Speeches

Over the last 2 days we have heard some great speeches in Room 18 and tomorrow the rest of the class will get the opportunity to present their speeches to the class. At the end of tomorrow the children will find out who is going to be in our class final on Thursday! I will be looking for great information, a persausive argument, lots of eye contact with the audience, a clear voice with lots of expression and a lively presentation style!

Here are a few of the speeches- some have already presented and some will be presenting tomorrow.

I think that we should change the New Zealand flag.

My first reason is because it looks like Australians flag. We both have a union jack. They have 5 stars and we have 4 stars. We have red in our stars and Australia has white in their stars. The prime minister has been put on the wrong seat because people can’t tell the difference.  We have changed our flag 2 other times.

My second reason is because it has the union jack and we are not part of the UK. We do not want another country’s flag on our flag.

My third reason is it is time for a change. We have had the New Zealand flag for years. Canada had the union jack on their flag and they changed it to the maple leaf, so we could change ours too. We have had the New Zealand flag from                                                                         1902-2015.

I hope you agree  with me now you have listened to my speech.

By Seth

Do your kids get confused with the New Zealand flag? I’m going to give you some reasons why I think that we should change the New Zealand flag.

My first reason is it doesn’t show anything that shows it is from New Zealand. We should put a kiwi or fern on it.The silver fern is popular so it is probably going to be on the new flag if we have one. If we put a fern or kiwi it would show that we support nature.

My second reason is why do we want another country’s flag on our flag. We have the union jack on our flag which is the flag of the UK. Canada had the british flag but 47 years ago they changed it so it look like something for Canada with the maple leaf.

My third reason is it looks like the Australian flag and little kids don’t know which is which. Australia only has one more star than us.

I hope I have persuaded you with some ideas that will change your mind that there should be a new flag.

By Hunter

Are you annoyed because you have to get up early in the morning and pack your lunch get ready and leave? I’m going to tell you why I think that we should have a cafe at our school.

My first reason is people could have more spare time at home in the morning. Sometimes people are in a rush and could be late for school if they have to make lunch. If we had a cafe people could take their time walking to school.

My second reason is people could have nicer and healthier food. For example we would have yummy sandwiches, salads, fresh apples and puddings.

Another reason is that children would not have to sit outside in the cold windy breeze. They could sit inside in the cafe instead.

Finally, If we have a cafe the teachers would not have to leave school to go get their lunch at their house. So they can eat there lunch at the cafe and then they can get on with any work they need to do.

I think to end my speech I should just say that I think we should have a cafe because it is much

warmer and people can have nicer and healthier food. So they will like lunchtimes much more. So now you know what I think about what we should do about the cafe. I hope you liked my speech and I'm sure you will agree with me.

By Mya

We shouldn’t hunt in NZ

Do you think hunting is bad? Well I do so I’m going to put a stop to all of the hunting in our country of New Zealand. It is bad because you are killing things that are living in our environment.

My first reason is some people call hunting a sport but a sport is something that involves people who want to play. Its not a sport and I don’t want people hunting in NZ. Its bad for the animals and us.  

My second reason is we shouldn’t hunt in NZ because we are animals and we should love the animals the same way we love everyone in our family. People say animals have feelings and I think they do.

My third reason is because you could accidentally kill a human and that's very very bad. In the last ten years; 19 people have died and 57 people have been injured in New Zealand in hunting accidents. Last year a man who was 25 died after being killed by another hunter. And another man who was 22 was killed by getting shot in the chest by his father. There are 239,000 guns in the New Zealand.    

My fourth reason is we don’t need to hunt in NZ because we have lots of shops and supermarkets. We can get all kinds of meat from the supermarkets.

I don’t want people killing animals because we’re animals!!!!! I HOPE YOU AGREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Meila
   

I think littering should stop

My first reason is that it kills animals.                                       

Plastic bags are very light and a lot of them end up in the sea. They get wrapped around birds, fish, sharks, turtles and other kinds of animals. A turtle was found with 224 pieces of plastic in its stomach and a dead baby whale had 100 plastic bags in its stomach.

My second reason is that it clogs drains.   

