We used Ev3 to build everything. At the competition we had lots of malfunctions but it was still a learning experience. Our favourite thing was that there were so much cool stuff we could make our robot do.
Blogpost by Cindy and Rory
Showing posts with label year5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label year5. Show all posts
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Robotics
Last week we participated in Robocup. We have been working on our robots for several weeks. There were three teams chosen from year 5&6. Our team chose to do rescue, where you follow a line and the goal is to find a can and push it out of a green area. It sounds easier than it is. Other teams did soccer. It's basically a robot soccer.
We used Ev3 to build everything. At the competition we had lots of malfunctions but it was still a learning experience. Our favourite thing was that there were so much cool stuff we could make our robot do.
Blogpost by Cindy and Rory
We used Ev3 to build everything. At the competition we had lots of malfunctions but it was still a learning experience. Our favourite thing was that there were so much cool stuff we could make our robot do.
Blogpost by Cindy and Rory
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Year 6 Cantamaths Competition
A Year 6 Cantamaths Competition was hosted by Susan Rogers and her Year 8 class at Heaton last week. St Albans school had spent a couple of weeks preparing for this event. The questions were similar to Otago Maths problem solving questions. We entered three teams of four students.
St Albans 1: Rico, Thomas, Jacob and Mani
St Albans 2: James H, Ron, Neo and Samuel
St Albans 3: Emily, Phoebe, Max and Lucy H
Congratulations to James, Ron, Neo and Samuel who won the whole competition. This bodes well for 2017 as this team are all Year 5 students.
St Albans 1: Rico, Thomas, Jacob and Mani
St Albans 3: Emily, Phoebe, Max and Lucy H
Congratulations to James, Ron, Neo and Samuel who won the whole competition. This bodes well for 2017 as this team are all Year 5 students.
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Fabulous Fudge Fantasia
Thanks to all the children for their enthusiasm although it is easy to get excited about fudge!
Here are some of the recipes.
Lucy used the Edmond's recipe
Thursday, March 3, 2016
First FPS Session Today
Today we had our first FPS session and the group worked very well. The treatment and rights of animals is certainly an interesting topic and the group enjoyed the start of their research.
Remember to follow the links on the FPS Research if you have time.
If you find other sites that others would find interesting you can email me, claire.howison@stalbans.school.nz and I will add them.
Here is our work on linking our thinking to some of the FPS Categories.
Remember to follow the links on the FPS Research if you have time.
If you find other sites that others would find interesting you can email me, claire.howison@stalbans.school.nz and I will add them.
Here is our work on linking our thinking to some of the FPS Categories.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Back to the Mindlab for Robotics
On Wednesday we have another session at the Mindlab and this time we were led by Josh. It was another fabulous session. When we walked into the room there were kits for every person sitting on the desks. Creating the robots was a lesson in following instructions and they took about 40 mins to build. It helped if you liked playing with lego although the pieces were more pliable than lego.
After we had created our robots we plugged them into the computer and programmed in much the same way as we did last time. We added sensors that responded to light and dark and programmed using the senses as well.
Thanks Josh and Mindlab, it was another great session.
After we had created our robots we plugged them into the computer and programmed in much the same way as we did last time. We added sensors that responded to light and dark and programmed using the senses as well.
Thanks Josh and Mindlab, it was another great session.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Robotics at the MindLab
Twelve excited students enter the Mind Lab for two hours of programming robots. Total engagement and challenge for 120 minutes. Thank you Mind Lab.
Beginning our coding
Responding to the challenge
Testing our ideas
Working as a team
The robots we used
Monday, October 20, 2014
School of Young Writers
In Week 1 of Term 4 Heather McQuillan worked with a very talented group of Year 5 writers. Heather was an amazing tutor and the children and their writing blossomed with her feedback.
It was a narrative workshop called 'Stepping into Shoes'.
Learning Experiences: The children wrote four pieces (first draft ideas) and selected one or two for development to second and possibly third drafts. Some of the elements of narrative writing that we talked about and put into action
· Using first person/ third person, and past/ present tense for different effect.
· Show more than tell- using action, reaction, senses
· ‘Best Word’ choices -precise nouns, lively verbs, sparing use of adjectives
· Story Structure – (see checklist in books)
· Varying sentences – complex sentences, active noun sentences, vary length for effect
· Maintaining consistent tense and point of view.
The group discussed how different drafts work.
First Draft - be a thinker (ideas/ messy/ advance action/ find out about your protagonist).
Second Draft - be a writer (check for sincerity and clarity, add detail, cut, change, rearrange, show not tell, vary sentences).
Third Draft - be a reader (read out loud/ check punctuation/ spelling/ paragraphing/ last line/ first line/ title).
Here is some snippets of writing from the group. These have not yet been published and may be crafted further. Should the children like me to update their writing they can email me at claire.howison@stalbans.school.nz and I will replace their text.
Dance Like No One is Watching by Bella
As Beth walked around the stage before her national competition, she saw thousands of seats that would soon be full of people there to watch her perform. Beth’s dance partner Summer turned up a while later and after a quick conversation together they started a good practice of their routine. Kate their dance teacher came in and told the girls that their costumes were ready for them to see. She took them into their dressing room. Beth walked through first. She looked around and there in front of her were two magnificent costumes. The one for Beth was a sparkly blue singlet top and a black skirt with black shorts. Summer’s one was the exactly the same but the top was white. The girl tried their costumes on and they fitted perfectly. Beth and Summer started to get ready. They did each other’s hair and make up. Then they walked to back stage and peeped around the curtains at all the folk making their way to their seats. Suddenly the music started dodo dooo dodo doooo dodo doooo but it was the wrong music for Beth and Summer’s dance! They looked at each other with a worried expression on their faces.
The DJ’s tried a few more different songs but none of them were the right music. Beth and Summer huddled together and decided to dance up to the DJ box and tell the DJ’s which music was theirs. Beth and Summer were quite embarrassed about this.
“I’m not so sure about this,” Summer whispered
“Don’t chicken out you scaredy cat, we have to do this if we want to win this competition,” Beth whispered back. So they stepped onto the silent stage, twirled into the audience and up the stairs to the sound box and told the DJ’s which music was theirs.
