Maths at the Pool - Estimating and Measuring

We have been enjoying swimming in Team Tekau and we wondered,  How long is our school pool and how could we find out?
We talked about lots of ways of measuring things and looked really carefully at our rulers. We learned there are centimetres and teeny, tiny millimetres. We quickly realised that there are 10 mm in every cm. We even learned the short way to write these! Then we looked at a big metre only ruler and found out there are 100cm in 1m.
Our next step was to choose a way to show one m. Some of us used hands, some of us feet and some even used our elbows. We then estimated the length of the pool using our measure. It was tricky to keep track of the metres so we used our whiteboards and made tally marks.
The final step was to actually measure the pool and see how close we were. We were amazed to find out how close we were.
So, how long is our school pool? 22.8m. The .8 means 80 centimetres. Are we awesome or what!
Check out our estimates and photos of us in action in this photo peach slideshow.

Maths at the Pool! on PhotoPeach

Meet Mrs Pease

Team Tekau are so lucky to have two teachers - yes two teachers!
When Mrs Perry has classroom release or management days Mrs Pease takes over. Mrs Perry says that her and Mrs Pease are just like twins but that Mrs Pease is a much younger version. It's great to have a teacher that knows all of us when our own teacher is not in the room. If you want to meet Mrs Pease, pop in today and say hello!

Mrs Pease

What makes you special?

What makes you special? Watch this clip then share a sentence or two with our World Wide Audience...

Wow! Beach Education Slideshow!

Beach Education on PhotoPeach

Butterfly Ballet in Team Tekau

What a beautiful sight this afternoon! 3 new butterflies performed this wing dance. Well actually two did the one in the middle just posed. Tomorrow we will let them go. Check out both video clips. The second one shows one of the chrysalis doing a wiggle dance and getting ready to push its way out.
We also learned an amazing word today - metamorphosis - which is a word to describe how some animals change after they are born into something completely different. Comment and share any animals you can think of that go through the process of metamorphosis. I wonder how many we can list?

Looking Beneath the Surface...

On Wednesday last week Jessie and Carly from the National Aquarium came to talk to us about Seaweek. We went on an undersea journey. We all had to put on flippers and wetsuits so we could 'look beneath the surface'. We saw some really interesting artefacts from under the sea and learned that as well as amazing sea creatures, sadly there is a lot of rubbish in our seas.
We are going to look at how it gets there because we all know its there because of US!
Team Tekau are starting to think about...
* What we can do to stop rubbish from spoiling the sea
* How do sea animals adapt to their environment
* How can we keep safe when we visit the beach

Carly and Jessie... and a gannet

Putting on our goggles for our underwater adventure

Yuk! This is not how we want our seas to look!

A beautiful turtle shell

Did you know toothpaste has seaweed in it? 

Fletcher has a new set of jaws - shark jaws!

This is a piece of baleen from a humpback whale.
Look at the little hairs on it.

Happy Valentines!

Remember to tell everyone in your whanau how much you love them today!

No need for any fancy cards or flowers - chocolate is always good though...

Butterfly Number Rua Caught on Camera!

We were the most excited classroom in the school to actually see butterfly number 2 emerge from the chrysalis yesterday afternoon. We actually saw the whole thing happen and it only took about 50 seconds!! Mrs Perry even videoed it and is going to put it on our blog so we can watch it again and again. It happened soooo quickly.

We have been writing some amazing stories about our monarchs - caterpillars and butterflies. Team Tekau kids are showing they are awesome writers. Here are just a few little snippets for you to enjoy...

Once upon a time I hatched out of a tiny, winy egg. I started to feast on my egg. After that I went to hunt for my real breakfast. I found a nice lush, green leaf and I started nibbling away.
By Martyn

Clinging to the edge of the pot was a monarch butterfly. Ouch! It fell a little. It's wings were a bit heavy for it. Then it dropped and walked.
By Elijah

CRACK! Out came a little teeny, weeny little Miss Caterpillar. Then I crawled all around my new home. I nibbled on my new home after my birth. A few weeks later I got fatter and fatter and fatter until...
By Emily

Once upon a time I hatched out of my egg. The colour of my egg is pink. When I came out of my egg I started munching away. A few days later I was fat and then I turned into a chrysalis.
By Kimberly-Ann

CRACK! A tinsy, winsy little caterpillar emerged from its egg. The little caterpillar felt a bit hungry. Rumble! Her tummy rumbled. She found a nice green leaf.
By Alex

At lunch I was watching the monarch butterfly emerge out of its chrysalis. After a while the monarch butterfly slipped out!
By Fletcher

She was so beautiful. She was as beautiful as a rose. Also her wings looked as delicate as silk. I felt like she was the most beautiful creature in the world!
By Elise

On Wednesday 11th another chrysalis hatched. I got to see it hatch! It is so cool how they hatch. I love butterflies.
By Chanelle

At lunchtime our butterfly broke out. We rushed to the class. We all stared at the butterfly and after school we took it outside.
By Sam

I went up to the blue pot because there were people around it. There was a monarch butterfly! The butterfly fell off the pot and landed on the green table.
By Taiaha

