Speeches

Well done Ruma Kokako. You can ALL be really proud of what you produced in your speech this year. I was really impressed by the quality of writing and the depth of thought that went into your topics. Some of you have a real natural stage presence and confidence in public speaking (Even if you don't feel confident). It was a real challenge choosing who would go through to the finals which is a real testament to how well you all did. It was so good to see how encouraging you were of each other too which shows real maturity.

Here are the results from the finals:

Year 7
1st - Josiah
2nd - Deegan
3rd - Sydney and Jack E

Year 8 
1st - Ieuan
2nd - Cameron
3rd - Jorja
Highly Commended - Kiran

The world of refugees

The class got a powerful insight into the lives of refugees yesterday. We watched a documentary of two people who went and lived for a month in a Jordanian refugee camp for Syrian refugees. They got to hear the stories of people who had to flee Syria. It was emotional hearing about the hardships that adults and children had to live through. It was striking how friendly and accepting the refugees were of the two Americans. On the last day they were all discussing together how they were from completely different cultures, but after they had spent time together they could see how similar they were.

We had a great discussion afterwards which was centered around the long term consequences for refugees as well as how lucky we are in NZ. The average length of time people are in refugee camps is 17 years.

Waikato Science Fair

A massive congratulations to all those who entered the Waikato Science Fair. We had 8 boards entered and all students can be proud of the quality of their entry.

A special congratulations goes to 6 students who received awards. You worked hard on these guys and deserve the results you got. Well done Te Pahu School.

Parents - Can you do it?

In maths we have been covering a variety of things but most students have a particular focus on geometry. We have done lots on area, perimeter, and volume.  Here are a couple of worksheets some students have been working on. Can you solve the problems? Ask your child if they can explain how to do it.

A number of students have been working with scale (Map scales, scale models, etc). They are currently drawing a scale floor plan of our classroom. They have to identify an appropriate scale and carefully measure angles on their drawing. They then have to identify the exact area of carpet and lino required for our floor.

Other students have been learning about equivalent fractions (fractions of equal value) and converting fractions to decimals. Parents make sure you ask your children to show you an example of what they have been learning.

CONGRATULATIONS Three Second Rule!

Well done Declan, Cameron and Emma! Second in the regional BandQuest competition and Best Original Lyrics! Such an outstanding result. You can be very proud. They played two original songs and competed against 15 other bands. Your music was tight and and you looked so confident playing it. There were lots of Te Pahu supporters (Including some previous BandQuest veterans!) and we all felt so proud of you. Congratulations to Bevan as well who supported them along the way.

Here are some photos and a video of a few sections of their performance.

Cross country

Well done Ruma Kokako! It was so good to see you all push yourselves today. Some of you have put a massive effort into training for this and you can be proud. It is times like this, when you really push yourself, that you realise just what you are capable of. Well done!

Electric motor!

We did a neat little experiment today which created a motor out of a magnet, battery, and copper wire. 

The magnet affects the electrical circuit created by the copper wire making the copper wire spin.

It is similar to the first motor created. The relationship between electricity and magnetism was first realised through an experiment which sent a current through some wire (which sat in mercury) around a magnet. The result was a wire that spun around a magnet.

Another experiment using similar concepts and equipment is the below train.

Electricity - light bulbs, conductors, insulators, and the nervous system

A world without electric light would be a very different world. It was fascinating to look into the creation of light bulbs and how they work. It was interesting to discover that Thomas Edison is not the only person who should be given credit for it. Joseph Swan also played a significant role.

How a light bulb works: Electricity travels through a wire into the bulb but it reaches a part where it has to travel through a filament. The filament resists the flow of electrons and so all the extra work it has to do starts to heat the filament up and it starts glowing - light.

We have also been looking at conductors and insulators. All materials in the world can be classified as insulators or conductors. A conductor allows electricity to flow easily as its electrons are not bound to the protons as tightly. Metals are good conductors, especially copper, gold, and silver. An insulator restricts the flow of electricity. Glass, plastic, and rubber are common insulators.

We created circuits to illuminate a light bulb and then interrupted the circuits with different objects to discover which objects were insulators and which were conductors. We discovered that generally the conductors were metals and other objects were insulators.

The bodies electricity: Another fascinating discussion we had was around our bodies and electricity. It all started with the question of why we use a defibrillator to shock someone. You wouldn't be reading this if it wasn't for electricity. Our bodies use electricity to operate.  Every message your brain sends is using electricity. The nervous system is what carries the messages. A part of the heart creates electricity to cause the heart to pump.


We are discovering more and more just how central electricity is to our world and existence.