A favourite thing to do

Mrs Jackson shared a story about a girl boogie boarding and how that was her favourite thing to do.

Here is Shea's story on something he loves to do.

“Go on, don’t be a wuss,” screamed my Dad. 

I couldn’t see him doing it.

I was at our families secret river spot, having a blast, right up to this dreadful moment.  I had been challenged by my brother to jump off an abandoned hydro dam, which was literally about 10 – 15 meters high.

“All right.  Here I go” were the last words that managed to escape my mouth, as I lunged off the dam, just escaping the sharp, jagged rocks and splashing down into the shimmering, fresh, spring water. 

I love the river.  Whenever I want a swim, the river is the place to be.  The swimming pools are just cramped areas infested with pee and at the beach you always get fried away by the crispy sun, and then you’ll start aching from the stinging salt water, but the river is just right.  The good part is that rivers are always rich with peace and humbleness due to the fact that a lot of families they can’t be bothered searching for good spots along the river. Another good thing is that it actually changes every year, which basically means that a 2-foot deep hole surrounded by rocks could end up being over your head. The river is by far the best location to go swimming and there are many reasons why. Clear water, awesome jumping spots, deep blue water, and a peaceful atmosphere… plus if you’re lucky you can even find spot with tonnes of yummy fish.

Shea

More poems

Here are another two poems based on "Dad" in "My Father's an Alien"

He’s a

Cake destroyer,

Rugby player,

Loud sleeper,

Clown hater,

Can sense when people are awake.

Hide and seek enjoyer,

Tree (broccoli) disliker,

Girl starer,

Sensitive carer,

Wasabi eater too.

Puzzle master,

Circuit maker,

Raspberry scoffer,

Block builder,

Phone chatter box too.

Dinner waster,

Slow pacer,

Lunch muncher,

Toy car messer,

Always there to have a cuddle.

Luke

Jess

She’s a ..

Banker,

Baker,

Dog walker,

Salad eater,

A great listener too.

Dish washer,

Maths explainer,

Lunch creator,

Fly sprayer,

Homework helper,

My Dad’s suitor too.

Curry lover,

Mood changer,

Pet carer,

Jewellery weaver,

My mother.

Mum

Sam

Poetry Writing

Mrs Jackson shared two poems with us from "My Dad's An Alien" - Young Person's Writing.

The first poem was a character description where most of the lines ended with a "or" or "er" word like lover and creator.

The second poem described the scene outside a bedroom window.

We attempted both types of poems and below are some great examples from our class:

Dad

He’s a:

Good cook,

Soldier guy,

Cat hater,

Dog lover,

Good fisher too.

Marvel hero collector,

Awesome drawer,

Non stop worker,

Sports creep,

Gun freak as well.

Loves motorbikes,

Enjoys hikes,

Has never biked (for ages),

Not just a mind changer,

But a try joke teller too.

House painter,

Worse listener,

Bad baker,

Fair player,

Comforts when we’re hurt.

Mince disperser,

Safest person I know,

Preferred short hair,

With more like hazel eyes,

And tattoos here and there.

Dad

Cheyenne

I look out my bedroom window and what a sight there is,

The old maple tree stands proudly shading a napping cat,

The pond shimmers as the afternoon sun spreads the light,

The large, grey, gravel road sits silently waiting to be used,

The crooked fence lies in front of the road stopping intruders from entering our land,

Brown sparrows chirp their song while perching on power lines,

White and yellow daisies dance in the long grass,

I look up and see the little clouds darting around the baby blue sky,

What an amazing sight!

Claire

Brother

He’s an:

Irritator,

Time waster,

PS3 master,

Mess maker,

Money spender.

Shorter than others,

Sensitive, carer,

Fast car enjoyer,

Dreamer,

Take away king.

Rugby lover,

Book reader,

Sleep talker,

Clumsy walker,

Computer whiz.

