Review Term 1

This Term I learnt about synonyms. Synonyms are words with the same or similar meanings. LB

We read "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen. I learnt a few survival tricks for if you are lost in the wild. For example if there are birds in the trees there would be food or a nest; put a fire in an open space and feeling sorry for yourself doesn't work!  WA

This Term I learnt the 'bossy e' and "when i comes to stay, e runs away".  ZT

I learnt how to use a protracter to draw angles. You put the centre where you want to start and measure how many degrees to where you want the line to go. MJ

This Term Room 16 learnt how to care for and plant trees. We use a milk carton or plastic sleeves and fill them with dirt, then we put the seedling in and a bit more dirt.  MO

In Term 1 we learnt Maori language.  Now I know wai= water; kai= food; koura = crayfish; kura = red; and waka has 3 meanings ( box for feathers, canoe or vehicle).  TW

I learnt synonyms and antonyms.  AM

This Term I learnt about synonyms and antonyms.  I also learnt about homonyms and homophones but now I forget which is which!
I also learnt spelling rules like

• When two vowels go out walking, the first one does the talking.
• when i comes to stay, e runs away.
• the bossy e rule.  For example when you add a bossy e to rat, the e makes the a say its name, rate.  This only works when there is only one consonant between them.

I learnt I could get 20/20 for spelling every week.  AH

This Term I learnt that a moa is bigger than my dad! Their feet are bigger than both my hands together! I learnt about the moa on our museum trip.  It must have been creepy when moa were alive but I am just glad they are not around anymore.  AB

Monday 28 March. Auckland War Memorial Museum Visit

When Team 4 went to the museum I learnt that Maori people used to store their food in a pataka, that has no windows, so the food doesn't go off from the sun getting in.  The doorway they crept through wasn't made for adults, it was only big enough for children.  LD

One of my favourite places was the volcano exhibit. It was so cool.  We looked at other cool exhibits like dinosaurs, planes, WW1 but my favourite was the volcanoes.
I learnt that 130 people sat in the big waka and that people sleep in the marae.  AM

I learnt that at the museum they have a boat that is at least 120 years old and can fit 130 people in it.  JG

At the Auckland museum I learnt that you can read the maori carving on the wall of the marae.  ML

I learnt that there were almost no vegetables in New Zealand.  LB

There is a stick that is used for making fire or for drilling.  But when I was doing that it wasn't making fire, its just used for drilling.  AC

At the museum I learnt that the maori women taught the warriors how to fight.  They trained with poi.
We also learnt that women were not allowed on the waka or everyone else would have bad luck. TW

... I learnt that when a chief dies they desert the area and find a better area. I learnt this by looking at the model and asking why the area where the chief died was completely ruined.  CM

Swimming Lessons

Every Friday we go to the pool in Panmure for our swimming lessons.

These are some of the things we learn...

"Tumble turn, tumble turn, tumble turn! What was that?" shouted the instructor.  "Try again! That's it!"
Next we learnt to do dolphin dives, perfect dolphin dives! We finish the lesson with a lap of freestyle, breathing bilaterally.  TW

At swimming we learnt dolphin dives and lots of other stuff that I already know.  ML

Last friday we went swimming. We learnt the arm stroke for freestyle and the dolphin kick.  When we got in it was so cold, it was freezing, but after a while we got used to it.  then when we got out it was really cold. OV

I learnt lots of things at swimming. We  learnt how to breathe when we swim; frog swimming; butterfly swimming and diving.  Sometimes when we dive the swimming goggles come off and the water goes into our noses.  AC

"Brr!" I feel the freezing cold water as I jump into the pool. Today we are learning our kick for breaststroke. At first I found it a little bit difficult but after a while I got the hang of it.  Not everyone was able to do it so I felt really proud when I did it. CM

Ah ! A nice cool pool to jump in! It is hard but its better than being at school.  I don't want to move down a group so I work really hard.  We start with two laps of freestyle... exhausting but fun! At the end we did three dives and another lap. WA

Wednesday 2nd March Learning about the Main cities in New Zealand.

Today we watched a DVD about New Zealand.  These are some of the things we learnt.

• Auckland is called the City of Sails. ZT CM
• Dunedin was the first city in New Zealand to have a University. SV CD
• Dunedin has a very Scottish history.  WA  ML CM
• Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin are the four main cities in New Zealand. AM  TC
• Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand.  MW   LB  AS
• Auckland has an International airport and the Sky tower.  RK
• People go Eden Park in Auckland to see the rugby.  OV
• Auckland is famous because of its commercial strength and makes lots of money. TS
• Captain Cook thought that Banks peninsula was an island and not connected to Christchurch.  AB
• Dunedin's main square is called theOctagon.  Yellow eyed penguins live near Dunedin.  NG
• Christchurch is famous for its Wizard and has beautiful parks.  Its main square is Cathedral square. its main river is the Avon. LD
• The Auckland Harbour bridge is a very important road.  MJ
• Dunedin has a lion castle, Larnach Castle.  GM
• Auckland used to be the Capital city of New Zealand.  TC
• Christchurch's cathedral was built in 1864 and took 37 years to build.  MO
• Wellington has cable cars which tourists enjoy. AH
• Auckland is famous for its yacht racing.  LB
• There is a bird called an albatross that can be seen near Dunedin.  JG
• Our parliament is in Wellington.   TW

The Diary of a Killer Cat

Last week we started reading "Diary of a Killer Cat."
It was really cool but Mrs G said that if we ever do any story writing we aren't allowed any violence in our stories. We said that 'the killer cat' sounded violent  but Mrs G kept on reading because she liked that book a lot.  It's about a cat whose owner's are worried because he keeps on bringing in dead animals,  a bird, a mouse and then a really fat rabbit...well I'm not going to spoil the story...
 "Diary of a Killer Cat." by Anne Fine.  She also wrote "Madam Doubtfire" and "How to Write Really Badly", which we are reading now.
AH

centipede

When the bell rang on Friday, I went to the classroom and saw heaps of people crowding round the wall. I went to see what was going on but there was nothing there. I asked Mrs G what was going on and she said "there was a centipede here but it went under the wall". The class went inside and Mrs G told William to get the insect book and we looked up centipedes.We found the type of centipede we saw outside. The picture in the book was life size and the one we saw was even bigger, so we figured that the one we saw was an adult. The class and Mrs G thought that we had spent enough time on centipedes so we got back to work. We still know there's a centipede under our feet.

New Stationery

On Friday we got our brand new stationery with our writing books, shiny pens, rubbers, pencils, rulers and colouring-in pens. I found out that it takes a LONG,LONG time to write my name on EVERYTHING!
MJ