Welcome to week 5!

Kia ora whanau,

We are almost halfway through term 2 already and there is a lot of awesome work happening in Turanganui. Every class has been on fire with their Mathletics accounts and each week we will be acknowledging our top mathletes via our blog, on room 22's windows and during our team hui. A lot of our students are driving their learning and working hard not only in class but at home as well. We are really proud of every student who is doing extra for themselves. Here is a look at this week's leaderboard.

Homework

Every Turanganui student is expected to be working on the following homework tasks each week. 

Maths 

Times Tables Practise

Mathletics - Set tasks and students self selected tasks.

Literacy

Reading each night - books, magazines, internet, papers.

Current events

Staying in touch with what's happening in our community, Aotearoa and the wider world by watching the news, reading the papers and talking with whanau. Current events are often discussed in classrooms to ensure we stay connected to what is going on around us.

Unfinished work and projects

If your child does complete their set classroom tasks they should be taking them home to complete. At different stages throughout the term classes will have research projects to undertake. This will require extra input out of school too.

 At the moment students should be working on their speeches which they are writing in class. All Turanganui classes will be saying their speeches on Thursday 9th June and our syndicate finals will be held at 9am on Thursday 16th June. We will announce our syndicate finalists on Friday the 10th June so whanau have enough time to organise time off if they wish to come in and support their children for our team finals. 

Tekau ma Rua Hangi

Last Friday our syndicate leadership group and whanau had a hangi fundraiser for our trip to Wellington in 3 weeks time. We also had a number of other Turanganui students who came in to help their peers which was most appreciated. We love being a part of this awesome team where manaakitanga, kotahitanga and whakawhanaungatanga are always prevalent. Thank you so much to all of our wonderful whanau and friends for donating food, selling tickets, coming in and prepping the food and then distributing on Friday. We raised just under $2300 with this fundraiser alone. Thank you to everyone who supported us especially Matua Billy Babbington who cooked our hangi for us. 

 Matua Willie Kaa, Matua Walter and Matua Bruce busy unloading our hangi.

 Paige and Koka Sheryl Tuari busy packing

Tekau ma Rua hard at work last Thursday night - they finished up about 8pm and it was pleasure to watch them all in action together. 

Amoe Wharehinga and Ani Whaanga-Smith under the watchful eyes of Paddy Blackman, Manaia Tuari and Peyton Riri.

Manaia Tuari and Peyton Riri

Our awesome Tekau ma Rua whanau 

Jade Vercoe hard at work with all of her cabbages!

Waylon Uatuku and Irie Eyles - Mahi Machines!

Attlee Waitoa

Paige Tamatea

We wish Paige Tamatea and Attlee Waitoa all the very best for their performance in Napier tomorrow with our stage challenge team. Stay tuned for pictures from this awesome event in the next couple of days. We are very proud of our two girls for making the team. Congratulations also to Alani Dunn and James Taplin for making our school squash team who travelled to Taupo last week. Mrs Williams reported that these kids were a dream to travel away with and their results will be celebrated in this week's school panui. Awesome work boys!

What's on this week?

Monday

Hauora and Team Hui

Syndicate PE Extension

Day 1

Tuesday

Stage Challenge Group return at 1:30pm

Day 2

Wednesday

New tech starts

Day 3

Thursday

New tech - Session 2

Mufti Day Fundraiser

Day 4

Friday

Kapa Haka

Kapa Haka Extension

Focused Friday

Room 19 - Making sherbert - Miss Parker

Room 20 - Skateboard Ramp Challenge - Mrs Sambrook

Room 21 - Jiwi Machines - Mr Fourie

Room 22 - Tikanga Maori - Matua Puri

Room 24 - Badminton - Mrs Hunt

Our Turanganui Waiata

Matua Puri composed this waiata (song) for our team. It contains our school vision 'To grow great people' as well as encouraging our kids to strive for excellence. Here are the words in both Te Reo Maori and English.