Vegetable disliker,

Big protector,

Sport admirer,

Fizzy drinker,

Always there when you need a Deputy Head Boy.

Brother

Brooke

Descriptive Language

The mouse ran quickly to the cheese like a torpedo.  Mum was trying to hit the mouse.  It was like a game of pac man.  I saw the mouse coming my way.  I jumped like a little girl.

Jacob

Complex Sentences

Mrs Jackson has been showing us different examples of complex sentences.

Here are some of the best ones we have written this week:

She sat down on the couch, with a glass of cold water, to read her book.  
Eden

The wind picked up, the sky turned dark and the temperature dropped.
Eden

The next morning, packed with lunches and covered in sunblock, the children set off down the cliff path to explore the cave.
Gloria

I reach the shallows, where the mothers and babies are playing, and stumble up the beach.
Blake

News Report

We have been experimenting with report writing over the last few weeks and have had to write about current events or things that have been happening in our lives. Check out Kody's sport report...

“Everywhere the ball went there were blue shirts,” said the disappointed Southampton supoprter.  It was Saturday morning when Manchester City ventured onto the field to find the Southampton side ready to go.  The league leaders had a quick start and managed to steal a goal in the first 10 minutes of the match.  It seemed a fluke when Southampton scored the equaliser in the 23rd minute and that’s when the miracles began.  It was Manchester City’s corner and Rodwell made a sloppy pass.  Southampton was on the break.  The red shirts were everywhere, when suddenly, Davies smashed the ball into the top corner and Southampton had the lead.  Later on in the game Tevez equalised for Manchester City and then in the 90th minute, Nasri drilled the ball straight through Southampton’s defense, into the back of the net.  Manchester City finished the season as they started it in a 3 - 2 win.  Manchester City is now coming 5th with 3 points on the league table.

Monster on the Motorway

We read a journal story about a teacher, dressed as a lion, causing mayhem on the motorway!  We turned the story into an informative report for the newspaper.

Motorists are shocked after a horrific event on the Auckland motorway which seemed to include a school teacher dressed in a lion outfit.  The teacher, Mr Timms, was on his way to celebrate the first day of Book Week.  Dogs were rabid, truck drivers fainted and a baby was frightened.  A police officer was on duty but had a son in his class so was let off with a wave and a friendly warning.

Niamh

Motorists struggled to get anywhere yesterday morning due to an incident caused by what appeared to be a homemade lion.  Mr Timms, a local teacher at St Mary’s School, was wearing a lion costume for the annual Book Week, and was heading to work on the State A5 highway.  At first babies were howling, but then it led to dogs barking, people fainting and a heap of stress and commotion that caused the traffic to be delayed.  Fortunately for Mr Timms, the police let him off with a warning and traffic was back on the move.

Shea

Motorists on the Auckland highway spotted what appeared to be a homemade lion.  Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that it was a primary school teacher dressed up as a “monster” for his students’ Book Week.  The unusual apparel caused commotion involving dogs, trucks, and a baby that were frightened by the mask.  An officer was sent to investigate and came back laughing.

Kieran

Olympic Gold

In response to Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan winning our first gold medal, Mrs Jackson set us the challenge of "showing" not "telling" about the moment.

How well do you think these writers did?

We were extremely nervous.  A mixture of anxiety, tension, nervousness and adrenalin was coursing through our bodies.  We exchanged a glance.  The hopes of all New Zealand were riding on us.  That was at the start.  Now, we are whopping with elated glee as we celebrate our victory.  Yes, that’s right – GOLD MEDALS.  We had received an unusual burst of strength as we powered through the water towards the finishing line.  I’m not being vain or anything, but I knew we were going to win, because we are the champions, my friend ……

Kieran

Suspense filled my tangled emotions as if it was being eaten as I watched Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan accelerate down the river.  It was heart breaking that they had 500m left and were so far behind Italy and Slovenia.  But all of a sudden, the intense waiting ended – they broke free from the chains that kept them behind, and surged past the rowers of Italy and Slovenia, to claim their gold medals.  It was nail biting to watch but it was a magnificent finish.

