Here are some examples of our myth writing. Enjoy...

            How the Seven Continents Drifted Apart- Ali Gray

There was once a King named Asin who ruled Asia, the biggest continent on the planet.  He had six sons. His eldest one was Arthur, the second and third eldest Nathan and Seamus followed by Antar, Euro and the youngest Austra. One day their Father wanted to talk to them. He called them into the garden.

”As you all know I rule the seven continents, but ever since your Mother passed away I can’t handle them on my own.  So I have decided that you have reached the age of maturity for them to be handed over to you.

“ I have given you the continent that starts with the first letter of your name. Arthur, I have given you Africa, the second largest after mine. Nathan will have North America and Seamus you will have South America. Antar will have Antarctica.  Euro, I have chosen for you Europe and, Austra, it’s my pleasure to give you Australasia the last continent. I’m very proud of all of you and I’m sure you will accomplish great things”.

The years passed by. One day the king went to all of the continents to see his sons but none of  them were there doing their duties.  Later that same day the King was handed a letter. He opened it quickly, hoping it was from one of his six sons. It was from someone with the initials ‘AE’ telling him that if he wanted his sons back. He was going to have to come and see him at the highest mountain near the underworld. Unknown to him AE, the king’s brother, had been busy planning his escape from the underworld to get his revenge on being sent there as a child.

The King travelled as fast as he could to this destination where, hopefully, he would find his sons were unharmed.

He travelled up the mountain and finally reached the top to see a big blue chair facing the opposite way. An icy voice broke the cold dead silence, “I have been waiting for your appearance ……..brother.”

“Asama?   Is that really you? Where are my sons? “

“Oh they are fine, just a little tied up “

The King looked up, shocked to see his sons hanging from a thin rope over a pool filled with bubbling lava. It took a moment for the king to wake up from his living nightmare.

“Why have you done this?” demanded the king. His voice was weak after what he had just looked upon.

“I did it because you have  something that belongs to me”

“I don’t know what your talking about”.

“ Fine, say bye bye to your sons, Asin “

Asama dropped Asin son’s into the pool of lava.

“Since you killed my son’s I have nothing that can make me more sad”  

Asama smiled with joy.  “That’s the only thing I wanted from you, to make you unhappy like you did my whole life. Now you see how it feels.  You have always been cruel to me and I took away the things that matters to you the most”.

Asama ran back to the underworld and was never seen again.

Asin never was the same after his sons died.  The only way Asin could be happy is if he let go of his sons and their continents. As the continents drifted apart Asin became more happy because he knew it was for the best. Till this day the continents are still apart from each other.

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The Story of the Apple Tree- Georgia Thompson

A very long time ago a lonely planet circled its sun. It had water and plants but the Gods wouldn’t allow these to be eaten and the people were starving.

High above them lived Bob, the god of food. He wouldn't share any of his food with the humans.  But after all he had eaten his tummy couldn’t keep all the food in his stomach, and he needed to go the toilet so bad.  He went behind a cloud but something strange happened. A small apple seed dropped through the cloud and fell down to earth into the rich black soil.

Jeffery, who watered the plants everyday, saw the seed on the ground so he planted it and watched it grow.  As he watched the tiny seed became a big apple tree and as it sprouted it became covered in apples and leaves

Jeffrey couldn’t believe his eyes- the humans finally had food on their earth but they needed a way to get the apples off the tree because all the ladders were broken.

Then a man decided to sit under it to read his book.  Not long after an apple dropped on his head and became the first food for the humans to eat.  It was also the first time gravity appeared.
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How people and creatures were made- By Emily Watt

It used to be when there was only dirt, mud, water and the sun. There were no people or living creatures. One day the sun had gone in and the dark gloomy clouds rose above the land and it began to rain. But this wasn’t any normal rain. This rain was tan coloured and the drops were as big as grape fruit,

The rain landed like blobs and stayed like that for a few days.  Later, the water started to grow. It grew higher and wider until it was many feet tall. Suddenly the top of the raindrops started forming into a face, the  middle started forming into a body and the bottom started forming into legs and feet.

