Over the past couple of months the Year 7 students have enjoyed taking part in a number of challenges as part of our Education Outside the Classroom programme. Below are reflections written by students of their first hand experience in an activity they particular enjoyed.
Millennium Centre Water Safety (Kauri) – Julia Chen Room 21
The last activity our class did was water safety at the Millennium Centre. Even though we only stayed in the pool for an hour, I still had a lot of fun! First of all, my group learnt what we should do if we were lost at sea with a group of people, and also how to save energy during this time.
Next, we practised how to form a huddle, and how to change into a line, without breaking apart. It was really difficult! Another activity we did was how to get off the boat safely. We achieved this by sitting on the side of the boat, facing inwards, blocking your nose and tilting back, falling into the water. Before leaving, the instructor tested us by giving us some scenarios, to see how well we would do–it did not work out well–we instantly split into two groups, which really confused the instructor!
The Northcross Learner dispositions showed was “collaboration” because we needed to work together in our huddle and line.
Barefoot Harry (Totara) – Sean Lee Room 4
On Thursday 23rd of May, Rooms 3 and 4 went to Sanders Reserve with Barefoot Harry. My favourite thing was making our donuts, it was so good and watching it slowly burn in front of my eyes was making my stomach rumble. I remember I grabbed the biggest piece of dough I could see. After what felt like hours I grabbed the doughnut off the stick and it looked delicious. I was so happy that I could try this before I died. I think that throwing the darts was so much fun too. I saw Harry cutting down the flax and I already knew what he was making. After he fully assembled the dart he showed us how to throw it, and it went crazy far. Making the soup made me feel like a parent. After a while of using the beginner knife I asked to upgrade to the good knife, and of course they said yes. I now felt like Gordon Ramsey while cutting with ease. The soup we made was the best soup I have ever tasted. Overall, I had a blast and it was the most fun activity that we did in our challenger series.
Kite Making (Rata)
As part of our Year 7 Challenger Series, Mr Jensen showed us how to make manu tukutuku, a Maori kite. He told us all about the history and significance of manu tukutuku and his storytelling both engaged and entertained us. We actually saw a similar kite at the Auckland Museum during our trip there. As we didn’t have traditional materials, we used old strips of blinds in place of raupō and string to tie each strip to the triangular frame. Mr Jensen then spray painted each for us and provided us with the tassels for each bottom corner – this helped the manu tukutuku to appear more authentic. This was a great learning experience and also taught us more about collaboration as we had to work with a partner. Some parts were challenging but the final result was worth it. Thanks Mr Jensen!
Awataha Marae (Matai) – Jasmine Bolton Room 48
One of the exciting trips during the challenger series was when we got to go to Awataha Marae. This was an educational trip that helped us understand more about Maori culture. When we arrived there we were met by a teacher from Northcross who knew quite a lot about the Marae itself and was able to tell us what would be expected of us as a group. Shortly after, we lined up behind the leaders in charge of the kaikaranga. We slowly trailed after them as the kai karanga came to an end. When that was done, everyone made their way silently into the Marae. During that time, each boy representative from both classes headed to the front to present their whaikorero. After each speaker had finished their whaikorero, everyone stood up and beautifully sang three waiata. This was just the start because after that, we learned some Maori games that helped with our communication skills. Eagerly, we headed back to the Marae, where we practised some poi actions and played some fun games with rakau/sticks. We ended our trip by weaving together a very stunning flower using only harakeke/flax and our hands. But lets not forget to mention the freshly made fried bread we greedily gobbled away. Yum!
Museum (Kowhai) – Sarah from Room 56
My class went to the Auckland museum with room 57 and room 55. When we got off the bus we went straight to our area for the day and had a snack. When you were done with your snack you put your bag in this secure place, after everyone was done with their snack. Then we all sat down and had a talk about everything we were going to be doing that day. After that we split up into our set groups. My group went to the first floor and looked around. After a while, we made it to the volcano room. We even went into the actual volcano simulator – which was so cool! When we were finished in that room we went to the army memorial area after that we went to the Māori area and visited the marae display. After our walk around the museum, we were taken to a classroom area and learnt all about the Treaty of Waitangi.We got to hold some special items that the Māori people used back in the day. One item we got to hold was a pounamu.
When we were finished we went back to our area for the day and had some food once and I got to play with my friends. When we were done we got our bags and got on the bus. Some of the Northcross learner dispositions we showed were collaboration with others and engagement in our learning.
Bigfoot Adventures (Nikau) – Wayne Zheng Room 34
The Bigfoot Adventures experience is amazing, with different activities and many cool things to be excited about. These activities include rock climbing, archery, teamwork games, and mountain biking! When you’re doing a bigfoot activity, it will test your listening and collaborative skills especially when you’re doing the blindfold activity. Doing these activities will challenge you and help you with a certain skill. For instance, rock climbing will help you with the fear of heights (and of course rock climbing), the teamwork will help you better trust each other (and help you with teamwork), the archery will help you with steady holding (and archery skills) and finally mountain biking will help you be better at riding bikes in general. When I first did one of the activities, it was extremely hard but we still tried and tried until we finished it, with each time being better and better. Furthermore, there are also brilliant teachers guiding you and encouraging you until you finish the job. My experience with Bigfoot is again, incredible because there are different fun activities like rock climbing, archery, teamwork games, and mountain biking. In conclusion, this was an enjoyable experience with Bigfoot and I am sure anyone who has gone to Bigfoot can say the same thing as me.
Tiritiri Matangi (Puriri) – Dodo Liu Room 13
Northcross Year 7’s had an amazing opportunity to visit Tiritiri Matangi as a part of the Challenger series. Tiritiri Matangi is an island sanctuary dedicated to the protection of New Zealand native birds and has a variety of activities when spending time there. During Puriri’s time there, we observed many endangered species at our own pace – giving us the time to examine the behaviour of the native birds, wetas, and more. As Puriri arrived, we split into groups and had been assigned tour guides. The tour guides informed us about the bird’s habits, predators, behaviour and how they communicated with each other while we hiked from the wharf to the lighthouse. As we were hiking, we listened to the intriguing sounds of New Zealand native birds and were able to memorise the sounds of these birds. Reaching to the top, we got to witness a few takahe beside the lighthouse as they roamed around the fence. Puriri even had the chance to head up into the lookout house beside the lighthouse. While in here we learnt interesting facts about the lighthouse: why it is part of the NX logo design, and looked at weather behaviour. Finishing the day with some other entertaining activities, we took class photos. We all enjoyed our amazing trip to Tiritiri Matangi.
