Road Ride Cycle Safety

My heart thumped against my chest, as I put on my high vis vest on. After two days of practising bike skills and intersections, we were finally going on the road.

When it was my group’s turn to go on the road, I hopped on my bike, checked for cars in the power position and when there were no cars coming, we yelled “clear!” Then we were off.

We peddled down College Street, then indicated left and turned onto Marne street. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, there were barely any cars. But when I was just about to go around a parked car, I heard an engine.

I slowed down immediately, and waited for the car to pass me. Still frightened, I sped up a bit until I saw the two groups in front of me stop. I put my right hand up to show the cars I was stopping and went up onto the grass to wait for the other groups to arrive.

When all of the groups were off the road, Phil and Matt talked to us about what we had just done and what we were going to do next. When they had finished explaining, Phil did a demonstration, then it was our turn.

We biked down the street, stopped at the stop sign and indicated to turn left. When it was clear we turned left onto Park Road until we caught up to Phil. We then walked our bikes over the road on to Ake Ake Ave and  practised a right turn at an intersection. Then went back to the Ake Ake Ave intersection again.

On the way back to school we stopped at the roundabout on Victoria Ave and watched the cars go round and round and round. Most cars indicated correctly but lots of them didn't indicate at all. That made the roundabout too dangerous for us to go on, but at least we got to practice with a cone roundabout in the quad.

When we got back to school we handed in our high vis vests and put our bikes on the turf. Cycling was super fun I wish I could do it all over again. Thank you Matt and Phil for coming in to teach us about cycle safety. I will be much more confident biking on the road now!

Written by Genevieve Bendall

Go For Gold - Dylan Kenny

Dylan Kenny - What an outstanding year you have had so far! We have seen you exploring new learning opportunities and discovering new strengths. You are developing a growth mindset and you enjoy being in the ‘Learning Pit’. You have a fantastic attitude towards learning and a willingness to share your strengths with others.

You are a natural leader. Your positivity and encouragement towards others is valued in COLAB. You do everything with a smile on your face and give everything 100%.

We look forward to seeing what the rest of the year has in store.

Keep challenging yourself and going for gold!

Congratulations Dylan!

Mr Kennedy presenting Dylan with his Go For Gold.

Dylan rocking his white socks!

Can't wipe that smile off! Congrats Dylan. 

Band Camp @ The STOMACH

Last week ‘Blendin’ Beats’ (our school band) visited The Stomach to learn all about music, collaboration and stage presence. Workshops were held to improve our skills and knowledge as a band and also in relation to the instrument we play. We had heaps of fun learning about our talents and learning new skills.

Blendin' Beats (absent Holly)

As soon as we arrived we were welcomed by Harry, the manager of The Stomach, and Nigel, the sound engineer, as well as all the kids and teachers from other schools. The schools involved were; Monrad Intermediate, Russell Street, Roslyn, Ross Intermediate and Mount Biggs. Then we went on a tour of the venue and broke into our bands for a songwriting workshop with our teachers.

Harry showing us the sound engineer & lighting desk... so many buttons! 

After Morning Tea, we went off in groups for workshops with the other kids who played the same instrument as us. We learned some techniques that will help us in our bands.

‘It was an awesome experience and it’s great how they provide music spaces, instruments and tools at The Stomach to help young musicians.’ says Scott Du, who specializes in piano and keyboard.

“The Stomach is a great learning environment for new musicians and we love how it’s open to all ages and levels.” say Patrick Holmes and Tommy Read, who specialize in drums and percussion.

We met lots of musicians from other school and got so much out of the workshops. We even wrote our own original song called ‘Seasons’. We haven’t completely finished it yet, but we’re really happy with it so far! Watch this space - we can’t wait to play it for you later in the year!

Some of the highlights from the workshops

We had a really awesome day! Thanks to the teachers and to Harry and Nigel at The Stomach. We can’t wait to come back.

Written by:

Blendin’ Beats Band

(COLAB members - Eilidh, Tommy & Holly)

Coding Club

This term we have started our lunchtime Coding Club. Due to numbers we now have two Clubs running this term, on Tuesday we have Storytelling (beginners) and on Friday Game Design (advanced).

We use the Google CS First program and Scratch. We follow through the instructional videos that guide us and give us tips to complete our projects. If we get stuck we do the "Rooster up" signal on our heads and someone will come and help. We help each other.

Coding is teaching us problem solving, creativity, coding and collaboration.

Maths Extra 2

The Boys of Maths Extra 2 assessing their new learning and understanding of Fractions with a Kahoot!

Cycling

Today COLAB went cycling. We cycled around cones on the Quad and learned hand signals to show the way that you were going to go. We had to look over our right shoulder and say clear out loud and put our hand out to whatever direction we were going. For example, if you are going to turn left, then hold out your left hand to tell the people behind you what way you want to go. Phil from Sport Manawatu and Constable Matt were lots of fun and really helpful.
It was really fun we enjoyed it very much! We can't wait for our next session and the Road Ride!

By Phoebe & Georgia

Congratulations Vicki!!

Last week our amazing Teacher Aide Vicki graduated from university!! We hope you loved your graduation and had an amazing day!

We are lucky to have you. Congratulations from COLAB :) 

Open Mic Challenge

This week was the first Open Mic Challenge for the year. It is for children in Palmerston North from Year 3-8 to come perform a song and get feedback and develop their confidence on stage. 

Three talented COLABers were entered in the first challenge - Holly for the very first time! 

Eilidh sang "Our Song" by Taylor Swift, Madeleine sang "The Call" by Regina Spektor and Holly sang "This Town" by Niall Horan.

The girls sang exceptionally well and received some great feedback from Tony McLaughlin. 

The girls will be singing next in the Plaza as part of the Rotary Youth Music Festival and then the next Open Mic Challenge is on 14th June - so they will be practising ready for that! 

Madeleine performing "The Call"

Eilidh performing "Our Song"

Holly singing "This Town"

Eilidh then performed to the whole Senior Syndicate at Syndicate singing on Thursday. These girls are super talented!  

Sports Rotation

What a beautiful day for sports rotations!

Every Tuesday we have Sports Rotations in the afternoon block. During this time we have professional coaches and our own student Sports Coaches take us for a variety of sports. They teach us the basic skills of their sport and we get to play fun games. It is an awesome opportunity for us to try new sports!

This term we are playing Badminton, Football, Hockey, Golf, Tennis, Basketball, Games and Circuits.

COLAB love being fit active!

BFG teacher Mr V in the recovery position after one station of the circuits!

At Badminton we learned the backhand and forehand lift. This is our amazing coach Sandra modelling the forehand lift with the racquet leg forward and Spiderman wrist.

Impact Project Practice Pitch

In Term 2 we are getting the opportunity to do an Impact Project. Before we can start we have to 'pitch' our idea for an Impact Project to our teachers (like Dragons Den). As we have never had to 'pitch' an idea before we got to practice in groups.

Firstly we watched a video of Mr R pitching his idea for an Impact Project. Whilst it was funny it modelled for us how to 'pitch' an idea.

Then we watched a video about Keoni following his Moonshot through from start to finish. It was really interesting watching the process and it highlighted how his project has an impact (there are more resources about the Impact Project at the top of our blog).

Then we brainstormed some problems within our class and got into small groups to come up with Moonshot solutions for them. We then put together our pitch and practised it before we got to pitch it to our class and teachers. Then they asked us questions and gave us feedback.