Term 3 Week 7

Its been a while this our last update but that doesn't mean nothing much has been happening in our Senior School. Below are some highlights from the past three weeks. Special thanks to some of our students who have contributed to this post.

Football 

On Tuesday the 18th of August at 12.15pm a group of Year 7 & 8 students went to Bishops Park to play against the Wellesley B team. The Muritai team played really well and won 7-4. The goals were scored by Matthew Jones x2, Macey Caughley x1, Alice x3 and Ella Giles x1. Overall they really enjoyed themselves and would love to do it again. Thanks to everyone who came down and supported us!

By Macey Caughley

Netball

On Thursday the 20th of August the year 7 and 8 netball teams went out to Taita to compete in a Netball tournament. We played against a variety of different teams.

Our games were 20 minutes with 10 minute halves. The games started at 9.30 and our last game finished at 12.00.

Both teams played really well, thanks to our coaches and all the supporters.

Epro8

On Monday the 24th of August two Year 7/8 Muritai school teams of four entered a competition. Team 1 was Noah Oakshatt, Tilly Potter, Tessa Treadwell-Burke and Shannyn Thompson. Team two was Kieran Smith, Fergus Hart, Macey Caughley & Dann Tokeley. The competition we entered was an engineering and building competition called ePro 8. We were set with limited supplies and had four tasks and had 3 and a half hours to do as many of the tasks as we could do. The first task we decided to do was to make a Mars space rover that could carry 5 kg and for more points we could make it remote control, go back and forwards and or stop if it hits any objects. When we had finished we pressed a big red button that lets off a song and lights to mean we are done. We had made a mars rover that could carry 5 kg. After that we had 1 and a half hours to make a crane that had to be 1.8 m high and carry 1 kg. We managed to complete the task in the nick of time, we had 2 minutes till the time was up. Once we had finished it was prize giving and team one came 3rd and team two came 4th! This means both teams qualify for the semi-finals on Tuesday 15th September.


By Noah Daniel-Oakshatt

Art Show - The Elements preparation

Last week the students have been working incredibly hard getting prepared for their art extravaganza in week 9. We have had students involved in a variety of creative experiences including the art of taking the perfect photo, learning lines for a play (William Shakespeare's MacBeth no less!), creating a music/dance act with percussion, painting on fabric and of course wearable arts. All the acts are inspired by 'The Elements - Earth, Wind, Water and Fire'.

The teachers have been incredibly impressed with all the students creativity and enthusiasm over the past week - what incredible kids we have at Muritai!

A special thanks to all our wonderful parents who volunteered their time to help out during the week. We could not have done it without you!

Don't forget to purchase your tickets from the school office. Its going to be a great show!

Scratch Projects

As part of our Technicraft programme, all students have a six week block working with Ms Coton on computer programming. They use the 'Scratch' tool for creating games and activities. Below is an excellent example of a project completed by Emily B in Room 22 - excellent work Emily! For more projects, check out Room 22 classroom blog.

 

  Gardening

 The sun was shining for a little bit last week so it was great to get out into our garden. We spent the session planting new plants which were purchased through a grant from the Bayer Institute. We are looking forward to seeing them get established over the coming months.

Tournament of Minds

 Yesterday we had two teams represent Muritai at the Regional Tournament of Minds competition. This is an accumulation of six weeks work on a maths and engineering challenge. One of the key rules of this tournament is the teams must not seek any outside assistance from adults. Both teams works incredibly well throughout the process and delivered great solutions on the day. One of our teams stood out from their competitors and were awarded 1st place! This means they now qualify for the National in a few weeks time. Well done to all involved!

Term 3 Week 4

A cold couple of weeks at Muritai! Here's the highlights from the past two weeks.

 Science with Ms Coton

For the past two Friday Ms Coton has been working with classes in Science. Classes have been investigating the question ‘What is fire?’ As part of the lessons students have learned about the chemical processes that occur when things burn, made careful observations of flames, learned about thermal energy, used wine guns to model chemical changes at the molecular level, and had fun investigating different ways to put out fire.