Sonny Perston and Koka Sam hard at work in Room 23

Finally, please ensure you have your say regarding our BOT parent representatives. We have three awesome dads from our Turanganui whanau who have put their hands up to be considered to join our Gisint BOT. Forms must be returned by this Friday 3rd June and can either be posted in the allocated envelopes or delivered to our lovely office staff. The BOT is an awesome opportunity for whanau to have a say in regards to our children's education. We wish all candidates the very best.

Have a fabulous week everyone!

Welcome to Week 4

Aroha Noa - Kindness Workshop

Matua Teina, Matua Puriri and Koka Raiha came in last Monday to promote the 'Aroha Noa' or 'Kindness Rocks' Talent show that will be taking place at the War Memorial theatre in June. Our children are encouraged to put together an item that promotes being kind to others and our top performers will go through to the regional performances next month.  Matua Teina Moetara spoke to our team about the significance of the talent show and gave our students ideas to support this very important kaupapa. 

World Famous in Gizzy!

It was fantastic to see a number of Turanganui Taonga in our local Gisborne Herald last week.

Monaro Stevens - Room 20, Matariki Kaa- Room 20 and Irie Eyles - Room 20, busy cleaning up our beaches with their Taruheru mate Eddie Holdsworth. These awesome young men went down to Midway and Waikanae beach to clean up and have some fun playing some beach rugby. This initiative was the brainchild of some students who are working with Mr Hart through our school leadership group and was a success. It was a fantastic opportunity for all four syndicates to work together for a great cause. 

Brandie Hiroki - Room 20 and Hawaiki Nepe - Room 19, cleaning up the sand dunes with their two Taruheru friends. 

Seven of our wonderful Tekau ma Rua leaders who spoke to the Gisborne Herald last week on behalf of our team to explain the significance of our team taonga and to thank the community organisations involved in producing them for us. 

Year 7 Immunisation Forms

Last week all year 7's had to attend a hui in the hall regarding their up and coming immunisations. If your child has not returned their form to school then please ensure these come in on Monday as the health nurses are coming in to collect them. Everyone must return a form to indicate whether they are or are not getting their immunisation done at school. 

Watching the information video and listening to the health nurses about the year 7 immunisations.

Twilight Garage Sale Opportunity

Our Tekau ma Rua have been selling hangi tickets for their trip to Wellington and pick up is this Friday at 4pm. To coincide with this there will be a Twilight Garage Sale from 4:00pm to 5:00pm for any Turanganui student to bring along their wares to sell to earn some money for their action week trips. Interested students must register their interest with their teacher. The garage sale will be set up under our deck area. 

Some of our Turanganui Term 2 Curriculum Foci

Maths 

Number Knowledge, Basic Facts and Problem solving through strand. Our classes are based with their own teacher working on building their number knowledge from Monday to Wednesday and on Thursday each class spends two weeks with each Turanganui teacher working on problem solving through Measurement, Statistics and Number and Algebra. We expect all Turanganui students to be doing extra work around their maths at home and during break times at school through their Mathletics accounts and will be celebrating our highest achievers at each Monday team hui. The first lot of certificates will be sent home tomorrow for any Silver certificate recipients and we await in anticipation for our first Turanganui Gold student.  Basic Maths Homework for every student should be the mastering of their times tables at the very least. Thanks in advance for encouraging and supporting your child with this. 

Thursday Problem Solving Focus Groups

Koka Jodie - Number and Measurement  - Patterns Focus

Matua Puri - Statistics

Matua Bruce - Number and Algebra

Koka Ana - Geometry and Measurement  - Mapping focus

Koka Tracey - Geometry and Measurement

PE

Hauora - Our fitness sessions continue to impress and Koka Tracey had a fantastic excursion to the beach last week with her extension runners. it is important that the students in this group bring shoes to run in to protect their feet. A permission form went home last week for any runners in the sub 10 minute category and there are a number of children striving to make this group. It is excellent to see everyone's individual improvements. 

Invasion - Health and PE

Aside from our hauora fitness sessions each class is working on developing their invasion skills. Some classes have been making their own games and trialling them with their peers and we have also been learning more traditional games such as ki o rahi, tapuae, tiuru, mau rakau and poi toa. Monday to Wednesday is spent with our own teacher and then on Thursday each class spends two weeks with each Turanganui teacher.