Suddenly, the people opened their eyes and looked around. It was quiet. One of them said “What am I?” Everyone looked at him and replied “We don’t Know.” A bright light shone up above in the sky and it came closer and closer to the people.

It reached the ground and everyone was staring at it. It was another human, but this time it was a god- a god of the land. His name was Elaminy. He was tall and had a big, white, bushy beard and a huge smile on his face. Elaminy walked up to a small hill and looked over all of the people. He opened his mouth and Yelled out “I AM YOUR GOD. I WAS THE ONE WHO CREATED YOU. YOU ARE HUMANS AND YOU WILL MAKE MORE HUMANS TO GO ALL AROUND THE WORLD”

Everyone cheered and began to make houses out of the resources that they had. As God Elaminy looked across everyone, he smiled and thought to himself, ‘I’ve done it. I have created humans.’
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How the grand canyon came to be - Peter Frankum

Many lives of man ago there was a god called Jonah. He was a huge god, over 2000 feet tall. His job was to landscape the earth and form it to make the hills and lakes. He walked from continent to continent using his power to make it cold or hot or tropical.  After many years of doing this though, he was tired and exhausted so he dropped off for a nap.

It was dark when Jonah woke.  Hearing noise from the west, he yelled “Who’s there?”

It went silent.  Then, out jumped a huge snake! It chased him over the continents.  Jonah became tired and sleepy but kept running. He looked behind to check if  the snake was still following him and tripped over what is known now as Lake Mead.  Face planting into the ground, ripping his skin from his face and scratching the bone from the outside of his eyeballs. he made a massive indent into the ground.  This is now called the grand canyon. Stunned, he lay there until the earth around him rose and made mountains before awaking.  He had major brain fractures and walked for miles, dragging his feet, before finding water. Walking into the ocean he fell to his knees before dying.

_________________________________________________________________________________    HOW THE FIRST RIVER WAS MADE - Megan Tait

Once there was a land with two enormous mountains, Ali and Autumn. They were madly in love and together they ruled the land. All of the humans looked up to them like they were gods.

They had been together for as long as anyone could remember until one day Ali’s stepmother Edna came to visit. She was very excited to visit Ali as she had not seen her in a long time. Ali invited her to stay with them as long as she wanted because they had a lot to catch up on. It was getting late so they all decided to go to sleep.

In the morning when Ali woke up she could hear someone crying. She looked around but couldn't see anyone but out of the corner of her eyes she caught a glimpse of her stepmothers shiny silver scarf. She went to see what was wrong. Edna explained everything to her, how her husband was leaving her and how she thought that she would never be happy again.

When Ali left Edna said to herself that if she couldn't be happy then no one could. She went back to where everyone was having lunch and while everyone was eating she couldn’t stop staring at Ali and Autumn because they were so happy, and she hated happy people.

That night when everyone was asleep Edna started working on a plan. She decided that she would seperate Ali and Autumn so that they couldn’t be happy anymore. She went over to Ali and started to pull on her arm. It was hard work and she didn’t get very far, but she kept pulling and eventually she got them far enough away from each other so that they couldn’t see each other anymore.

When they woke up they realised something was different.  Looking around they couldn’t see each other anymore. Autumn screamed and started to panic. What if something bad had happened to Ali?  Ali was really sad because she had been with Autumn for her whole life and she couldn’t even think about what it would be like to live without him.

She started to cry. She cried all day and all night. She cried for a month and then a year and over time all of her tears turned into stream and as she cried more and more the stream started to turn into a river that that flowed all the way to the coast and out to sea.  

She cried for centuries and when the people got sick of all the water that kept flooding their houses they went to Edna and begged her to put them back together. Edna was sick of the crying as well because it was stopping her from sleeping so that night she went back to Ali and pulled her backed to Autumn.

It was really quiet in the morning when everyone woke up. This was unusual for the villages so they looked around to see why, and then they saw Ali and Autumn back together and happy again.

