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Wednesday, 14 September 2016

Down the Back of the Chair by Mahutonga Matariki, credit to Margaret Mahy

 Down the Back of the Chair!

Today we read “Down the Back of the Chair” by Margaret Mahy. We all really enjoyed it! We discussed what poetic devices she had used and, using our creativity, wrote verses in small groups to add to her book. It’s such a shame we didn’t have time to draw pictures to represent our poetry!

Our success criteria were to:
  • Write a verse of at least 4 lines;
  • One line must have alliteration
  • Another must have rhyme
  • The other can include either more of these or another poetic device like assonance, personification or repetition                                                                       
  • The last line must end with “down the back of the chair.”

Here's what we imagined finding DOWN THE BACK OF THE CHAIR...

A digger a dog an army squad.
A pie a guy and a mexican fly.
A figger a trigger a critter's ipod.
A tie some die the toy that crys.
Down the back of the cair.
[By Joel.S, Flynn.M, Alex.G and Rylan.B]                 

Down the back of the chair,
We found rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,
A pint of beer,
A smelly sock,
A weird rock.
A mouldy fish down from the dock.
Down the back of the chair.

Down the back of the chair,
We found something covered in hair,
Could it be a lollypop?
Maybe it was,
Uncle louie’s old teddy bear?
 But no it was a five million dollar bill.
A nintendo gameboy,
My bird called Roy,
Down the back of the chair.
We found lots of cash
Freezer too such a fortune enough for year supply of steak and cheese pie

We just pull things out there’s nothing to miss
Oh that reminds me last night i found a fish
A lollypop Some liqour A pice of likrish
Down the back of the chair
A cook A crook A book
Down the back of the chair
A rocket A builder a pocket full of glee
Down the back of the chair
Have you been down this marvelous chair it
Will make you rich
[by Thomas Ben blake and Lucas]

Down the back of the chair.

I found a bottle of beer,

down the back of the chair

there was no one there.

apart from Rudolph, the rednose reindeer

Down the back of the chair.

I found a book and gave it a look

Then Captain Hook, flew out of the book

Down the back of the chair

There was a snake who felt an earthquake

Down the back  of the chair.

[Ben B, Theo, Oscar and Max]

A flame, a crane and a paper plane
A book of alliterations and a box of medications,
Down the back of the chair.
A mat, a Mona Lisa and a minecraft creeper,
A bottle, a bee and a balancing tree
Down the back of the chair!
[By Stephanie, Sylvie and Sophia]

My pea’s, my pins, my edible grins down the back of the chair.
My hoop ,my loop,my poop down the back of the chair.
My peas, my wees, my mouldy cheese down the back of the chair.
A bird, a nerd, a turd down the back of the chair.
My cat in a flat, on a mat, being slack down the back of the chair.
[By Greer T ,Greer W , Milla]

Donald Trump’s walls of stone.
Your mum playing the xylophone.
An alien clone, a traffic cone.
Down the back of the chair.

A bat that’s fat.
A cat with a rat.
Old grannies mat.
Down the back of the chair.

A dinosaur, the president’s law.
A boar, A door, A lion’s snore.
Ugly witches magic core.
Down the back of the chair.
A dandelion, a baby crying
An airplane that’s barely flying
A meteor whose relieved and sighing
Down the back of the chair
A sea sick chicken
A dog thatś licken
A bat  that's clik en
Down the back of the chair

A log a hog that lived in a bog a guy named bob
All of this and more!
Down the back of the chair
                                                           
                                              A dragon's claw,
                                           A aniln door,
A boar with an apple cour
Down the back of the chair
                                          
                            A spark some bark from a cinnamon tree
                                                      A Santa ford
The singer Lorde
A cheetah called bored
 Down the back of the chair.

A cord,
A shall that belongs to nan
Down the back of the chair                             
                                                  
McDonald’s chips
Some pink tulips
Acrobat’s flips
Down the back of the chair

A pig a wig  down the back of the big old chair!                           
  A antelope,
A stot...
[By Charlie, Elliot and Bella]
                                                           
Some crumbs,buns and a Drum.
A peer of socks a little box .
A strawberry straw.
A cup a cop.
And a red ruler eating red rocks down the back of the chair.
[By Daisy,Orla and Maddie!]

A dragon having a snooze in a race that we lose
A car having a grump because there was a bump on its rump
A rocket in space landed in my face
Down the back of the chair
[By Caitlyn, Alba and Charlotte]

I found a pair of underwear under the chair
What else could I find?
I found a clown, a town and a big frown
I found a bear bringing beer and he jumped back
Down the back of the chair

[By Parker, Cody and Haare]












Friday, 9 September 2016

Interzone Swimming

Interzones swimming!