The DJ said “I’m sooooo sorry. I hope I haven’t put you girls off.”
Beth and Summer then danced back on to the stage with the audience cheering for them. They slipped back behind the wings and this time the right music started. They performed their dance without a single mistake and the whole crowd was on their feet. The rest of the duets performed and later on after the finale everyone found out who the winners were…
“and the winners are… Beth and Summer!” the host declared.
Caleb's Narrative
Samuel Hirsch was strolling through his inspiration room to think of ideas for the world’s greatest machine. He had already thought of an Iron Man suit, a giant mech and holograms. Now most of these might sound futuristic but Samuel was born on August 31st 2011 and was over 35 years old then so it is quite far from your ‘now’. So anyway Samuel decided not to do any of them because by then in time they had all been invented already, then it struck him, Anti-gravity!
Two long months later Samuel had invented a box that made gravity not affect an object, person or animal, and also an anti-anti-gravity device transparent covering (to watch T.V. on your floating couch so the T.V. isn’t floating around like crazy).
Sunset the Loyal Royal Mermaid by Catherine
Deep in Lakeclear Grove, Sunset the mermaid and her younger sister Coral were flipping their fins when the water turned dark and Crescenda appeared. She had grey bumpy, hairy skin with the face there were warts which were as black as ink here hair was grey and white with streaks of red and her dress was full of skulls and real bones, her eyes were like a sword with red blood on it.
Sunset successfully swam away but her sister Coral was captured by Crescenda. Sunset rushed away to her parents Queen Pearl and King Sky. As soon as they heard they thought Sunset was finally old enough to be told about her powers. She had the power of brains and her sister had the power of all water. They said Sunset had to go rescue her sister, because if Crescenda got the power of water then she could cause great danger.
On the way Sunset also met a angel fish. The fish’s name was Angel. Angel was a bright bubbly fish that made a special bond with Sunset. Sunset had to go through Ghostie cave which is said that if you go through Ghostie Cave you will come out as a ghost if you don’t pass the three tests. As Angel and Sunset stared at the entrance, Sunset didn’t want to go into the cave but she thought about the danger Crescenda could cause.
Once Sunset and Angel had entered the cave there were three nymphs. One was a blue nymph, another one was green and the third one was yellow. The first test was a riddle. The riddle was what is blue but sometimes covered, I have one thing and sometimes two, I sometimes am grey.
Dance Disaster by Emma
The doves chirped happily outside as the sun shone brightly on the towering windows of The Paris Dance Academy. Ten -year old Riley glanced excitedly out of the dressing room windows as she changed into a sparkly singlet top, black shorts and, surprisingly, spotty gumboots! She was there for her mid year dance recital. Riley was doing two contemporary, four jazz and five ballet dances. She tied her silky mane of blonde hair into a tight bun and pinned in her sparkly red and blue fake flowers.
After Riley had her make up done she made her way to the Stage peering through the curtains she spotted her two bestie’s. Beth was all dressed up in the latest fashion and Charlotte was holding up a painted sign that said GO RILEY! She was about to step on stage, with a wire attached to her back for the aerial dance, when a Melissa who was in another troupe competing came up behind her. she whispered in Riley’s ear, “Bad luck, princess”
The music started and Riley skipped on. She kicked , jumped and leaped across the stage. Just as Riley was being lifted up into the air for the finishing pose the wire that was holding her snapped. She fell in pain clutching her right arm. Melissa got caught by the dance teacher holding a pair of scissors.
The next day Riley woke with Beth and Charlotte either side of her hospital bed.
“Are you ok?” Charlotte asked worriedly.
”Yeah just a little sore” Riley replied.
”You broke your arm “said Beth “but on the bright side I have designed an awesome cast for you!’’
“I can still dance though right?” said Riley
“No” sighed Charlotte “not for two days”
“We nagged the doctor until he shortened it” added Beth
“Oh and Melissa is banned from competing too” said Charlotte
“You guys are the best”
Two days later Riley was back to dancing just not as competitive. But Riley made her dance teacher promise no more hanging on wires!
Trick or treat by Libby
The sight of the ice-cream parlour makes Bridget want to throw up, with its newly -painted candy walls and candy-floss lights. She can’t stand it for she is just about to try the grossest ice cream in the world!
Bridget knows she has to taste the ice-cream because its her job to taste all the new ice creams and she’d promised her boss Abby but she never thought that she’d have to eat sardine and chocolate flavoured ice-cream!
Bridget slowly makes her way up to the ice-cream parlour and anxiously pulls open the door. She sees her boss Abby Creamer walking towards her with a big grin on her face.
“Hi Bridget’’ Abby says.
“H-hi’’ Bridget mumbles “Are you ready to try the new ice-cream flavour?”
“ Um I guess so” Bridget says staring at the ground hopelessly.
“ Ok come to the kitchen the ice-cream is there waiting for you,” Abby says.
Bridget follows Abby into the kitchen and when she walks in it is buzzing with people like a Farmers sale at the Palms. Suddenly everyone stops talking. Bridget slowly sits down at the table. In front of her is the sickly brown ice cream. As she picks up the spoon her expression is like a baby eating lemon for the first time The room falls silent as she tastes the ice-cream
“Its um” Bridget mumbles, “ Its amazing !” she shouts. "it tastes like strawberries and cream… no strawberries dripped in chocolate… no both. Let's just say it’s the best ice-cream I have ever tasted .
Abby is grinning again. “Oh right sorry it was a mistake the ice –the cream flavour was actually strawberries and chocolate!”
Turtle Story by Rosie
I was just a young turtle back then with nothing much to do so I was watching the fish school playing amongst the sea sponges. They were just little clownfish. (Like Nemo) Suddenly the fish started swimming in the other direction. A gigantic lemon shark sprang out of nowhere! Funnily, he smelt like lemon, which I don’t get. The shark had drool come out his jaw. He had an evil smile. He cackled with evil laughter.
“You will get eaten little fishies! Ha ha ha!”
“No they won’t!” I screamed with all my lungs and got between him and the fish.
I started slapping the shark with my flippers but all that did was tickle him. I swam through a narrow tunnel made out of dead coral that was to small for the shark to fit through.
