by He Honore. After that Tiava and Jeremiah recited the Ode of Remembrance both in English and Maori. This was very special as it was to remember the fallen soldiers. We then listened to the last post and lowered the flag. It was then raised again to the playing of Reveille. To remember this event poppies with the signature of the students were placed on the fence in our school. Next to the poppies olive plants to remember the past, present and future were also planted. At the end of commemoration the school recited the national anthem. "We Will Remember Them, We Will Remember Them, Lest We Forget". 

Max Gimblett is a New Zealand artist who is most recognized for is quatrefoil artwork. His creative artwork has influenced our school because we now have poppies on the fence the same shape as some of his artwork.

New Zealand Shakeout

Today at approximately 9:30, an alarm went off. The reason it went off is
because today is New Zealand Shakeout day. A Shakeout day happens once
every year, this year it was on the 18th of November at 9:30. This event is a
reminder for people who forgot or don’t know what to do during an earthquake.
What we learnt from this is, during an earthquake we have to drop, cover, and
hold. Which means, drop down, crawl under something that will protect you, for
example table, and hold on to any object that will prevent you from moving.
After the drill has finished, we were asked to created an DLO,
(Digital Learning Object) telling our audience what to do during an earthquake. I
worked collaboratively to create this DLO with Alex and Sanujan.

Dog Island Lighthouse

This week we have had Mr Johnston as our teacher in the absence of  Mrs Anderson and Ms Kirkpatrick. In this task we were learning about different lighthouses in New Zealand. My group was learning about the Dog Island Lighthouse. In my group there is Jack, Mele, Junior and Jay-don. I think everyone worked collaboratively and did a fair amount of work. I learnt that the Dog Island Lighthouse was built on the 5th of August 1865. Did you know that this lighthouse is located in between the South island and Stewart island?

Winter Learning Journey: Facts About New Zealand People - Day 1 - Activity 1

For this holiday the Winter Learning Journey has a new theme. The theme is Kiwi road trip. Racheal from Auckland University came and talked to us. She said we can do the activities in any order. I chose to do the easy tasks first then go to the harder tasks. For this task we need to find three facts about New Zealand people, and I chose to do an extra fact. To get the facts we need to go on a site called Tourism New Zealand. I learnt that the Maori greeting is called Hangi.