On Tuesday we went to Interzones swimming. We were so excited that we had got through! As we took our seats, waiting for our turn, butterflies appeared in our tummies. We listened, as the first stroke was called up, 50m freestyle. She was ready to jump up and GO.

She was walking down to the pool getting ready with a towel around her.
As she got put in her heat group waiting till her race, one girl was trying to see where the other was!

Then the magic happens, her race was up. She got ready and got in position.Off she went! Coming second at the moment and then finished in second place. But then she realised that she got into the finals!

We were both really happy!

(to be continued... check in later to hear about the 25m butterfly race)




Thursday, 8 September 2016

Learning Treasure Hunt: A Sneak Preview

Nau Mai Haere Mai!  Welcome to our Learning Treasure Hunt!

We are inviting our parents/caregivers in to see all that goes on on the classroom on Monday the 12th of September.  There will be a rich assortment of activities being run and managed by students.  These include Food Science activities, music, writing, and much more.  
The activity presented below is advanced taster of one of the Maths activities our guests will be having a go at.  If you want to look like a flash mathematician when you visit do this activity in advance and pretend that you have never seen it before.  Ha ha!

Sophia has just been given a dart game for her birthday.


The board has three rings.
The outer ring scores 4 points, the middle ring scores 7 points, and the inner ring 9 points.
The game has three darts.

(a) What scores can Sophia get?

(b) Sophia thought that was a bit boring so she decided that she could add and subtract the 4s, 7s and 9s. What possible positive scores could she get now?

Wednesday, 7 September 2016

Turning cream into...

 We have been learning a little about fats. We need to eat them to keep our body healthy, and our body stores them.  We discussed how scientists are reconsidering how much fat is bad for us, and comparing it with questioning how much sugar is bad for us. We learned how oil is the name for a liquid fat.

We practiced using our thinking as scientists ideas: predict, observe and explain; by predicting what would happen to cream if it was shaken hard. We took turns shaking it and stopped it every minute to observe what changes had happened. Within four minutes of very vigorous shaking it had turned into cream and buttermilk!

Some of us had predicted this and others were surprised. The fat molecules in the cream stuck together and the product was cream, leaving some buttermilk left over.

Those of us who wanted to had a taste - it was pretty good!

Have a look at this video to see a Russian fairy tale about this, and the value of persevering, one of the character strengths we're learning about.

Friday, 2 September 2016

Heat and Sugar

As part of our Kitchen Science Inquiry we are looking at different elements can change food. Our experiment was around what heat would do to sugar. As scientists we had to come up with a question, a prediction or hypothesis, and write the steps down for completing our experiment. While the experiment was happening we were observing closely and noting the changes that we could see happening.
 

Thursday, 1 September 2016

Yeast, Baking Soda, Baking Powder!

Yeast, Baking Powder and Baking Soda

What is making the balloons blow up?

We have begun investigating the extraordinary everyday ingredients which we use in the kitchen for their scientific properties.  Good cooks and bakers need to understand the nature of the products which they use in order to control the outcome of their cooking.  We are aiming to conduct research and experiment with all kinds of ingredients over the next couple of weeks so that we can be creative cooks and make our own recipes and food products.

Of course food and in particular eating it is a popular past-time.  We are all pretty fired up and can’t wait to get to it!
So, what is causing the balloons to blow up?

Lizard Garden

Lizard Garden


No, This is not a lizard but a lizard gardener!


You may have noticed at the Awa road entrance to the school some delightful new plantings.  A small but enthusiastic group including two students (thanks Zach and Joanie) spent a sunny Sunday morning, setting boulders and driftwood artistically and putting in grasses and small shrubs.  We have created a habitat which Lizards will love!  Geckos and Skinks are regulars on the hillside anyway but will now have a purpose built, sunbaked piece of prime real estate in which they can warm their cold blooded skins.
We hope that they will thrive and proliferate in this environment but we need to make sure that we look after it.  It is not an area for playing in!  Please help us make the lizards feel at home and the new plants grow unhindered.
A special and MASSIVE thank you to Joakim from Te Motu Kairangi who lead the planting and brought in a number of his own plants.  Joakim and his group are doing amazing work all over the peninsular.  Keep an eye out for them and join them on one of their planting missions if you are feeling inspired.
Thanks also to Brian Thomas of the Wellington City Council who continues to support us with our environmental projects.  Awesome work Brian!