I took the fish under my flipper to some rocks like Swiss cheese and told them to stay there. Then I turned back to deal with the shark. I bit him and slapped him but he created a giant whirlpool and that made me fall into the sea sponges.
Then out of nowhere a diver came with a spear and he slayed the giant evil lemon shark that smelt like lemon. Since then I have been forever loyal to that diver. I have always stayed at a post where he comes a lot so I can maybe save that divers life one day.
Nymph Adventure by Aliana
With the water gurgling behind her and a twisty path beneath her feet, Bloom the nymph was walking in silence with her friend, Bella. The sound of an animal rustling on the leafy path ahead made them shake with fear. The sky above grew darker. A huge dark shadow loomed in front of them. It was, the haunted mansion.
The two nymphs stopped in their tracks. “Bloom, are you sure this is a good idea?” whispered Bella. “To get the may lily and save the village, yes,” replied Bloom.
“Ok, but can we fly yet?” questioned Bella as she started to walk again.
“Not just yet when I say three. one… two… thr ahhh.”
The nymphs both fell down, down, down in to a deep dark pit that’s entrance had been hidden by the leaves. Luckily they used their wings to slow their fall. When they landed the two girls started to shake and scream because thought they couldn’t fly up into the pitch darkness with out knowing where they where go.
Soon they heard a voice, “Hey you, what were you doing trespassing on my property?” There was no answer. Back down at the bottom of the pit the two nymphs were petrified!
“Hello, answer me, I am the Keeper!”
In a matter of minutes the figure was down on the ground. A light turned on. The Keeper had a long brown beard, his eyes were blue and he wore a black cloak that had the letters D-A-N-G-E-R Then Bella and Bloom noticed that they were standing in the middle of what looked like a storeroom, and before they had time to react or even move The Keeper picked them up and put them in a bag … “CRASH” “BOOM”… “Aaahh,” yawned Bloom. “Bella are you awake? Last night I had a horrible nightmare.”
“Bloom…” crocked a voice.
“Bella is that you?”
“Yes…” was Bella’s croaked reply
“Yes it is me, I think I have a cold.”
“And Bloom, there’s…”
“There’s what Bella”
“Bella? Bella?”
“AAAAAAAHHHHHH” “It wasn’t a night mare… it was real!”
Right in front of Bloom was The Keeper and behind it was the may lily, the flower that would save the nymphs village from the plague. Bloom asked the stranger why he was treating them this way. The man answered by saying that he was the Keeper of the may lily and that they were trying to steal it for evil. Bella looked confused. What was he talking about, how is taking the may lily to heal their village evil?
“Keeper, but how are we going to do evil?” asked Bella
“You are going to try and spread a plague across the nymph city so that every one will honor you when you fix their problem. “
“No” yelled Bloom.
“What makes you think that we will do that?” continued bloom
“Well you looked scared and when people are scared that normally means they are guilty and someone does want to do that because I was warned about them,” said the Keeper.
“Well we’re not guilty.”
The two girls then explained all that was happening at their village and why they needed to use the flower. Eventually the Keeper decided to believe the girls and let them have the flower. On the way back to the lake the keeper threw a stone and suddenly a net popped up. The net looked like it had been set as a booby trap but nobody knew why. Back at the village there was a party for the two brave nymphs who went on the mission and for the Keeper who brought them the may lily that would save the entire village.
The Escape by Jake
As I trudged along, the rain was pouring thick and fast through the canopy of the rainforest and all over my coat of fur. I have to tell a story tonight in the burrow. But I’m the worst in my pack at public speaking and even worse, the story has to be true.
Then, through the dark trees, I see an ocelot’s worst nightmare. Skidding my way over the muddy grounds is … the king of the jungle. The jaguar’s mouth is expelling foam, its eye’s glare at me with anger and hatred. I see it’s yellow razor sharp teeth and smell its revolting breath It pounces! I manage to scurry out of its reach but I see its reflection in one of the many rain forest puddles. It pounces again and his knifelike claws dig into my face and neck. I swing my own claws and they rip a gash in his tough cheek flesh. He backs away. I take this as my chance and sprint under a hollowed tree root. The jaguar comes back for another try but only his claw tips can fit in the root. He skulks back to where he came from with his head down low.
I wait until he’s gone then slide under a fallen jungle tree and bolt. I get away but I’m not out of the woods just yet. I still have to take the journey of scampering home with blood flushing from my cut ear and nose. My front left paw is injured badly so I am easy prey to other animals.
All to share this story, I thought to myself, while limping back to the burrow. I’m not sure stories are worth it!
The Hero Leopard by Olivia
I was exploring the base of the snowy Himalayas when suddenly the wind started howling and the air turned ice cold. On the lower slopes of the mountain above me a young skier was struggling to turn but he was very far away so I wasn’t scared.
I needed to get to my den, which I knew would keep me out of the wind. I was now about two meters from my den when the young skier lost control and crashed into some ice forcing it to crack and cause and avalanche. I thought to just leave the boy but my instincts turned my body around. I was now racing after the boy. His eyes were wide and his mouth had dropped so I gripped his shirt with my teeth and dragged him quickly back to my den. As soon as I stepped in my den the avalanche hit but we were safe. He then took off his skis. When the avalanche had passed the boy ran out and hugged his parents.
The boy’s parents were amazed that he wasn’t under the avalanche. For the next few days the news reporters were everywhere round the Himalayas searching for me I wondered why. I stayed in my den because I was scared to go out I was there for days but finally I had, had enough so I stepped out and the reporters saw me instantly.
I tried to go back in, when the world went black around me. Minutes later I woke up in this snowy area just like my own except there was no skiers. I was in a snow leopard wildlife reserve. I was also on the news for days which made me happy because after my death I would still be known as the most helpful leopard to mankind.
The Eye of Old Lassie by Thesara
It all started in Scotland where Loch Ness is. The sun was beaming down on the lake making it shimmer and sparkle in the sunlight. The bagpipes were being played, and the heather flowers swayed from side to side as if they were dancing with the breeze. Deep, deep, deep in the lake was an extensive burrow protecting five very special things.
