Goodbye to our Korean Students

At the start of the year we had a few homestays come from Korea to learn more about our culture.
There were approximately 35 homestays in our school, about 3 or 4 split in each class. In our classroom we had 4 their names were Tom, Han-bin, Louis and Simon, we were very impressed with how well they spoke English. They were in New Zealand for a month but were at our school for only 3 weeks. They were very nice and loved spending time with us Kiwi's. They talked about their lifes back in Korea very often. They became good friends to us and to see them go left a tear on our faces :'(
On the last day they were here they left us all a nice little fold up note in our desk which described how they felt about us :)

by: Portia and Lara.

Award of Merit - Week Four

This week Room 19 won Best Class because last week we earned the most Red Cards.

Congratulations to Alicia who received this weeks Award of Merit for her helpful nature where she uses her initiative to go above and beyond to help others both in and out of the classroom.

Tino Pai Alicia and Room 19!

Botanic Gardens

On Friday Rooms 18 and 19 had a fantastic day at the Botanic Gardens. We were very lucky to have amazing weather on the day so that meant we could  really enjoy each of the activities we tried out.

This week we are focusing on recount writing and we will update you about our trip later in the week.

 

A big thank you from Room 19 to our parent helpers Lottie and Tracey who spent the day tramping, cooking and orienteering with us.

Two Letter Mystery

To help us get ready for our trip on Friday to the Botanic Gardens we were given a compass, a roll of string, 9 pegs and a sheet of instructions that we had to follow to make two letters!
We were taught how to use a compass and the right direction to point it in. Then we got into groups and headed off to a spot in the field and began making our letters using the compass, string and pegs.
Every time we finished a distance we turned back to north and started a new distance. We did this until we completed the task. The letters spelled out N.Z which stood for New Zealand! Our class had a lot of fun with this new experience!

By Paige, Codey and Shreya

Swimming

This term Room 19 is swimming on Monday and Wednesday mornings with Room 18.

We are aiming to be more confident in the water as well as improving our swimming skills.

We Are Learning To: develop endurance in freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke swimming with increasingly accurate techniques and to increase water safety awareness including safe dives.

Before we head out for a swim we set our own personal swimming goals in our Hauora log that we work towards achieving.

We are also getting ready for Swimming Sports which is coming up later this term.

 

Trying out a Mexican Wave of backflips.

Botanical Gardens Outdoor Challenge

This Friday (21st of February) we are visiting the Botanical Gardens with Room 18. At the Botanical Gardens we are going to be learning about keeping safe in the outdoors.

We will have a go at pitching tents, making stretchers and cooking sausages. As well as getting the low-down on tramping, packing and what to do when things go wrong.

Permission slips need to be signed and returned by Wednesday as well as the student health forms. We are also still looking for parent helpers to join us, without you we cannot make the trip happen. If you would like to come along please let me know.

Award of Merit - Week Three

Today at Assembly Room 19 received a certificate from Mrs Watson for 'including the food technology taster photos and their enthusiasm on the Class Blog!!'

Jasraj also received a certificate for his positive attitude and willingness to help others around him.

Ka Rawe Room 19!

Share the Love

For Physical Education this term we are focusing on striking games.
So this afternoon we headed outside for a game of softball with Room 18. We played class versus class and forgot to keep score. I think we'll have to have a rematch. It was great to have both classes out there together for a game and it was lots of fun.

 

As today is Valentines Day I made shortbread cookies for the class as a way to say well done for a great start to the year.

Hard Materials Taster and Cricket

This afternoon our new students had the last of the tasters, they spent the afternoon with Mr Coaton in the Hard Materials room. The students were very proud of their rulers and they look fantastic. They started with a piece of metal that they had to trim and polish. They then etched their names and ruler markings onto their rulers.

While the Year 7's spent time with Mr Coaton the Year 8's headed outside for a game of cricket. We had lots of fun and Miss Brownsey joined in too.