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How the Sun Came to Be - Brody Lucas

It was dark as always, and there sat Yi in a damp and gloomy cave. He was a fire breathing acid farting butterfly. He thought to himself, ‘What if there was a way that I could create a form of light, something that would provide me with light?’  Then came the big idea.  If this source of light was in the sky then everyone could enjoy it. He started to deliberate, and after a while he remembered  that he could breathe fire.

What Yi did next was remarkable.  He flew high into the sky and put all his might and power into breathing one huge ball of fire. Ferocious flames burst out of his mouth and rocketed right out of the earths atmosphere.  The ball went further and further, all the way into space, and then it stopped so Yi went back into his cave. Yi’s stomach hit the ground for a second when he noticed the bright ray of light dazzling through the cave’s holes. He stepped out and saw the rays of the fire ball glaring down onto him.

He stood staring at his creation, which he decided to call the sun. He named it this as it represented a bright future for the earth.

Without the legendary actions of Yi you would not be reading this story today, and it is safe to say that Yi will never be forgotten.   
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    Why the sky is blue- Anna Young.

Many years ago a little girl was born. Blue was no ordinary child, because she had blue hair. She never liked to see people upset or sad so she would always try to put a smile on their faces. One day she was told by her mother that she had powers,as she was able to control the weather. She could also control other peoples feelings too.  

As she grew up people were mean to her so she became more and more sad, and that caused the weather to always be stormy and cold, until one day the town realised that the weather depended on her mood. Everyone decided to be nicer to her. She started to be happier and the days became warmer and sunnier. She loved her life and never wanted to lose what she had.

Then one day, she died. However, she died a very happy death. As her spirits rose up and out of her, the blueness of her hair went with her spirits. And even today if the sun is out, the sky will be blue but if Blue is upset, the sky will be grey and sometimes she will cry, and that means it will rain.

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I hope you enjoyed these examples of the students' myth writing. There are many more and they will be published shortly.

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What some teachers get to do...!

Just in case no-one looks familiar, this is not my class, Room 10! I had the pleasure of leading a group of Year 7 students from my EOTC elective class to Sunrise Hut last week.  Although the day was fine we encountered snowfall on the way up to the hut and the last third of the tramp was through fresh snow.  The kids were great and for many this was their first experience of tramping, so having snow added to the occasion.

Technology PicCollages for groups GG (wood and plastics) and HH (food)

We used Actively Learn to summarise stories. Students had to identify key parts of the text and draw these into frames, similar to a graphic novel but without text.

In class we have been reading stories on Actively Learn. Mr. Birnie assigned me a story called The Elephants Nose. Here is my drawing and summary.

In the beginning, elephants had short, stubbed noses. One time, the elephant went over to the crocodiles lake and was drinking from it. The crocodile was furious, so he went over and grabbed the elephants short nose and tugged. He tugged and tugged and tugged. By the end, the elephant's nose extended. It was a long trunk, crocodile just pulled it's nose and made it longer. That is how the elephant got it's long nose, its trunk.             Autumn

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This is a story about The Elephant's Nose, and we had to draw a picture summery on our reading. Each frame of the picture shows an important part of the story

1.   how the elephants nose was short
2.   he was off for a drink of water from the dried up pond and a crocodile was there and the elephant said go away go to your pond but he refused
3.   so they had a fight and the crocodile
4.   the crocodile made the elephants nose longer by biting the end of it
5.   one day a toad was on its back getting across the river also the crocodile was shaking the toad off its back. because he was getting tired of taking the toad across the river
6.    they came across the elephant and got mad and squirted the crocodile and toad with lots of mud and they left the elephant alone from then.       Jack
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I read a story called the lottery by Shirley Jackson and it was about a small village that had an old tradition called 'the lottery'. Some of the other villages around had stopped the tradition but this village kept on going. All the families met in the village center and they were called out one by one to take a sheet of paper out of a black box. All of the sheets of paper were blank except for one, which had a huge dot on it. The person with the dot on their paper got stoned to death.  It's not explained why this happened.