Inside the burrow were five eggs, but not the type of ordinary chicken eggs you probably have for breakfast, believe me these eggs were not tasty. The eggs were a tiny bit bigger then a ostrich’s egg and they were a leathery type of egg with a dark mauve coloured shell on the out side.
A week passed and the eggs were ready to hatch, but lurking not too far away from the burrow was the egg’s mother, Old Lassie the Loch Ness monster. She had caught just enough fish to feed her babies as she knew that today was the day they would hatch and be born. Old Lassie rushed back to her burrow as fast as she could making shore she didn’t get caught by any nets from any pesky fisher men. She watched over her eggs and guarded them with all her love and care. She was a very loving mother, a very loving mother indeed. That was when old Lassie knew that her eggs were going to hatch in any minute, the way that her blood was boiling and boiling gave her the signal that it was the time, the time for her litter of lochlings to be born. She carefully brushed off the sand and mud of her precious eggs and just stood there staring at them.
Learning Experiences: The children wrote four pieces (first draft ideas) and selected one or two for development to second and possibly third drafts. Some of the elements of narrative writing that we talked about and put into action
· Using first person/ third person, and past/ present tense for different effect.
· Show more than tell- using action, reaction, senses
· ‘Best Word’ choices -precise nouns, lively verbs, sparing use of adjectives
· Story Structure – (see checklist in books)
· Varying sentences – complex sentences, active noun sentences, vary length for effect
· Maintaining consistent tense and point of view.
The group discussed how different drafts work.
First Draft - be a thinker (ideas/ messy/ advance action/ find out about your protagonist).
Second Draft - be a writer (check for sincerity and clarity, add detail, cut, change, rearrange, show not tell, vary sentences).
Third Draft - be a reader (read out loud/ check punctuation/ spelling/ paragraphing/ last line/ first line/ title).
Here is some snippets of writing from the group. These have not yet been published and may be crafted further. Should the children like me to update their writing they can email me at claire.howison@stalbans.school.nz and I will replace their text.
Dance Like No One is Watching by Bella
As Beth walked around the stage before her national competition, she saw thousands of seats that would soon be full of people there to watch her perform. Beth’s dance partner Summer turned up a while later and after a quick conversation together they started a good practice of their routine. Kate their dance teacher came in and told the girls that their costumes were ready for them to see. She took them into their dressing room. Beth walked through first. She looked around and there in front of her were two magnificent costumes. The one for Beth was a sparkly blue singlet top and a black skirt with black shorts. Summer’s one was the exactly the same but the top was white. The girl tried their costumes on and they fitted perfectly. Beth and Summer started to get ready. They did each other’s hair and make up. Then they walked to back stage and peeped around the curtains at all the folk making their way to their seats. Suddenly the music started dodo dooo dodo doooo dodo doooo but it was the wrong music for Beth and Summer’s dance! They looked at each other with a worried expression on their faces.
The DJ’s tried a few more different songs but none of them were the right music. Beth and Summer huddled together and decided to dance up to the DJ box and tell the DJ’s which music was theirs. Beth and Summer were quite embarrassed about this.
“I’m not so sure about this,” Summer whispered
“Don’t chicken out you scaredy cat, we have to do this if we want to win this competition,” Beth whispered back. So they stepped onto the silent stage, twirled into the audience and up the stairs to the sound box and told the DJ’s which music was theirs.
The DJ said “I’m sooooo sorry. I hope I haven’t put you girls off.”
Beth and Summer then danced back on to the stage with the audience cheering for them. They slipped back behind the wings and this time the right music started. They performed their dance without a single mistake and the whole crowd was on their feet. The rest of the duets performed and later on after the finale everyone found out who the winners were…
“and the winners are… Beth and Summer!” the host declared.
Caleb's Narrative
Samuel Hirsch was strolling through his inspiration room to think of ideas for the world’s greatest machine. He had already thought of an Iron Man suit, a giant mech and holograms. Now most of these might sound futuristic but Samuel was born on August 31st 2011 and was over 35 years old then so it is quite far from your ‘now’. So anyway Samuel decided not to do any of them because by then in time they had all been invented already, then it struck him, Anti-gravity!
Two long months later Samuel had invented a box that made gravity not affect an object, person or animal, and also an anti-anti-gravity device transparent covering (to watch T.V. on your floating couch so the T.V. isn’t floating around like crazy).
Sunset the Loyal Royal Mermaid by Catherine
Deep in Lakeclear Grove, Sunset the mermaid and her younger sister Coral were flipping their fins when the water turned dark and Crescenda appeared. She had grey bumpy, hairy skin with the face there were warts which were as black as ink here hair was grey and white with streaks of red and her dress was full of skulls and real bones, her eyes were like a sword with red blood on it.
Sunset successfully swam away but her sister Coral was captured by Crescenda. Sunset rushed away to her parents Queen Pearl and King Sky. As soon as they heard they thought Sunset was finally old enough to be told about her powers. She had the power of brains and her sister had the power of all water. They said Sunset had to go rescue her sister, because if Crescenda got the power of water then she could cause great danger.
On the way Sunset also met a angel fish. The fish’s name was Angel. Angel was a bright bubbly fish that made a special bond with Sunset. Sunset had to go through Ghostie cave which is said that if you go through Ghostie Cave you will come out as a ghost if you don’t pass the three tests. As Angel and Sunset stared at the entrance, Sunset didn’t want to go into the cave but she thought about the danger Crescenda could cause.
Once Sunset and Angel had entered the cave there were three nymphs. One was a blue nymph, another one was green and the third one was yellow. The first test was a riddle. The riddle was what is blue but sometimes covered, I have one thing and sometimes two, I sometimes am grey.
Dance Disaster by Emma
The doves chirped happily outside as the sun shone brightly on the towering windows of The Paris Dance Academy. Ten -year old Riley glanced excitedly out of the dressing room windows as she changed into a sparkly singlet top, black shorts and, surprisingly, spotty gumboots! She was there for her mid year dance recital. Riley was doing two contemporary, four jazz and five ballet dances. She tied her silky mane of blonde hair into a tight bun and pinned in her sparkly red and blue fake flowers.
