Thursday, September 6, 2018

Young Writers Workshop

As part of our GATE programme students were selected to participate in the Y5
Young Writers 2 day workshop run under the tuition of Gail from the School for
Young Writers.

On the first day the student’s  focused on the skills required to create images in
writing: using metaphor and concrete sensory language. The students worked at
taking their writing from description to poetry with shape, pattern and layers of
meaning. On the second day they worked on some aspects of sound, namely
using rhythm and repetition in poetry. Students wrote poems using onomatopoeia,
assonance, echoing phrases and following a rhythm.

Please enjoy a small selection of some of the student's writing.

The little train
Zooming quickly
round and round
bells clang
hissing sound
all aboard here we go
today's forecast
rain with snow
but the little train
is not that fast
his racing days
are in the past

like a circus on wheels
bright colours pop
yellow chimney
yellow top
dinner time
Mother yells
and breaks the
imagination spells

Nate Lane, Year 5 St Albans School


The trunkless elephant

One day my elephant trumpeted
through the door, knocking
my coffee all  over the floor!

“That is it!” I yelled
at the top of my lungs,
I searched for the pink bottle  
on top of the  shelf, once I found
this bottle of mine, I squeezed
his trumpet right inside!  

I tied him to a pole outside
I sat back down and thought
about  my coffee, then
I realized it wasn't fun
to have  an elephant
that couldn't even blow it's nose

So I gave it back for awhile
and drank my new coffee
while I smiled.

Max Year 5 St Albans School


Ted the Teddy and Tom the Cyclops

Ted and Tom the wondrous pair
Ted has fur instead of hair
Then in the morning
One eyed Tom wakes up yawning
As the suns dawning
They go to the beach to have fun in the sun
He walked to the beach
With Ted hand in hand
To have a small chat with the crabbes in the sand
To bought along a peach
To share with Ted
They walk home to check the time
They decide to walk to the market to spandex a dime
Buy gumdrops, jelly snakes and sour chews of lime
Then in the morning
As the sun was setting
Tom wondered to himself
what it’d be like to have two eyes
instead of one
He stared out at the lonely plains of grass

Sophie Lynn Year 5 St Albans School

Monday, September 3, 2018

Tournament of Minds

Tournament of Minds is a problem solving programme for teams of students
from both primary and secondary years. The Tournament's aim is to enhance
the potential of youth by developing diverse skills, enterprise, time management,
and the discipline to work collaboratively within a challenging and competitive
environment.

Students are required to solve demanding, open-ended challenges from one
of the following disciplines:
The Arts
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)    
Language Literature
Social Sciences


St Albans entered 3 teams from Year 5 and 6 led under the guidance of
Carmen Aldridge:
Team 1: Arts Challenge: Sophie, Matthew, Ava, Stella, Alfie, Rory
Team 2: STEM Challenge: Hannah, Cooper, Issy, Caitlin, Sam Y, Joe, Vili
Team 3: STEM Challenge: Olivia, Emily, Ciara, Lily, Georgetta, Senha, Isaac


All 3 teams competed in 2 challenges:
Long term Challenge: This is where teams are required to work together
on a Long Term Challenge for six weeks without assistance from teachers,
parents or peers. They develop a creative and original way to communicate
this solution to others, working within predefined parameters such as limited
materials, complex challenge criteria and the deadline of Tournament Day.
Students then present the product of their ideas - their challenge solution - to a panel
of judges and an audience on Tournament Day.

Spontaneous Challenge: This challenge requires rapid interchange of ideas,
the ability to think creatively and well developed group cooperation skills.


Throughout these challenges our 3 St Albans teams showed amazing teamwork
and problem solving skills, supporting each other through the planning, preparation
and delivery of their challenges.  Congratulations to Team 3 who won their division
and have qualified for the Nationals competition in Wellington. Also a congratulations
to Team 1 who were awarded Honours for their performance.


A BIG thank you to the fabulous parent helpers and supporters on the day,
and to Carmen for all her organisation and guidance of our tamariki.