From Principal’s Desk - for 17/5 Newsletter.
Welcome to Term 2… Week 3 already! Students have been working hard and making the
most of the continuing, mainly fine weather enjoying outside games during breaks. Next
Wednesday, Year 3-8 students will go to the combined schools 'Winter Sports’ Day. We hope
it’s lots of fun! Mrs Ferguson and I will stay back at school for the Year 1 and 2s.
Please note that Juliette will be helping out at Winter Sports and not at school on
Wednesday. The office will essentially be closed, though I’ll be available when I can.
TEACHER ONLY DAY
You should all know by now, but please remember that school will be closed on the 4 th June
as all teachers (and some Teacher Aides) in the Region will be attending a Writing workshop
at Waitomo Caves School that day.
NYLD
The National Young Leaders Day is in Hamilton on the 29 th of May. Thank-you to the
Fundraising Committee (and others in the community) who have raised money to allow all
Year 7 and 8 students to attend. Find information about the day at https://nyldnz.org/ Once
the Winter Sports’ Day is over, our school’s planning and organisation for this Leadership
Day will be finalised.
HOMEWORK
Homework is designed to support learning at school. Students should do what they can - it’s
not intended to be stressful. All students are expected to be reading at home and can take
books from school that their teacher has provided, or that they have had issued out of the
Library themselves. All students are entitled to issue 2 books at any one time. Students may
also have their own books or have borrowed from the Public Library. If you have any queries
about Homework, please let me know.
TUAKANA-TEINA READING
At the start of this term we began weekly Tuakana-Teina Reading, ie Buddy Reading, older
students with younger students. It’s proven to be very successful and is something that the
students look forward to at the end of each week. This supports students’ Reading progress
as well as positively building relationships among students of different ages.
WAIATA/KAPAHAKA
We have also begun whole school Waiata on Tuesday afternoons, following our Te Reo
Māori programme. Our school’s Cultural Leader, Kayleigh Albert, leads the Waiata where
students are also learning movement and actions for some songs. As skills and songs are
learnt, we may be able to build towards performance. Student leaders may be selected soon
to support this. We also value any parent/whānau involvement.
ERO
Katie Robinson and I had a full day with the ERO reviewers on Wednesday. We found it very
productive and helpful. Their Report is yet to be finalised and it may be several weeks before
it is available. Once it is, you will be notified.
Part of ERO’s role is reviewing our school attendance. Congratulations to Room 1 for being
the class with the highest attendance in Term 1: )
MARKET DAY
Thank-you for the massive input from so many of you for Market Day last term! Due to your
help with creating products, then your willingness to buy things, close to $2000 was raised
for student camps. It was a great day for students, staff and the community!
FINALLY…
From the 30 th May to 11 th June I will be on leave. Katie Robinson will be available for any
urgent matters while I’m away. I’m heading to the West Coast to help set things up on a farm
that my husband and I will be working on next season. I’ll return 12 th June to see the term out
at Maihiihi and assist with the transition to your new Principal, who the Board is likely to have
an announcement about in the next couple of weeks.

Ka ora koutou / Be well all of you.
Ngā mihi nui,
Phillippa
Ngā mihi nui,
Phillippa

Important reminders to all parents;-
SCHOOL HOURS - 9am - 3pm Mon - Firday
Please have your child/ren at school no later than 8.50am daily so that all bags, bookbags etc are sorted before the first bell at 9am.
LATE STUDENTS - If you child is arriving at school after the first bell at 9am please go straight to the school office with your child to sign them in on the electronic device located at the school office. Your child will them be given a late pass.
ABSENT STUDENTS - If your child is not going to be at school due to illness, appointments etc please notify the school office before 9am via School Loop App, Phone Call 07 873 2887 follow the voice prompts.
BUS - If your child is a regular bus pupil but will not be on the bus due to parent picking them up etc please ring the school on 07 873 2887 follow the voice prompts and leave a bus message.  If your child has a regular swimming, dance, sport lesson then please let the office know so that it can be recorded for the term. 
MONEY - Our school is now running a cashless system so please make ALL payments via Direct Credit.
Ref - Student Name    Particulars - What it is for ie Lunch, Uniform, Sport, RDA etc
BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS
ASB - Te Awamutu
Maihiihi School
12-3134-0049006-00

We have set off at the speed of light this term! This term we are learning about space. We have begun our inquiry learning about the stars specifically the Matariki cluster of stars. The students have been learning about the names of each of the nine stars of Matariki. We have also learnt what each star represents and means. We have made an action song to help us remember the names and meanings for each star. Look out for when we are sharing at assembly in week 7.

As part of our space inquiry we have also begun to learn about the sizes of the planets. During one of our STEM lessons we used play-dough to explore the different sizes of each planet and their distance from the sun. We were amazed at how small some of the closer planets were. We also learnt which planet was the hottest (Mercury) and which was the coldest (Neptune).

Last Friday we  started to learn about the moon and its craters. As part of STEM lesson, we dropped a range of different sized and weighted balls from a height in a a tray of flour with cocoa powder on the top. The students were amazed at the different sized craters we created using the different ball. One of the marbles created a secondary crater.

This term as part of our literacy learning we have begun fortnightly tuakana teina buddy reading across the school. All the students have loved reading to their buddy and listening to the stories their buddy reads to them. 

This term we have been learning how to dribble, stop and pass a soccer ball.  We have learnt that to dribble and pass a ball we use the inside of our foot. To stop the ball we use the ball of our foot. This has been lots of fun and also challenging.

