Book Reviews

Book Reviews Round Two - DONE!  This week, we have been working on book reviews.  Using Popplet, we wrote information about a main character, a key moment in the story, as well as give our opinion of the book.  If you're looking for a great book to read, these reviews will help!  You'll find the rest of our reviews by clicking the right tab at the top of this page.

Wednesday Sport

We are now in full training mode as we prepare for our winter sport exchanges against South Makirikiri and Bulls School.  Check out these photos that Tyler took of the rugby and soccer players today:

Gymnastics!

Our PE focus for the next few weeks is on gymnastics.  Gymnastics offers a challenge for everyone, and we have set all kinds of different goals.  Being confident to try new things in gymnastics is really important too.  Here are a few photos from our first session today:

Photographer:  Aaliyah

Library Survey

We are having a bit of a think about how we use our school library.  Please complete the survey - it's an opportunity for you to have your say!

LIBRARY SURVEY - CLICK HERE

Creativity And Entertainment - Term 3 Focus

Big Idea:

We are learning about the place of creativity, performance and entertainment in our lives, as well as building our own skills in these areas!

Holidays!

Tech - Week 10

What a lovely way to end the term - Tech!  The Food Tech group were making delicious minestrone and breadcases, the Hard Materials group are well underway with their awesome bird houses, and the CO2 Car Group are in the process of sanding their fancy racing cars.  We look forward to Tech in Term 3!

Burger Day!

The Student Council were wonderful hosts of Burger Day today!  For the first time ever, the weather was so yuck, that we transferred everything to the hall.  The girls took care of preparing the burgers, (including cooking the patties on the BBQ in freezing conditions!), while the boys did an awesome job of serving the burgers up!  Everybody pitched in to help with the clean up too.  Well done team, the burgers were delicious!

Interhouse Quiz

Today we held our annual Interhouse Quiz.  We had to think hard about the answers to all sorts of weird and wonderful questions.  Some of us were lucky to win a spot prize too!  It was all very exciting.  The final house points were:

1st:  Totara
2nd:  Matai
3rd:  Kauri
4th:  Rimu

Interhouse Gutterboard Finals

Over the past few weeks, our house captains have been overseeing intense games of gutterboard, trying to find the best player in each year group.  Today we held the playoff for 3rd and 4th, as well as the finals.  Here are the results:

Year 4
1st:  Seth
2nd:  Emma
3rd:  Ru
4th:  Anthony

Year 5
1st:  Catherine
2nd:  Lydia
3rd:  Greer
4th:  Heath

Year 6
1st:  Madison
2nd:  Sophie
3rd:  Tahu
4th:  Brett

Year 7
1st:  Cody
2nd:  Aaliyah
3rd:  Daniel
4th:  Olivia C

Year 8
1st:  Logan
2nd:  Stefan
3rd:  Juliet
4th:  George

House Competition:
1st:  Kauri - 10 points
2nd:  Rimu - 11 points
3rd:  Matai - 14 points
4th:  Totara - 15 points

Congratulations to all involved - it is great to see your small ball skills and target throwing developing so strongly.  A massive congratulations to Cody too - he is the 2013 overall Gutterboard Champion!

Practical Measurement Activity

We've been working hard to develop our measurement skills recently.  Some of the things we've learnt are:

• area = b x h
• area of a triangle = half b x h
• perimeter = distance around the outside
• volume =  b x h x w
• unit conversions
• estimation skills

Today we had to estimate then measure a bunch of objects and shapes around our class and school.  It was lots of fun.  We were shocked to find out that one of the four-square squares has an area of more than 20,000 square centimetres!

Fault Lines And Volcanoes In New Zealand

Today we learnt about the main fault lines and volcanoes in our country.  We were suprised to find that these things are all around us, and the main divide between the Pacific Plate and Indo-Australian Plate is VERY close!

Tech Update - Week 9

Things are going really well in Tech, and we are working hard to develop the following skills:

• problem solving skills
• creative thinking skills
• cooperative skills
• listening skills

We're also developing the following qualities:

• patience
• determination
• perseverance
• respect

Check out the photos from today's session:

Soccer Time

We're into the final weeks of our winter sport rotation - soccer with Mr Ricketts!  A lack of confidence to get stuck in was an issue for some people at first, but after awhile, they realised it wasn't so bad!  Learning to kick, trap, dribble, pass and score goals were the some of the key skills we learnt.  We are looking forward to our second session next week!

Rescue Helicopter Follow Up

Today we received this wonderful letter from the head pilot of the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter.  Our donation was much appreciated!

Science Update

We learnt HEAPS in our science lesson this afternoon.  First we revised our map-drawing rules:

• maps have a key and the key must match what is shown on the map
• all lines and writing should be straight
• must have a compass rose to show the direction of north
• must have a title

First we identified and labelled the continents.  After that we learnt about the names, location and size of the main tectonic plates on Earth.  It was interesting to find out what direction they are moving in too!  Finally, we talked about the Ring of Fire (the geographic feature, not the Johnny Cash song - though we did listen to this while we were working), and added this to our map.

Here is the map that Nelly drew:

Burger Day!