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.

Tapa designs

Over the past few weeks we have been exploring Tapa designs. We had fun creating these designs. They look beautiful on our wall.

Look at us

To start the school year, we drew some self portraits. We placed these self portraits on paper we covered with our handprints. Enjoy.

                                          Fiona

                                                Carla

                                                     Willow

Swimming carnival

Today we took part in the Junior swimming carnival. It was an opportunity for us all to show how far we have come in learning to be safe around and in water. We have gained confidence in our own ability in the water.  It was great to see so many parents and extended family members attend this event.

                                          Waiting to start

                                            The walking race

                                           The ball race

The crowd