The Donkey Men!

 I have written this poem because I believe that if the donkey men weren`t there a whole lot more soldiers would have been killed or have died of injuries. I wrote this poem with the thought of what they had to see in the war and how they worked really hard for the soldiers and for the soldiers` families but in all of that time they were being kept apart from their own families. 

Duffy, Murphy, Abdul and Queen Vic,
Go searching around for the poorly or sick
Then the donkey men hop down with a sigh
Then on to the donkeys they get stacked up high
The donkey men wish they couldn't`t see such sadness
Why, oh why, can`t they end this madness.

You walked for days carrying poor injured men
So that they may see their family again
You saved the lives of poor grieved soldiers
While everyday you grow weaker and older

You take them away to be revived
But sometimes all they can do is just die
I feel your pain, your grief and your sorrow
And how you hope that it will be a better tomorrow.

By Stella

Max's ANZAC poem

Flanders Field 

After the war there was peace in the world
Peace between the lands that had fought in it
Peace on the island it was fought on
Peace on the field where so many had fallen
In Flanders Field
Peace in the trenches where the soldiers  felt safe
Peace in the outposts which had been riddled with bullet holes
Peace on the hillside where the donkey men saved so many lives
But darkness had overcome the island
All was dark and damp
Wxcept one field blazing with red poppies

Flanders Field

By Max

We are a Swim Safe School!

Monday 19 March 2012

Today we had two visitors explaining how to swim safely and to present the school with their NZ Swim Safe School Certificate. One of them was Brenda and the other one was a blue kiwi called Koru. Brenda showed Koru and the school a few swimming tips and gave out some cool prizes for correct answers to questions she asked.

Bugging around with Zane

Today Zane brought a stick bug into Room 11.
Most people probably wouldn't have wanted a bug crawling all over their face, one girl even admitted that she would be screaming but Zane loved having the bug's company. 

Mathletics Star of the Week

Zak was the first person to win the Mathlete of the Week Trophy.  He had a whopping score of 9332 points. I will be surprised to see that score again.

By Ben

high academic success

Here is an example of a student aiming for high academic success by taking time and effort to finish his work.

He is using Room 11 goals to get through the year confidently and trouble free.

Mac's eye view

 This image shows the amount of concentration that we put into the short story competition. Everyone enjoyed writing for the competition and wrote some good stories.Of course we are all hoping that we win the competition!

Part of our topic is to be ourselves and I think this shows a good example because this giraffe has an elephant head and I think it would seem out of place whenever it was with either kind. This means this elephant would have to be strong and be its self.

Teddy Bears' Picnic Photo Story

Max took a lot of great photos today and I thought I would add them to the blog even though he has uploaded his favourite already.

Teddy bear picnic

All dressed up for the Teddy bear picnic, face paint and all! By Max

Welcome to our class blog

This is the place to check out what's been happening in our class. We are starting off with a photo challenge and a competition with the other classes in the Senior and Intermediate Learning Teams.
Our challenge is going to be to upload a photo each school day. A photo of us in action, something that has made us go wow or a photo that shows a concept or theme we are studying.
Starting the ball rolling ...

We are enjoying having our library back now that it is no longer being used as a classroom.

Lessons in Espanol

At the end of Term 3 Room 7 followed up on their talents and passions. One of the learning activities they chose was to prepare and share a Spanish flavoured meal. What a great way to learn more about the Spanish culture. Thanks MOTEC for letting us use your kitchen.

Netball workout

Maia and Tegan have put together an Animoto video of the Staff versus Students netball game prior to the Winter Tournament.  Check it out...

An extreme sporting cousin

James Davidson

My cousin James is 27 years old and very tall. He’s 6 foot 8 inches and lives in Wellington.

 He was in the water polo team for NZ and has played against many international teams. Unfortunately he injured his shoulder and had to retire recently.

I look up to him hugely. He is very persistent, determined and never gives up! He sets goals and achieves them. He’s very kind, caring and considerate.

He has had lots of concussions from hitting his head e.g. he’s knocked himself out mountain biking with his best friend Harry, he cracked his head open swinging off a rope at a pool and lots more playing water polo.

He comes down to Nelson every so often to stay with us. Usually we spend most of the time in the pool. He throws me in. It’s really fun! Since I was little I have always liked to ride around on his shoulders messing up his hair and pulling his cap over his eyes.