1. A small village in the mountains

2. Mr summers waits on the stage for everyone to collect their paper
3. Tessie Hutchinson gets the black dot paper
4. The kids go to get their stones
5. Tessie gets scared and cries
6. the villages surround her and she is shouting that its not right
7. Old man Warner and the other villagers walk up to kill her
8. Tessie is dead on the ground with stones around while she is holding her sheet........

Daniel

Room 10 drum assessments- listen at your peril!!

Kid President's ideas on how to change the world!! Anybody out there listening?

He has many interesting Youtube clips-  search under 'kid president' or 'soulpancake'

Mufti Day- Getting into the 'swing of things' to celebrate the school's 40th Anniversary. Groovy, brother.

Grace, Zane and Maddy- almost unrecognisable!

Media Studies group HH Scary Movie by Georgia, Holly & Ali

                                              Click here to watch a scary movie!!!!

Tech group HH Scary Movie, by Paula, Emily, Megan & Hannah

                                        Click here to watch the most frightening th... aaghhh!!     

Paper Crane animation- Sadako and the Thousand Cranes

On Wednesday to mark an historic, change-making event in history we listened to the story of Sadako Sasaki.  She was born in Hiroshima two years before the atomic bomb was dropped on her city on 6th August, 1945, in an attempt by the Americans to end the war.  Although she and her family survived without any apparent injury, 12 years later she developed leukemia from the bomb's radiation.  She began making paper cranes, hoping to fold 1000 of these and get her wish - to be healthy again - granted.  She made 644 before dying.  Her classmates then made the rest. There is a statue of Sadako in the Hiroshima Peace Park and every year on August 6th, she and all the other victims are remembered.

ChangeMakers- moments that define history and who we are

Our Term 3 Inquiry topic is 'Change Makers- If not me, then who?

An inspirational leader and speaker, Martin Luther King Jr altered forever the hopes and dreams of a nation,

In New Zealand, we have had our own Change Makers, from the historically very well-known such as
Kate Sheppard, Sir Ernest Rutherford, and Sir Edmund Hillary to our civil rights leaders such as Dame Whina Cooper.  Click here for a short commentary from Witi Ihimaera.

Student examples of Persuasive Writing.

We are learning how to introduce a point of view and structure an argument around it to persuade others. These are some examples, on a variety of topics.

Imagine that you wake up in the morning and you have to go to school. You put on the same uniform that you were wearing yesterday. You open the door to your class  and you see  people all around you all wearing the same exact outfit as you. That is what everyday is in a school that has uniforms.

Many kids in public schools are against having uniforms in school. I also agree because I think that uniforms, don’t allow you to express yourself as freely as you want, and it is boring wearing them over and over again.

Normally when you go home from school you sit down and do your homework. Not for kids that have uniforms! They have to go home, get changed, hand there dirty uniform to their parents, so that they can wash it and then do their homework. This takes time away from your homework.

One reason why we shouldn’t have uniforms is because they are annoying for both the children that have to wear them and their parents. Everyday when you get home your parents have to wash them so that you can wear a clean uniform the next day. Your mum or dad might have better things to do than wash your clothes every afternoon. Also your parents have to purchase your uniforms. Usually  the uniforms aren’t cheap, but your parents  have to buy them anyway  even if you are going to leave the school in one year.  On top of that  you have other clothes that you could wear. When you are wearing the same dirty clothes over and over again you have nice clean clothes in your closet that you can’t wear to school. All of those clothes that you just got for christmas and your  birthday you can not wear to school because your school has  uniforms.

This is why we should not have uniform. First of all they cost so much, when you can spend that money on more useful things.

So that is why I think we should not have uniforms. Uniforms don’t allow students to express themselves and they are boring. All of these are reasons why I strongly believe that school shouldn’t require students to wear uniforms. I really think that uniforms will just cause more problems for student and their parents. So would you want your school to have uniforms or not?  

Your Sincerely,

Manreet Kaur
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We should be allowed to bring scooters to school.

