Watch it again!

spanish dance from Naomi on Vimeo.

Dynamic Dancers!

Wow what a fantastic evening! Mrs Flood, Miss Meyrick and I were so proud of our wonderful Matadors, Spanish Ladies and Zumba Dancers! Here are a few photos, with the children's reflections about the night. For more photos look at the gallery section of the school website.

Chris: I was so scared during the dance, that Kaige would rip my cape out of my hands as he charged, like he did at rehersals!

Carter: I saw all the parents looking at me and clapping and I felt really pleased with myself.

Tim: I liked when we had to swipe our cloaks away when the bull rushed towards us!

Jesse: I like the way we ran on at the end and did the Zumba dance.

Andrew: All the audience clapped like crazy when we had done our show.

Georgia: It was exciting to do the performance in front of the parents. My mum said I had a nice smile!
Georgie: I liked how we made 3 circles in our dance and I enjoyed being the leader.
Alyssa: I got really nervous at the start, but when you got used to it you didn't get as scared!
Mckenzie: Hugo was naughty. He tripped over on the floor in the middle of the Jump Jam!!
Ana: The flower fell out of my hair and I couldn't pick it up but I just had to gallop on!
Jasmine: I was awesome!!!!

Ainsley: I liked at the end  when all the parents were clapping for us and I was proud of myself.
Oliver: I was excited to be doing it in front of the parents.

Millie: I liked it because it was exciting.

Chelsea: I liked how when we were doing it everyone had a smile on their face and they were enjoying it. 

Charlie: I walked on to the stage and there was a lot of people looking at me. I was nervous!
Rebekah: I was proud of all the effort me and my class had put into practising the dance.
Korban: All the  audience loved our dancing!
Will: It was fun watching everyone else do their dances.

Mount Fishtail Reading Group

Here are some of the children from Fishtail reading group with the book they have been reading this term: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

Here are Hugh and Chelsea to tell us a little about the book.

Peter has a little brother called Fudge who is very annoying and irritating. He has to share a room with Fudge and he makes annoying noises all night! He has a turtle called Dribble who Fudge can't keep away from! Fudge gets all the attention and Peter is left out. I like how Fudge gets told off for eating flowers from the vase. Fudge went under the table at dinnertime because he was acting like a dog.

Practised and Ready to Go!

We have practised and practised, the costumes are looking fantastic (thank you parents!) and the children are looking forward to showing off their dancing skills tomorrow night! We watched all the other class items on Monday and it really does promise to be a great show! Looking forward to seeing you there!

Lettie, the trainee guide dog

On Monday we had a visit from a trainee guide dog, 4 month old Lettie, who is a gorgeous golden labrador. Her "walker" Sue came too and told us all about how a puppy becomes a guide dog for a blind person. Lettie spends the first year of her life with Sue, learning how to behave in all sorts of places that a dog can't normally go. When she is a year old she spends 4 months with a trainer and then she is ready for her job as a guide dog. The children had some great questions prepared which Sue answered. We learnt heaps from the visit and LOVED meeting Lettie. This week we have been doing a diary, from Lettie's point of view, using some of the information we learnt.

A day in the life of lettie the trainee guide dog

5am

I wake up after a cosy sleep. Like usual I  bark and bark till my owner wakes up.

6am

I start running round the house like crazy until my owner feeds me.

8am

I beg my owner to take me to town. She takes me to the park with my sister and we jump and frolic around.

10am

We walk to the movies and on the way there is a boy who drops his lollipop and I race and I start licking  it. The boy starts crying and my owner gives me the “bad face.”

11am

We watch the movie and I hate it. It is sad.  it is about a dog  who didn’t like it when his owner left him at home. So once when they left him at home he escapes and tries looking for them but the dog pound finds him and puts him in the dog foster home. I am crying when the movie finishes.

1pm

I have lunch then I sit in the sun and go off to sleep.

2pm

snore!
By Tim

WE DID IT!!!!!

Yes we finally completed our run from Invergargill to Blenheim! 892km in total!


to all of Room 18!

