What a year it has been!

Thank you whanau for all the support you have given to us during this year. Every year our sense of whanau grows stronger and we appreciate your continued piripono (loyalty) to our school.

Unless our children are moving onto intermediate next year, we hope to see all of our children back at Yendarra in 2016. We have already started planning two big school trips, the first to the Auckland Zoo and the second is to the Rocky Shore as well as many exciting visitors, shows and trips throughout the year.

To show our appreciation of your piripono (loyalty) all children who are back at Yendarra School by 19 February as well as any new children, will receive their stationary and a sun hat FREE. That is a saving of $35 per child!

We hope you have a peaceful, love-filled and happy Christmas with your loved ones.

Looking forward to seeing you all back in 2016.

Ava Ceremony

We have been learning about the Samoan Ava ceremony and some of the roles and responsibilities of members who take part in this special ceremony.

The Ava ceremony usually takes place when there is a special occasion like welcoming visitors or presenting chief titles.

In an Ava ceremony the taupou is the highest chief’s daughter and she has the special role of mixing the Ava drink in a tanoa Ava bowl using a fau strainer. She is not allowed to smile, talk or wear jewellery when she is mixing the Ava. By Jasmine

The tufaava caller is the chief who calls out who the Ava drink is to be served to. He will let the tautuava server know who to give the Ava drink to. He needs to know who to give the Ava drink to and use a special chanting voice. By Trevor

The tautuava server stands up when he is called and waits for the tufaava caller to say which chief to serve first. The highest visiting chief is always served first. When serving the highest chief the tufaava is to use two hands to hold the ipu ava cup.  By Fogavai

We look forward to taking our learning further and sharing what we have learnt about the Samoan Ava ceremony using music and dance at our Fiafia celebration this year.   

Fa’afetai lava Room 18.

Week 6 BEST Attendance

Congratulations to the following winners for achieving BEST attendance..

Second place is..

 Room 2 with 92%

First equal is..

Room 21 and Room 13 with 96%

Who will be the winners next week?

Yendarra meets the TALLEST athletes

Thank you to the Sky City breakers and the team for providing our school with an opportunity to participate in a kids verse breakers special event.  Our school was one of many invited to travel to the Otara Leisure Centre and then gifted resources that can be used in our school with teachers and children to sustain the love and development of basketball.

Upon arrival back to school after the event we began describing the significance of the moment using a cinquain poem to share adjectives, verbs and emotions.  These are some of our ideas written by Room 19’s authors.

NZ Breakers Basketball Team

Professional with Speed

Scoring, Defending, Shooting

Players are as tall as giraffe’s making me feel small

Athlete

By Nora

BASKET-BALL

BIG and GRIPPY

BOUNCY, HEAVY, FAST

I WISH I COULD PASS REALLY FAST

SPHERE

By Rykien

NZ Breakers

Famous, Athletic

Fast, Dribbling, Blocking

I want to shoot hoops like them

Baller

By Tamisha

Week 5 BEST attendance results

Congratulations to...

Room 20 and Room 23 with 92%

Remember whanau, the target is 90%. 

Who will be the winners next week?

Athletics Day

We were dressed in black to celebrate the victorious All Blacks, we had just finished singing the New Zealand National Anthem and we were pumped and ready to go! Athletics Day was awesome! We had lots of different stations to visit and we were feeling excited.

Check out some of the action...

Saumotu getting ready for his shotput throw

'On your marks, get set, GO!" Year 4 girls running the 50m

The long jump. Go Mercy-Jane! 

"Ready, set, GO!" Year 6 boys running the 75m

After showing manawanui (never giving up) during all of the stations, we joined together again  as a whanau and enjoyed a waiata with Mrs Tu’ikolovatu. As a school whanau we said karakia together to thank God for the beautiful day and the people who had prepared our food. We then went with our classes and families to enjoy delicious healthy kai. Our picnics were so colourful like the colours of the rainbow and we enjoyed our healthy kai.

Check out some of our delicious, healthy picnic lunches. We think our parents and whanau who made our picnic food are amazing!

Hope, Grace and Amaziah enjoying yummy sushi and delicious home made fruit salad. No fruit salad in a can for this family as they have made the healthier home-made option. Now we know your secret for making such good choices and always being ‘the BEST you can!’