After Riley had her make up done she made her way to the Stage peering through the curtains she spotted her two bestie’s. Beth was all dressed up in the latest fashion and Charlotte was holding up a painted sign that said GO RILEY! She was about to step on stage, with a wire attached to her back for the aerial dance, when a Melissa who was in another troupe competing came up behind her. she whispered in Riley’s ear, “Bad luck, princess”
The music started and Riley skipped on. She kicked , jumped and leaped across the stage. Just as Riley was being lifted up into the air for the finishing pose the wire that was holding her snapped. She fell in pain clutching her right arm. Melissa got caught by the dance teacher holding a pair of scissors.
The next day Riley woke with Beth and Charlotte either side of her hospital bed.
“Are you ok?” Charlotte asked worriedly.
”Yeah just a little sore” Riley replied.
”You broke your arm “said Beth “but on the bright side I have designed an awesome cast for you!’’
“I can still dance though right?” said Riley
“No” sighed Charlotte “not for two days”
“We nagged the doctor until he shortened it” added Beth
“Oh and Melissa is banned from competing too” said Charlotte
“You guys are the best”
Two days later Riley was back to dancing just not as competitive. But Riley made her dance teacher promise no more hanging on wires!
Trick or treat by Libby
The sight of the ice-cream parlour makes Bridget want to throw up, with its newly -painted candy walls and candy-floss lights. She can’t stand it for she is just about to try the grossest ice cream in the world!
Bridget knows she has to taste the ice-cream because its her job to taste all the new ice creams and she’d promised her boss Abby but she never thought that she’d have to eat sardine and chocolate flavoured ice-cream!
Bridget slowly makes her way up to the ice-cream parlour and anxiously pulls open the door. She sees her boss Abby Creamer walking towards her with a big grin on her face.
“Hi Bridget’’ Abby says.
“H-hi’’ Bridget mumbles “Are you ready to try the new ice-cream flavour?”
“ Um I guess so” Bridget says staring at the ground hopelessly.
“ Ok come to the kitchen the ice-cream is there waiting for you,” Abby says.
Bridget follows Abby into the kitchen and when she walks in it is buzzing with people like a Farmers sale at the Palms. Suddenly everyone stops talking. Bridget slowly sits down at the table. In front of her is the sickly brown ice cream. As she picks up the spoon her expression is like a baby eating lemon for the first time The room falls silent as she tastes the ice-cream
“Its um” Bridget mumbles, “ Its amazing !” she shouts. "it tastes like strawberries and cream… no strawberries dripped in chocolate… no both. Let's just say it’s the best ice-cream I have ever tasted .
Abby is grinning again. “Oh right sorry it was a mistake the ice –the cream flavour was actually strawberries and chocolate!”
Turtle Story by Rosie
I was just a young turtle back then with nothing much to do so I was watching the fish school playing amongst the sea sponges. They were just little clownfish. (Like Nemo) Suddenly the fish started swimming in the other direction. A gigantic lemon shark sprang out of nowhere! Funnily, he smelt like lemon, which I don’t get. The shark had drool come out his jaw. He had an evil smile. He cackled with evil laughter.
“You will get eaten little fishies! Ha ha ha!”
“No they won’t!” I screamed with all my lungs and got between him and the fish.
I started slapping the shark with my flippers but all that did was tickle him. I swam through a narrow tunnel made out of dead coral that was to small for the shark to fit through.
I took the fish under my flipper to some rocks like Swiss cheese and told them to stay there. Then I turned back to deal with the shark. I bit him and slapped him but he created a giant whirlpool and that made me fall into the sea sponges.
Then out of nowhere a diver came with a spear and he slayed the giant evil lemon shark that smelt like lemon. Since then I have been forever loyal to that diver. I have always stayed at a post where he comes a lot so I can maybe save that divers life one day.
Nymph Adventure by Aliana
With the water gurgling behind her and a twisty path beneath her feet, Bloom the nymph was walking in silence with her friend, Bella. The sound of an animal rustling on the leafy path ahead made them shake with fear. The sky above grew darker. A huge dark shadow loomed in front of them. It was, the haunted mansion.
The two nymphs stopped in their tracks. “Bloom, are you sure this is a good idea?” whispered Bella. “To get the may lily and save the village, yes,” replied Bloom.
“Ok, but can we fly yet?” questioned Bella as she started to walk again.
“Not just yet when I say three. one… two… thr ahhh.”
The nymphs both fell down, down, down in to a deep dark pit that’s entrance had been hidden by the leaves. Luckily they used their wings to slow their fall. When they landed the two girls started to shake and scream because thought they couldn’t fly up into the pitch darkness with out knowing where they where go.
Soon they heard a voice, “Hey you, what were you doing trespassing on my property?” There was no answer. Back down at the bottom of the pit the two nymphs were petrified!
“Hello, answer me, I am the Keeper!”
In a matter of minutes the figure was down on the ground. A light turned on. The Keeper had a long brown beard, his eyes were blue and he wore a black cloak that had the letters D-A-N-G-E-R Then Bella and Bloom noticed that they were standing in the middle of what looked like a storeroom, and before they had time to react or even move The Keeper picked them up and put them in a bag … “CRASH” “BOOM”… “Aaahh,” yawned Bloom. “Bella are you awake? Last night I had a horrible nightmare.”
“Bloom…” crocked a voice.
“Bella is that you?”
“Yes…” was Bella’s croaked reply
“Yes it is me, I think I have a cold.”
“And Bloom, there’s…”
“There’s what Bella”
“Bella? Bella?”
“AAAAAAAHHHHHH” “It wasn’t a night mare… it was real!”
Right in front of Bloom was The Keeper and behind it was the may lily, the flower that would save the nymphs village from the plague. Bloom asked the stranger why he was treating them this way. The man answered by saying that he was the Keeper of the may lily and that they were trying to steal it for evil. Bella looked confused. What was he talking about, how is taking the may lily to heal their village evil?
“Keeper, but how are we going to do evil?” asked Bella
“You are going to try and spread a plague across the nymph city so that every one will honor you when you fix their problem. “
“No” yelled Bloom.
