Museum Trip!

Students in the middle and senior group had the opportunity to go to the Auckland Museum this past week where we had the chance to learn about Tapa & Tivaevae! We learned about how much of the Polynesian ancestry of New Zealand came from the Pacific Islands and the similarities of the languages of the area.

Students had the chance to create their own tapa and tivaevae with some of the museum coordinators and got to explore the museum! Great job representing our GTS colours!

Introduction: Mr. Niks

Kia Ora,

My name is Stephen Nikiforuk & I am the new teacher in Room 12 here at Glen Taylor School. Originally from Toronto, Canada, I decided to move down to New Zealand when I received the opportunity to teach with the year 7/8's as it has always been a dream of mine to teach & travel to develop experiences while being surrounded by different cultures. New Zealand seemed like the perfect destination for beginning my career as a teacher due to the culture, the geography and most importantly, the people.

Before I became a full-time Primary teacher, I have worked within a number of different professions including Sports Facilitator, Basketball Coach, Wilderness Therapist, Music Teacher & a Camp Director to name a few. Some of my favorite things to do include rock climbing, basketball, composing music and drinking lots of coffee. I expect to have many opportunities to explore and learn more about Aotearoa in the coming years!

So far, I've learned a large amount of New Zealand and the surrounding Auckland area. With my class, I learned how to count to four in Maori and I'm hoping to add some more digits to that soon. I learned what a Karakia is and the importance of whanau.

I'm writing this blog post to lead by example for my students. As it has been quite some time since we have posted a blog as a class, I hope we can arrange a blog post a couple times a week to not only focus on our digital skills but to let everyone know what we've been learning in Room 12 this term! I hope to get our Google Sites up and running within the next week so that everyone can see what we've been focused on and what we'll be learning in the coming term.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Haere rā,

Stephen Nikiforuk

Student Led Conferences

Term 3 Week 1.

Shout out to Room 12 for doing such an unreal job on their tri-folds that related to an experiment they conducted in Term 2. Below are some of the finished products that we've worked on in class the past couple of days of Term 3 Week 1.

 
 

Sand and Salt Separation

Our experiment on sand and salt separation. With lots of discussion, we figured out that putting water in the mixture to melt the salt would be good first. After that we heated the salt mixture in a pan and then evaporated the water to get our salt back. Lots of fun!!!

Filling in Manaiakalani Learner Questionnaire

Whole class got involved in with Ms. Collins to fill in the Learner Survey from Manaiakalani.

Mr. Raj's Digital Footprint

ANZAC DAY Art

After reading about ANZAC, students were really into representing their understanding about it using art. They had a clear understanding why ANZAC has a special place in New Zealand calendar.

Launching our Inquiry for Term 2 - Science

Introducing the wow factor on day one. Students got to view the model of our solar system and how planets move around, how big or small they are, the order away from the Sun. They had lots of questions to ask and this hopefully forms their journey to exploring our solar system. Well done Room 12!

Visit to Tahuna Torea Resrve

After reading Life in an Estuary, the students decided to visit the local reserve to learn more about mangrove and how the filtered waste water finds its way to the sea. It was a FUN day for the reading group.

Team Fiji for Cultural Festival

Team looked great on the day. The culture festival went really well. Parents were so proud to see their children performing for the community.

Getting ART ready for Exhibition

The group is really engaged and committed to finish the art work in time for the exhibition. 

They are making a halloween art for the exhibition on Thursday the 4th of April. What a great effort every one has put in!

Boys engaged in their Digital Dig Lesson

Finally the boys are really into their task they received from Ms. Collins. Jackson agreed that this will really make him a smart learner when using his device.

Ms V’s health lesson

 I want to thank you all for making the lesson today a huge success or at least that is how I felt. You all had some great ideas. The idea that we should all be happy with what we have and not worry about what we don’t have. To be happy with less.  Please feel free to give me feedback on what you thought about the lesson, what You enjoyed and if there is anything I could do betters? Keep on smiling room 12

New Learning in Maths!!!

Madina and May really happy to share their understanding about working with fractions. What a great work they both had done. 

thanks from Ms V

Kia ora Room 12,

This is my first post ever so please be kind to me. I am doing this so that Mr Raj doesn't have to do 3 this week I am trying to make it a little easier on him. I am also trying to remember all the things Ms Collins said were needed to make a good post so here goes.

I want to thank each and every one of you for making me feel so welcome. I know it can be hard to have a new person come into your class and tell you what to do. you all have been amazing. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you or that I can do different or better to help you learn. You are helping me to learn just as much as I am hopefully helping you. I will make mistakes and that I believe is okay as mistakes help me learn.

Ms V

Saying Hello to our Buddy GMS

Students leaving comments on their buddy's work from Grey Main School. What a great lesson we had from Ms. Collins.

Mr. Grundy's new creation at Tech

Mr. Grundy took out his own time to demonstrate to the students how to make that piece of art. He made a school bus using wood, glue and vivid. To do this he used a hand saw, hammer and a chisel.  He made this previously for a display to help others. Mr. Grundy is always passionate about his work. 

What was your inspiration? Why did he decide to make a bus? What was he thinking about when he made it? What was challenging? How long did it take to make it? If you had to create something, what would it be? What would your new creation be?

Technology at Tamaki College

Kite Flying with our Buddy Class - Room 5

Identifying rules from a given pattern.

Team Building Event - Term 1

Bay to Bay Run and Sports (Tennis Taster Session).