Puanga Celebrations

St John Bosco is having a huge week of celebrations for Puanga.  Here's some writing the children have done in Room 3 about the Puanga festival.  We hope to see you this Thursday night.

Puanga

The seven stars are stars that appear in dawn.  They shine brightly in the night sky. Did you know that In Taranaki we call it Puanga but in other places in New Zealand we call it Matariki.  Maori used to call the New Year Maori New Year.  

In winter it is a time to plant winter crops and make kites and fly kites.  It is also a time to share family stories.  Did you know that when Maori people went in wakes they didn't have a GPS or a map.  They used the seven stars to guide them in the right direction.

There are other ways to say the seven stars.  One of them is the Seven Sisters.  We are going to have a celebration.  It is night.  You can see lots of stars and the Kapa Haka group will do a performance.  We will have a hangi.  I don't know what a hangi tastes like.  

Last week we went to the Puke Ariki museum.  We made a hang.  We make a hole.  In the hole we put veggies and meat.  There was beef, meat, steak, chicken and pork.  The hole was a basket.  In the basket we put meat and veggies and dirt and on the second to last we put sacks on it.  We learnt a star called Beetlejuice.  In the sky we can see it as Orion’s Belt.  Puke Ariki was great!

By Cassie 

Matariki

In Matariki we celebrate Maori New Year.  In dawn at six in the morning we wake up and look out the window and out the window the seven stars will be out shining at you.  The biggest sister will put the little sisters in the right place in the sky.  There are seven sisters.  Only I don’t know the names of them all. 

In Matariki when we celebrate cuddling our family in front of the heater, reading a book with our family.  

By Chloe

Puanga Celebrations

On Thursday, we are having Puanga celebrations at school.  

We are having a hangi at night.  At the Hangi I will stay up.

By Grace

Puanga Celebrations

On Thursday we are having a Puanga celebration at school.  We are having a Hangi at night.

There will be lots of food.

By Travis

Puanga

The mountain is in the way of the Matariki star.  There are seven stars in Matariki.  But we are in New Plymouth.  But we cant see them.

On Thursday we are having a Puanga celebration at our school.  We are having a hangi.  At the hangi there are lots of food like pork and vegetables.

By Sofia

Puanga Celebrations

On Thursday we are having a Puanga celebration at school.  We are having a celebration at night.  It is going to be fun at night because my Mum is coming with me too.

By Georgia

Puanga Celebrations

On Thursday we are having a Puanga celebration at school.  We are having a Hangi at night.

There will be lots of food.

By Hunter

Stars

We are learning about star patterns.  Beetlejuice is red and bright.  Orion’s Belt is 3 stars.  Orion is upside down and the Orion’s belt is on the bottom of the pot.  Puanga is on his foot.

By Bella

Puanga

In Puanga there are seven stars that are in the sky.  The seven stars can light up the sky.  At Puanga we can eat a hangi.  You don’t have to eat it.  

Beetlejuice is below the middles of Orion’s belt.  Puanga is the brightest star in the Maori New Year.

By Cooper

Puanga

We have a feast at Puanga time with lots and lots of food.  We plant crops for winter.  

If you look up at the stars there is a group of seven stars.  They are called the seven sisters.  We find Kaimoana in the sea for Puanga.  We celebrate the Maori New Year.  

By Daisy

Puanga

Puanga is a time when people have feasts.  They bring lots of food. At dawn really really early you can look at the stars and join the dots and make something amazing.  

When it is Maori New Year it is a time to celebrate the star sisters.  You can tell your family amazing stories.

By Nathan

Puanga

If you look up in the sky you will see the seven sisters. But most of Puanga is about seeing our family.

By Briar

Our trip to Puke Ariki

Here's some writing from the students of Room 3 about the trip to Puke Ariki.

Puke Ariki

We went to Puke Ariki and we learnt about Puanga.  We also learned about war and we dressed up in different things.  

