Science in Room 19

Our school wide science focus this term is 'Thinking like a Scientist". Through this the students are encouraged to develop their own curiosity and generate/ask their own questions with the experiments we do.

This week we carried out an experiment where we placed wooden skewers through blown up balloons.  Many thought this was impossible.  We had great fun and plenty of popping balloons as we rose to the challenge.  Many students were successful and well done to Kennedy who managed to get over 10 skewers through her balloon before it began to deflate.  

We had many questions and had a great class discussion about our thoughts and ideas.

Below is a YouTube clip explaining the science we discovered and also a few photos of our fun!

To see the YouTube Video - Click here

Important Dates - Term 1 2014

Hard to believe we are already heading into week 3 of the term. A big thank-you to all families for their support with organising all the students with the correct stationery, uniform and swimming gear.

As a team we are looking forward to meeting with parents/caregivers and discussing our student's learning goals at our upcoming conferences in week 5 (4th and 6th of March).  A reminder that the conference slips need to be returned to school as soon as possible so that we can book and confirm times.

A couple of other important dates to note are:

• School Swimming Sports - Wednesday 26th February (9:00am start)
• Interim Reports are being sent home on Friday 28th February
• School Photos - Monday 10th March

We look forward to many more blog posts this term showcasing our students and team. Please check back here regularly for more news and information.

Time to get organised!

We hope you have all had an enjoyable holiday.

There is only a little over a week of the holidays left so now is the time to get your uniform organised. Year 8's it's really important you check to ensure everything still fits, that you have a PE shirt and shorts, and you've got your black or brown sandals. The uniform outlet is mentioned on the home page of the Maeroa website.

Swimming will be our first major PE focus so you need to have swimwear- we are so lucky to have such a large swimming pool that's solar heated.

Many of the stationery shops are advertising back to school deals so it's a great time to buy your stationery.We would like all students to have their stationery on the first day. The class stationery lists are displayed on our blog for you to refer to.

We have updated our timetable so you can see when PE, library, tech/arts and Assemblies are on.

Enjoy the last week of the holidays. The three of us will be popping into school throughout next week so you are welcome to call in to say hello. If your teacher is not in when you come you're welcome to say hello to one of the other teachers in our team.

School starts on Monday 3 February at 8.45am. We look forward to seeing you all on Monday.

Graduation Dance

The Graduation Dance for Year 8 students was held in the last week of term. As a team we spent time learning social dances like the waltz, cha cha, hip bump and the bunny hop. Students were really looking forward to the evening and it certainly was a fantastic night! The Gym was transformed and looked amazing. The girls were stunning in their beautiful dresses and the boys very handsome in their shirts, ties and trousers! The supper was delicious with a range of yummy food including the chocolate fountains! We spent the whole night dancing and had a fabulous time.

Service Learning Projects

Throughout the year all classes at Maeroa plan and carry out a service learning project. Students identify a need within our school or local community and plan ways they could provide a service to help address that need. In our team we have cleaned chairs, weeded gardens, encouraged students to think about ways to reduce energy consumption, encouraged recycling, issued PE equipment to the school, provided gifts for adopt a family and supported Maeroa Lodge residents by providing singing entertainment and a basket of goodies.

One of Room 21's service learning high lights was our Have a Heart project. We worked with Mrs Libby our visual arts teacher and created small boxes which were traded at the Sugar Bowl cafe. People took one of our heart boxes and in return left us with a sustainable gift such as plant, knitted item, biscuits, jam and chutney. We then passed these gifts onto our schools 'Adopt a Family' and the residents at Maeroa Lodge. We really appreciated the support we received from Mrs Libby and Aaron and the staff at the Sugar Bowl

Final Assemblies

The first Formal Assembly for 2013 was held on Friday 6 December. This was the Recognition Assembly and it was fantastic to see a large number of Totara students receiving awards for the service roles that they have been involved in throughout the year. We had students receiving certificates for Staff-room, PE Shed, Road Patrol, Class Councillor and Ambassador roles. Well done Totara students for volunteering your time in these service roles! We were also very proud of a large number of Totara students who sang in the Choir or were members of the Christmas play who performed at this assembly.

This is a photo of Totara students who received certificates at the first Recognition Assembly. 

The Sports Assembly was on Monday 9th December. The students, in the photo below,  received certificates and we were very proud of their commitment, skills development and fair play skills! It was also great to see students from our team performing in dance performances at this assembly. Special mention must be made of Sam Cook and Jakeb Stent who were acknowledged as Year 7's who made a significant contribution to Sports at Maeroa. We were also extremely proud of Helena Silich who was named as one of the top sportswoman for 2013.

The Cultural Assembly was on Wednesday 11th December and once again a number of Totara students received awards. These are the smiling faces of our awardees!

The final Merit and Academic Assembly was on Friday 13th December. It was certainly another stunning assembly with plenty of proud students, families and teachers. These are the Totara students who were recognised at this assembly. 

New Students for 2014

It was wonderful to meet our Year 7 students for 2014 at Meet the Teacher Evening on Thursday night. The way you listened and the great questions many of you asked show just how enthusiastic you are about your learning journey! Our present Year 7 students were keen to look at the lists on Friday morning and found they already knew some of you through previous schools or sport and cultural activities, and they are certainly looking forward to working with you next year. A big thanks to all the parents who came. It was wonderful to meet you and we also look forward to seeing you lots during next year.