It's the holidays!

Room 13 would love to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We would like to thank you all for taking the time to look at our blog as well as leaving comments this year. We hope you have a safe holiday break. Room 13 will be back in 2010 with a new bunch of children! 

But just because we are on a break doesn't mean you can't look at some of our more older posts. They bring back a lot of fun memories. Let us know what has been your favourite post (or posts) from Rising Stars during 2009. We always love to read your comments. 

Thank-you again and Merry Christmas,

Love from Room 13 2009

P.S. We will be back on the 2nd of February but may have some special posts before then, so watch this space. 

Our Class MOTAT Recount

MOTAT RECOUNT

Wow! I was so excited when I woke up in the morning. Do you know why? Today we were going on a trip to MOTAT – Museum of Transport and Technology.

Miss Walters had explained to us last week that we were going to MOTAT because it fitted in with our ‘Celebration’ topic. Lucky Rooms 12 and 13 both got to go to MOTAT together on Tuesday the 1st of December, 2009. We travelled there on a bendy bus because it is quite far away from Pt England School.

After half an hour or so, our bus ride came to an end. We had finally reached our destination. As we assembled outside the gates we were greeted by a lady, called Catherine. She took us to the place we would play on the black locomotive (train) and eat our morning tea and lunch.

Room 13 got into their groups with their adult helper and made there way down to the sports exhibition, there were lots of activities. We also explored some of the other areas in the same building. This lasted for about half an hour or so, it was so much fun because it was very interactive.

Next we went to the tram stop and waited for the tram to arrive. When we got on it the tram driver got off and we wondered if we would even go for a ride, but thank goodness he came back. He talked to us about the tram and told us that it come all the way from Melbourne in Australia. It was so much fun, we went all the way past the Zoo to MOTAT 2 where the aeroplanes are and back again.

Finally it was to time to go into the classroom with Catherine. We learnt all about Christmas in New Zealand from the past to the present. Decorating the Christmas trees and looking at old Christmas cards was cool. The best part was making a chocolate lollipop to give away as a gift. It was so tempting to eat it ourselves! Luckily it was a lunch time so we could eat something else to stop us thinking about Chocolate.

After lunch we had an hour left to explore all of MOTAT and play some olden day games. We played tug of war, elastics, skipping and stilts. The stilts were so much fun but they were tricky to do, that was until Miss Walters should us her special tip.

By the end of the day we were hot and tired. Some people even fell asleep on the bus ride home. Overall it was a fantastic day filled with lots of excitement, laughter and learning. You should go their one day and experience all that MOTAT has to offer when you get the chance.

MOTAT

On Tuesday the 1st of December, Rooms 12 and 13 went to MOTAT, also known as the Museum of Transport and Technology.
We went there to learn about how we celebrate Christmas in New Zealand and to compare how we celebrate Christmas now compared to the past.
Here is our MOTAT photo album - We will have a recount telling you all about our day for you soon!

Immersion Assembly Animations

Even more animations!

Delicious Chocolate!

No matter what celebration you attend, there will always be a some kind of chocolate or delicious sweet.

Kit Kat
Long, crunchy
Biting, sucking, tasting
Take a break and eat a Kit Kat
Chocolate
By Vivienne


Chocolate
Soft, sticky
Spreading, melting, mouth watering
Chocolate is celebrated at Easter time.
Chocolate Eggs
By Dante


Freddo Frog
Thick, tasty
Licking, biting, eating
I like it when the chocolate melts in my mouth.
Chocolate
By Nova


Chocolate
Scrumptious, hard
Icing, mouth watering, spreading
Chocolate tastes sweet.
Block of chocolate
By Oshania


Flake
Crumbs, lumpy
Biting, eating, melting
Sometimes the flake comes apart.
Chocolate bar
By Te Rina


Crunchie
Tasty, hard
Melting, licking, sucking
Crunchie is my favourite because it is golden inside.
Chocolate bar
By Mary


Chocolate
Brown, sticky
Biting, chewing, melting
Chocolates make good treats
Chocolate bar
By Makalita


Chocolate
Delicious, soft
Smelling, mouth watering, sucking
Chocolate is a celebration treat.
Block of chocolate
By Osana


Picnic
Bumby, hard
Biting, tasting, eating
Picnic is my favourite treat.
Chocolate bar
By Alexandria

More Immersion Assembly Animations

Vivienne's Recount

Here was the best recount written about Breakfast in Room 13.
Vivienne called it; Milo Rices Breakfast

How exciting! I knew what we were writing about, but when I saw the milo I had to think again. My friend said "What are we writing about?" I said to my friend "lets figure it out together".