Drains get clogged by lots of rubbish travelling with rain into the sewer pipes and makes the water overflow.

               

My third reason is that it makes the  place look disgusting. 

We should stop throwing plastic bags away we should keep them until we need them again. We can take them to the shops and put food in so we don’t waste.

I hope that you will agree with me and try to make sure that you don’t leave litter lying around.

By Harrison

I think that whaling should be BANNED!

The whale population is falling and They need your help.  

My first reason is that the people do not eat the whales meat they are wasting most of it and all they want the oil and chuck the rest in the sea to roat.

My second reason  is that whaling is cruel because when they are being hunted they get chased away from their family and friends then shot so they don't die quickly they left to suffer. Nothing should be treated that way.

My third reason is whales might will become extinct and this would bad because you wouldn't  get to see the beautiful whale swimming in the sea jumping around having fun with there friends and family.

We can help stop whaling by not buying products that use the oils maybe we could write letters to prime minister of the country that is whaling and ask them to stop.

There are some many different types of whales let stop killing these creatures. Why can't we just let them live.

By Logan

Daffodil Day mufti- don't they look great!

Today was special for another reason too- the first day in about 2 months that we had EVERYONE in Room 18 at school! Fantastic to have everybody well again- let's hope that's the last of the winter illness- roll on Spring :-)  :-)  :-)

Daffodil Day Tomorrow!

Don't forget to try to wear some yellow, green or orange and to bring a gold coin tomorrow for Daffodil Day.

Tennis Taster

2 coaches from the tennis club visited us today to give us a taster of tennis, to see if the children would be interested in playing for a Witherlea team on Saturday mornings in Term 4 and Term 1 of next year.

Speech Competition

In Week 8 Witherlea School will be holding its biennial Speech Contest for the whole school! The children in Kowhai are writing a persausive speech about something they are interested in or feel strongly about.

The speech has to be about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes and should have at least 5 paragraphs.

The first paragraph should have a "hook"- something that gets people interested. It should also state what the person is going to be arguing for or against.

Here is Ayla's first paragraph:

Do your parents yell at you for watching too much TV? Well I think that people should stop staring at TV screen and get outside and do some exercise.

The second, third and fourth paragraphs should give three different reasons WHY they think this, and include lots of detail, facts and information.

Here is Izzy's second paragraph about why she thinks we should have a new flag:

My first reason is that the New Zealand flag should change because it doesn't have anything to do with New Zealand. Like if we had a kiwi  or a silver fern on the flag we could say that it represents New Zealand. .Now we have a union jack on our flag which is the flag for UK and we don't want another flag to be like ours.

Here is Sylvie's third paragraph about why she believes that children should have less sugary foods in their lunchboxes:

My next reason is that if children have healthier lunches it would be better for the environment. Mostly all the things that come in packets are unhealthy. All the packets are sent to the dump or become litter. Some fruit does come in plastic bags but most of it doesn't. It takes 450 years or over for most plastic to break down! It would be much better if people had healthier things in reuseable containers/bags.

The last paragraph should sum up all the arguments in a final statement. No one has got this far yet! We are working very hard on this but it is proving quite a challenge! The children are very welcome to continue work at home if they want to.

Sketching

Room 18 continue to impress me with their sketching skills- they are getting better and better!

Kowhai Mural

Today we held a special ceremony to celebrate the Kowhai mural.

Don't forget your money tomorrow...

Kahurangi Performance

This morning we were visited by the Kahurangi performers. They shared some amazing dancing and singing with us. Here are some of our reflections:

Sylvie: I think it would have taken a lot of practise and it was amazing.

Grace: I think the best dance was the Matariki Dance.

Teri: The dancing was amazing

Hayden: I wonder how long it took them to practise.

Baylee: I loved the Maori legend of Matariki.

Ayla: I liked learning all the Maori words.

Meila: I liked the Maori legend of Matariki and the dancing we all did with them!

Keeton: I liked the dance with the fish.

Izzy: I liked when the girls did the Poi and I also liked it when the boys did the Haka.

Harrison: I liked when they were singing and playing the guitar- it was cool!

Bede: I liked it when they did the Haka for the war.

Sensational Scootering!