Memory Writing

Do you remember the wonderful memory writing that Room 18, along with some other classes in the school, did a few weeks ago? Well this morning two representatives from the Alzheimers Society came and talked to us to say thank you.

Mount Patriarch Reading Group

Here are four children from Mount Patriarch Reading Group to talk about their chapter book, Wind in the willows.
Toad is rich and he talks about how awesome he is. He brags about himself. He likes motorcars and all the newest latest things. Toad is always making the other animals annoyed, because he makes them look like they are bad animals. He gets sent to jail. He tricks his friends, Mole, Rat and Badger, when they are trying to help him. He runs away from them, steals a car and goes back to jail. It's interesting and exciting. Some people like him and some don't!

Terrific Tennis!

We were lucky to have 2 coaches from the Blenheim Tennis club visit us today.

More Wonderful Narratives

“Toki”

By Will

I was determined to catch a huge animal to show that I was not weak. All the other boys teased me because I was the smallest and the weakest out of all the boys in the village. I had caught only a midget sized lime green slimy frog. Suddenly a monkey grabbed the frog straight out of my hands. Then a huge tongue grabbed the monkey.  It was a huge chameleon and it was three times the size of a horse. The chameleon pulled the monkey up by its tail. I threw my spear at the annoying monkey and I hit it. Thick, warm, blood oozed out and dripped on the jungle floor like drops of rain. The chameleon dropped the monkey into my net. Then the friendly chameleon picked me up with its coiled tail and put me on its back. “What’s happening!” I yelled as the chameleon leapt into the air and caught a parrot in its super sticky tongue and put it in my net. “Wow!” I said as the chameleon put a huge elephant in my net, then a rhinoceros, then a crocodile, a tiger and a lion. The chameleon put all the animals into my net. 

Suddenly the chameleon ran the speed of a jet plane and leapt into the air. We were diving through the trees we stopped suddenly just before the ground. Squawk! A bird was alarmed that something had been caught in the hunters net. I heard the hunters feet pounding on the ground. I did not know what to do- it was either to cut the chameleon’s head off and everyone would respect me and I won’t be the weak small one anymore. Or I could cut the chameleon out of the net. Whatever I was going to do I had better do it quickly. I had an idea. I could put all the animals that me and the kind chameleon caught and put it out on the jungle floor and the hunters would think that that was the net they set. 

I cut the chameleon out and ran away. I could hear the hunters celebrating. I could hear twigs snapping and trees and bushes rustling. I wondered what it was. It was my friend the chameleon come back for me! The chameleon put its tail out and I climbed up it onto its back. The chameleon bounded into the air and ran away with me on his back, deeper into the jungle. He was taking me to where he lived and I was going to live with him.I was didn't want to go back to the rubbish village where everyone would tease me because all the other boys would of caught something bigger than a tiny frog.

Toki And The Chameleon

By Mckenzie

Toki stood in a Tropical rainforest looking for an animal to shoot dead. He aimed his spear at a small frog but he missed. Toki wanted to shoot a huge animal so he wouldn’t get laughed at day after day. Toki has pale skin and brown hair with bright blue eyes. “This is hard work,” Toki said aloud. 

Toki thought he heard something breathing. Please don’t eat me, Toki thought desperately. Toki poked the giant fierce looking beast in the eye and then he jumped backwards so that the cameleon couldn’t bite his head off. The chameleon turned around and swung Toki around and on to his huge back. 

The chameleon started to run and Toki screamed. The chameleon caught a little wombat and gave it to Toki. Toki soon realised that the chameleon wasn’t trying to eat him, he was just trying to help him to find more animal heads. The chameleon had a coiled tail, big googly eyes and a long sticky tongue. Toki’s friend chameleon caught a crocodile and passed it over to Toki. Within a minute the chameleon had given Toki a brown furry bear, a striped orange and black tiger and a grey leathery  elephant. “ Faster faster!” shouted Toki,“come on!” The cameleon sped up and jumped down the side of the mountain. The cameleon hung in a net in a tree and he shouted “HHHEEELLLPPP TOKI HHHEEELLLPPP!” Toki fell to the ground with a loud bump. 

