A team collaboration

Te Mihi students have been learning about local waterways in all areas of the curriculum. They have written about them, tested them, drawn them, mapped them, visited them and discussed the uses of them, both in the past and now. This website is the culmination of learning for this term.

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Link to the Website

I learned more about drones, and had a turn at flying two drones. The small one has two glass balls on the bottom. They send an infrared laser to the ground, which tells the drone how far off the ground it is.

I learned how to do an addition and subtraction algorithm, and learned how to do them properly. We did lots of narrative and explanation writing, which was fun.

When we went on the Huka Falls Cruise trip I learned that there are introduced ducks from Australia. We learned how to protect the environment from pollution. 

I found out a lot about the Waikato River throughout my learning and I found out new stuff I never knew, like all the towns around the Waikato River and the streams that enter the Waikato River.

I learned about weathering, erosion and deposition. When rain and floods happen, it breaks down the river banks on the sides of the river. This causes the river to break down and change.

Over this term, I learned about pollution and algae and what they do to the rivers. I also learned how the farmers and manure makes the algae grow quicker. I found how to test the rivers with pH sticks and clarity tubes.

I enjoyed most of the things we did this term but some things I definitely did not enjoy the basketball tasters and the hockey tasters. I did enjoy skipping though I learnt how to do criss cross and double under. I remember when I wrote my autobiography I was the last one finished but my one was the longest. One time I had to stay in at morning tea and write it. I like being independent because I like doing my own ideas. In the last week of school we did DT, drones, steam, and science. When I did digital technology we made a river scene, after that we made a minecraft river with a dam. When we did the drones I was not there. When we did steam we made a paper boat with a propeller that spins. After that we made one the same but out of sticks it went a lot faster, in the afternoon we made hands that when you  pull the string the finger would go down. When we did science we made a house out of sticks and hot glue. It had to survive water rushing past it. Once we went to the trout center the bus driver was smoking and drinking lemonade. The bus was really messy and there was rotten food everywhere. I did not like it but the trout center was really fun. We found two rotten apples and the windows were jammed. We did really cool calendar art about birds. This term has been really fun and I hope next term will be fun too.

I enjoyed going to the inter school swimming sports. I did backstroke, freestyle, breaststroke, and a relay. I came 2nd for backstroke, 1st for freestyle, 1st for breaststroke, and Wairakei came 3rd for the relay.  We did freestyle for the relay. Wairakei had just enough people to do the relay. You needed six people to do the relay. You needed a year 4 boy, a year 4 girl, a year 5 girl , a year 5 boy, a year 6 girl, and a year six boy. We had a year 4 girl which was me, 3 year 5 boys, and 2 year six girls. We got to choose if we dived off the block, or the side but we didn’t have to dive if we didn’t want to.  We couldn't dive for backstroke.  I dived off the side for freestyle and breaststroke. I got one 2nd ribbon which was silver and 2 1st ribbons which were gold. Going to the inter school swimming sports was really fun. I found steam very challenging because when we made the hand I couldn't get the string through the straws because the sellotape was in the middle. When we made boats mine didn’t work very well because it was too far apart.

The Local Curriculum Focus area for the teaching and learning opportunities were

  • Our local environment changes throughout time
  • Environmental changes affect people and how we live
  • Sharing stories from the past helps us to treasure our environment

2024 Foley

Jenna Foley

My journey in education has taken me down many different paths including teaching in an Area school, urban English and Welsh schools, small semi-rural schools and in a purpose built Innovative Learning Environment.

Teaching at Wairakei Primary School allows me to use so many of the skills I gained in these different settings - as well as acquiring so many more. I consider myself a life-long learner and continuously strive to build on my knowledge of teaching and education in order to create the best possible outcomes for students.

In my spare time I enjoy playing netball, reading, getting out and about with my two children and making the most of what this area has to offer.

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