Recent Events - Mix and Make/Sports/ Steam Museum/Print Making

We have been very busy at school over the last two weeks. First was Middle Syndicate Athletic Sports Day and Wakefield School joined in the fun with us.
Next was the whole school Mix and Make Days where we made heaps of cool constructions out of clay and wood and lots of other things. Our class also had a go at print making and we constructed an image of an olden day house and then made several prints of it.

Finally last Friday the whole school spent the day at the Pigeon Valley Steam Museum. We had rides in a trailer and on a Jigger that went along the railway track. There were lots of displays to visit and machinery that was operating like the sawmill and forge. It was a really exciting and fun place to visit.

Pet's Day

Brightwater School had a wonderful day on Friday. Room 5 constructed flower entries in the morning and some of us even got some prizes for our beautiful efforts. In the afternoon we brought along our pets to share with everyone. It was a great day.

Marae Visit

There was loud voices from two women on the Marae because they were calling out a karanga. All the kids from the Middle Syndicate and parents (mums and dads) were at the Marae. We experienced te roa - maori language.  After the karanga's we were welcomed onto the marae with a powhiri. Then Whare Sue lead us to the kai room ( dining room). We were entertained by Parkland school. They performed a haka and some waiatas which took about 10-15 minutes. Mr. H handed everyone a  napkin which allowed them to grab two things from the table, after we had to sit down until we were asked to move.

We were split into two groups ( group one and two ). Rm's five and six were shown around the marae village while rm's seven and eight were taken into the meeting house. Whare Donna talked about the plants and how when the christchurch people came to stay, they could fit 1,000 people in one marae.
Each week they would have a hungi out the back. On the way we passed the pre-school for the little kids under six that wanted to learn moari language and history.
We went to see the carving studio. John, a well known carver was carving a walking stick on the walls were marvellous maori statues. After half an hour we met back at the meeting house we switched groups and entered the meeting house.The rules were:

• Take of your shoes.
• Do not take photos inside incase you copy.
• Walk up the steps not over the carvings because it would be disrespectful.

We slipped off our shoes and rested them tidily by the wall. Wharae Sue pointed at the weavings hung along the wall. The interesting thing was that they all had a story and a meaning. We had the chance to walk around the room and look at the carvings.It took three whole years to make.  John taught some people how to carve so that they could decorate the meeting house with ancesters.After we got to ask some questions about either the ancesters or the weavings.
The meeting house was used for keeping visitors.

Our half an hour had been up. We walked out positioning ourselves on the seats. They did one more karanga to say good-bye. Wow that was an amazing journey to the marae!
I hope to go again!!!!!

By Ella and Talia

                                                                                                                                             

Trip to Bishops School

Bishop School is very different to our school and keep a watch out for some of our stories that will tell you what it was like. In the meantime we will include a few photos of what we got up to.

Swimming lessons at the aquatic centre

Heart central - body parts

Room 5 children worked with a partner to draw a body outline with chalk and then marked on the important body parts that are connected with the circulatory system.

Charlie's lizard

This is Charlie's lizard he brought for oral language!

Motocross Success

I went to the New Zealand Motorcross Championships in the holidays. I had great results in my races as I got a lot of points. I had to go as fast as I could to finish to get my points. Overall, I had to race five times over two days. The points I received gave me second place in the 7-8 year old, 65cc category.
My brother, who was also racing, and I had friends and family there to watch and cheer us on. There was a big crowd of people watching all the racing. We had to wear a pass code around our necks to get in and race so it was very strict security.
The championships were in Wellington and we stayed at a hotel. We mostly had fine weather while we were there, except a little bit of rain on the first day.

It was such an exciting time. My prizes were a trophy, a t-shirt, and oil for my motorbike. It was awesome!

Luca

Brightwater Bridge Builders

The fabulous maths extention group made bridges for the great taste cycle trail.
We have looked at maps of the local area. First we drew a model of the bridge, then we designed the real bridge made of craft materials. The main material was cardboard and duck-tape. We constructed it and then made trees and signs and painted all the details.  We added sand and rocks for attention. We finished our bridge with a touch of sparkly red colour.
This is a picture of Danielle Aitken,Aleisha Quinney and Chloe Dunn.

BY DANIELLE AND ALEISHA!!!

Cool Cricket

On Thursday the whole Middle Syndicate went to the back field to do some awesome Cricket skills.  The coaches name was Daris. First we did batting. There were two cones and the first person lined up on the first cone and the others lined up on the other cone and they all got one hit.
Then we did some overarm bowling. Our arms had to make a rainbow shape and we had to run and and get the ball for the next person.

Finally we were put into teams and each team had a turn at batting and bowling. You could get 1, 2 3 or 4 points depending on how far you hit the ball. At the end of the lesson we were all given a bag with a poster. cardboard bat and other stuff about cricket. It was great to learn about cricket.
Corey

Tennis at School

Room 5 have all learnt how to play tennis this term. Ngaire was our tennis coach and she taught us lots of different games such as playing Volleyball Tennis and Bob Sleigh. You need to stand back from the net when you are hitting the ball and you use both hands to do the backhand shot.
Our class learnt lots of skills and had a lot of fun.
Luca

Kane's Puppy.