Toki thought for a couple of minutes  and then said,“ Yes I will help you.” The other hunters rushed in and tried to kill the chameleon but Toki was too quick for them. He grabbed a sharp spear and cut open the net. The chameleon wrapped his scaly tail around Toki and put him on his back. “YAHOO!” shouted Toki “THIS IS AWESOME!” The chameleon laughed loudly while they were running away.

Toki And The Giant Chameleon

By May

Toki was finding an animal that was way bigger than him to fit on his head. All that he had killed so far was a teeny weeny frog. Then Toki saw a giant colourful chameleon. “H h h hello,” whispered Toki. The chameleon grabbed Toki with his tail. “Aaahh!’’ screamed Toki. “Hey this is awesome!” he said as the chameleon started running through the forest.‘’Wwwweeeee!’’  The chameleon gave Toki a bird to put on his head. After that the chameleon started giving Toki lots of animals. Toki put the animals in his net. The chameleon did a huge jump. “Woooow!” screamed Toki. But the chameleon accidentally fell into a humongous net. Toki thought of an idea, “Uuummmm,” said Toki to himself, “Should I cut off his head or rescue him?” Then Toki could hear hunters coming. Thump! Thump! Thump! Quickly Toki cut the net and hid behind some bushes with the chameleon, leaving the animals that he was going to put on his head. Then he ran off on the chameleons back.    

Narratives

We are still working on planning and writing narratives. Last week we watched a short video called "Ride of Passage," and then planned and wrote the story. The focus was on making sure the story was SAD. That means that it had to have Speech, Action and Description! This is what every great story needs! Here are some of the wonderful narratives that the children wrote.

“Toki and his best friend” By Oliver

Toki was a small weak little boy. He lived in a small town. All the kids at school bullied him so he went out into the rainforest to look for an big animal head but all he found was a frog with warts and two big eyes. He said to himself, ‘‘I need to get a bigger head’’. suddenly a money swung down to Toki and snatched his frog hat of him.Toki was so angry he got his staff out and was about to kill the monkey when a big chameleon came out of nowhere and ate the monkey. For a minute Toki was frightened and scared. The chameleon had a tail that could stretch from Toki’s town to India. His body was covered in scales. The chameleon wrapped Toki in his tail and took of like a plan.The chameleon tail grabbed lots of animals heads. They got bears, birds and lions. Suddenly they fell into a trap. Toki thought, ‘’What is happening?’’ Then he heard footsteps coming. He thought for a minute. “I could cut his head off and be king or I can let him free?” So Toki put all the heads down and cut his friend out of the trap and went to hide in a prickle bush. When Toki saw the men with the heads Toki felt disappointed. He walked out of the bush. “I wonder what way do I go now?” he said to himself. Then two big eyes were staring out him. Toki was so excited he jumped on his friend’s back so quickly. Toki ran through the forest with his new best friend.  

Richmond Reading Group

Luke, Mckenzie and Rebekah are 3 of the 7 menbers of the Mount Richmond reading group. This term they have been reading a book called The Familars. Each week they read 1-2 chapters and then complete a "Thinker's Key" activity, which encorages them to, "think outside the square!"

Here's Luke, Mckenzie and Rebekah to explain what the book is about.

There's 3 animals (Familars): a bird called Skylar, a cat called Aldwyn and a frog called Gilbert. They are all magic. The Queen turns evil and tries to kill the animals' Loyals (Loyals are the owners of the Familiars.) The animals' mission is to find their Loyals, who are in the Sunken Palace being held captive by a Seven Headed Hydra.  It's interesting and it's different. It's stuependous! It's a mix of funny and normal!

Triangles Maths Group

Here are the Triangles working on their maths with Mrs Flood in Room 14. I'll hand over to some of the children in the group to explain what they were learning.

Ella & Georgie -
We have been learning how to do a sum like 63 x 4 and we have to break it up into steps to get the answer.
You say 60 x 4 and invisibly take away the zero and work it out. So that 6 x 4 = 24.
Then add the zero and that's 240.
Then you say 3 x 4 = 12. Then you add 12 to 240. That's 252.