Key Competencies

This year the teachers and students  at Muritai are learning about the New Zealand Curriculum's Key Competencies - Thinking, Using Symbols Language and Text, Relating to Others, Managing Self, Participating and Contributing.

People use these competencies to live, learn, work, and contribute as active members of their communities. More complex than skills, the competencies draw also on knowledge, attitudes, and values in ways that lead to action. They are not separate or stand-alone. They are the key to learning in every learning area.

Successful learners make use of the competencies in combination with all the other resources available to them. As they develop the competencies, successful learners are also motivated to use them, recognising when and how to do so and why.

Our senior students created a resource that we hope can be used not only in our classrooms but in other rooms around the school, to create an awareness of the importance of these Key Competencies so we can all be successful learners.

Here is Room 22's slideshow. Watch this space for more from Room 23 and 24!




Jump 4 Star Jam

On Wednesday we headed to the hall for some Jump Jam! Its been a long time since many of us had a go at this... we loved it! Of course, this was for Jump 4 Star Jam. Starjam is a platform where young people with disabilities can meet together to make new friends, learn new skills and have lots of fun by taking part in weekly workshops in song, dance, guitar and percussion. They then share these talents through a variety of performance opportunities. Starjam is 100% funded by private trusts, grants and donations. 

What was even better about our session was Rosie and Helena were able to share their routine they created for their Personal Passion Project in Term 2. Awesome work girls!

Some great moves to Ice, Ice Baby... word to ya mother!

Beehave

Our Mike Weston mural has finally complete! It looks fantastic in the playground. A big well done to our Art Ambassadors, some other Room 24 helpers and Mrs Allen. Check out this awesome time lapse movie Noah from Muritai TV created which documents the entire process. Top job!



Fraction homework

We were incredibly impressed with some of the homework completed by students based on fractions and percentages. Nice work Matiu for getting into the kitchen at home and created some very tasty chocolate chip bikkies! Nom, nom!

Disco

What a great  way to end the week with a bit of dance off! Looks like a heap of us had a great time at the disco last Friday - great dancing and great company!

Term 3 Week 2

Term 3 is now in full swing! Its hard to believe we are half way through the year already! Here's some snippets of what the seniors have been up to at Muritai for the first two weeks of the term. Badminton For PE of this term our Year 7/8s are focusing on improving their striking skills. To start the term we are in the hall learning at the art of badminton. What a great game! We are learning there are quite different skills needed from other striking sports like tennis.

Gossiping Woman - Philip Trusttum Over the past couple of Fridays Mrs Allen has been working in Room 22 and 23, teaching drawing techniques using works from the artist Philip Trusttum. The students have experimented with creating a series of drawings using colour, black and white and different textures. Below are some examples of some finished or near finished pieces - looking good!

Northland Film Competition We are immensely proud of Samantha, Isabella and Emma in Year 8 who have just received 1st place in the Northland Film Competition. The 3 girls entered their short film they made from their Personal Passion Project in Term 2. These girls worked pretty much completely independently throughout the entire process, including using their own initiative find and enter this competition. The film was shown at the ANZAC Theatre in Dargaville and was judged by a large panel which included Winston Peters!! The judges commended them on their acting and filming techniques. Congratulations girls - what a top job! $300 is coming your way!! Muritai TV Speaking of film making, Olivia and Mila from the Muritai TV team have also been busy filming and packaging up an movie on inform students on what bullying is and what we can do about it. Well done girls, this is an important issue to talk about with your peers. I like how some interviewees talked about bullying being something that is ongoing and repetitive not a one off event. Rubbish audit At the end of last term of Enviro Ambassadors initiated a rubbish audit throughout the school to gauge how much waste our student body was producing every week. They put their maths skills to the test by using just 10% of student population to make some general statements about the waste we produce as a whole. The purpose of the audit was to find out how much knowledge the students had about waste disposal (eg compost vs waste) plus create an awareness around our waste and how we could do things better. Watch is space because in a couple of weeks the team will be actioning a 'Nude Food Week' across the school. Sounds exciting guys!