This morning at 9am we had writing with Miss Walters. Miss Walters always thinks of crazy things to write about. She explained to us what silly thing we would be doing today. It was really silly and crazy.

First Miss Walters told us what she did in the weekend. She was thinking hard. Miss Walters said "I was sitting on my bed thinking, what are we going to write about on Tuesday? It could be anything but we should write about breakfast, but not a normal breakfast. A crazy breakfast like Rices with Milo".

Next she said she would be our waitress. She gave all of us a bowl and some milo and milk to sitr together in our bowl. Then the Rices came. When everyone was finished she explained to all of us that we had to smell it, listen to it and the best bit was tasting it.
We finally got to eat it all. When I took my first bite it tasted scrumptious. It sounded like popcorn popping, like pop! pop! pop!

After that we had to wash up. First we rinsed our bowls and then washed it in the washing bucket which was also known as the vomit bucket last week.

Later we started to write about what happened to us. It was really cool. I asked my friend "What other crazy ideas does she have next?"

I felt surprised about what we were going to be writing about. I also felt sorry for the people who didn't have any breakfast but they were happy because they had a delcious breakfast today.

Cinquain Poems

Our class have been writing cinquain poems about Athletics Day.
Here are the first two, let us know what you think by leaving us a comment.

Athletics
Heavy, nervous
Throwing, playing, exciting
I can throw the shot put far.
Physical Education

By Oshania










Athletics
High, quick
Jumping, running, landing
My favourite event was the high jump.
Sports

By Huleo-ata

Sentences about the Manaiakalani Film Festival

My favourite part was when some schools were dancing like Michael Jackson.
Alexandria

The part I liked the best was when Room fives movie from Pt England School came on because they were doing all the Michael Jackson moves (even some of the teachers)
Potaua

This morning everyone was excited about the film festival. So many classes from our school had made movies for it.
Te Rina

The most memorable part about this morning was all of the children cheering when each film was about to start.
Carlos

Today was a day to remember because we had a film festival and it only happens once a year.
Vivienne

Manaiakalani Film Festival

First thing this morning the whole of Pt England school walked down to Tamaki College for the Manaiakalani Film Festival. All of the schools in our cluster contributed movies and ou could tell so much work had gone into making each and everyone. We will have some sentences coming soon to tell you more about this event soon.

To view the movies for yourself go to http://tamaki.net.nz/
and click on '2009 Manaiakalani Film Festival'.

Athletics 2009

Today we had our 2009 School Athletics Day. It was a day filled with so much fun, even the rain managed to stay away (apart from a few drizzle patches).
We have put together some photos to show what went on from 9.15am to 2.45pm. Tomorrow for writing we will tell you more about it but in the meantime if you have any questions about today please leave us comment.

About Pt England School

On the weekend we recieved a comment from Miss Fox asking us to tell her about all the amazing things we do here at Pt England School. Potaua, Dillon, Tui and Dante came up with a response during writing time and recorded themselves on iMovie. Check out their movie to see how amazing we really are!


This is just a sample of what we do. You really need to visit all the blogs from each Pt England Class to see how amazing we all are and while your there why don't you leave us a comment :)

Rising Stars says THANK-YOU

We would like to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who have commented on our blog lately.
It has been amazing to read your comments and reflect on them. Your comments have definitely prompted a lot of discussions this morning. So we are putting together a movie for you to watch so you can hear some of our responses to your comments.
Once again thank you and we look forward to reading the comments you leave us in the future.
Love the Rising Stars children

Writing in Room 13

Check out this video and see if you can guess what we were doing. Leave us a comment if you think you know! The best recount about this experience will be published in 3 days time.