Leon and Dylan having some scrumptious salad sandwiches, as well as cucumber slices. carrot sticks, fruit and yoghurt! No wonder you guys always look so healthy and make such good choices in the classroom and on the playground! Look at your healthy, white teeth that show you are making healthy food choices and drinking water.

What a feast! YUM look at those scrumptious, sweet, succulent strawberries. We really like to see that you are eating a salad for lunch as well as water. Look at those salad filled sandwiches and the water!

Perez and Jodeci enjoying their prize winning picnic lunch. We all went WOW WOW WOW at all of the amazing picnics. Perez and Jodeci’s  Mum made fruit kebabs by buying a $2 punnet of strawberries, a $2 punnet of grapes, a banana and kiwifruit. From this she was able to make 10 fruit kebabs to feed 10 people. She had also brought to school a vegetable platter, rolled ham, salad sandwiches and of course everyone at Yendarra School’s favourite….WATER! They were a lucky family as they were awarded a FREE picnic hamper and lots of yummy, healthy food.

We had such a lovely day with the perfect weather, brilliant children, fun activities, amazing parents and whanau and of course our wonderful teachers who always smile, say kind things to us and help us ‘be the BEST we can’.

Athletics Day was fantastic! We can’t wait for next year’s Athletics Day and whanau school picnic.

Term 4 BEST Attendance Results So Far..

Week 1

Room 18 with 91%

Week 3

Room 18 and Room 19 with 96%

Week 4

Room 23 with 92%

Room 18 with 91%

WOW Room 18!! What's your secret? You are leading the way and setting the BEST example for the other classes who are wanting to achieve BEST attendance.

Who will be the winners next week?

Ukulele Festival

A team of year 5 and 6 children have been practicing very hard with our very talented Music Academy Teacher Mr Lakatani. We are lucky to have such an inspirational Music Teacher who is preparing us for the famous ‘New Zealand Ukulele Festival’. We are learning over 15 songs which we will perform on the day. Some of those songs include ‘Don’t forget your Roots’ and ‘Pokarekare Ana’.


Here we are at the rehearsal held at East Tamaki School

Our talented tamariki are travelling to the New Zealand Ukulele Festival on the 28th of November. It is a free event so anyone can come along and enjoy the music and awesome atmosphere.

We’ll see you there!

SHAKE OUT!

On Thursday the 15th of October Yendarra participated in the nationwide SHAKE OUT earthquake drill. There were over 1.36 million kiwis that took part. Did you?

Do you know what to do to keep safe in an earthquake?

Here are some senior children showing us what to do if an earthquake occurred during learning time.

Let’s test your knowledge after the SHAKE OUT. Here are some questions for you; How many will you get right?

1. What are the 3 key words to remember in an earthquake?
2. Why are some children holding onto the table legs?
3. Why are the children holding onto their mahunga (heads)?
4. How do you keep safe if you are outside in an earthquake?

Room 22 say THANK YOU to our swim coaches!

Dear Steve, Ana and Michael,

We would like to thank you for helping us to learn swimming skills. To show our appreciation we have written a Who Am I?

You need to use the clues to figure out which animal it is that swims just like us!

I can swim fast with my legs and they can go really deep because they are fat. I have two nostrils and I have a big body and a small tail.

Who am I?

I have a big shell and two claws and eight legs and a little body.

Who am I?

Room 13's Tiki Tour of New Zealand

Every Tuesday in Room 13 we take a special Tiki Tour around our beautiful country, Aotearoa New Zealand. In Term 3 we made it to all the major towns and cities in the North Island - Te Ika-a-Maui. Well this week we jumped on the Interislander ferry and crossed the Cook Strait to the South Island - Te Waipounamu. We docked the boat in Picton and…. Wow! What a beautiful place!

Here is some examples of our writing about our journey.

If you are looking for a quiet peaceful place, then Picton is the place for you! In Picton there are white boats and green hills where you can view all of the area. You can head out to the bay. Picton might be a fine place for you! You can go hiking in Picton and then go camping with a lantern. Picton is near water named the Cook Strait and Picton is at the top of the South Island. There is lots of boats there and they’re all white. The sun shines on the boats and the boats shine back to the sun. When the moon comes up you can go for a drive in the car and that would be a nice big treat. Then you can have a rest and go to sleep.

