Fun Day Thursday

We definitely made up for the disappointment of not being able to go white water rafting today....

BOW AND ARROW CHALLENGE
First up was the bow and arrow challenge we had all been waiting for.  We recently finished reading 'Big Game' by Dan Smith, in which the main character's life revolves around a bow and arrow.  Today we made our own!  Some were awesome, some were not awesome.  But we all had fun!

Making the bows:

Shooting the arrows:

 Competition time:

CUP TOWER TECH CHALLENGE
We moved onto a really cool Tech Challenge after lunch.  Working in teams of four, we were given straws, sellotape, string and a plastic cup.  We had to design a structure that we could hang the cup from.  Then we added water to the cup to see which structure could support the most weight.  There were extra challenges too, such as the structure had to be free standing and the cup had to be at least a straws-length from the ground.  

This challenge was also a fantastic opportunity for us to practice our team work, and most teams functioned very well.  There were two teams who were 100% successful - they managed to fill up the whole cup with water - an awesome effort.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

After reading 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' book (which we loved), we created our own caterpillars. Some of us have been really original with the design and colours - don't they look awesome?

Insect Metamorphosis

We have been learning about how all insects go through several changes during their life span - this is called 'metamorphosis'.  Today we witnessed an awesome example of this process in action.  There are literally thousands (millions maybe) of nymphs in the swimming pool.  These are baby mosquitos.  We could see the eggs, that hatched into nymphs and any day now, these wee creatures will fly away from the water and become annoying blood-suckers!

New Records!

A massive congratulations to Olivia, who has set TWO new school records in athletics. We think this is the only time one student has ever held two records at the same time. She threw 8.62m in shot put, beating the record of 7.98m set by Mareana in 2011. Olivia then threw 23.12m in discus, beating the record of 20.60m set by Catherine in 2015. Congratulations Olivia, what an awesome achievement!

Insects

We've been learning about insects over the past couple of weeks, and some students have put together some interesting fact sheets about some very weird and wacky insects!  Check out these wonderful examples by Blake, Brenna, Jessie and William:

Reading

Rippa Rugby Training

A huge thank you to Reece, from the Manawatu Rugby Union, who came along to do a rippa rugby training session with us today.  We're looking forward to the big rippa tournament we have in a couple of weeks.  Might need to do a wee bit more training though!

Warming up...

Game time...

3D Hands

Best Day Ever!

High Jump Highlights!

Warming up...

The real thing...

Blob Art

Over the past few weeks, we've been working on our 'Blob Art'.  It is really simple and easy to create, and is supposed to look a bit like an optical illusion.  Here are some cool examples:

Interschool Swimming

Congratulations to our Swimming Team for an awesome effort at the Feilding Interschool Swimming Champs.  Mitchell and Abbie performed very well in the Penhey Cup, all the 100m swimmers swam their very best, and the relay team won the Country Schools Relay!  An extra special congratulations to Willow, who also made the final of the 100m.  Great work team!

Halcombe School Gala

Well, we've just had a pretty cool day at Halcombe School - another fantastic Gala!  There was so much to see and do and eat, and we all had loads of fun.  A huge thank you to all the Year 7 & 8 students who worked at the Gala - you did a wonderful job and were great ambassadors for our school.  Here are a few photos of the Room 6 kids (and teacher) in action:

Manawatu Interschool Triathlon

Lots of our students were involved in the Manawatu Interschool Triathlon today.  It is a grueling event, with a 1.5km run, 4km bike and 150m swim.  Everyone performed extremely well, even though it was really cold and the muscles took awhile to warm up!  Great work team!

Discus Time

There were LOTS of different discus throwing techniques on display today!

Athletics

We started athletics today!  It's not that long since we did athletics, so it didn't take long to get back into the groove.  First up: long jump!

Warming up...

Into it...