Topic Update

So what have we been learning about so far this term?

Well as you know we have been learning about Diwali and we have also learnt a little about Easter and Thanksgiving. At the moment we have been learning about Japanese Boys day and Japanese Girls day. Not to mention it will be Christmas before we know it! Christmas in New Zealand is a lovely time of the year, as it is summer time so there are always people having fun at the beach and it is BBQ season.

What are some of your favourite family traditions to do when celebrating a special occasion?

Our Rangoli Art

Since we were learning about Diwali, we decided to do some rangoli art. If your not quite sure what Diwali is check our 'Diwali' movie.

First we choose a rangoli pattern to copy, it had to be symmetrical. Then once we had copied it onto our piece of cardboard and coloured it in using bright wax crayons.
Next we used the coloured dye of our choice to cover all the cardboard.
For the last step Miss Walters mixed black indian ink with PVA glue in a bottle so we could go around our pattern.

Watch our movie to see the end product!

Immersion Assembly Animations

Stay tuned for some more Immersion Assembly animations!

Crazy Biscuit Faces

The Tuis group are getting much better at writing sentences. Have a read of their sentences below, they are all about our Crazy Biscuit Faces.

Miss Walters did silly faces to us! She was poking tongues at us. I thought that we were going to do silly faces to.
First Miss Walters gave me a biscuit. Then I put on the icing sugar with a spoon.
I made the eyes and nose with M and M's. I got the snake lolly and put it on my funny biscuit. I ate the left overs.
By Vanessa, Michael and Alex

Crazy Biscuit Faces

Look at what fun we got up to yesterday! For writing yesterday Miss Walters came up with this cool (& yummy) idea. She was a bit mean though as she wouldn't let us eat our Crazy Biscuit Faces until we had completed our recount.

We would love you to leave us a comment or even ask us a question and we will do our best to answer it.

blind Food Tasting

We had to use our noses and tastebuds to try and guess what food we were eating because we had blindfolds on. Below are some of our best sentences.

I was so scared to taste the food. I asked myself what are we going to taste? Makalita

Then I saw the vomit bucket on the table. I felt nervous.
Dante
I saw a sign that said ‘Blind Taste Testing’. I was wondered what it meant.
Mary

It was our first time having a blind taste test it was a great experience.
Osana

We waited patiently for the food. I was getting ready for some tasting. Jesiah

Then I ate the second food sample and I said “It’s YUCK!” Dillon

I tasted the first one it kind of made me sick and I almost vomited, it tasted sour. Heather I felt great and so did my tastebuds, they really had an adventure! Vivienne

Celebrating Diwali

We have been learning about Diwali and wanted to share some information with you. Check out our movie and don't forget to leave us a comment. Ecspecially if you have some more information that will help us to learn more about Diwali.


Keep a look out to see our completed Rangoli patterns, we will be sure to post lots of photos!

What are we doing for writing today?

Can you guess what we might be doing? Check out these photos for some clues.


Stay tuned for some of our 'gem' sentences to go with these photos.

Making Tea

The Moreporks group read a story called Tea's Made. It was about the dad getting a Tea Machine for his birthday. We have all heard of coffee machines but not a machine that makes tea! However it did get us thinking - How do you make a good cup of tea?

Check out our movie and maybe you can follow our instructions to make your mum or dad a cup of tea when it is their birthday or just because you love them!

Do you think our instructions are clear and easy to follow? Let us know what you think.

Immersion Assembly

Our Immersion Assembly Recount is all done ready for you to read. We each wrote a different part and then put it together to make 1 recount.


On Monday the 12th of October, we came back to school for term 4. When the bell rang we lined up outside and walked to the hall in single file.

Then we could smell a familiar summer smell, it was a BBQ full of sausages! We also heard the song ‘Celebration’ playing and we started to sing along. Mr Burt and his BBQ boys were cooking the sausages and chicken wings for those who sat up nicely. Mr Burt also talked about our topic for this term, it was called ‘Let’s Celebrate! Food Glorious Food!’

