In Other Words

As part of their Reading Activities, the Bananas Reading Group had to convert an original poem into a narrative, including the important language and structural features of this text type. Here is their adaptation:

(This is the original poem)

Writing Participants

Sini, Don and  Miria were awarded the Participant's Certificate for entering in the 2015 Barfoot & Thompson Young Authors Challenge writing competition. There were over 1000 entries from all over Auckland and Northland and their stories had to link with the theme: 'There's No Place Like Home'.

Here is Miria's story:

    My Home Is Where My Heart Is

    From a visitors point of view my homeland appears to be a wreck but to me it's still home. Pipiwai. I was raised there and I have many childhood memories with many family members and enjoyable experiences with animals.

Firstly the landscape is astonishing. From the rivers to the towering country hills and mountains in the far distance. The fragrance of the countryside is fresh  with a hint of farm manure and the smell of pine in the breeze. Everywhere you sight is lush green grassy paddocks with multi coloured cows, bulls, sheep, horses and free range chickens.

Out of many various stories my nana has told me this would be my favourite. Te Heke a courageous Ngapuhi chief discovered a fantasizing big rock in a plot of a Pakehas’ land. In the rock are four holes and water squirts out of them. Pipiwai inherited its name from this rock. Pipi means to squirt and wai means water. This rock is located in a paddock on Moores Road.

While I'm there, I like to indulge in the luxurious clear waters. If you're trying to get privacy this is almost impossible because all the locals gather to enjoy time with their whanau and friends or to cool off in the summer heat. There are many streams, rivers and lakes you can soak in, in the peace and quiet.

Going on nature walks is something I really love. Just walking through forests and coming across interesting objects you wouldn't have expected to sight like unusual bird feathers, animal tracks and sap from kauri and gum trees. Collecting and admiring new things you're unfamiliar with is amazing. Seeing all of the land around me shift a bit every time I'm there, so there are always new adventures to take on daily.

Te Horo is the only primary school in Pipiwai. Every Wednesday it used to hold a Twilight family night to fundraise money for new construction to take place around the school or just to gather and enjoy time with the whanau. Adults and children were able to participate in activities that involve netball, volleyball and touch. The best thing was the hearty Maori food such as Maori burgers, hangi, fried bread and kids treats.

If you need milk, petroleum or meat, farmers are willing to barter. They are so generous they even give kids good paying jobs in the holidays if you’re alright with getting down and dirty with the animals: waking at early hours in the morning while the dew sets on the grass and condensation forms on the windows. Would you consider being a part time farmer?

Eels are a delicacy in the Maori culture. There are many streams located around Pipiwai some may even be just a paddock away. The key to catching eels is to be quiet and stationary. Ripples on the surface of the water are a great sign, the more ripples the more eels. Eels are nocturnal so it's best to go eeling at sundown.

Unfortunately some households can’t access water to flush their toilets so there’s a long drop. There aren’t any lights and you have to set off in the dark alone or alongside a parent. But on the bright side it’s more efficient and you’re using less water. When it comes to that time of the year  you have to make a new plot for your long drop, you get yourself stuck in quite a smelly situation.

I gotta say, “There's no place like home.”

Glossary

whanau - family

marae - Maori meeting house

ataahua - beautiful

Miria's Presentation as a Manaiakalani Ambassador

Manaiakalani Ambassador

The sight of my picture exposed on the projector signaled it was my time to speak.. Eyes concentrated on me and waiting for me to begin. I took a deep breath and began presenting my speech loud and clear.

I wasn't really shy, thanks to the encouragement of my teacher and principal who helped me overcome my stage fright.

Hearing a whole selection of new subjects I didn't know existed was great. The other students there informed me well about what they did and I also enjoyed the humorous speeches and videos. I am looking forward to presenting my next speech.

Here’s the link to my speech. Check it out and give me a feedback on something I can improve next time.

https://drive.google.com/a/ruapotaka.school.nz/file/d/0B2pVxsWoXHEOVmtmbDZiYWZpTVE/preview

Here is the speech:

Speech

Kia Ora My name is Miria Marsh and I am in year 8. I attend Ruapotaka School which is a full primary school on  Taratoa street.

This year my class took on the task of hosting our Senior Syndicate Assembly. This meant we had to negotiate with each other and organise roles to present. The displaying of our work was to be included in our assembly. Making a selection of songs also needed to be added. This was difficult because we all had to agree with the song choices and they had to be appropriate for school-aged children.. We asked for requests from other teachers and classes and what they wanted to sing. We made a decision about a couple of songs as a class. We inserted the links to the songs on a google document so they were only a click away. Next we made a Google document and shared it with everyone who was participating and contributing to the hosting of the assembly, so they could access it and we could then begin our collaboration.. Then we inserted a table and laid out our parts of the speech. We had to decide what items we wanted included in our assembly and who was going to say what and in what order they were to be said. We argued, agreed, disagreed, negotiated and finally came to a compromise on the schedule. When this was completed, we had to memorize our speeches and present them loud and clear.

Finding students in my class who wanted to showcase their Independent Inquiry learning about Water Sustainability and Wastewise was simple. Then five students including myself volunteered to display our visual arts and google presentations. Each of us had a WALT to state that was relevant to our artwork, and we obtained these WALTs through our classroom’s daily planner. Our teacher went over what we decided and double checked everything made grammatical sense. Our teacher provided us with her opinions and we made changes as a group. In our classroom we are independent learners. The assembly was under way and I thought it went better than I expected. Teachers complimented us on how well we had done. Our teacher, other classroom teachers as well as an observer who had come to watch our learning were impressed by the  collaborative work we had done together and the co-operation that was needed in making this work for us. Our assembly was done and dusted and each of us hostesses and hosts went into our Google drive and wrote a blurb about what we did to take part in our assembly. Our photos were taken while we were hosting the assembly and uploaded them to our class site. Each of us took a photo and inserted it into our blog.

Wastewise by Elizabeth

Water Sustainability by Damien

Waste Performance

Save Yummy Land, Make a Plan. 

On Monday Matt and Andy came along to show us the importance of wasting and recycling. They told a story of a land called Yummy Land. 
In Yummy Land there was a worm. His name was Worm. He was very hungry and was looking for food scraps that had been thrown away for worm to eat. But no food was put away for him. Instead the food was put into rubbish bins and the piles of rubbish bags had overgrown. 
Therefore Yummy Land was turned to Stinky Bag City. In the end Worm was saved by a human, Simon. He gave all his leftovers to Worm to eat, his rubbish piles shrunk and Yummy Land was saved.
By Damien

Interschool Soccer Competition

Football Tournament

Balls flying everywhere, supporters cheering here and there,  coaches shouting what to do, even though we scored a few.

After all the football games we played we felt weak. Then it was finally time for the manager to announce the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth placings. We were anxious for the host to report back where Ruapotaka School came.   Suddenly we found out that we came second. We were so amazed. Our team were all up and cheering. We were acknowledged for our second placing by being given posters and certificates.

We all had fun, even before it begun and now we are all proud, we started to shout out loud!!
By Elizabeth, Sini, and Damien