Sam

500m to go.  I was leaning into the TV.  Even though we were watching it from half way around the globe, it was still so intense.  We’re creeping up from 4^th place in the rowing.

The water rippled around the boats.  2^nd place.  1^st place.  They were in the lead.  It was so overwhelming when Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan past the finish line and won gold for New Zealand.  Arms up, the crowd was going crazy and so were we.

Niamh

Surviving your Senior years!!

• Find as many Year 7/8 friends as you can.
• Listen to the teacher.
• Focus hard so you don't stay in at lunch.
• Stay with a good crowd.
• Produce a good amount of interesting work.
• Try as hard as you can to do the best you can.
• Ask the teacher for help if you don't understand.
• Get to class on time when the bell goes.
• Keep out of trouble.

Sam

Writing

To conclude our study on Spanish speaking countries, each student had to plan and write a response to all they had learnt.  Our focus was to organise our ideas into paragraphs.  Here are some more of the best pieces.  Can you work out what the main idea from each paragraph is?

Over Term 2, my class and I have been learning about Spanish speaking countries.  We have designed posters, completed reading tasks on different countries and found out what the countries sports are.

In Room 3, my class and I designed a poster each, of a country of our choice.  I choose to do mine on Argentina.  Argentina is an interesting country to research.  Did you know that Argentina’s capital city, Buenos Aires, has the largest avenue in the world?  It is so big, it has 21 lanes and you have to go underground to cross it.  Another tourist attraction is Iquazu Falls.  It is 80 metres high and is a fabulous place for a family photo.  It is also the home of the bot fly so make sure you have insect repellant!

About one week after we had completed our posters we got assigned some tasks to complete.  The task I chose was one where you had to find out how they celebrate special occasions.  I did mine on Puerto Rico.  The Puerto Ricans enjoy celebrations; in fact, nearly every day of the year is part of a special occasion.  The most important celebration in the Puerto Rican year is Christmas.  The Puerto Ricans love Christmas so much that they don’t want it to end.  Christmas in Puerto Rico goes from December 25^th to January 15^th.

Nearly every Spanish country I researched lately has had a main sport.  Most of them are soccer (that’s football to them).  The soccer we play here is a lot different than over there.  The crowd shout and scream, they have a variety of players to pick from and they play the game 90% mental and 10% physical.  Most of the Spanish speaking countries soccer teams have won FIFA World Cups.  If they haven’t, they have a least made the quarter finals.

I have enjoyed learning about the Spanish speaking countries and one day I hope to visit one.

Kody

Over the past weeks this term we have been studying Spanish speaking countries.  At first we were just learning about countries that just speak Spanish but then we were introduced to the language they speak today.

To be honest, I thought at first that it would be hard, but then when we were into it all, it didn’t have to take much skill.  Some of the words they use are the same as ours but they will only have one or two different letters.

Also for Theme we have been learning about famous people that were Spanish.  One of the most famous explorers of all time happened to be Spanish.  His name was Christopher Columbus and he was the first to discover South America.  He also persuaded the King and Queen of Spain five times but he was crueler than you think, he massacred an entire race of people he met.

We also did research for countries that spoke Spanish.  One of the countries I did was Mexico which has many different interesting facts.  One of them is that many Mexicans moved to America to work because 1 US dollar is equivalent to 11 pesos.  Also Mexico has many spicy mouth watery food that they eat every day.

Personally I reckon that it has been fun learning Spanish.  This has been one of the fun subjects for theme but I can’t wait to find out what our next subject is.  Hasta Luego.

Shea

This year my class has researched Spanish speaking countries.  We have learnt about Spanish food, celebrations, phrases, numbers and Spanish sports.  Spanish have different ways of living their lives than we do here in NZ.