Every class has also been focusing on our school and team values and developing rubrics around what these values mean and look like in action. 

Reading

Every class has been working on reading strategies, shared readers and readers theatre to perform at the end of the term. 

Writing - Speeches and other gems

Our team speech finals are in week 7 so every class will be in to these in full swing this week. The students may choose any topic and the speeches need to be 3 minutes in length. Props may be used to aide the presentation but should not dominate the speech. Our students will be encouraged to practise these at home and whanau are welcome to support their children with their speeches. Our syndicate finals will be held on Thursday the 16th June at 9am. 

Monday

Lightweight rugby comp

Day 5

Tuesday

Staff vs Students Ultimate Frisbee @Lunch

Day 1

Wednesday

Action Week Meetings @Lunch

PB Gym Festival

Day 3

Tech

Thursday

Otago Problem Solving 2

Day 5

Tekau ma Rua Hangi Prep after school

Friday

Kapa Haka

Kapa Haka Extension

Focused Friday

Room 19 - Miss Owen - Physics - room 10

Room 20 - Mr Barclay - Ultimate - Field

Room 21 - Mrs Collier - Spanish - Room 18

Room 22 - Mr Hooper - Padder Tennis - Back Courts

Room 24 - Mr Hart - Handball - YMCA

Assembly

Tekau ma Rua Hangi Pick up @4pm from Room 23

Turanganui Twilight Garage Sale 4pm to 5pm Room 23 Deck area

Well done to these Turanganui Taonga for earning Silver Certificates for Mathletics!
The race if on to see who will be the first from our team to earn a Gold certificate - These students will be acknowledged at team hui tomorrow - Kei runga noa atu koutou!

Have a great week everyone!

Welcome to week 3

Kapa Haka Extension with Papa Pura last Friday - Our Gisint children sound amazing!

Kia ora koutou,

What a fantastic weekend of gorgeous weather in little old Gizzy. We hope you all enjoyed the weekend with your whanau and friends and managed to play or watch some sport around the region. 

Last Friday saw the start of our infamous Focused Friday programme and every class came back excited about what they had learnt from their host teacher. Every Friday the students will rotate around a different topic and teacher in a curriculum based lesson. These sessions are a fantastic way to be exposed to new skills and ideas and other Gisint teachers as well. Please check with your child as to how their session went. We had....

Room 19 - went to Padder Tennis with Mr Hooper

Room 20 - went to Handball with Mr Hart

Room 21 - went to the Skateboard Challenge with Koka Glenda

Room 22 - went to Balloon Racers with Miss Craill

Room 24 - went to Physics with Miss Owen. 

Check out our 'What's on at Gisint' further down for this weeks activities. 

We have a number of Turanganui students who have been trialling for and have made different rep teams and look forward to sharing these with you as they become public. 

Well done to the following students who have made our Gisint Openweight rugby team.

What's on at Gisint this week?

Monday

National Road Safety Week begins
Aroha Noa performance group are in to perform for our syndicate regarding their 'Kindness' competition.

Tuesday

Donut orders are due $2 each - delicious cinnamon for sale. Delivery this Thursday.

ICAS Digital exam 9am or 11am

Extension PE and Differentiated Runs

Wednesday

Tech

Thursday

Tech

Donut Delivery Day

Beach Rugby comp

Friday

Kapa Haka
Kapa Haka Extension
Focused Friday
Room 19 = Tikanga Maori with Matua Puri
Room 20 =  Badminton with Mrs Hunt
Room 21 = Electronics with Mr Ashman
Room 22 = Tennis with Miss Dever
Room 24 = Making Sherbert with Miss Parker

Assemblies

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Welcome to week 2

Kia ora koutou,

Happy Mother's Day to all of our Turanganui Taonga Mum's and Nannies - we hope you were all spoilt by your children.

Nga mihi nui ki a Matariki Kaa and Anna Manuel who received the Student of the Week award at last week's assembly. Both Matariki and Anna strive for excellence and demonstrate our school and team values everyday. We are very proud of them both. Please see this week's school newsletter for a full write up of why they received this prestigious recognition.