“What makes you think that we will do that?” continued bloom
“Well you looked scared and when people are scared that normally means they are guilty and someone does want to do that because I was warned about them,” said the Keeper.
“Well we’re not guilty.”
The two girls then explained all that was happening at their village and why they needed to use the flower. Eventually the Keeper decided to believe the girls and let them have the flower. On the way back to the lake the keeper threw a stone and suddenly a net popped up. The net looked like it had been set as a booby trap but nobody knew why. Back at the village there was a party for the two brave nymphs who went on the mission and for the Keeper who brought them the may lily that would save the entire village.
The Escape by Jake
As I trudged along, the rain was pouring thick and fast through the canopy of the rainforest and all over my coat of fur. I have to tell a story tonight in the burrow. But I’m the worst in my pack at public speaking and even worse, the story has to be true.
Then, through the dark trees, I see an ocelot’s worst nightmare. Skidding my way over the muddy grounds is … the king of the jungle. The jaguar’s mouth is expelling foam, its eye’s glare at me with anger and hatred. I see it’s yellow razor sharp teeth and smell its revolting breath It pounces! I manage to scurry out of its reach but I see its reflection in one of the many rain forest puddles. It pounces again and his knifelike claws dig into my face and neck. I swing my own claws and they rip a gash in his tough cheek flesh. He backs away. I take this as my chance and sprint under a hollowed tree root. The jaguar comes back for another try but only his claw tips can fit in the root. He skulks back to where he came from with his head down low.
I wait until he’s gone then slide under a fallen jungle tree and bolt. I get away but I’m not out of the woods just yet. I still have to take the journey of scampering home with blood flushing from my cut ear and nose. My front left paw is injured badly so I am easy prey to other animals.
All to share this story, I thought to myself, while limping back to the burrow. I’m not sure stories are worth it!
The Hero Leopard by Olivia
I was exploring the base of the snowy Himalayas when suddenly the wind started howling and the air turned ice cold. On the lower slopes of the mountain above me a young skier was struggling to turn but he was very far away so I wasn’t scared.
I needed to get to my den, which I knew would keep me out of the wind. I was now about two meters from my den when the young skier lost control and crashed into some ice forcing it to crack and cause and avalanche. I thought to just leave the boy but my instincts turned my body around. I was now racing after the boy. His eyes were wide and his mouth had dropped so I gripped his shirt with my teeth and dragged him quickly back to my den. As soon as I stepped in my den the avalanche hit but we were safe. He then took off his skis. When the avalanche had passed the boy ran out and hugged his parents.
The boy’s parents were amazed that he wasn’t under the avalanche. For the next few days the news reporters were everywhere round the Himalayas searching for me I wondered why. I stayed in my den because I was scared to go out I was there for days but finally I had, had enough so I stepped out and the reporters saw me instantly.
I tried to go back in, when the world went black around me. Minutes later I woke up in this snowy area just like my own except there was no skiers. I was in a snow leopard wildlife reserve. I was also on the news for days which made me happy because after my death I would still be known as the most helpful leopard to mankind.
The Eye of Old Lassie by Thesara
It all started in Scotland where Loch Ness is. The sun was beaming down on the lake making it shimmer and sparkle in the sunlight. The bagpipes were being played, and the heather flowers swayed from side to side as if they were dancing with the breeze. Deep, deep, deep in the lake was an extensive burrow protecting five very special things.
Inside the burrow were five eggs, but not the type of ordinary chicken eggs you probably have for breakfast, believe me these eggs were not tasty. The eggs were a tiny bit bigger then a ostrich’s egg and they were a leathery type of egg with a dark mauve coloured shell on the out side.
A week passed and the eggs were ready to hatch, but lurking not too far away from the burrow was the egg’s mother, Old Lassie the Loch Ness monster. She had caught just enough fish to feed her babies as she knew that today was the day they would hatch and be born. Old Lassie rushed back to her burrow as fast as she could making shore she didn’t get caught by any nets from any pesky fisher men. She watched over her eggs and guarded them with all her love and care. She was a very loving mother, a very loving mother indeed. That was when old Lassie knew that her eggs were going to hatch in any minute, the way that her blood was boiling and boiling gave her the signal that it was the time, the time for her litter of lochlings to be born. She carefully brushed off the sand and mud of her precious eggs and just stood there staring at them.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
FPS - Looking to the future
In preparation for our lockdown next week take time to read on some sites about the future.
Here are some interesting links to explore:
Here are some interesting links to explore:
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Planning for the FPS Lockdown
Today we talked about the timing needed to complete the FPS in the lockdown time limit of 2hours. See if you can remember this for the day, it will help.
Monday, August 4, 2014
FPS Research
Today we started our research into living in a surveillance society. We looked at many of the links on the FPS Research page and made out own notes as well as contributing to the notes on the board.
There was an interesting article in the newspaper about Swannanoa School investigating the use of bracelets to award point to children who were behaving in the playground. You might like to read about it here.
Here is the response of the Minister of Education, Hekia Parata.
There was an interesting article in the newspaper about Swannanoa School investigating the use of bracelets to award point to children who were behaving in the playground. You might like to read about it here.
Here is the response of the Minister of Education, Hekia Parata.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
YWW 2014
YWW, Term 1, 2014
This term our young writers worked with tutor Rachel. They explored writing a scenario from many different perspectives. Children had to spend time discussing their writing to ensure that commonalities and concrete observations remained consistent.
Here is their finished work.
Sarah - the customer’s side of the story
Click, click brrooomm. “Oh gosh oh gosh! What on earth have I got myself into! It’s 3:30 and the party starts at 4:00 AND I need more orange face paint!”
At the bakery I stood fidgeting with my fingers hoping the cake had been made the way I wanted it: lovely bright and pink with the little girl’s name on it. Aha! Phew at least the cake’s okay.
“Here you are madam that would be $130,” the cashier stammered. I passed her the money while checking where the nearest face paint shop was when I heard a shattering sound and saw a soccer ball flying through the air! Where did it land?
“Oh no, my cake NOOO” I stood in front of the cashier on the verge of tears. “Please tell me you at least give refunds”
“Oh… umm. . .” she stammered, then called in Mr. Kidd. He must have been in a bad mood because he kept yelling at her!! Whoever kicked that ball … I do love kids but NOT the kind that ruin my job!! Now I’ll be late for the party and kids (including the birthday girl) and parents will be waiting at a locked door. Oh my, what do I do now?