We waited for some action to happen. Team one were up first, they pretended that they were from The Rock Café. Each of them were all wearing matching outfits and aprons. Next was Mrs She who showed us her Chinese dress and Ms Glaze showed us her cool chef pants. They could undo really fast in case they caught on fire. Then Team 3 came up, they were dressed as Mexicans and Miss Walters was holding a piñata, it looked like heaps of fun! Miss Walters and Miss MacKinlay were hitting the piñata so hard that it broke and lollies spilled out everywhere. The last team to come up was team 4. They wore outfits from around the world and talked about food from that country.

At the end we headed off to class, that was such an exciting way to start off the term. We can’t wait to learn about all the different kinds of celebrations.

Birthday Balloons!

The Tuis group were reading about Birthday Balloons which fits in perfectly with our 'Celebration' topic!


What we would like to know is what your favourite birthday party food is?

Food

Now that we know what the word 'celebration' means and know the names of some celebrations, What food can we celebrate with? In this movie we came up with a few, so check it out!

Let us know what food do you have at your celebrations!

Celebrations & Festivals

As a class we came up with a lot of events we celebrate. Watch our movie and see if you can think of anymore!

Don't forget to leave us a comment and let us know if you thought of another celebration!

Let's Celebrate!

The name of our topic this term is called 'Let's Celebrate! Food Glorious Food!'

It was so exciting to see all the action in assembly on Monday. All the teachers were dressed up in outfits from different cultures and some even had food to share with us. Once the fun was over we started to wonder - What does the word 'celebration' mean?

How many celebrations or festivals do you know? Check out our next movie to be posted and see if you got any the same as us. 

Term 4 is Here!

This morning we had Immersion Assembly and what fun it was! Here are some photos showing you what happened. Right now we are writing recounts so we can tell you exactly what happened and what we are learning about. So keep a look out for them soon!

Term 4 is Nearly Here!

We can't tell you what we will be learning about in Term 4 because that would ruin the surprise! But here is a clue, leave us a comment if you think you know what our topic will be.

We Miss You!

Even though we are on holiday you can still leave us comments. This year is going so fast! Have a look at some of our older posts, as WE still love to look at them and read your comments.

Term 3 Holidays

We are now on a break for 2 weeks!

It has been a fun filled term of stories and craft but we have more to come in term 4.
So watch this space! We have put together a photo album of this term so we could share some of our favourite memories with you.

Michael's Cinquain Poem

Jack & the Beanstalk

Check out Jasmine's Jack & the Beanstalk animation!

Here is Mary's Jack & the Beanstalk animation!

Heremaia's Cinquain Poem

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears

Serena, Makalita and Richard have completed their animations!



The Fantails group have had some big debates about whether or not Goldilocks is a good person or not. Richard and Makalita think she was naughty because she went inside the bears house without permission. However the rest of the group believe that she wasn't thinking and forgot her manners for a little bit, but she was sorry.
What do you think?

Nova's Cinquain Poem

Jasmine's Cinquain Poem

Heremaia's Animation

The Fantails group have been looking at adding detail to their drawings. Heremaia has been working hard at making use of the whole screen when drawing his layers. Here is Heremaia's animation where he shares with you his favourite part about the fairytale Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. 

Osana's Cinquain Poem

Fairytale Animations

As promised we now have some fairytale animations completed. They are now starting to be posted, so keep coming back to our blog. We would hate for you to miss out on our animations!

How To Make A Crown

We all know that Kings and Queens wear crowns.
The Tuis group got to make their own crowns and then for writing they wrote instructions so you can make your own.

How to make a crown
By the Tuis

You will need:
A pair of sisscors
A piece of cardboard
A little bit of PVA Glue
A pencil
A stapler
Some decorations like glitter, jewels and feathers

What to do:
1. Draw a crown shape on the piece of cardboard.
2. Cut out the crown shape carefully.
3. Add your decorations using the glue to help it stick.
4. Let the glue dry.
5. Pull the sides of your crown together and staple so it becomes a crown.
6. Wear your beautiful crown!