Matariki Kaa - Room 20 

Anna Manuel - Room 22

Thank you very much to our Tekau ma Rua leaders and whanau for coming to school at 7am on Saturday morning for our garage sale to raise funds for our leadership trip to Wellington in June. We raised $320 and will be having another Twilight sale and hangi on Friday the 27th May. 

If your child would like to set up a stall on this afternoon to start raising funds for their action week trip then they are most welcome to and just need to let their teacher know. We will have the Twilight sale from 4pm until 5:30pm to allow people who are at work time to collect. This is a great opportunity for all Turanganui students to not only clear out some of their unwanted things but to make some money towards action week as well. 

Gorgeous Miss Manaia Martin-Akuhata modelling some of our garage sale treasures and Matariki, Manaia, Treyson and Phoenix working together. 

Do you have any old cushions, squabs, beanbags or mattresses at home that we could use for our 'Pellet Furniture' that they students will be making for our team area and room 23? If you can help please send your donations into room 23 and they will be greatly received for our team to use during work time and break times too. On any given day we can have up to 60 kids enjoying this space during breaks and the children asked if we could get more comfy seating for them. Also if you have any old picnic tables that you are happy to donate please let us know too. We can pick up if necessary. Thank you in advance. 

Trials and other awesome opportunities @Gisint

What is your child doing?

We are really impressed with the large number of Turanganui students who are currently trialling for sports teams and other opportunities. There are currently trials for Ultimate Frisbee, Rugby, Soccer, Netball and Basketball as well as sign ups for.....

Movie Making, Badminton, Table Tennis, Crossfit and the Maggi Kitchen Showdowns.

With so many of our students involved in multiple activities, it is imperative that they inform their coaches when there are clashes. Self management is one of our core school values and this is one way to demonstrate excellence and respect in this area. 

Turanganui Hauora 

Our team hauora session have been fantastic and the majority of our students are striving to improve each day. Every single school and team value is loaded into these sessions and we have seen a marked improvement since we first started. We hope to enter our team into a community event later in the year and of course are looking forward to our school cross country on the last day of this term. Congratulations to the following students who are the first Turanganui Taonga to be selected for our syndicate Extension PE sessions. These students were selected by their classroom teachers for their all round attitude and effort in classroom PE and will spend the next five weeks during team hauora sessions with Matua Bruce at Crossfit 4010. After this five week period another 20 students will be selected. Over the course of the year every student in our syndicate has the opportunity to be selected for this experience if they set their mind to it. 

Here is a look at what's happening at Gisint this week

Monday

• Team hui and certificates

Tuesday

• Tech

Wednesday

• Tech
• Tekau ma Rua Leadership session with Te Wananga o Aotearoa

Thursday

• School Disco - $5 from 6.30pm to 8:30pm

Friday

• Kapa Haka
• Room 21 Student of the Week
• Kapa Haka Extension
• Assembly
• Stage Challenge
• Lawn Bowls
• Focused Friday starts

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Term two and pumping!

Kia ora koutou,

Our first two days of the new term have flown by and the children have settled in beautifully. The year 7's and 8's have had two tech sessions, our Turanganui 

Taonga were given out yesterday, we had a Turanganui wananga session on Te Whare Tapa Wha, Ki o Rahi and the Tikanga behind our team taonga and all classes are focusing hard on their maths, reading and writing. It was also a lovely sight to see so many Turanganui students proudly wearing their taonga to school today.

Koka Sam and Koka Kat teaching our boys how to weave their cord for their taonga. 

Tomorrow our tekau ma rua will be heading to Te Wananga o Aotearoa for a leadership session and there is a Tekau ma Rua whanau hui tomorrow at 5:15pm in Room 22 regarding our trip to Wellington. 

Matua Walter teaching our girls the meaning behind our team taonga. The students will be recounting this learning on their individual blogs and well as penning some thank you letters for the different people who contributed to making our taonga possible. 

There have been a number of our students who have spent their first two days trialling for our winter sports teams. Please remember whanau can access our school notices at home via the tabs at the top of our blog so you can see what is on offer at school. 

Koka Tracey and our boys setting up for and playing Ki o Rahi.