Kereru Champions

The Rockets had an incredibly successful day running at the Kereru Cross Country yesterday. We were so excited to get up into the Hawke's Bay hills and show off our long distance running skills and tactics! We were so thrilled having three champions in the class. Jack won the Year 2 boy's race, Lorna came second in the Year 1 race, and Ocean came third in the Year 2 race. Wow Champions! Well done we are so proud of you! All the Rockets had big smiles on their faces on the way home. Marvin was so thrilled and proud of everyone's efforts. Go team!

Crazy Characters!

Book Week on PhotoPeach

We have had such a fun day today at Maraekakaho School. To celebrate book week, we dressed up as our favourite book character for the day. It was all very exciting, we paraded class by class in the morning. All the classes were judged and prizes awarded. We are continuing our "readathon" for the next two weeks.

Can you tell who we all are?


Who is your favourite book character?

Our new listening post

We are so excited! We were inspired by our friends at 2KM and 2KJ at Leopold Primary in Victoria, Australia. Their teacher, Mrs Kathleen Morris, posted some ideas on her blog about using an ipod touch in the classroom.

We were lucky enough to already have an ipod touch that we share in our Junior Syndicate, and so we decided using it for this purpose would be really cool. We just needed to buy a little headphone splitter - you can see it here in the photo. Now five children can listen to the ipod at the same time.

Thanks for this wonderful idea Mrs Morris!

Cross Country Champions!

Cross Country on PhotoPeach

The sun was shining this afternoon as the Rockets limbered up and prepared for our annual Cross Country run. Armed with the Habit of Mind - Persistence - we were ready to take on the course. Miss Hunt had added some more challenges this year, so we were really excited. Marvin was thrilled to take on all the action as a spectator, and is home at Jack's house tonight, celebrating his win with him.

Well done Rockets! Excellent training and persistence.

What other Habits of Mind did you use today? Why?

Marvin's latest exeats...

In Room 2, we always ask, What would Marvin do? Marvin is helping us learn the Habits of Mind. He is a master of the Habits, and always knows the right thing to do. Marvin manages his impulsivity by thinking before he speaks, and he always remembers to sit still and put his hand up to answer a question.  Marvin is always persistent in his learning, he tries and tries again until he meets his goal. He strives for accuracy by checking he is meeting all the Success Criteria.

Which Habits do you think Marvin used when he went skiing recently?

Leaping Leprechauns...

The Rockets are learning a little bit about Ireland this term, and today we have been writing about Lorcan the Leprechaun.

We have been adding adjectives to enrich our writing, and make it entertaining for our audience. Our friends at 2KM and 2KJ have been using them too, and they have some great examples of how adjectives colour our writing. Take a look at this interactive whiteboard presentation All about Adjectives. It's really clever and helpful.

Lorcan the Leprechaun is very rich and fast. He ran to a pot of gold but it wasn't there. He has a very pointy nose and square glasses and green sparkly eyes.

- Sam

Lorcan the Leprechaun is a cheeky little fella. The little man is a master. He moves as fast as a cheetah. He wears green pyjamas. He wears a really big top hat like a giant. He shoots up to people and says "Hey!"

-Rieff

There was once a greedy leprechaun who lived in the (most) richest place in the land. He was real cheeky and his hair was as silver as a 50 cent coin. His clothes were light green. His shoes were light green and dark brown. His arms were hairy, and his hands are greenish, and his nose is long and pointy. His feet are springs. He bounces, jumps and dances all over the place. His top hat is red velvet. His eyes shine like the stars and all the ladies fall when they see him.

-Chardanae


All the Rockets' Leprechaun writing is posted under the 'Our Writing' page. Please have a look! We would love you to comment :)

On the line!

Click the on the speaker icon to hear our commentary!

We have had fun this week, working on sending an inspirational message of support to our heroes, the All Blacks. Marilena and Kayden used Garage Band to record the audio on this slideshow, and Mr Jones made them laugh by showing them how they could make their voices sound like the chipmunks! Here we are honing our passing skills with Mrs O'Dowda.

MKK meets the Magpies

Maraekakaho School today welcomed three Hawkes Bay Magpies. A buzz was evident across the school as everyone arrived dressed in their best black and whites. 

Thanks very much to Hugh Reed, Brad Webber, Brodie Retallick and Dan Sommerville, the Magpies Development officer for taking the time to visit us. It was wonderful to have you answer all our burning questions, and to get out on the field and into the drills. Best of luck for the rest of the 2011 season, we are all right behind you!

Magpies on PhotoPeach

Marvin loves the Magpies!

Magpie Magic on PhotoPeach

On Friday, Marvin went to watch the Magpies. The Magpies play Rugby. The Rugby was in town at McLean Park. The Magpies are a very good Rugby team in Hawke's Bay. The Magpies are very good because they work together and think interdependently. Marvin shouted "Come on the Bay!" Marvin wanted the Magpies to win, and he shouted "Yay" when they did!

Composed and written by the Rockets who are learning to entertain their audience.

Oliver's Magical Birthday

Hi Miss Revell,
I turned 7 in the holidays and had a wizard party.
We ate jelly with worms in it.
We made poisonberry’s to drink.
We played musical cushions and got wands.
We also made hats.

Oliver S
Oliver's Wizard Party on PhotoPeach

Rocket RWC Commentary

The Rockets have been putting together some tips for the All Blacks, and how they could use the Habits of Mind to succeed in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. We have had some fun with drama to role play what this would look like. This was adapted from a fabulous original script from "Habits - Centre Stage" by Sandra Brace.

Marilena and Ollie Commentary from MissRevell on Vimeo.

Emer and Kayden's Commentary from MissRevell on Vimeo.

Pōwhiri for Mr Jones

Pōwhiri for Mr Jones from MissRevell on Vimeo.

Maraekakaho School welcomed our new Principal, Mr Jones, yesterday with a pōwhiri. A pōwhiri is a ceremony of welcome involving speeches, dancing, singing and hongi. This ceremony was traditionally used to welcome visitors on to marae - the sacred space or courtyard usually in front of Māori meeting houses - and the ceremony is now commonly seen in everyday New Zealand life. Pōwhiri can happen anywhere that tangata whenua (hosts) wish to formally greet manuhiri (visitors).

This custom frequently takes place in the workplace to welcome new staff and important guests, at schools, sports and leisure clubs, and at significant occasions or ceremonies, such as a building dedication.

Pōwhiri on PhotoPeach
The Rockets have written about their experiences of the pōwhiri today...

Jack's Adventures

Kate and I went to the snow it was fun.

Jack.


Jack posted this himself on the blog this morning, with lots of Rockets watching and helping. Jack's Mum said that Kate and Jack got to play in the snow past Waiwhare on the Napier- Taihape Road and then they brought a ute load of snow home and made a snowman at the front gate. Jack said that he put some snow in his sandpit! Great effort Jack.