After we wrote our instructions we also got to write a recount. Here are some of our favourite sentences.

The Tuis got to make crowns with Mrs Mitchell. By Sain

We made our crowns because our topic is about Fairytales. Queens and kings like to wear crowns. By Michael

We had to get cardboard, scissors, PVA glue and decorations like glitter, sequins and feathers. Miss Walters got the decorations from the $2 Shop. By Alex

“My favourite part was the glitter because it was very messy.” Sain

“I liked having my photo taken” Alex

“Choosing the decorations was fun, there was a lot to choose.” Michael

Potaua's Cinquain Poem

Carlos's Cinquain Poem

Vivienne's Cinquain Poem

Fairytale Characters: Who Am I? Part 2

As promised, here is the 2nd installement of the Kiwis iMovie.
We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you & don't forget to leave us a comment! (That is how we will know you enjoyed it)

A Girl Named Isabella

Once upon a time their lived a girl named Isabella. It was such a nice day she decided that she would go for a walk in the enchanted forest. When she was walking she was wondering what was in the tower she could see afar. She went over there to take a closer look at the tower.

Suddenly, scary, old women told her that there was a wicked old queen in the tower. She had a mole on her nose and she had long hair but it was white, like an old ladies hair.  The wicked queen saw Isabella and said, “Hey girl, what are you doing here?” Isabella replied “nothing” and so the old wicked queen dragged her into the tower.

 Isabella started to cry. The wicked queen told her “you can be my prisoner!” then she laughed like a troll. She walked out and slammed the door behind her, which made Isabella fall onto the hard ground. The wicked old queen walked down the windy wooden stairs still laughing like a troll.

One day a prince came past the tower and heard a lullaby coming from the tower but he kept on going past. When Isabella was singing she saw 7 little dwarfs out her window. Isabella yelled, “Help me, help me!” The 7 little dwarfs looked at each other and said, “Who is that yelling at us?” “Its me, I’m up here”. Then the dwarfs looked up and said, “how did you get up there?” Isabella replied “the wicked queen came and dragged me up here and there’s no way out”.

The next morning the 7 dwarfs went to the prince’s castel and told him what had happened. He came with his knights and he had a white cute horse called Farty. When he was at the tower, he yelled out “Isabella, where are you?” she looked outside and saw his handsome face, “Oh help me please help me get down from here” Isabella cried. He got a rope and threw it up and she came down.

When the got back to the castle they got married and had 2 babies. And they lived happily ever after and no one heard from the wicked queen ever again.

By Nova and Mary 

Animation Update!

Last time it was nursery rhyme animations, this time it is fairytales. They are on the way just for you! So watch this space as we will start to post them in a few weeks. In the meantime we have lots of other work to share with you, as we have been very busy during Literacy time. So keep coming back to us! We always like to see who is visiting us (and who is leaving us comments).

Jack and Jill

Do you know the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill? Check out our animations to the nursery rhyme.
We drew our pictures on Pixelmator, made our own iMovie and did our voiceovers by ourselves.

Fairytale Characters: Who Am I? Part 1

The Kiwis group have had a lot of fun during writing time lately.
Together they wrote the clues and made this iMovie. So sit back, relax and see if you can guess which character they are talking about.

This was only the beginning, so stay tuned for part 2!

The Evil Queen

Once upon a time, there lived an evil queen called Osana and her kind husband. They lived in a haunted castle. The evil queen and her kind husband had a baby princess named Emma.

The years went pass and the baby grew. Emma had a beautiful voice. The evil queen had a plan to get rid of Emma.