In Puanga we learnt about the seven stars and about hangi.  We put the food in the basket.  We put dirt on top of the basket.  We put meat and vegetables and we cooked it in the ground and we will make lanterns.  It was very very fun.  We put vegetables in the hole.  You don't have to eat it.  

Beetlejuice looks red.  Puanga is the brightest star ever.  When we went to Puke Ariki, we went in a cool, little room.

By Alara

Puke Ariki

We saw a star at Puke Ariki and a teacher took us to a room to teach us about the war.  We put costumes on and we saw the seven stars and one was called Puanga.  

By Jack

Matariki

We are learning about Matariki and the seven stars.  We are studying Matariki.  If you look up at the sky you will see the seven stars and you will see the sisters. 

We went to the museum.  It was fun.  We learnt more about Puanga and Beetlejuice and it was really fun.  

I like the museum  I think my friend Briar liked is too because I like to go to the museum.  It was fun.  

By Maddison

Matariki and our Puke Ariki visit

A long time ago people used the stars to help them go to another place.  People made pictures with the seven stars.  The stars are sisters.  One of the stars is the big sister.  The seven stars come out at six o’clock at dawn.  Matariki is a time to make plans for the future. 

We went to Puke Ariki.  Puke Ariki is a museum.  Then we went to Michelle and Keri.  First we looked at Puanga and Beetlejuice.  Next we went around the gallery.  We found things like fishing rods, something like an anchor and a red bowl.  Next we played three games.  One of them is Hipitoitoi.  Then we went on the bus and go back to school.

By Quin

Puke Ariki

Yesterday I liked Matariki the most.  

We played a game.  We did all of these things.  We played a game called Tu Tama.  It was the best game.

By Jonah

The Trip

At Puke Ariki we did a hangi together.  We went to the museum.  We learnt about ANZAC at the museum and we dressed up.  Beetlejuice is a red star.  Orion’s Belt is the three stars in the middle.  There are a kite with a face.  It looked like a bird.  We went to the gallery in the musem.  It was like our class.  We made a hangi and we put dirt in it.

By Ella L

Puke Ariki

Yesterday, we went to Puke Ariki.  And we saw a shark.  And we did a dance.

By Regan

Puke Ariki

We learnt about ANZAC.  We found stuff that was on cards too.  We did dress ups.  Then the fun part: activities.  We got to see kites.  Then we learnt about Puanga and Orion’s Belt.  Beetlejuice too.  There are seven sisters.  The biggest star is called the seventh sister.

By Holly

The last week of Term 2

Hi everyone,

Firstly, a big thank you to all the adults who joined us on our trip to Puke Ariki.  Please visit the "What Room 3's been up to" page to see the photos from this trip.

This week is full on!  On Wednesday and Thursday we will be celebrating Puanga by constructing a variety of visual arts/technology projects.  Have you brought in your tin can for our lanterns?  

On Thursday evening we will be having a hangi at school.  Students will see this process throughout the day and then whanau can join us for a big feast in the evening.  The only thing we need is for an idea of how many people from each family will be attending.  Please bring back a note saying how many from your family will be coming.  

Because this is the last week of term 2, I'm collecting up all the students books and having a big tidy up.  Please, if you have any books at home, bring them back to school.  Students won't bring any books home this Wednesday or Thursday evenings.  However, they can still practice their spelling for Friday's spelling test and the Race to the Treasure cards.

I've had a fabulous term and look forward to a busy and exciting term 3.  

Thanks for all your support this term!

See you Thursday!

Cushla

Field trip to Puke Ariki tomorrow

Hi everyone, just a reminder that we have our field trip to Puke Ariki tomorrow. We will be leaving at 9am by bus and return to school around 12:30. 

Thanks to those parents who are coming along. 

Remember to pack a warm jacket. It looks like another cold day tomorrow. 

See you in the morning! 

Mrs Young. 

Science writing: yeast and bread

I have been amazed at the writing Room 3 has produced after our science exploration. 

Here's some of our work on science with yeast and after we made bread. 