Lydia, Year 6
The dog, Tommy’s side of the story
So I was trotting down Cranford St, when I eyed the butcher, a friend of mine, running into the meat store, like he was in a hurry. I scampered to the door. When he didn’t notice me, I barked so loud, it made him drop his knife. 1 minute later, he opened the door, and gave me a piece of steak to gobble. I grabbed it gleefully. But then… SMASH!!!
I was so startled I jumped 1 kilometre high! Well at least it felt like that. I looked towards the scene of the sound and found: a soccer ball covered in pink icing, two boys, probably from the same litter, and a…a cat! My instincts told me to sprint after it. ZOOM!!!
I ran like a blurred picture on a television. The cat hissed. I chased her into a building. She hid behind a cake. Then, just as I found her, her owner picked her up and took her away.
Robert, Year 6
Max - Electrician’s side of the story
Slurp, slurp, sluuurp.
“Oh hello you caught me right in the middle of my coffee break, oh and my name is Max and” – CRASH!!! “Oh it’s probably just the kids across the street the probably just smashed the downstairs window, lets just hope they didn’t smash the lights.”
5 mins later…
“Good they didn’t smash the lights just the window. Well no more labour today, that reminds me it’s 4:00pm. So I’ll be gettin’ home. Seeya!”
Caleb, Year 5
Soccer balls side of story!
Toby my rough and tumble owner was kicking me along a bumpy path. When suddenly SMASH...
I crashed through a window. It was like I was flying, not in a good way though. Oh and it hurt so much like that time millions of acorns fell on me at once at Toby’s soccer practice in Autumn. But then to make it even more terrifying, I landed SPLAT right in the middle of a triple layered cake covered in sweet pink icing, I got covered in the sticky stuff. It was so much worse than the mud on the soccer field. The bakery was in chaos and I was still stuck in the cake when a lazy cat came in, jumped up on the counter and started licking me! I could say that she licked me from head to toe but I don’t have any so I’ll just focus on a nice good clean!
Libby, Year 5
Jake –The older brother’s side of the story
One crisp autumn afternoon, I was skate boarding home from school, but the footpath was rough and gravelly. I looked to the other side of the road for a better place to skate, when an old football was kicked towards my face!
I ducked, the ball smashing into the Kidd’s Bakery window behind me, squishing a cake. I looked to see who had kicked the ball.
“TOBY! You idiot!” My little brother was standing there, his hands over his mouth, his expression: horror.
“HEY! You kids!” I spun around. The bakery owner was shouting at us, beckoning angrily. Toby begrudgingly trudged over, and I joined him. I had to do something, so I didn’t take the blame.
I pulled out my cellphone and started texting furiously to Mum.
OMG! Toby smashed the window of the Kidz Bakery! U need to pick us up! We were forced to clean the mess until it was spick and span. Nobody cared that I hadn’t done anything wrong. Anger stormed in my head. I couldn’t wait until Mum came.
Julius, Year 6
Mimi’s story
One day, Me, Mama, sissy, and Dadda walked over to a café.
Mama ordered a big pie. I heard a crash and a splat, as a ball flew through the window. As that happened, a twinkly thing fell on my toy.
“NOOOO!’’ Dadda yelled as I tried to investigate, and he snatched my toy off me!
I saw red.’’Grr!’’ It was time they saw my dark side. Toy, Toy, Toy. I had to get it back. I roared. I screamed. I kicked. I bit my sister, who shouted.
’’Get Mimi off me! I scratched Dadda’s vest. I grabbed his collar, and my toy fell out of his hands. The sparkly thing fell off my toy. I knew it! I knew I could get my toy back! So we got our big pie, and I was happy.
Steve’s story
One day, Me, Nancy, Issobell, and Mimi went to the KIDD’S BACKERY, CRANFORD ST. we bought ourselves a family pie. Then, a old soccer ball crashed through the main window, and landed on an expensive looking cake. A grey cat zoomed over to lick it. Just as that happened, a piece of glass fell onto Mimi’s toy.
If Mimi touches it, she will get badly hurt. So I screamed,’’Noooo!’’ and snatched
Her toy. Mimi kicked, cried, and screamed. Tears poured from her eyes like raindrops. She bit Isobell. She scratched my vest. She grabbed my collar, and I let go of her toy. The piece of glass fell from her toy. So we got our pie, and everyone was happy.
Miyuki, Year 5
Mr Kidd- the shop owner’s side of the story
I was in my office when I heard a loud CRASH! When I saw the mess in my shop, my jaw dropped open. Something or someone had made a MASSIVE hole in my display window! There were people standing dangerously close to glass that was scattered all over the floor and the most expensive cake Kidds Cakes had ever baked was smushed by a soccer ball! Boy was the baker mad. I tried to nicely ask her to clean up the mess but I guess I was stressed. Next, I had the rather frustrating job of calling the insurance company. When I was listening to “Walking on Sunshine” for the 3rd time my cashier in training interrupted and asked me to show her how to give a refund as she hadn’t learnt yet. I ended up doing it myself because every time she did the right thing I yelled at the insurance company for putting me on hold yet again. I guess it must have sounded like I was yelling at her as she was panicking. I eventually gave up on the insurance company and tried to find the little rascal who had broken the window. I walked out the door and saw two boys slowly walking towards me one older than the other.
“OI YOU TWO!” I shouted at them “DID YOU BREAK THIS WINDOW?!” The younger boy looked up at me and tried to run away but his older brother grabbed his arm and pulled him over. I asked the boy again “Did you break this window?”
“Yes sir.” The younger boy muttered. I asked them to come inside while I called their parents to sort out who would pay for the damage. I asked the baker to look after them, and she saw that I was stressed so she didn’t argue.
I realised I still had to get this window fixed. I called a Jeffery John, and he said he was only ten minutes away; well at least something was going to get fixed today!