So one day she told Emma to go for a walk into the forest. Suddenly Emma heard and saw enchanted trees talking to each other, the princess was so frightened she screamed at the top of her lungs. The evil queen heard Emma screaming and got really angry because she realised Emma hadn’t disappeared like she had hoped. The evil queen shouted for her dragon to come immediately. When the dragon came she said, “I heard a voice from the dark forest, I want you to go and make sure Emma never comes back!” The evil queen laughed at her wicked plan. So the evil queen ran upstairs and made a smelly potion in a big, hot pot. After she made her potion she took a little spoon and took a sip “just right to put Emma to sleep forever” she screeched. Emma’s friend Alice, a bluebird saw the evil queen turning into a witch! She flapped her wings and freaked out. She was going to tell Emma but it was to late because the dragon had already found out where Emma was staying. Emma was trapped in a cottage with a smelly troll who kept her in a dungeon, which was always locked. Emma could only come out when it was time for her to prepare the trolls meals. The dragon flew back to inform the evil queen. “What great news” said the evil queen as she laughed to herself, now knowing that she didn’t have to bother with Emma again! One day a handsome prince was riding through the forest when he quite hungry because it was nearly lunchtime. He saw the cottage and decided to stop to see if he could grab something to eat. When the prince knocked on the door he was greeted by Emma, “can I help you sir?” said Emma. The prince was amazed at her natural beauty and said, “I am quite hungry, could I please have something to eat?” Suddenly the troll was not so angry that Emma was talking to the prince he ordered her to shut the door, so she did. The next day the prince could not stop thinking about the girl he saw. That night the prince ordered his knights to go and rescue the girl who was in a cottage in the middle of the forest.

Emma was rescued and married the prince a week later. They soon had their own baby who they loved dearly.

The Incy Wincy Spider

We have done an animation to the Nursery Rhyme 'Incy Wincy Spider'.
Our group experimented when doing our voice recording, so have a listen and let us know what you think!

Jack and the Beanstalk

The Fantails group have been learning about how to write speech marks and questions.

Thanks to 'Google Images' Miss Walters found pictures of Jack climbing the beanstalk. We had to put ourselves into Jack's shoes and write down what we thought he was thinking. 

1. Jack said "What a giant beanstalk!"

2. "Oh, when am I going to get to the top?" Jack cried

3. His mother shouted "you 

get down from that beanstalk!" Jack replied "No, I want to see what's at the top of the beanstalk."

4. Jack whispered to himself "a giant might live in that castle."

5. "Mum, mum hurry bring the axe! The giant's coming!" shouted Jack.

The Princess who was trapped in the Tower

Heather and Mary wrote this story. They got their ideas out of fairytales they had heard or read to create their own version of a fairytale.

The Princess who was trapped in the Tower
By Heather and Mary


Long, long ago their lived a kind king and queen who had a baby girl. They called their princess Bella because she was born with beautiful long, golden hair.

One day there was a wicked witch who stole princess Bella and looked after her for 15 years. Then when she was older the witch locked her in a high tower with no stairs, it only had a tiny window.

A few years later Bella’s hair grew longer and longer each day. There was a prince called Jack and one day he heard a beautiful voice coming from a tall tower. Prince Jack decided to follow the voice and he discovered it was princess trapped in a tower.
The evil witch came and prince Jack quickly hid behind the ancient talking tree, prince Jack heard the witch shout, “Bella let down your long golden hair”. When the prince heard the princesses name prince Jack knew that it was Bella’s voice he had heard.
Then when the witch went away the prince called for his knights.
The wicked witch came out of the forest when she heard all the commotion. She saw the prince with his knights under the tower looking at Bella’s long, golden hair.
Suddenly a beautiful unicorn came and stabbed the witch with its pointy horn. Next princess Bella cried with joy for the unicorn to catch her as she jumped out of the window. As the unicorn landed on the forest floor, princess Bella and the prince gazed into each other’s eyes.

Jack asked princess Bella to marry him and of course she said yes! The prince lifted her up onto his horse and lived happily ever after in their kingdom. The end.

Mythical Creatures

The Moreporks group have been practicing to write simple and complex sentences. 

Here is what they came up with about the picture and vocabulary above.

What is a unicorn?

A unicorn is a mythical creature. Unicorns have pure white bodies and golden haired tails, like a horse. What makes them so special is that they have a spiral horn on the top of their head, often golden in colour. They live in enchanted forests. If you find one they will be your companion for life.

Heather's gem sentence - The princess and the unicorn are companions for life.

Vivienne's gem sentence - The rays of sunshine shone upon the unicorn and her companion.

