Camp Highlights

The year 4,5 and 6’s had a really fun and exciting time at Carey Park camp in Henderson Valley. Some of the activities we participated in were the flying fox, confidence course, rock climbing, slip n slide and many more. We had delicious meals(not joking), fun games after dinner and a camp concert on the last night. We really enjoyed camp and would like to thank all the teachers and parents for taking time off and making it possible. Thank you so much!

We hope that the future campers of UHPS have the same amount of fun that we had.

Here is a highlights video of what we got up to!

Sharing Our Learning

Finally the day had come for us to share all of our fantastic learning from this term. Sharing Our Learning didn't just happen. Although we were looking forward to it, we knew that it would require a lot of hard work to get ready for.

Together we decided what we wanted to share with our families and got to work displaying these things around our classrooms. One of the things we wanted to show off was our new understanding of how to make a lei. We decided to create a lei package that included all of the materials for our families to make their very own lei. We thought this was a good idea because it gave them a challenge so that they could use their growth mindset. We also wanted to gift them something to make them feel welcome in our classes and we had been learning about lei making on our trip to the Corban Estate Art Centre.

Another thing we wanted to show was our Trophy cabinets which we really enjoyed sharing with our families. We designed and decorated our own trophies and handed them around the class so that all of our classmates could write compliments about us so that we felt appreciated in our classrooms. We then stuck the trophy cabinet on the cupboard doors so that everyone could see them.

We also wanted to gather in some kind of feedback from our families as inspiration throughout term 4. We designed a medal for our parents to write feedback on about our learning this term. We then coloured it in and had our families write on them before hanging them up on our writing wall so that everyone could see them.

We took our time to share our writing wall with our families. Our writing wall is a place where every time we finish our writing we peg it up to display it so that everyone can see the fantastic writing we have done in room 1 and 2. This is another way that we celebrate our learning throughout the year.

We have had a very fun and busy term. Room 1 and 2 have had many great experiences including Breakers basketball, SNAG golf, an arts trip, a trip to the musical FAME, the Variety Show, Taekwondo, using the bike Track and many others. We cant wait to see what Term 4 has in store!

Thanks to all of the families that came through for Sharing Our Learning - we really appreciate it!

Pasifica Trip

Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Bula, Talofa, Aloha, Malo e lelei!

This term the Wild Minds went on a fabulous trip to the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Henderson. We gained a deeper understanding of performance which will help us with our own variety show. We discovered how to make leis, create a beat on the Pacific wooden drums and dance the hula and sa-sa. The Aunties and Mamas of the Pacific Nations taught us how to greet each other respectfully in their own languages. We made a flower lei and learned of its significance when greeting others. In the meeting room we learned how to combine Pacifica drums together to create a percussive, drum beat. The parents and teachers assisted us to keep the beat on the wooden, slit drums. Lastly the girls learnt a graceful, hula dance while the boys performed a loud, vibrant sa-sa. This was a great experience which will really help us with our performance.

Variety Show

Upper Harbour Primary School is hosting a variety show - Earth 2.0. Set in the year 2500, colonies of people from around the world have been arriving on Earth 2.0, to begin a new civilisation based on the knowledge and lessons learned from Earth 1.0. Many representatives from nations around the world have been asked to share their memories of Earth 1.0.

The Wild Minds have been focusing on great sporting moments that New Zealand has achieved throughout history. We have enjoyed learning new songs, choreographing dances, creating dramatic monologues and preparing costumes and props. We are very proud of Evie and Nikhil from room 1 and 2 who will star as two of the four main characters in our show.

Earth 2.0 will be held at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna on Wednesday 13th of September with a start time of 7:30pm.

Tickets are available to purchase online at ticketmaster.co.nz

FAME Trip

40 Wild Minds students were fortunate enough to attend the FAME performance at Albany Junior High School. FAME is a musical set at the New York Performing School of Arts and looks at the hard work and dedication it takes to be a successful performer.

This was such a fantastic experience for our students as it developed a broader understanding of performance and how all of the different parts of a show come together. This was a very valuable perspective for the students to gain while preparing for our very own Variety Show. The children examined the character’s performance, lighting, sound, props and even the backstage helpers.  

Thank you to all of the parent helpers who came with us on this trip. We hope you enjoyed the show!

Diginews

Diginews is a video that tells us about what’s happening in the week at U.H.P.S. This is much more interesting than just having a teacher read the notices.

You can find Diginews on the Diginews blog. Mr Barry runs the Diginews club which is in charge of making the video each week.The Diginews club is made up of students from room 1 and 2 who film in the staffroom. Each week 2 different people film.

An example of somethings that might be in Diginews is Soccer Club, Chess Club and Nature Club. After we filmed Mr Barry takes the film away and edits it together with music.

When Mr Barry gets better at it he will teach the Diginews Club and they will take over. We really enjoy Diginews because it’s so much fun to be be in front of the school without the stress of making a mistake.

By Cohen W

Superman Day

Is it a bird, is it a plane - no it’s Superman! On Friday the 24th of September, UHPS was filled with dads, grandads, brothers and other fabulous men in our lives. In the Wild Minds block each class hosted a different design challenge where students and their superman worked together. We decided to split our classes to continue to foster the great working relationships that exist within our team. Each class had a mix of students and supermen from rooms 1-4.

In room 1 with Mrs Thompson students worked to create a sailing boat that would quickly travel across water when blown with a straw. Each team continually tested and adapted their design to ensure it was watertight and would float. Students from each class raced against one another to produce a finalist.

In room 2 with Mr Barry students worked with their supermen to build a catapult that would shoot a ping pong ball 2 metres into a bucket. Each team could only use found objects and had 45 minutes to complete the task. At the end of their time, teams had 5 shots each. The team with the most successful shots would be the winner.

In room 3 with Miss Donovan students taught our superheros how to code and worked together to solve computational thinking problems. We had a blast and everyone stretched their brains and learnt something new. It was super great to have our supermen into our Wild Minds Community.

In room 4 with Mrs Purdie students completed the balloon rocket challenge.

Thrust is a pushing force created by energy. In the balloon experiment, our thrust comes from the energy of the balloon forcing the air out. In a real rocket, thrust is created by the force of burning rocket fuel as it blasts from the rocket's engine – as the engines blast down, the rocket goes up! We had lots of fun making and testing our rockets.

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend this event, we all enjoyed having you here and we can’t wait til next year!