I think the rule telling us not to bring scooters to school is unnecessary because for many people that is their only form of transport other than walking. Most parents have to go to work fairly early, leaving their children to find their own way to school whether it be by walking, bus, bike or by a random stranger in a car offering candy, but because of this ‘no scooters’ rule for some people the choices are limited. Most kids at the age of 7-10 will only get a scooter to show it off at school, so when they find out you can’t bring scooters to school how do you think they feel?

Without scooters many kids are left having to walk a great distance to school that they could cover in less than half the time it would have taken to walk. If the teacher hates it so much because kids keep turning up late then why not let them scooter to school so that they might get there earlier? 

Also scootering can be great exercise for kids as it works the leg muscles for every second you are standing on the scooter and every time you push.

Many Parents concern themselves that their child is going to have a major injury that could cost them their life.  This is not the case should the Parent or School Principal make the rule that you must wear protective gear in order to keep safe. The reason most children get injured is because they do not feel that they need to wear any protective gear.

I hope that you can see where i’m getting at with this as I believe that this rule is completely unnecessary. Thank you for listening.

Zac.D

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    It starts with beards and do you know where it will  end? We will have all our precious freedoms stripped from  us. We can’t do one damn thing without someone reporting us to someone else.

     Beards are a remnant of a better time when you went to school and you knew you were in for a good time.We don’t have to take it.We CAN say enough ,enough injustice. When you are old and grey you can look back on this day and say we grew a  beard. A beard for New Zealand, the best country there ever was and ever will be.ٞ

     But we can’t be the best we can be without beards. In this day and age we are in a changing environment where individualism is everything and yet schools are holding us back from expressing ourselves, they are trying to merge us to all be the same clones of what they want not who WE are. I remember in kindergarten they told us we could be whatever we wanted, be different, be unique and whoever you really are.

    But not according to  schools. Schools are holding us back. So I say let it grow, let that big bad beard hang from your  chin.

Mitchell

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Dear Mr Ellis
We would like to have healthy food in the canteen for lunches

Over the past 6 terms, I have noticed that the food we are being sold in the canteen at lunchtimes are not very healthy.

I have given this matter a lot of thought and have spoken to several classmates and even Mr Ward. We would like to advise you of the following points:-

1. There would be less people that would be fat at school

2. The queue in the lunchtime area would be less as people would not have to eat as 
much

3. There would be less fat/oil/greasy food in the children

4. Children would be healthier, the sports teams would be better and the school would   do well in Super 6 competitions

5. If we ate healthy, one day we may (very slightly may) be able to beat Mr Ward at  
some sort of sport

6. There would be less people going to the dentist as there would be less sugar in 
what we eat

7. Children would not get sick very often as the healthy food would keep them from  
getting sick

In summary, I have thought of an alternative diet plan that the children of our school should be served and would like to advise you of what I have currently thought of for food that could be served at lunchtimes and that are healthy.

Cold foods:- Sandwiches made with granary or brown bread with lettuce, tomatoes with ham, various fruits, corn, carrot sticks, bean salads

Hot foods :- Poached egg on toast, oven chips cooked without fat, jacket potatoes with cheese.

Please may I come and speak with you to see if any of my ideas could be followed through and make us healthier.

From Dylan

Room 10 at Music during term 2

Liam T's research into tsunami's

Tsunami waves do not resemble normal sea waves, because their wavelength is far longer. Rather than appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may instead initially resemble a rapidly rising tide, and for this reason they are often referred to as tidal waves.

Watch The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami video here.

An example of Persuasive Writing, a focus for the last three weeks.

Dear Mr Ellis (Principal)

Over the last two terms and last year, many of my classmates and friends have complained about the compulsory Havelock North Intermediate footwear. After experience with both types of footwear worn over the year I can show you that this rule must be changed.