Mary's gem sentence - The enchanted forest was filled with wild trees and friendly animals.

Osana's gem sentence - The castle in the distant background on the other side of the mountain was a castle, filled with royal people. 

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Check out the Tuis movie to go with the nursery rhyme Twinkle, twinkle little star.

They learnt the nursery rhyme off by heart, drew a picture on Kidpix and came up with their own actions!

Special Report: Cross Country

Here is our cross-country report as promised!
All the writing groups had a part in creating this recount for you. So we hope you enjoy it and leave us a comment.

THE FIRE BREATHING DRAGON

Once upon a time, there were knights fighting year after year to stop the fire-breathing dragon. The dragon was dark red with bony wings and a strong body with a long and sharp tail. He lived in a haunted castle that was deep in the forest.

Inside the castle there was a baby and a chest full of silver and gold inside it. The knights were risking their lives to fight the dragon because they wanted that chest for themselves.

The knights never gave up fighting the dragon even though they kept losing. But one day someone defeated the dragon! The knight was dripping with blood but managed to crawl inside the castle. He came across the baby who was now a strong monster and destroyed the whole kingdom including the knight who killed the dragon.

A king from another kingdom heard what had happened and sent his knights to fight the monster. Knights went charging towards the monster on their horses and spears went flying. In the end the knights lost the battle and gave up. The monster built his own castle with a high fence so he would never be attacked again.

By Potaua

Room 13

Cross-Country Update!

New Zealand's Master Storyteller & Artist

Instead of going on a trip this term, we had a storyteller come to us.
Check out our movie to find out all about it!



"I enjoyed Stu because he was funny and cool. I liked his amazing picture, I wish I could have kept it." Alexandria

"What I liked about Stu wa that he made up such an interesting story." Te Rina

"My favourtie part about Stu's story was that it had a unicorn in it with a gold horn." Jasmine

Update!

Cross-country yesterday was a success, everyone did so well! We will have cross-country recounts coming just for you on Monday the 24th of August.

Cross Country Training

We had to write clear sentences to answer Miss Walters questions so they were easy for our audience (you) to understand.

When do we do cross-country training?
We train most mornings but mostly Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday’s.
By Eleva

Why are we training?
We are practicing so we are ready to do our best for the real cross-country.
By sam

We have to practice a lot because it is our school cross-country on the 20th of August.
By Shadin

What do you need to do cross-country training?
Having good running shoes helps because you might cut your feet on glass or rocks.
By Eleva

Where do you run for your cross-country training?
We run outside the school and go down to the reserve. On our way back we go past the classes.
By Billy

STAY TUNED FOR OUR CROSS-COUNTRY RECOUNTS

Old Mother Hubbard

The Moreporks Literacy group have made their own animations for the nursery rhyme Old Mother Hubbard. They have been trying to add more detail to their drawings, so check out what they have done.


Don't forget to leave us a comment. Do you think our animations were detailed?

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood

Retold by Kane and Richard

Once upon a time Little Red went to visit her grandmother. There were dark frightening shadows in the forest. Little Red picked wild flowers to poison the angry bad wolf. A big hungry wolf was looking at the basket of goodies. Little Red gave the evil wolf wild flowers to poison him. The evil big bad wolf ate the wild flowers and he got sick. He started to wobble and fell down onto the ground. Little Red got out a knife from her basket and stabbed him in the heart. The blood came out and next she cut open his stomach. Out came granny from the wolf’s stomach. 

Super Stitching

As part of our topic, we have been learning how to stitch. Check out our photos to see if you can guess what fairytales the pictures belong to.



My picture is of the straw house from the fairytale The 3 Little Pigs "I enjoyed learning the running stitch because it was the easiest." Vivienne

I stitched the axe from the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk because that part of the story is my favourite. "The best part about our topic is that I have learnt to sew." Carlos

Here is a photo of me with my stitching of a pig from the fairytale The 3 Little Pigs. "The hardest part about stitching is threading the wool through the needle eye." Shadin

Did you guess that mine was the apple from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? It is my favourite fairytale beacause it has a lot of interesting parts in the story. "I found the blanket stitch the most challenging to do." Dante

Doing the Gingerbread Man made Miss Walters hungry. Do you like eating gingerbread men? I do ecspecially if it is decorated with lollies! "I'm enjoying our topic this term because I have been learning about so many different characters." Mary

Baa Baa Blacksheep

As well as looking at different fairytales, we have been looking at nursery rhymes to.
The Parrots group were learning about the nursery rhyme Baa Baa Blacksheep.