Once upon a time there was a little chrysalis hanging off a big blue pot plant. I ate my way out. My wings were small at first but when I pumped fluid into my wings they got bigger and bigger!
By Campbell

Molly just hatched at lunchtime today at Mahora School in Team Tekau. We were so excited that we crowded around it. It has already started to pump fluid through its wings.
By Keira

The caterpillars eat green leaves and then it turns into a chrysalis. In 2 weeks it hatches and a butterfly comes out of the chrysalis.
By John-Paul

Halfway through Homework Reminders another butterfly hatched. We saw it slip out and stick to the chrysalis. It started pumping fluid. Mrs Perry got pictures and a video of it.
By Tihei

It has beautiful wings like orange and black with white spots. First it stayed there for 1 hour and then it started to fly.
By Ella

The butterfly dropped off the chrysalis and then off the pot but it was ok. It has a little look around. It was very wobbly and couldn't walk properly. After a while we let it go in the lavender bush. Bye little butterfly - you really made me happy!
By Milly

At lunchtime the new butterfly hatched. First it has small wings then they were big.
By Kyla

The chrysalis is very, very black! Now it has just come out of the chrysalis. The butterflies wings are very colourful.
By Lockie

Then it started to come out!!! It was fun seeing his colourful wings. It was so wonderful seeing it.
By Iziah

While we were doing our reminders something happened. Another monarch butterfly hatched and we saw it emerge from its shell!
By Rapaira

A Monarch Emerges...

It was super exciting when a monarch butterfly emerged from its chrysalis in Team Tekau. We even wrote about it!

He, or she (we don't know if it was a male or a female butterfly) spent a while hanging out on the edge of the pot before it was ready to try out it's new long legs. We all thought the butterfly was waiting for its wings to dry but we watched a you tube clip that told us it was pumping fluid into its wings to get ready to fly!

The butterfly was a bit wobbly at first. Check out its gorgeous colours!

After school we took it out to the lavender by the office and set it free. I bet that butterfly is busy eating nectar and laying some new eggs. What do you think?

Here is the link to the you tube clip we watched. We learned a lot of new things, so check it out.

Monarch Butterfly Time Lapse Video

Jeremy Visits Team Tekau

Last week Kimberley-Ann's Aunty Wendy arrived with a very special visitor.
Everyone crowded around and then got to meet...  Jeremy!

What a cutie! 

Kimberley and Jeremy

Kimberly-Ann's Aunty Wendy explained what she feeds Jeremy

He's so tiny his eyes haven't opened up yet!

Jeremy is a two week old baby hedgehog who was all alone. He is being fed special cat milk with egg yolk. When he gets a bit bigger he will eat jellimeat. He is super cute and we hope he can visit us again, perhaps when he has his eyes open.
Do you know anything about hedgehogs?
Comment and share...

Wow! Beach Education!

Team 2 EOTC

Beach Education

Team 2’s first EOTC (Education Outside the Classroom) activity this year is Beach Education. We are very excited to have our students participate in this super programme. Sadly, 17 people have already lost their lives in New Zealand waters this year. Knowing how to swim and be safe when in and around water is a skill for life.

What is Beach Ed?

Beach Education is a safe, fun and educational activity – a great opportunity for students to be immersed in a Surf Life Saving environment with practical experience of beach and surf conditions.  The programme has 3 parts – Theory, Beach Activities and Water Activities. The programme is run by qualified Surf Life Savers.

When and Where is Beach Ed?

Rooms 9, 10 and 11 - Tuesday 17^th February

Rooms 7 & 8 – Friday 20^th February

Groups will leave Mahora School at 8.30am and return by 3pm.

The venue is Waimarama Beach.

Adult assistance is needed to meet the requirements of a 1:5 adult / student ratio. Please read the attachment that explains what is involved and let your child’s classroom teacher know if you are able to attend. Without safe child / adult ratios we will not be able to proceed with the day so we are counting on you!

How much will it cost?

The cost per student is $15, which covers the Surf Lifesaving fee and bus fare. Mahora School is subsiding the actual cost by $5 per student to make this learning opportunity as affordable as possible. We know that the day is extremely valuable and it is expected that all Team 2 students will participate. There is no cost for adult helpers.

Team Tekau - Day 1, 2015

Team Tekau's Great Learning Day!

WOW, what an awesome start to the year Team Tekau! It was great to meet the students and their families and I know we are going to have a super year. There were a few unusual things about our classroom so check out the photos to find out a bit more!

Desks outside? This isn't right, is it? Mr Pearse was a bit worried...

New Mahora Values!

Who was first at school today? Way to go Rapaira! 

Team focus

Mr Pearse thought we better do something about all those desks outside, so we did! We talked and planned and questioned and talked some more and guess what??

Chanelle and Elise were buddies

Cortez drew his plan for our classroom 

Tyrell and Iziah found a great spot for their learning activity 

Busy at work! 

Kimberly-Ann & Martyn

Elijah & Blake

What super plans Team Tekau created!

We finally got the desks into our classroom. Are they in the best place? Do we all need a desk? Watch this space to find our more as we create 'our classroom'.

Back to School Today!

Someone is all set for school and ready for a great day! See you all soon!