Week 3 - Visiting Author

This morning Waikowhai Primary was lucky enough to have a visiting author join us for some presentations and workshops. We were privileged to spend time with Des Hunt, an author of 'kiwi stories for kiwi kids' that interweave action, science, and the natural world.

The entire senior school enjoyed the knowledge that Des shared with us.  He started by sharing his background, making a connection with us. Des then cleverly used science concepts, specifically chemistry and physics ideas to illustrate the challenges and successes that he has faced during his writing career.  The way that he approached this problem solving was inspiring and you will see the impact this had on some of us as authors by reading our thoughts on our individual blogs.

Following this, 20 of our senior syndicate students participated in a 90 minute workshop with Des Hunt.  We look forward to the impact that this has on their own writing and the sharing of the learning that they can do with the rest of Te Waka Ako.


We would like to thank Des and his wife Lynne for coming to visit and also Mrs Law and Ms Sands for organising the day. We also have a hot dog sale coming up later in the term that you can support that helps us to get more of these exciting opportunities in school.
Ka kite.

Vector ePro8 challengers

Kia Ora blogging world,

It has been a really STEM focused week at Waikowhai for some of our senior students. As you would have seen from the previous post we had our science show in at school on Monday.  Then, on Friday, four senior students formed the "Waikowhai LIMOs" team (ask us where our name came from in the comments) and took part in the Vector ePro8 challenge at Mount Roskill on Friday for the first time.  The challenge involves engineering (the e), problem solving (the pro) and innovating to create a solution (the 8).

Our team in front of the impressive work station.

Eleven different teams participated in the challenge which ran for two and a half hours. It was heaps of fun and we managed to come third in our heat. This means we will be heading off to the semifinals later in the year where we will try to qualify for the grand finals.

One of our creations through the day

It was an awesome experience as we got to use lots of materials that we wouldn't normally have at school. If you would like to find out more you can check out the Vector ePro8 website.

Third place, bring on the semifinals!a

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The crazy, magical world of science.

When was the last time you found yourself entertained, enthralled, amazed and awestruck all in the space of an hour? For Waikowhai Primary School, that last time was just this morning.

The crazy, magical world of science show stopped into our school hall this morning for a show. What a fantastic way to start our week. During the show we were treated to magic tricks (which are often illusions involving more than just a bit of science), handmade fireworks, a mini-blowtorch, water powered rockets, levitating ping pong balls and more.


We were challenged to make predictions, to think about our observations and share and build on our knowledge in a fun way, while being entertained by the mad scientist. The highlight for me was seeing Abby blast a model earth into orbit using a super leaf blower.

When back in class, still buzzing and wondering more about the world we all decided to share our wonderings and learning in individual blog posts. Please click on the links at the side of the page to read more about what the students from Manukau took away from this show personally.


If you have been treated to this show before, please connect with us in the comments.  If you haven't and you are wondering more please ask us questions in the comment box.  Either way, we would love to hear from you.  We hope you enjoy the videos that show some of the things we enjoyed.

Blog you later.