Roman Sandals are uncomfortable and scratchy, and allow sweat to build up beneath your feet, leading to shoe damage and other injuries. Every pair falls apart within two to three months. This means you have to buy at least three new pairs a year. After constant use the sole of the sandal also begins to wear, leaving crumbs of the sole stuck between your toes. I can assure you that everyone in my class agrees that Roman Sandals are a waste of money and need to be replaced by a more sturdy but light shoe. Sneakers would be a good change because they release sweat and do not need a replacement until you grow out of them.

Winter shoes are a pain. The thick sole is heavy and makes it uncomfortable to walk. After being used the leather rips and they no longer have the smart look they had when you bought them. I think that kids walking around with damaged footwear really reflects poorly on the school. This rule must be changed. During assemblies the edges of the shoes dig into your leg, forcing you to either hold up your legs or come out with red painful marks on your legs. Your fingers feel extremely sore when you are tying up your laces on a freezing morning or a cold day.

Doctors, students and parents all say that our compulsory footwear is bad. From having super thick heavy soles to having your foot resting on a flat piece of leather with a blade in it I am sure this rule needs to be changed. The sandals are flat encouraging you to walk flat footed and can give you achilles tendon damage.  

I hope you understand that making a change to the footwear will really improve the smart look of the school and help reduce rashes and blisters. Think about how parents react when their child comes home with marks over their legs. Every student I have asked has told me that changing the compulsory footwear is for the best.

Kind Regards,

James Heffernan Room 10  

Click on  Save Our Soles to read the opinions of others

We have moved on to Measurement in Maths- these clips explain perimeter and area.

This is the perimeter explanation- below is area.  Take the time to view and discuss with your child.

This is Megan's recount of when we dissected lamb hearts in week 5 as part of 'The Human Machine'- an excellent piece of writing. It is correctly sequenced, informative and interesting. Super work Megan.

Brainstorm

Observations:

Tubes, Fat, muscle, blood, tissue, vessels, size of a fist, red & pink, firm, slimy, tendons, thick.

Questions:

Why is it that shape?

Why is it that color?

Why are the tubes different sizes?

Why is the muscle so thick?

Why does the heart have tendons inside of it?

Time line:

First we talked about the heart and the arteries that came out of the top of it.

Then we got a heart to look at.- Ask questions

Then we got to play with heart-See what it felt like

After that we got to cut into it.-With scissors

We got to see inside of it.-Little tendons

Then we had to pack up and sterilize the scissors.

On Tuesday for inquiry Mr Birnie brought lambs hearts into the class because we were doing dissections for our inquiry topic the human body.

First we had to lay out newspaper on the desks so that we didn’t get blood on them. Before we got a heart we talked about it and the arteries that came out of the top of it. They were big because lots of blood comes through them. When we went back to our desks we had to get out some paper to write down our observations.

Then we got the hearts to look at up close. We were also allowed to feel inside of them and inside of the artery tubes. The artery tubes were slimy and when you put your fingers down two of them they couldn't touch. You could feel right through to the inside of the heart and it was really cold because they had been frozen. You could also feel little stringy things that were kind of like spider webs but they were very strong and you couldn't break through them.

We got to play with the heart for a bit and then we got  to cut it open which was the really fun part. We had to cut it with our scissors because we didn't have any proper knives. We had to cut down the middle of it to open it up flat on our desks. When we had cut it open we got to see inside of it. There was lots of little tendons in it. Which were the things that felt like tiny spider webs.

We didn't get to do much else after that because we had to pack up before the bell rung. We had to take off of our gloves and put them in the bin and we had to take the paper off of our desks and put that in the bin. Then we had to put the scissors in a jug of water and disinfectant to sterilize them so that we could still use them for other stuff.

Finding equivalent fractions

This YouTube clip explains how to find equivalent fractions, a concept we are currently learning in class.

Group GG at Food Tech

And no-one offered their teacher any to taste...!

Emily's 'Show Me' for maths. We are learning to demonstrate our understanding to others.

Brody's vertical algorithm explanation on 'Show Me'

Josh and Actively Learn- an interesting site used in our Reading.

The Time You Have In JellyBeans

In actively learn we have been learning about our lives in Jellybeans and all the precious time in our life we have.