The Spanish have a lot of tradition and celebration, a lot more than we do.  One celebration they have is called “La Tomatina”.  At this sticky celebration 30 000 Spanish flock to the Spanish town of Bunol to throw 240 000 pounds of tomatoes at each other.  One tradition the villagers of a country side town have is called “Castilla La Mancha”.  When the young boys of the village dress up as devils and dance around.  This is celebrated in February.

One Spanish country I researched is called Spain.  Spain has a variety of animals but only one is native to Spain and it is called the Liberian Lynx.  The Spanish play many sports like golf, soccer, football, water polo, tennis and cycling.  Rafael Nadal is considered the best tennis player of all time and he comes from Spain.

My class and I have learnt to speak Spanish as well as learning about Spanish countries.  We have learnt to count to 20.  We also learnt to ask “What’s your name?” in Spanish – “Coma te llamas”.  We can also say Hello and Goodbye – “Buenos dias” is good morning and goodbye is “Hasta luego”.

Sam

Writing

To conclude our study on Spanish speaking countries, each student had to plan and write a response to all they had learnt.  Our focus was to organise our ideas into paragraphs.  Here are some of the best pieces.  Can you work out what the main idea from each paragraph is?

Celebrations.  What comes to mind when you hear that word?  Christmas, Easter, a birthday or Halloween.  Many cultures celebrate these events but in different ways.  In some Spanish speaking countries, they have Day of the Dead, which is kind of like Halloween.  They dress up in costumes, scare each other and go watch plays that make fun of the dead.  They also make and decorate sugar skulls, which are edible and sweet.

They also have Three Kings Day, which celebrates the three kings – Balthazar, Caspar and Mekhior.  The people (especially children) make paper crowns and dress up.  Adults make giant puppets.  There is also a parade that everyone can join in.

Columbus Day is celebrated every year on October 12.  Christopher Columbus founded the Americas in 1492 on October 12^th.  That is why it is celebrated.

Spanish speaking countries also have lots of different foods as well.  In Mexico a popular dessert is flan.  Flan is like custard jelly - custard stuck together but not frozen and usually served with berries.  Guacamole and salsa are Mexican.  Tacos are Mexican.  Tacos are baked shells that you put filling of your choice in.  Churos are very popular.  They are fluted strips of dough covered in sugar and cinnamon.

Spain has different food to Mexico.  The Spanish love prawns.  Most of their dishes are prawn dishes.  Even omelets.  A Spanish meal that is crunchy, tender and has the most delicious smell is roasted baby pig.  One very popular snack is wedges.  Wedges are spicy potato chips cut into crescent shapes.

Niamh

Researching about Spanish speaking countries has been really fun and I have learnt lots about different countries around the world.  There are just over 20 countries that speak Spanish around the world, like Chile, Peru, Spain, Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Venezuela and many more.  The countries I found facts about were Mexico, Chile, Spain, Colombia, Guatemala and Cuba.

My favourite country that I researched would have to be Mexico.  I liked researching Mexico because I found lots about it.  Some of the facts I found out about some countries are that in Mexico they have 31 states and each one has it’s own leader.  Also Mexico was its own country in 1821.  Another thing is that in 1492 Cuba was discovered and in Chile they celebrate by having festivals.  Also in Colombia, salsa is a traditional dance.  Guatemala is located in Central America and did you know that the population in Cuba is 11 241.

In Mexico they have a lot of different foods.  Some of their food we don’t have in New Zealand but some is the same but made differently.  Some different food from Mexico are churros which is a straight fried donut covered in cinnamon and sugar.  Also flan which is a dessert that is a vanilla or caramel custard dessert.  Some food that is made differently are salsa and nacho chips or tacos.

So as I finish my story on Spanish speaking countries, I would so love to visit one of these countries and see how life is different over there.  For me, I would love to go to Mexico.

Eden