Marae Visit

The girls learning the poi after making their own with tutor Whaea Trieste

Our girls were amazing! Whaea Trieste said that River did all the work teaching the girls the waiata and poi. Tūmeke River!

Performance time!

These guys played the ukelele for our last waiata 

Amazing parents supported us throughout the day. Thank you to you all!

Wiremu taught the boys the haka and they performed it amazingly well!

Tangata whenua, our hosts and tutors Trieste and Wiremu. They were fantastic! We had such a great time at Rangiotu Marae. The hospitality was amazing. 

Ngani Laumape Visits CNS and Fearless Four

Ngani Laumape plays for the NRL Warriors. He is an ex-CNS, Monrad Intermediate and Palmerston Boys Highschool student. Ngani was in Miss K's class as a Year 8 at Monrad Intermediate! He came to our assembly today and talked to us about how important it is to follow our dreams and work hard at school and at training. Ngani said that he did a lot of work when no one was watching as he always knew that he wanted to be playing at a top level in his sport. He likes the fact that his job is something that he loves.
Ngani played for the first 15 at PNBHS from the time he was in Year 10! He played for the Warriors in the Toyota Cup last year and has played for the NRL Warriors this season. Ngani only left school last year! Ngani started playing league with the Fielding Falcons. The local Rugby League competition is on Friday nights at the Arena and anyone can play. Pa Ronald said that it doesn't cost anything, "Just rock up with your boots".
Ngani spent a lot of time in our classroom and signed things that the children treasured. They were in awe of him most of the time but asked some very good questions.
Thank you to Ngani for visiting us, it was awesome to see one of our own become so successful. We will continue to watch your games and cheer you on, in fact Trey and Miss K are coming to Wellington in May to watch you play against the 'Doggies". See you there!

Hot Air Balloons

"5,4,3,2,1,Go!" Boom!
"Wow,"I said enchanted.I was looking at a gigantic field loaded up with brightly lit Hot Air Ballons.There was one right in front of us and it was huge!It was bright yellow and glowed wonderfully."That one looks like it's from an op shop,"Mum announced pointing at an old green ballon which was called the Cafe Pacific.There was also a checkered Hot Air Ballon of blue,green yellow and red.But thats only three of them and theres fifteen in total!
By Molly.

The Lantern Parade.

'' Quick hurry,'' Mum called out franticly.
"What," I replied puzzled.
"The parade it's left without us," Mum moaned.
"Come on then,"I said grabbing my lantern and heading towards the long line of people. There was so many people it was like I was in New York. The square looked wonderful it was all lit up and the clock tower was green for St Patricks Day. This year was year of the Snake and we could see all of the other theme lanterns(from previous years) but not the Snake."Theres the Bunny,"Oscar called out.He was right for there in front of us was a gigantic white Bunny with pink glittery ears which was from 2010.''Theres the Tiger,"Abby announced.Of course there in front of us was an orange Tiger with black stripes which was from 2011."I found the Dragon,"I exclaimed.The Dragon was mainly green with a globe in it's mouth which was from last year."Wheres the Snake though?" I asked.
"Found it's head," Abby shouted startling me.
"Where?"I questioned.
"Over there,"Mum said pointing into the crowd.Suddenly a pink head popped up followed by a body."The Snake,'' I yelled happily.
By Molly.

Note to Parents

It was great to catch up with all the parents and caregivers over the past few days. I have enjoyed sharing your child's progress and learning environment with you. If you have not had a conference (for what ever reason) please contact me (a note or drop in) and I will make a time with you that suits.

Marae visit is in week 11 (last week of term). The notices went out last week. Thank you to the parents who have offered their support for this trip. Please keep the koha coming in to the office. 

Remember that this Friday is Easter! No school Friday, Monday and Tuesday! Enjoy the break, relax and try not to eat too much chocolate and too many Easter buns! The question would then be, "What is too much? How many is too many?" <3

My favourite Easter picture =)

Interschool Swimming Competition

Well done to our swimming team! They cleaned up in the places at the inter-school swimming sports last Friday. Thank you to parents who were there to help with transport and cheering! Thank you to River's mum who made sure that we had photos to record the day. Above, River, Joell and Taihana.

Mr Riley and The Team!

Happy Birthday Heather!

For  whānau who do not know,  Heather is Ben's TA and a very important member of Fearless Four.
Today was Heather's birthday! We all sang her the traditional song and then she gave US pressies! Thank you for the yummy cakes and bikkies Heather!

Ben checking out all was in order before helping Heather to share out the cupcakes and chocolate chunk bikkies.

GECKO VISIT

Today Chelsea's dad, Rick came to class to show us (and Room 3) the new gecko he has. Rick works for DOC (Department of Conservation) breading and caring for our endangered New Zealand gecko and skinks. He brought some of our old favourites from last year and some very interesting unfamiliar breeds. They were a number of very cute babies that we got to see catch and eat their dinner of live flies! That was sooooo cool!

There were a variety of breeds of baby gecko. 

We learned a lot of new facts about NZ gecko and skinks. We remembered a lot from last time, like NZ gecko and some skinks are cold blooded but are unique in the way that they have live births and do not lay eggs! They do not blink but lick their eyes to clean them and keep them moist. Our geckos are endangered because of cats, rodents and poison (mainly for grass and plants).

Jewel Gecko 

This is one of Rick's new ones. It looks like a baby crocodile and Miss K was not keen to hold it, no not at all!

The Wellington and Auckland Green Gecko were much more Miss K's style!

Ben really liked the gecko and he was allowed to have one crawl on him. Ben wasn't scared at all! 

We all really enjoyed seeing and learning about these awesome creatures. Thank you to Rick Brosnan for bringing them in and teaching us all about them.
Fearless Four have completed their cooperative learning tree-maps with the facts that they have learned and are beginning to create some simile poems about the gecko. We will post some on here when they are completed.

The crocodile one!

I like this one, it isn't smooth like the other gecko but feels rough like sandpaper. Gecko like the heat (because they are cold blooded) and lay as flat as they can to get as much of their body onto the warm surface, to absorb the heat. This one crawled through my hair and stopped on top of my head!

Chelsea is an expert at looking after gecko and skinks and she knows HEAPS of facts about them. The people who were in her fact-sharing group were sooooo lucky!!