Recount of camp- Grace

It was a sunny clear calm blue sky. We drove past a sign- it had some trees and a horse on it. It said Lakes Ranch. Once we had passed it the volume of the eager children raised. Everyone was so excited- "We're here, we're at camp," the children murmured. As the bus came to a stop all the children jumped up and barged out the doors into the courtyard. We got assigned our cabins and then had free time to unpack and explore the camp. Then we had dinner and went to bed (you did the mud run!).

The crickets were chirping and the air was muggy as we did or morning jobs and then had breakfast. Now it was time for our first activity, Hells Gate, which is a day spa/bush walk/museum. I learnt about the different types of natural mud that they use for beauty treatments.  Then we did Sports. First we played soccer and then we played netball. The boys won soccer but we thrashed them in netball.  Next we were on to orienteering. We found two of the posts and the boys found three.  Then we did Archery and Air rifle shooting.   I got 45 points in archery but I didn't get and ducks down in air rifle shooting. And that was the end of the second day.

Third day, well it was a bit more challenging to get up in the morning because we had breakfast duties so we had to be in the barn at 7:30. Our first activity was water activities. We learnt lots of survival skills and had a game of water polo at the end.  Then we had the water slide which was one of my favorite activities. You slide down as fast as light and the adrenaline rush made you wanna go faster.  After we did Kayaking and raft building. kayaking was a bit boring but fun at the end, and raft building was quite stressful.

Fourth and final day of activities, we woke up and had breakfast. Maddy and I were quite tired though because we stayed up last night and talked.  Our first activity for the day was the bush walk where you had to go through the bush and find certain items.  Then we did Magic Carpet. It was the best thing ever, apart from the dust. You sped down a field sliding around corners and falling of alot from a carpet towed by a car.

On the last day of camp everyone was a bit sad because were leaving. We did our morning chores and said our thanks to all of the staff that had helped us have the best camp ever.

So that was my week of camp and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had.

Planning an explanation--Emily

Title: Respiratory System

Brainstorming ideas:  Think of as many things you can about your topic then link these together-

Organs- lungs, heart, breathing, oxygen, gasses, nose, mouth, throat, blood

Introduction: Have you ever wondered how your respiratory system works and what it does? This is an explanation on how the respiratory system works and what it does.

Topic sentence:

Our respiratory system (oxygen delivery system) is to supply the blood with oxygen so that the blood can deliver oxygen to all of our body parts. The respiratory system does this from us breathing. We inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. This exchange of gases is the respiratory systems way of getting oxygen into the blood.

Topic sentence:

Oxygen enters the respiratory system through the nose and the mouth. The oxygen then passes through the larynx (where speech and sound comes from) and then the trachea which is a tube that runs into the chest cavity.

Topic sentence:

In the chest cavity the trachea splits into two smaller tubes that are called the bronchi. Each bronchus then divides again forming the bronchial tubes. The bronchial tubes lead directly into the lungs where they divide into many smaller tubes which connect to tiny sacs called alveoli.

Conclusion or summary:
The respiratory system primary function is to deliver oxygen to the blood and to get rid of carbon dioxide which is a harmful waste product.

summarising strategies- "The chicken-leg effect", by Ellie

In reading we have been learning to search for key words in the text to give us a better understanding about what the text is explaining and to help us summarise.


Key Word Hunt

Write notes in the boxes about things you think are important in the text eg details, what’s in the pictures if any, and possible key words.

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Gravity pulls the blood from your legs down.

Your heart rate gets faster when you move your body around.

your blood goes red when exposed to oxygen.

when you lay down  your blood goes to your chest making your legs shorter.

your body has 5 litres of blood in it

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I think the key words and phrases are: blood , gravity,oxygen, heart rate, legs, body.

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Use the key words and phrases to write a brief summary: When you lay down your blood travels from your legs to your chest making your legs shorter and this is called The Chicken Leg Effect .

Dylan and Mr Ward taking selfies...