 

 

Meet the Teacher Evening

It was great to see so many parents at the Meet the Teacher Evening last night. For those of you that were unable to make it we talked about:

- School Diary - It is important that students remember to bring these both to school and home everyday. It is fantastic if parents are able to check in these regularly as this is one way of keeping the lines of communication between home and school open.

- Absences - If your child is away for any reason it is important that you phone or email me as soon as possible in the morning to let us know, you are able to leave a voicemail message when calling the school to explain the reason for the students absence.
Office Number- (09) 534 3922

- Uniform - It is really important that the students follow our school uniform code, we have discussed this and have pictures in the classroom to refer to. If students do not have the correct uniform this means that they lose a green card, which unfortunately means they will not be able to receive their gold card for the next week. This loss of the Gold card means that they lose privileges such as using the swimming pool at lunch, using the tuck shop at morning tea at lunch time (they can still order lunches through the lunch order system).

We need our swimming gear at school every Monday and Wednesday and our PE gear at school every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this term. This is a part of our school uniform and must be worn correctly.

-  Classroom Rules - These have been discussed with students and letters have been sent home to parents for you to look through as well. If you need an extra copy just let me know.


If you have any questions please email me at paigeb@howickint.school.nz

Healthy Lifestyles

Our big class topic that we have worked together to choose after spending lots of time brainstorming and discussing ideas is Healthy Lifestyles.
At the moment we have three groups in our class who are looking at Advertising, Exercise & Injuries, and Food & Nutrition.
 
Benjamin has found a link to the article that was recently in the New Zealand Herald about the comparison between the advertised product and what people have actually received from different fast food restaurants in New Zealand. This article is actually what started the interest in advertising.

Here is the link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11159767

Tasters

New students to Howick Intermediate have been enjoying a taste of the specialist subjects.

We have spent time creating artwork with Miss Haag using watercolours in the Art Room.  We experimented with different ways of using the watercolours and how we could change the look through the use of salt and crayons.

We have worked on our rhythm and tried out the drums in the Music Room with Miss Chang.
 
We started working towards our sewing licences when we spent time with Mrs Templehoff in the Sewing Materials Room. We practiced following lines and dot to dots using the sewing machine, paper and no thread. We were able to see how well we had done by looking at the dot marks on the paper.
 
We cooked some yummy and healthy pizza bread with Mrs Watson in the Food Materials Room.

 

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Our Class Treaty

Today we put the finishing touches to our class treaty, last week was Waitangi Day so we discussed what we know about the treaty and what we need to do to make our classroom treaty effective.

We know:
- It takes its name from where it was signed in the Bay of Islands.
- The Treaty of Waitangi was signed back in 1840.
- The translation of the Treaty wasn't exactly the same, so people had different understandings of what they were signing. This had consequences that are still being faced today.

In our classroom treaty we established what our expectations and values in our classroom are.

In Room 19 we have created a class treaty to display our class values and expectations. We collaborated to write our treaty. All members of Room 19 have signed our treaty which means that everyone agrees on these terms as outlined. Room 19 has agreed to show…

* A positive attitude where we compliment others, are caring,         willing to have a go and take risks.

* Respect to ourselves, the people around us and ALL property.

* We can think before we act and speak.

* We can contribute and be ambitious.

* We are responsible and reliable students through our work ethic and attitude.

* We can be an example for others of what a Howick Intermediate School student looks like.

Here is the finished product:

 

Award of Merit - Week Two

The first Merit Award for Room 19 went to Portia for her positive attitude and willingness to step up to a leadership roll within our classroom.

Well Done Portia!

A fantastic year ahead.

Welcome to Room 19, I am looking forward to getting to know all of you.

My name is Paige Brownsey and I am from Auckland, although I went to university down in Dunedin. I am the oldest child in my family, and my little brother is just starting intermediate this year.

Feel free to contact me at paigeb@howickint.school.nz if you have any queries, it's great to keep the lines of communication between whanau and school open. If you would like to meet with me it's best to email me first so that we can arrange a time that suits us.