Giving a Helping Hand

This morning Miss Hines witnessed something awesome! Levi was speaking to Nikalai about his maths and said that he was having trouble with his multiplication. Nikalai became 'the expert' and willingly in his own time, began showing Levi the way he works out his multiplication! Thank you for being a kind and caring class member Nikalai. You have certainly stepped up and I am sure Levi appreciates the help you have given him! 

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

Welcome back to Term 3! For the first part of the term, we are studying The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. 

This novel highlights the terrible incidents that happened in the concentration camp in World War 2.

Miss Hines wants us to be completely immersed in this topic, so today we came up with some rules that we thought might happen if we had German children and Jewish children at our school. What we didn't know is that Miss Hines was going to make us draw out of a hat whether we were going to become a Jewish child or a German child. We now have to wear either a German Flag or The Star of David on our shirts so we are easily identified. Instantly we thought that this wasn't fair, but we soon realised that being a Jewish person in World War 2 wouldn't have been fair either. We can't wait to learn more about this!

Principal's Award

A huge congratulations to Iris and Franklin who received T2's Principal's awards for Term 2. You have both worked very hard and should be proud of yourselves! Ka mau te wehi! 

Have a great holiday everyone!

Matariki Kite Making

Next Thursday we are having a kite day at school to celebrate Matariki. We are preparing to make our own kites using bamboo, flax to make the string and a disposable table cloth. These are a work in progress but we are happy with what we have done so far.

Totara 2's Trip to Shantytown Video

Check out our video of our time at Shantytown on Thursday.

Shantyown

On Thursday Totara 2 went to Shantytown where we learnt about the Chinese immigrants and how they lived on the West Coast. We learnt that the men were sent over by their villages to become rich and send money home to their village. Once they had $100 saved of their own money, they were allowed to return. Many of the men left their wives and children to come and find their fortune. The Europeans didn't like the Chinese and were often very racist to them. We also learnt that the Chinese were very good market gardeners. Below are a few photos from the day. Check out some of our blogs next week to learn more!

Bees Wax

Today Kaine became the Kaiako and taught us about Bees Wax. Kaine has his own bee hive and he has been collecting the bees wax. Kaine has decided that instead of throwing the bees wax away, he wants to make something out of it. Before he can use the bees wax he needs to purify it and get all the dirt and impurities out of it. In order to do this, Kaine double boiled his wax until it became a liquid. From there he poured the wax through a cheese cloth and the cloth collected all the dirt and imperfections. The liquid was collected in an ice cream container where it has set.
Kaine is now going to use the wax to create bees wax wraps which are a great alternative to using gladwrap! He is also going to have a go at making bees wax candles. Watch this space!