We have been learning to put together our own iMovies with voice overs.
Please comment and let us know what you think about our movie.

Our Favourite Fairytales

Britney's favourites fairytale is Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.















Thomas likes the giant from the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk.















This is Eleva's Kidpix drawing of her favourite fairytale, Cinderella.

Term 3 The Art in Storytelling

Term 3 is well on the way, we have been learning and working hard.

It is not always easy to show you absolutely everything we do (or you could be here for hours).

So here is a small snapshot of what we could get together, so sit back and enjoy!

Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment!
(You might even like to give us some ideas for our class story that Nova and Logan started for us)

Our Photo Scrapbook 2009

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

The Maori New Year

We have been using our research skills to learn more about Matariki.

Here is a movie to show you what we found out!

What is Matariki?

Matariki is a group of seven stars, it is also known as Pleiades. Most people know Matariki as the traditional Maori New Year. Matariki has two meanings; Tiny Eyes or Eyes of God.

When and Where can you see Matariki?

Matariki can be seen just before sunrise in late May or early June. This indicates the end of one year and the beginning of a new year. Some people believe that if Matariki is easily seen then it is going to a good new year.

This is only a tiny amount of information we read about Matariki on the internet and in books! Go to your local library to research Matariki more or use a search engine on the internet.

Let us now what you found out – Knowledge is Power!

From the Moreporks

The Monarch Butterfly

The Kiwis Literacy group have been learning all about the life cycle 

of a Monarch Butterfly. 

Do you know any interesting facts about butterflies? 

Playing with a Yo-Yo

The letter 'Y'. We had lots of fun learning about the letter 'Y'!
Check out our Yo-Yo movie and let us know if you can think of any other words that start with the letter 'Y'.


Can you do any tricks using a Yo-Yo?

Dancing Dinosaurs

For our recount experience we all got to dance like Dinosaurs!

Check out our movie to listen and see exactly what happened.



What part of our recount movie did you like?

Delicious Cupcakes

The Tuis group were learning all about the letter 'C' and we talked about lots of words starting with 'C' including cakes and cupcakes. We also read a book called 'The Best Cake' which inspired us to get in the kitchen. 

What is your favourite flavour cake or cupcake?

Goldfish

The Fantails group have been learning about goldfish.
Since they knew so much information, Miss Walters decided to get a class pet and guess what they their new pet is! A goldfish called Nemo.

Do you know how to look after goldfish?

Sunflowers

The Tuis group had a special treat last week. After reading the book Max and the Little Plant, the whole group got to plant a sunflower seed each. Next they wrote a story about their experience, so check out their movie to see what they did!

What do you like about sunflowers?

Don't Eat Me!

The Moreporks group were so inspired by the poem Don't Eat Me that they designed their own vegetable or fruit faces.

Can you think of any other creative ways to eat your fruit and vegetables?

Hangi

The Kiwis group looked at the poem Hangi and drew pictures to match each verse.
Have you ever had a delicious Hangi?

Check out the website to learn all about how a Hangi is built!

Lunch Box Heroes!

Are you a Lunch Box Hero?

The Parrots group have been investigating what makes a Lunch Box Hero.
Check out their movie to see if you are a Lunch Box Hero.

Do you know why it is important to have a healthy lunch?

Popcorn

The Fantails Literacy group have been experimenting with popcorn.
They each selected 3 photos to practise writing sentences that make sense.


What flavour popcorn do you like best?

The Letter 'G'

Each week the Tuis Literacy group have a letter of the week.
We think of as many words as we can beginning with that letter, then we write a story about one of those words.
This week our letter was "G".

Can you think of an other words that begin with the leter"G"