By Maia

Describing a wonderful mother

Fiona is fantastic at managing Samuel's football team, this is just one of the reasons I love my mum.
I love the holidays my mum takes us on, they are always awesome!
Outstanding at cooking, especially on camp (she always makes lasagna).
Never stops working, 'a tidy house is a happy mum.'  But wait, there's more I can tell you about my great and wonderful mum.
A person who will be there when you need her, no matter what happens.

Will always keep me busy, she always knows what's best for me.
Idol to me and my brothers.
Lots of people like her, she is the greatest mum around.
She is a very tough cookie, always beats me in arm wrestles.
Only person that keeps me clean - not that I enjoy it!
Never sleeps in (unless it is her birthday).

Using our descriptive writing skills to describe our fathers

James' Dad
My dad is a man you would think is shy and quiet. He is also very nice and amazing at sailing.

He sailed in the South Korea and Barcelona Olympic Games.  He also sailed in 3 America Cup challenges for Team New Zealand, Team Tag Heuer and Team Oracle. You can see his picture at the N.Z. Maritime Museum with Sir Peter Blake and the Steinlager Team when they won the Whitbread round the world race.

He is a master boat builder and good at making ropes. He also loves classic cars.

I love my dad and am very proud of him.


Chloe's Dad

My Dad is 35 years old and he is quite tall.  He helps me almost every time I need it and it makes me feel special in a way.  He used to help me with my maths because I used to struggle.  He taught me how to fish.

He also helps me with my homework on tough questions, with my netball training and with my projects too.

My dad loves to play rugby but his knee cap popped out three times when he was younger. He still plays rugby but just with his mates.

Another sport he likes to play is tennis which he plays almost everyday.

I love my dad because he always makes me try new things, he's really funny and he takes me to lots of new places.


Molly's Dad

My dad's name is Chris.  He is 42 and he has brown hair, brown eyes and he is quite short.  He is NOT a dwarf.

My dad is married to my step mum Pip and has four kids: me, Sylvie, Jimmy and John.  Jimmy and John are my half brothers.

He works as a soundie in movies, TV shows and documentaries.  He has worked on lots of films and TV shows including Tin Tin, The Wot Wots, Paradise Cafe, The Frighteners and The Lord of the Rings.  At the moment he is working on the Hobbit. My Dad lives in Wellington but travels quite a bit for work.  Usually he only travels around the North Island but sometimes he goes to other places and sometimes even to different countries!

Because Dad lives in Wellington, I don't see him every day.  I fly to Wellington twice a term and we stay with him for two weeks in the school holidays and half the Christmas holidays.

I love my dad and I know he loves me too.

Juggling is in!

If you didn't catch our act at Friday's assembly, here's some photos of us practicing our juggling skills.

Science Rocks

We have been heads down and going for it with our investigations that we hope will be chosen to go into the Cawthron Science and Technology Fair in two weeks time.

The Music Scene

We have a group of talented musicians and singers working on the skills required for playing in a band.  These skills are hard!  All of a sudden you need to be very precise with your timing to stay in sync (nothing worse than listening to a band where people are out of time), you need to listen to others and you need to practice hard so you do not let the group down.

This band and the Y8 one are practicing hard so that they can wow the crowds at Red Square on the 4th October.

Space Craft

A day spent imagining, innovating and creating resulted in some pretty awesome space vehicles set against planetary back drops.



Hope you enjoyed the trip beyond Planet Earth.

Marble roll craze

We haven't added anything to our blog for ages!  Why?  Because we have been too busy doing stuff to get around to recording it here. But we are going to remedy that (hopefully) and get back into sharing what we are up to.
Sooo, first up...
Finlay started a bit of a marble roll craze when he rigged up some channels, tubes and tracks on the hessian board a couple of weeks ago. I was impressed with the triggered reaction where the marble on a string was triggered to hit and set another marble into action.  Cool work Finlay.

Tait set up a marble roll and added coloured paper embellishments to his.  And Jack turned part of his bedroom into a roller coaster for marbles.

Check out hte photos and videos below.

 Finlay's roller coaster for marbles

 Jack's bedroom becomes a marble's adventure playground.

Tait adds colour and interest to our classroom.