By Zayden, Year 3

If you are looking for an amazing place to go, then Picton is the place for you. Picton is at the top of the South Island. I took a boat to Picton. If you want to get there then you will have to go over the Cook Strait and the boat that you will go on is a ferry, this is called the Interislander ferry. You can park your car under the boat and they will put chains on the wheels so the car can’t move. The boat ride will take you about 2 and a half hours from Wellington. You can go fishing, bushwalking and mountain biking there. You will have the best adventure holiday! There might be dolphins, sea lions and seals. There is a fish farm in Picton. You will find a cafe there for when you feel hungry and thirsty. When I went fishing there I caught a snapper and a mullet.

By Amaziah, Year 4

Dear Zayden and Amaziah

I have really enjoyed my trip to Picton and would love to go to see the sites that you have mentioned.

I would like to fly down and I am wondering whether you could perhaps find out where I would fly to and how much it would cost me to go. I would like to go the day after school ends and stay there for three nights. I do hope you can help me as I am too busy to research this myself.

Eagerly awaiting your response.

Love Mrs Dunlop

Aotearoa New Zealand has so many amazing things to do and sights to see, I wonder where Room 13 will go next?

Room 21 says THANK YOU to our swim coaches!

We love Friday's because its when we go swimming!

Gzeal, Leon, Bernard, Tukia, TJ and Dimitry during Water Safety week.

We have learnt..

To kick with fast feet

To blow bubbles when my head is under water

To wear a life jacket when I go on a boat with my friends and family.

If we capsize, to huddle together to stay warm.

Forming a huddle to stay warm

Getting ready for our next instructions

Leilani having her life jacket checked.

Thank you to the John Walker Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation for including our school in your community swim programme! We are so thankful.

Room 14 says a big THANK YOU to our swim coaches

From Room 14

Dear Anna,

I am writing to say thank you for teaching me how to swim.  My favourite part of our swimming lessons was when you were showing me how to do a starfish.

You have been an amazing swimming instructor.

Love,

Naomi (Year 4)

When I grow up ...

When I grow up I would want to be an instructor just like Steve, Michael and Anna.  They know how to teach kids like us.  

They taught us two lessons.  Number one was listen with your ears.  The second lesson was to always make good choices.  If we did those two lessons well we got to play a game.

Thank you,

Ashton

Year 3

Dear Steve,

I am writing to say thank you for teaching us how to swim.

My favourite part of swimming lessons was pindrop and backdrop because I might want to be an instructor when I grow up or a famous surfer.

Thank you for teaching me about lifejackets because I can go fishing on a boat.

Thank you again,

Dylan

Year 4

Dear Michael,

I am writing to say thank you for teaching me the freestyle arms and the pindrop.

I love the freestyle arms because they help me swim.  I like the pindrop because I liked it when I held on to the lifejackets.

It will help me because I go to the Otahuhu Pools all the time with my family.

Thank you,

Saedeze

Year 3

When we got back to school, we showed our teacher our new swimming skills ...

 Have you seen better rocket arms than ours?

 Best huddle ever!

The pin drop

    

Tongan Language Week at Yendarra

Yendarra share in the GREETING Malo e lelei

Malo aupito! to our Tongan whanau for sharing your love of language and culture through song, clothing and food.

Learning Tongan language this week has been a very ‘unique’ experience for our tamariki. We have learnt to appreciate each other’s cultures and experiences.  All classes had the opportunity to learn through pictures, video, stories, word charts, songs and live commentary from our Tongan teachers Mrs Tuikolovatu, Miss Tuli and our Tongan students.

When our Tongan whanau ‘dressed in their best’ we were all ‘star struck’ at how bright and beautiful everyone looked which caught the attention of so many compliments…

Your Tupenu makes you look neat, tidy and very tall…

You look amazing with bright colours…

The patterns weaved on your ta’ovala look awesome…

An impressive outfit must be made by some impressive family members…

If the week wasn’t already special Mrs Tuikolovatu and room 1 went visiting to share the Tongan love of song which made us all so very happy.