On Wednesday we explored rockets and the different forces needed for rockets to soar. First we made a puff rocket this was very exciting watching the different distances and directions we could blow our rocket. Next we explored balloon rockets this was a lot of fun and there were lots of excited squeals and laughter. The rocket balloon flew straight up into the air hitting the roof.  The circle and skinny balloon shot across the room in a wiggly pattern.

As always feel free to contact me through email or class dojo. 
Charlotte Ferguson
cferguson@maihiihi.school.nz

Welcome back to Term 2. Wow the cold weather has arrived and we are definitely seeing and feeling the cold at school! I have seen a few of our ākonga scraping ice from our picnic benches...they are braver than me!
We are well into our COPS Winter Sports practice in preparation for the event next Wednesday in Otorohanga. I am looking forward to seeing our 3-4's compete in soccer at Otorohanga South School! For anyone who is willing to be a parent helper on the day please come and see me.

This term we have started our buddy reading programme once a week. This is based on a tuakana-teina approach whereby the tuakana (older child) works with and support the teina (younger child). It has been awesome to watch our senior classes take on the tuakana role and guide our younger ākonga through their reading.  

In week 1 we learnt how to use the Bee Bots for our inquiry/technology learning. Each group had to code the Bee Bots to go in a certain direction. We practiced first on a large piece of paper and used the pen attachment to draw a path. 
After this each group had a map of the Matariki star cluster, their challenge was to make the Bee Bot follow a path around each star. This was definitely harder than we originally thought! 

This term so far we have been working on our fractions knowledge. This is an area which requires many Mathematical skills such as addition/subtraction/multiplication/division. I have seen a huge improvement in the understanding overall in Room 2. Sometimes we have to improvise and find new and fun ways to consolidate our learning. This week we chose Playdough! 

With this being a busy time of the year for you all I understand if homework is not completed every day, so please don't feel that this is compulsory during this busy season.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns and would like to come and see me, please feel free to message me on Class Dojo, email me or come in and see me. My door is always open!

Noho ora mai rā
Ngā mihi nui.
Kayleigh Albert

kalbert@maihiihi.school.nz

We have had a busy start to Term 2, with our training for the COPS Winter Sports and our learning. Our topic focus for this term is Space and we have been researching about what things we can find in our Solar System. It has amazed the students that our Solar System is so huge and full of so many different objects.
We have had Abby Keech from King Country Rugby working with us to learn specific skills necessary for being able to play Rugby. She did a session with us on how to tackle correctly. This was so that we knew how to tackle someone without hurting them or ourselves. We look forward to our next session with her.

This term we the whole school has started a Tuakana Teina - Buddy Reading programme, where we are all buddied up with someone from another class, to do some shared reading together. In these sessions the buddies have books they are reading in class and a library book to read to each other. The students look forward to these sessions and really enjoy reading to their buddies.

We have been creating some lovey pieces of art, using coloured paper. We have made some interesting castle pictures that follow the design of artist Mary Blair. She worked for Walt Disney and designed awesome looking castles that you find in all the world's Disneyland parks. Our next piece of art work will be inspired by the french artist Henri Matisse. Please take the time to visit Room 3 and see our beautiful art work.

Roz Crotty
rcrotty@maihiihi.school.nz

Room 3 has been working on writing pieces of Descriptive Writing using verbs, adjectives and nouns that make our writing sound interesting, exciting and pleasing, to the reader. The following pieces of writing were written after we had sat outside listening, looking and feeling the natural environment around us.

I saw fluffy white clouds in the blue sky. The bright sun is warm.    - Kohen Henry

Colourful leaves floating from the tree.
Grey clouds swishing through the air.
Prickly wet grass scrunching under your feet.   - Gracie Hamilton.

I was on the green wet grass watching the orange leaves falling from the brown tree.
The floating clouds were moving across the blue sky.
I was walking on the wet grass in the cold breeze.
The birds were chirping in the tall tree.    - Jaymee Cabesas

The orange leaves flutter off the tall trees.
The green grass is prickly and wet.   - Lucas Disher

The blue sky is full of fluffy, white clouds.
I see the bright sun shinning.
I feel very hot and happy.   - Cove Gray

We are definitely rocketing into term 2 at light speed! This term we are focusing on 'Space'. One of the things we have been learning about is the different moons, and comparing their sizes. We have presented this information in bar graphs. Something else that we compared were craters. For one of our Friday STEM lessons, we weighed and then dropped an assortment of different balls from a series of set heights. We then measured the the diameter of the "craters" (balls) on our moon surface (flour and cocoa). From this, we created a scatter plot graph comparing the weight of objects versus the size of craters, and made statements about our findings. 

While our year 7/8's were making fantastic creations at Tech - our year 6 students were busy learning about the annual Buttermilk Biscuit day on May 14th. This is an American holiday - and we learnt how America's definition of biscuits is very different from ours. It only took a short time for some students to work out how a Buttermilk Biscuit is Aotearoa's version of a scone!

Last term we worked hard on creating our visual art using 6 different colour theories. Their art has definitely brightened up our classroom!! Check out some of our students finished pieces and see if you can work out how the colour wheel was used in the 6 different ways.

We have our annual COPS Winter Sports next Wednesday - good luck to our year 7/8's at Rippa Rugby, our year 5/6's at Netball and our year 3/4 students at Soccer!

Katie Robinson - krobinson@maihiihi.school.nz

To view the Maihiihi School Policies please click on the link below, this will take you to Schooldocs where you can find all our school policies.

Holidays and other days off during term time will affect attendance & learning. 

 Ministry of Education require all students to have at least 94% attendance 

 Please download the Skool Loop App to your phone.  From this app you can see all notices, newsletters and important information as they are downloaded. Plus you can leave absentee messages at any time of the day.