Things are starting to become busy in the Year 7/8 Hub!

Over the last two weeks, we have really being getting stuck into learning!

New Zealand Identity:

There are three units of work that students will all be learning about throughout the term, these are: 

Parliament: Students will look into NZ Government - How it works, the current parties involved, how laws are passed, the appropriate ways to debate legislation and the terminology that is involved within the Parliament system.

Documents that Shaped New Zealand: Students have a unique opportunity to explore some of the forgotten documents that shaped New Zealand as we know it today. These include the Treaty of Waitangi, The Women's Suffrage Petition and the Declaration of Independence.  These are some of the founding documents that has shaped New Zealand into what is it today. 

New Zealand at War: Students learn about WW1 and WW2. They get an insight into what war was like and also repercussions that soldiers were left with after the war was over. They also explore why Gallipoli is so important to New Zealanders and commemorated every year during ANZAC Day.

Dance:

Already this term, students have mastered the Rock and Roll Reel, Cotton Eye Joe(Line Dance) and learned most of the steps to the Waltz. Currently, this week, we have introduced a Foxtrot, this is a dance that has not being taught for a number of years. Our group of students have totally surprised us this year, they have picked up the dance steps incredibly quick and we look forward to teaching them many more.

Korfball:

All three whanau classes have now had a lesson of Korfball with instructors from the Netherlands. This been a hug hit and they all have loved the opportunity to learn a new sport. Here's what some students had to say. 

Joey: My first thoughts about Korfball were that the hoop was really tall! I thought that nobody would be able to get it in and people would get really frustrated. I also thought that I would be able to take the ball out of peoples hands but it turned out that there was no contact allowed in the sport.

Since I have now played it I've realised it is really fun. You have one person to mark and you are either a defender or an attacker, it is good that you were able to swap between them all the time. I got the ball a few times and it was kind of hard to pass it to someone when other people were marking you really closely.

Denver: My first thoughts about Korfball were  that this is going to be really hard and that I wouldn't enjoy it but I could see some similarities with netball so that got me somewhat excited.  As well as that the hoop was really tall probably twice as tall Alexia .

Since I have now played it I really want to play it again it was really exciting to play . Shooting was difficult and really hard to shoot from afar. I can't wait for the next session.

Matthew: My first thoughts about Korfball were that it was a lot like Netball and the hoop was a lot taller than a Basketball hoop.

Since I have now played it I have found that it’s easier if you just mark one person and it becomes really hard if not all of your team is marking or not participation fully.

Karlie: My first thoughts about Korfball were the similarities it has with Netball and Basketball and the height of the hoop. The similarities to these two sports helped me with the process of learning how to play the game, as I was familiar with them. The tall, odd looking hoop was different to anything I had seen before. It had me worried the height may make it complicated to score goals.

Since I have now played it it’s really fun! Each session I learnt something new eg: important rules and defence/ attack techniques to improve our skills. Some rules I would forget and unintentionally break them, so remembering them was a challenge at times. 

Taylor: My first thoughts about Korfball were it sounds fun and I would like to learn how to play it.

Since I have now played it I think it is very fun because I like Basketball and it is kind of like Basketball but you can't move with the ball. I also like how the hoop was really high but that made it hard to score a goal. 

Caitlyn: My first thoughts about Korfball were that it is a game that looks like Netball, and that the net is very tall. Another one of my first thoughts were that you run around a lot more than other sports. At first I didn't think I would be able to get it because, when I saw it being played, I thought that there were going to be lot’s of rules and I would get mixed up with all of them.

Since I have now played it I really love the game, and they weren't have many rules as I thought there would be and they are not complicated at all... which I like. I really like the game because you can involve lots of people by switching subs every couple of minutes. I also love how is not like any other sport I have played before because it is such a different game, and it is a really fast game and you are running most of the time. Overall, I really enjoyed playing Korfball and can’t wait to play it again and you should definitely have a ago at this sport.