Language Features

We've been touching up our understanding of language features.  We know that using these at the right time, can make our writing MUCH better.  After the swimming sports, we had some time to practice:

Alliteration:

When that horrible horn honked, it gave me such a fright. I did an amazing belly flop, and I was off.  ALYSSA

Eagerly edging through the water, I ended my race.  HOLLY

As I haul myself out of the wavy water, I look back and see the crowd cheering.  MÁRIE

Metaphor:

I was a fish, swimming as fast as I could go in the deep, blue pool.  BEN

The pool was a whirlpool, ready to swallow me down.  BRENNA

I was a torpedo, whizzing down the pool at the speed of lightning.  FERGUS

Personification:

When I was waiting for my next race, I watched the trees dance in the howling wind. GUSSIE

My muscles were shouting at me to stop.  HAMISH

Just when the end of the pool was in sight, the water snatched me up and pushed me to the side of my lane.  JESSIE

Onomatopoeia:

The water went SPLASH as the swimmers dived, (or belly flopped), in.  HANNAH

The deafening HONK! of the horn indicated it was race time.  TOMMY

Boom! Boom! Boom! My heart was going mad in my chest.  WILLOW

Hyperbole:

I felt like I was going to die of exhaustion.  JACINTA

As I was waiting for my next race, I almost froze to death.  OLIVIA

My heart was thumping so hard, I thought it was going to jump out of my body! DANIELLE

Simile:

As I dived in the pool, I shot off like a rocket.  LOGAN

The water was as blue as the sky above our heads.  SHELBY

When I tried to dive, I fell like a rock instead.  BROOKLYN

Running Of The Wools

We were invited to attend the 'Running Of The Wools' event in Feilding on Friday.  This was a part of the New Zealand Rural Games celebrations, and was a chance for us to be a part of something a bit different.  We enjoyed watching the lead up events, but the real highlight was watching hundreds of sheep hoon down the main street.  Very entertaining!

On the bus, ready to go!

Fun Swimming Sports

What a magnificent way to finish our swimming programme for 2017 - the Fun Swimming Sports! Everyone represented their house with pride and passion, and it was awesome to see everybody encouraging each other and cheering on the opposition.  No one knows who won, it was all about having heaps and heaps and heaps of fun!  Check out the video and photos:

Photographer:  Miss Main

EPro 8 Challenge

We had two teams of students take part in the EPro 8 Science and Technology Challenge this week. This was an event where, working in teams, students had to construct all kinds of things, using all kinds of equipment!  The tasks were really challenging, and it was awesome to see our teams working so hard to solve problems and complete each task.  Well done to Joshua, Shania, Kane and Regan, our Year 7 Team, and Samuel, Hamish, Ben and Brooklyn, our Year 8 Team - this team also came third!

Swimming Sports

What a fantastic afternoon we had at the Makino Pool for our school swimming sports.  We were a bit worried about the weather, but it turned into a beautiful day!  It was awesome to see everyone trying their very best, and swimming flat out in all their races!  Congratulations kids!

An extra special congratulations to the following students who won trophies today:
Georgia:  Barnett Cup - fastest 50m freestyle swimmer at Halcombe School
Jack:  Wishnowsky Trophy - Senior Boys Champion
Gussie:  Wishnowsky Trophy - Senior Girls Champion

And, well done Rimu - double house relay champions!

Photographer:  Mr Blanchard

Gutterboard Championships

Over the last couple of weeks, our class has been having a Gutterboard Championship.  Today it was time for the final between Logan and Jack.  After winning one game each, they had to play a tie-breaker.  It was intense!  Jack eventually came out on top - well done Jack!

Deciding who starts:

Concentration!

Good sportsmanship:

The road to the final:

Final Class Swimming

Today was our last class swimming for 2017.  After doing some training for the swimming sports, we tried to stand up on a tyre inner.... it is supposed to be easy!

People Savers First Aid Course

We learnt a LOT in our People Savers First Aid Course today.  Stacey from the Red Cross taught us so many important things about first aid and how to help people in need.  While we hope we never have to use these skills, at least we're prepared if we do!  Thanks Stacey!

Practicing the Stable Side Position (previously known as the Recovery Position):

Practicing our bandaging skills:

Level Four Swimming Assessment

Today we had a trip to the Makino Pool to be tested on our Level Four swimming skills.  This was a great chance for us to 'show off' some of the things we've been working on during our class swimming programme.  We had to complete the following:

• 100m freestyle
• 100m backstroke
• 50m breaststroke
• 50m sidestroke
• tread water for 3 minutes
• float on our back for 3 minutes
• complete a safe dive
• swim 50m fully clothed

Congratulations to all those who have made progress, become more confident, achieved their goals and worked hard to improve.  Well done!

We also had a wee 'play' in the diving pool...