Emma, Year 6
Kelly - the baker’s side of the story
I was presenting my fantastic triple layer cake to the customer when out of nowhere crack tinkle! As I lifted my eyes to inspect what had happened I saw the treacherous soccer ball flying through the air at top speed towards my amazing cake! I had spent 7 hours on that spectacular cake so I was shocked when the soccer ball landed right in the middle of it. I thought ‘this customer will be so disappointed!’ She had paid $130 for it and now my best work was ruined. The window of the bakery was totally smashed now glass was flying everywhere.
The customer asked for a refund, but since Sophia was only a trainee she was struggling. The final straw was Sophia’s cat turning up like it owned the place – how unhygienic! Meanwhile Mr Kidd was phoning the insurance company and had asked me to sweep the glass that was scattered all over the floor. Since Sophia was the trainee I thought she should have been doing it, but I know better than to argue with Mr Kidd when he’s on the warpath! Eventually the boys responsible for the damage came in to apologize. I thought they would have known better than to kick a ball near a busy road!
“Kelly, give them your broom to sweep up the mess,” Mr Kidd demanded.
I couldn’t wait for this day to be over!
Bella, Year 5
I really felt like I was getting the hang of my new job, until…that black and white beast of a ball came and crashed into the window! The glass flew everywhere and the ball smushed into the customer’s triple layered pink frosted cake. The customer was furious she was stamping her feet and checking her watch, no matter how much I offered her in exchange for the cake she was still mad so I asked her what she wanted. She asked for a refund and of course I didn’t know how to do refunds, I asked my boss for some help but instead he yelled at me and did it himself. I felt so embarrassed I wanted to run but I didn’t. The screech of an angry baby filled the shop and I couldn’t hear myself think. I looked at what was left of the window and I saw a young boy standing on the street with a guilty look on his face. I was panicking even more because I didn’t know what to do! Meanwhile my cat Molly had let herself in to the shop and was licking the frosting off the soccer ball. My boss yelled “Get that cat out of here!” I picked her up and put her through the hole in my fence next door. When I got back into the bakery there was a man having a little nosy round I told him we were closed.
Grace, Year 6
Jeffrey John - The glazier’s side of the story
“I believe submarines.”
I was listening to my favorite album by the Lumineirs when “bing bong loo laa” my phone rang. It vibrated on the seat next to me.
“Hello Jeffery John glazier service.”
“Hi this is John Kidd here could you please come and fix a window at Kidds Cakes on Cranford Street?”
“Okay but I might be while.” I said.
“Okay, well see you soon.” He replied.
“BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.”
“Dang it! I thought that my day was over. I could really use a coffee.”
“Dang it! I thought that my day was over. I could really use a coffee.”
When I got there I saw that the main window was smashed and cake was all over the floor among the glass shards making the floor sorta sparkle.
“How much will it cost?” asked Mr. Kidd appearing from behind the counter.
“$90” I responded.
“Fine” he moaned and handed a wad of notes to me.
“Thanks” I replied and spent the rest of the evening fixing that window.
Thomas, Year 6
Molly - The Cat’s side of the story
Bounce, bounce I Molly the best black cat was watching an extra bouncy soccer ball go from foot to foot and I was delicately preparing to pounce when the soccer ball flew into the bakery window and smashed the glass then smooshed what looked like a freshly made pink frosted triple layered cake.
‘Finally they got my order,’I muttered. I had just come through the hole in my fence to find some food for my kitten Minky since I had already had my lunch. I was too busy to notice a dog scampering towards me when it was almost too late.
“Go away silly dog this is my place and my place only!” I hissed. Then I raced into Kidds Cakes completely forgetting about Minky’s lunch and started licking as much frosting as I could without being seen .
The dog was sneeking up on me again and was just about to pounce when finally the baker, the boss, and my owner noticed me they all started shouting at me except my owner who came over and pushed me back through the hole in the fence. Minky came running over and started liking the frosting off me. At least she was happy.
Emma, Year 5
Toby - the perpetrator’s side of the story
On an Autumn afternoon I was walking home from soccer practice at English Park when I found an old dirty soccer ball just sitting there. I knew it belonged to the club I play for but I took it anyway. I was slowly dribbling it down the street when I saw Jake my older brother “THINK FAST!” I yelled. I thought Jake would catch the ball but I kicked it with so much force he ducked and it smashed the Kidds Bakery window behind him and smushed an expensive looking cake. “TOOOOBY! I’M TELLING MUM! ” Jake yelled. I stood amazed at how forceful my kick was.
Suddenly I heard a voice shouting at me and for once it auctually wasn’t Jake. “Oi, you! Did you two break this window?” “Yes sir” I muttered reluctantly. I waited inside, butterflies in my stomach knowing the horrible consequences that will happen when the baker finished talking to mum.
Written by Lydia and Emma, Year 6
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Young Writers Workshop - Poetry with Rachel
Recently some talented writers worked with Rachel from YWW.
Children involved were :
Children involved were :
Year 5 students
Emma
Julius
Thomas
Lydia
Samantha
Atlanta
Y6 students
Brydie
Jadey
Phoebe
Gemma
Nate
Ella
Adam
Jaeda
If you would like your writing published please drop me your book. The first of our writers to share are here:
Nettle
The misty grey morning
chilled the air when I was
walking on the dewy green
grass with a little tinge
of white. I could hear the
soft pattering of rain and the
small squeaky chirps from birds.
In the garden I reached over
and grabbed the wet handfuls
of lettuce.
Suddenly, pains started grasping my
skin, like rocks scarping repeatedly
on my arm.
The gloomy green stinging nettle
had briskly brushed against my
hand. The pain was everlasting,
like numbers going on forever.
The sky was swirling,
the watery plants blurring
screams of fright, sunlight
turning off.
Julius
A Penguin in the Amazon
As the flightless bird
wanders freely in the
humid rainforest, he is slowly
dying from not being in the
right climate. As sweat binds
on it's feathered
forehead, it waddles down
the Amazon River. Bullsharks
ferociously jump and try
to tear at the penguin
trying to take a bite
at the helpless bird.
It walks back up the bank
into the deadly forest.
Its orange feet are in pain
as it walks
across broken sharp sticks
and bark off trees like its
shattered dreams and memories
of home.
Nate
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