Abstract Art

This week we have been learning about geometry. As part of this unit, we have been studying abstract art. 

First we explored famous abstract artists such as Picasso, Jackson Pollack, Kandinsky and Mondrian. We learnt that sometimes art is not a painting of something but could be a feeling or mood. We learnt about using colour and shapes. 

The students first planned out three different artworks. Then they chose their favourite ones. Then they replicated this on bigger paper with paint. Finally we wrote about our artworks. 

Here are a few of our finished products. 

Puke Ariki Visit

More science with yeast

Today what more fun with yeast. Our question was: what type of sugar does yeast like the most? 

We experimented with white sugar, banana, apple, raisins and flour. We placed these in separate bags with yeast and warm water. Here's what happened..,

After 30 mins...

Hunter looking at our labelled bags. 

Our bags were labeled so we knew what was in them. 

After 1 hour...

After 3 hours...

You can see that yeast produces the most carbon dioxide with white sugar. 

It produces some carbon dioxide with banana.

It produces a little carbon dioxide with raisins and apple. 

It doesn't produce much carbon dioxide with flour. 

We concluded that yeast likes white sugar the best. However, if you didn't want to bake with white sugar the next best option is banana. 

Science with yeast

Last week, when we made bread, we were intrigued by how the yeast made the bread rise. So, we thought we'd look at this for our language experience this week. 

Today, we were learning about how scientists follow instructions when they do experiments. We also learnt about scientific equipment (test tubes, pipets and measurements).  

Tomorrow we're going to write what we did in sequence. 

First we set out our equipment and created labels so we knew what we put in each test tube. Then we put yeast, sugar and warm water in the first test tube. 

We put yeast, baking soda and warm water in the second test tube. 

We then put yeast, vinegar and warm water in the third test tube. 

We then wrote up what we saw happening. 

Can you see that the one with the sugar has risen?

We wrote adjectives to describe what we saw and smelt. 

We found out that yeast likes to eat sugar and the liquid in this test tube frothed and grew. 

To confirm what was happening we did a second experiment. We used three sprite bottles and mixed yeast with the three different ingredients. We placed a balloon on the top of each bottle. 

We then waited.... And waited... And watched (while doing our handwriting). 

We noticed the bottle with the yeast, sugar and water in it frothed. And then.... The balloon began to inflate. 

We learnt that this was carbon dioxide. It is a sign that the yeast is eating the sugar. 

Room 3 is going to write about all this tomorrow. 

We LOVE science!!!

Toast by Ella K

Toast

When it is the morning, I have bread for breakfast.  On my bread I have butter on it and sometimes on my bread I have jam and marmite.  The jam is sweet and the marmite is sour.

By Ella K

Bread Making

This week we made bread!  We're learning about sequencing.  We had to make sure that we made the bread following the correct steps.  

Here's some pictures of us making bread.  We're writing about bread making this week.  Look out for our writing this week.

Balloons by Cassie

Today we studied electricity.  We made a balloon move a pencil and a bottle.  We rubbed the balloon to the mat before we did it.  If they were both positive charge and positive charge they will repel to each other or move away but if they are positive charge and negative charge they will attract to each other.  We made the tap attract to the balloon.  It went on an angle.  But sometimes it did not work but we did not give up.  We kept trying again.  It was cool and very very fun.  

By Cassie 

Balloons By Ella

Balloons are fun for me and others because they are cool.  Balloons fart when you let them go when they are not tied up.  Some others balloons popped and some didn’t.  When we got a balloon we got some pieces of paper.  We cut little bits of paper and we got the balloon.  Then we put the balloon close to the paper on the table.  Then some sticked to the balloon.  We first rubbed it on the ground.  We are learning about science today with balloons.  We got a pencil and a bottle.  We put the pencil on the bottle.  We got a balloon.  then we rubbed it on the ground.  We rolled it around the pencil,  It followed the balloon around in a circle.  This is static electricity.

By Ella L