On Thursday I got a puppy from the SPCA.  We have named her Patch because she has a patch of white under her and she is black.  She is a mix of three dogs. My other dog Angus will teach her not to bite and not to take my p-jammas!  I brought her into the classroom and they thought she was cute and she bit Talia's sleeve. Ben thought she loved him because she kept licking him on his face. She was very excited and her tail wagged crazy.  She sleeps out side in a kennel to teach her not to yap.  Sometimes she wakes me up and I have to come out and tell her "be quiet and go to sleep" - sometimes I snuggle up to her in the kennel and she goes to sleep then I go back to bed. Sometimes she comes in and has breakfast . She has doggy biscuits and it is yuck for people.I love patch more than anything in the world because shes so cute and soft.

Kane Elvy

PROBLEMS!!

We are very pleased to have Room 5's Blog up and running again after a month of difficulties where we have had problems  publishing our blog entries.

Rhythm Interactive Show

    

On Monday morning after morning tea we lined up at the door to go and see the Rhythm Interactive Show. When we got into the school hall, the first thing we noticed was 250 drums lined up all over the place. Everyone including the teachers sat down behind a drum.
Then the show started and we started playing the drums really loudly and doing it for a long time. Dan showed us different patterns and ways of hitting the drums. He didn't talk until the very end and used his face and  hands so that we knew what to do.
Dean kept us all in time on his 3 drums. " Action Speaks Louder than Words" was the motto of the show. We had a great time!

Maddy








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The Samsung Olympic Bus

Last Monday  the chosen ones ( Student Council ) went to Saxtons Field to see the huge big blue bus- truck and the school got the parents to take transport. The people in my car were Mr. Baldwin, Danielle, Ella, Ellie, Xavier, Ollie, Mya, and Ella's mum drove.
When we got there  the bus had soooooo many apps on it. There was a lady handing out white fluffy toy dogs toa ll the children. We finally got to go in the bus and sit on the cold floor. Helen said to not touch  the cameras but can use anything else to find answers for the  quiz. She said whoever got four right gets to go on the X-Box first. Thomas and Shaun were the first, next Danielle and Lane, then the rest. There was a screen with the flag raised behind you and you got to have a fake gold medal. The thing was you sent a message to the New Zealand Team in London for the Olympics.
We went back down the spiral steps  to see the lady handing out fake bronze medals. Finally we drove back to school and we were only away an hour.

Danielle

Ratty and Tiger

Ratty and Tiger came to school on Friday. Ratty is smooth and Tiger is fluffy. They are my pet guinea pigs. We got them on Monday. Ratty and Marshmallow are younger than Tiger. They all eat the same things - carrots, lettuce, apple and broccoli. Also, they drink heaps of water. We feed them every day before school.

Jacob

Amazing Class Treat

To finish Term 2 and celebrate all our hard work we chose to have a Mad Hair Day, wear pjs if we wanted and bring along any sort of electronics. We had fun playing with different games and even had some party food because sadly Karlee was moving to a new school next term.

It was the best class treat ever.

Rabbit coming to room 5

On Tuesday my rabbit came to Room 5. Its name is Snowberry. She is a girl that is now twelve weeks old. Her favourite foods are carrot tops, grass, parsley and apple. I feed her every day.

Her fur is soft because she is a Saturn rabbit. The color of her eyes are light red like a berry. She is very shy. If there is too much noise she will run like the wind.
BY ALEISHA.

Phone a Friend

Last Thursday a ICT show came to our school, it was called Phone a Friend.
The show was about a boy called Winston who had a stupid phone, there was a mean gadget gang. In the gadget gang there was a girl named Denise but she wanted to be called Dennis. His Mum and Dad sang songs about everything that Winston did. When his phone was struck by lightning it came to life and helped him to stand up to Denise because she was text bullying him.

Winston became popular and then he and Denise finally became friends.

By Nicole

On Monday I brought my kitten to school. His name is Amazon.  He is a persian cross normal cat. People thought he was cute. Well he  is brownish and whitish. He has a round face and  some  pointy ears. We got  him from the pet shop by the video shop.  Before we got him we went to Pak and Save  then we come  home  and my dad was there.  We showed him and he thought  it was cute.
We went to Subway. I got a six  inch with ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion but there is more than that  in it but I can't remember what else was in there.
by Harlyn

Autumn Leaves

Autumn the smell of crisp.

Autumn makes leaves sleep on the ground.

The piles of leaves, for jumping in.

The colours of them are orange and brown.

Autumn is here for  you and me!  

By Sam

Interesting Wind Vanes

Last Tuesday Room 5 buddied up and created awesome wind vanes.

We started by getting: one plastic cup, a pencil with a rubber on the end, a square orange piece of card, one straw, a blue piece of card, a pin, one tiny nail, one plate and some clay. First put your plastic cup upside down. Then get some scissors and make it to one blade.  Make a hole on the top of your cup and put the pencil with the rubber on in the hole.

With the orange piece of card put N for North, E for East, S for South and finally W for West. Put the pencil through the hole you made with the scissors. You have also got to put a hole in the orange piece of card and slide the orange piece of card down the pencil. With the little nail poke the sharp bit into the middle of the rubber on the top of the pencil. When the nail is standing there measure the straw to see where the middle is. Mark where the middle is and make a hole with the pin where the middle is. With the blue piece of card draw two slightly big arrows and cut them out. Cellotape the arrows on the straw and put the little nail in the hole you made in the straw. Get the plate and put the hole thing in the middle of the plate. Last of all get the clay and roll it in your hands so it is like a wiggly worm and sticks to the plate. Then you have a interesting wind vane!