The rain forest express

We were so happy that the sun was shining on Tuesday as we headed out to the Waitakere Ranges.
Below are some photos we captured on our journey as we travelled on the Rain Forest Express to see the Upper Nihotupu Dam. From the Dam we walked out of the bush to catch the bus.  It was an action packed day where we saw a lot of water!!!

The cycle of water

The term is under way and it is raining - which is appropriate as we start our unit of work on 'Water'.

During the term we will explore ....... 

How we use water everyday

How important water is to every living thing

The water cycle

The importance of keeping our water ways clean 

The impact of the quality of the water on animals/creatures that live within it. 

During this term we have a trip planned to the Rainforest Express to view a dam first hand and a visit from Sally Smith from watercare who will help us explore the difference between storm water and waste water. 

The scooter board by Kieran

Listen to Kieran reading his story.

Teddy Bear's Picnic

Last Friday we had a teddy bears picnic down in the woods (i.e.the bush on the bottom field). We made hats for ourselves and our teddies before the picnic.

Here we are in the woods!!

Sharing our food with our teddies.

Back in room one - we found one teddy on the window ledge - exhausted from the picnic!!! He had swapped his teddy bear hat for a Sunnybrae hat. We decided that all of our teddy bears would sleep well.

Thank-you Donna

Last week Leon's Mum, Donna visited our classroom to tell us about her culture. Donna is Maori and has strong links to her cultural identity. She began with a Mihimihi which is a greeting that told us a lot about her e.g. her waka, her river, her mountain, her tribe , her ancestors and immediate family.


Donna read us one of her favourite books and we all listened - it was a great story.

Then Donna taught us some songs and we did the actions.

After that Donna showed us, step by step how to weave a fish. We were all so patient as Donna raced around to help us all.

Thank - you Donna for sharing your culture with us.

Tapa designs

Here are some more of our Tapa designs. This time we made our designs and used bright, colourful dyes to enhance our patterns.

Race Relations Day

Today as a school we celebrated Race Relations Day with everyone encouraged to wear their National Costume. Well done to all the children in Room One who dressed up, including Mrs Morley who was taking the class for the day :-)   Can you work out what country these children come from?

As a school we joined in teams that included children from Year 1 to Year 6 and played games together. In the afternoon we moved to Room 2 and then Room 3 to make some art work/craft from a different culture.

It was a lovely way to celebrate Race Relations Day and acknowledge all the wonderful cultures that  the children of Sunnybrae Normal School belong to.

Softball coaching

Today we have our first coaching sessions with a softball coach. In this session we were learning about running to each base and how to stop the softball. It was a lot of fun and we look forward to our next session. 

Last day in the pool

On our last swimming session for the season, most of us got in at the deep end and had a lot of fun in the water. With daily swimming lessons four times a week we have gained a lot more confidence in the water.