Fun is important when learning

This is a photo of Mr Ward with me. He is so awesome. He works with me everyday and I love working with him. We have so much fun. Did I mention he is awesome. We are always laughing. PS. Mr Ward wrote this.....

Grace's top-8 entry in the recent H.B.Edible Arts competition

What will the future hold?  Weta Workshop with
Richard Taylor
and Nigella Dickson perhaps

What a great design!

An interesting statistical graphic found and shared by Josh

The World as a 100 People

Group HH observing the properties of light at Science technology

Dance festival performances

Emily, Megan and Anna from Room 10 are performing in these two groups, recent competitors in the Hawke's Bay Schools dance festival.  Watch and enjoy

Megan's explanation writing of the human skeleton

The Human skeletal system is one of the most important systems in the body. If we didn’t have a skeleton we would be floppy and wouldn’t be able to move.  

Joints are very important in the skeletal system because they help us to move around and also supports us. There are different types of joints like the ball and socket, hinge, saddle and the gliding joint. Joints aren't the only thing that help us to move- other things like tendons and ligaments also help. Tendons connect our muscles to our bones and ligaments connect bones to other bones.

Bones support our body and keep us standing up straight. There are five different types of bones in the skeletal system. They are the flat bone, short bone, long bone,  irregular bone and the sesamoid bone.  Bones support us and help carry our weight they are also able to absorb shock so when we run they are able to take the weight of our body. Bones are able to absorb shock because

Your skeleton also helps to protect your body. Your skull, rib cage and pelvis are the main bones that help to protect your body. Your skull protects your brain and everything inside of your head. Your rib cage helps to protect your heart and lungs. Your pelvis protects your bladder, rectum and uterus.

Marrow is inside of your bones. It can regenerate blood cells. The blood cells are then carried by the arteries and veins to and from the heart. The veins take the blood back to the heart to be made better and the arteries take it away from the heart to all of the other places in the body.

So now you know that the skeletal system is very important in our body and if we didn’t have one all we would be is a big blob on the floor.

Megan

Watch this clip informing us of the various functions of the skeleton

Manreet's explanation writing: The Human Skeleton

The Human Skeleton:

The human skeleton is one of the most important parts of your body. It supports, and protects us, it also lets us move, and the bones in your skeleton make blood cells.

The parts of the skeleton that allow you to move are called joints. There are different types of joints such as the ball and socket, pivot joint, saddle joint, hinge joint and gliding joint. These are the main joints in our bodies but there are other joints that help us move around as well.

Bones are alive and are the structure or framework of your body. Without your bones or skeleton you would just be a lump of skin on the ground and would not be able to move. The inside of your bone has looks a bit like this: inside of bone. The blood marrow is a flexible tissue the is in the middle of the bone, and the red blood cells in our body are produced by bone marrow. The spongy bone is one of the two types of calcium tissue that make up bones in the your body. Spongy bone is lighter, softer, and weaker than the normal bone. The spongy bone is found on the inside of a bone and it is surrounded by a stronger, more protective bone called the compact bone.

Our skeleton protects our organs. Different parts of our skeleton protect different organs like the skull protects the brain, and the ribs protect the heart and lungs. The backbone contains spinal fluid which acts as a shock absorber to cushion the back during falls.

Without our skeleton we would just be a lump of on the ground and wouldn't be able to move or walk. Our skeleton is the framework of our body.

Dylan and Liam at Science

The above photo is Liam and me proving that static electricity is real and that is can make a balloon stick to the ceiling and make things stick to it. We did several experiments and proved that you can make water bend using static electricity. It was really cool. The best ever............

The above photo is a world record for HNI. To get 5 polystyrene balls to connect to a balloon in science tech. Well a record in our class anyway.

Above is a video clip of science tech. We had to rub a balloon on our head or shirt to build up a static electricity charge. Then Liam and I had a race. We placed an aluminium can on the floor by some tape and we had to make the tin can roll to another taped line using magnetism from the balloon. I got mine to work really well. 

James and his ANZAC Assembly poem reading