Pukemokemoke Bush Visit

I think it was enjoyable because I learnt a lot about native trees.  My favourite tree was a Totara.  We (Motumaoho School Enviro Team) had to pronounce the  Maori names of the trees.  We looked at wooden fence with name tags engraved on them and over the fence were the trees that matched each name tag.  I thought the lemon wood tree was interesting because it smelt like lemon and the leaves were soft too.

We went for a bush walk as well.

By Danielle

Our new class pet

We needed some boxes to make a bedroom and an enclosure for our stick bug.  We used  the boxes from our interactive whiteboard.  We put gladwrap over Sticky's box to stop him escaping.  We put holes in the gladwrap so he can still breath.

By Josh

Totara Springs 2010

My favourite thing on camp was the hydroslide on the first day because you go fast around the side walls.  At the end of the slide you fall into a big heated pool with green water and leaves.  If you lay down on your tummy water goes up your nose, if you sit up water doesn't go up your nose.

By Ben

Stick Insect

Sean found a stick bug in the gully.  Adam thought it looked like it was walking a tight rope.  We are going to keep it as our class pet.

By Adam

Speech Practice

Speeches are kind of cool because I like listening other people's ideas.  I get nervous talking in front of other people because I haven't done speeches before.  My speech is about my dog diesel.  He has big soft floppy ears and a hard tail that feels like it has concrete in it.

This is my speech:

"Hi my name is Ben and my dog Diesel is almost 2 years old.  We got him from the SPCA.  He has two brothers and one sister.  Diesel is a black lab crossed with a rotti but he looks like a lab the most.  He has big soft ears.  He has a hard tail and brown puppy eyes.  He has a big graze on his leg.  He has a long tongue and he drinks lots of water.  Diesel can run very fast and when we get the motorbike out Diesel chases us and barks heaps.  He has a grey collar with his dog tags.  They are green and red so if he gets lost and someone finds him then he can be returned to us.  He eats our strawberries and all of our scraps.  I fed him my burnt pancakes.  The thing I like most about diesel is when we play with him and pretend we are dead he will come over and drop his toy bone.  He scratches lots and hates it when Dad cleans him with the hose.  He loves going in the car.  He is the best dog.  I love my dog Diesel.

By Ben 

Room 1 at Totara Springs.

On day 1 we did the hydroslide. The hydroslide was so fun because it was 120 meters long and we were going so fast. We also did target shooting and that was great because I shot a  hole in the piece of paper right at the top.  I was proud of myself.  Archery was enjoyable because I shot the blue circle.  Basketball was exhausting because me and Mrs Hooper shot all the goals.

By Courtney

Camp at Totara springs 2010

Room 1 went on a school camp. The activity I enjoyed was the Hydroslide.  The slide was 120 meters long and there was a heated pool at the end. We stayed at Totara Springs for 3 days and 2 nights. The first day we did the flying fox.   I liked the flying fox because there was a blue strap to keep you safe from falling.  We had an instructor for each activity we did and his name was Dan. Day 2 we did go-cart riding. We also did abseiling because it is high and going down blind-folded was very facinating and scary.

By Danielle

Character Writing

Purpose: Another 'quick-write' session (see below when we wrote about the road we live on).  This time as our whole class is looking at how to write about characters, we wrote about someone in our family that we wanted to share.
We had to write in a way that helps the reader get an idea of what that person is like.

Devon wrote:  My Dad lets me and my sister have McDonalds when Mum is at work.  He has a broken knee but I do not mind if he has this broken knee.  He slipped in his gumboots and fell over on the concrete.  My Dad takes cow poo out of ponds - that's his job.  He says I'm his whole world and my sister and Mum are too.  He is as angry as a gorilla when Mum goes off her high horse, when the dog pees on the washing.

My Dad by Adam and Ben and My Mum by Brenden

Adam writes: My Dad rides motorbikes and he is cool.  He is good a rugby.  He is awesome.  He lets me spray paint rocks for our dead cat.  He also lets us make boats and stuff out of wood.


Ben writes:  My Dad is a mechanic.  He likes to ride motorbikes.  He races like a cheetah.  He likes to race Mark.  My Dad likes fixing cars.  He is nice and takes me to the bakery and buys me toys.  My Dad has two brothers.  He likes to feed Gary's pigs.  He is a rugby coach.  He coaches the Northern Knights, my brothers' team.

Brenden writes:  Mum is nice.  She likes reading books in her bed at night, when Dad tries to sleep.  My Mum is generous because she gives me toys for my birthday.  My Mum is nice because she entertains me by being funny.  She pulls faces at me and tickles me.  My Mum is very helpful for other people.

Our School Life

A Day in Our Life at Our School. on Prezi

My Uncle by Josh and My Dad by Shae

Josh writes:  My uncle is a motorbike rider.  He's fast as a cheetah and as strong as a lion.  He sells cars and buys cars and lets me play with his cars.

Shae writes:  My Dad is cool because he takes us bonnet surfing, rides motorbikes with me and lets me paint and build stuff out of wood.  He takes us 4WD (wheel driving) lots.  He play fights with me alot.  He lets me help on the roof when he is building a new shed.  He helps me when my motorbike breaks down and he gives me gas for my motorbike.

Souvenir Shop

I went to the souvenir shop at the World Rowing Champs.  I bought I black rugby ball because I liked the silver fern that was on it.    

                              By Adam 

World Rowing at Karapiro, Cambridge

Eight students from our school got to go to the rowing champs.  We were chosen because we have been working hard with our schoolwork.  Some special things we liked were- sitting down watching the different countries in the rowing and getting hot chips from Mrs Hooper (our principal).

From Josh, Danielle, Ben, Adam and Devon

Quick-Write - The Road Where I Live (2).

Purpose-to write within 5 minutes about 'stuff of our lives' - in this case the road where we live.  As we live in the country, most of where we live are called 'roads'.
*  To write in a detailed way, so that whoever reads our work gets a picture in their head of what our road is like.
  (based on Gail Loane ideas -  "I've got something to say", 2010).

I live on a main road it is busy and trucks go past our house.  We have car accidents on our dirveway, where there is a corner beside us.  We live by a farm and heaps of people drive past.                     by Brenden.


I live on a road.  We have a big drain on our road that goes to the river.  It has lots of trees we like.  They have lots of purple, yellow and pink flowers on them.  I have motorbikes and we have a big paddock.
           By Adam.

I live on a farm on a road.  I have friendly neighbours.  We live in a paddock and we have lots of room, it is cool.  We play rugby in the back yard.  We also play soccer.  It takes 7 minutes to get to school.                      by Ben.

(The names of the roads have been deleted for privacy reasons).

Quick-Write - The Road Where I Live.

Purpose-to write within 5 minutes about 'stuff of our lives' - in this case the road where we live.  As we live in the country, most of where we live are called 'roads'.
*  To write in a detailed way, so that whoever reads our work gets a picture in their head of what our road is like.
  (based on Gail Loane ideas "I've got something to say", 2010).

I live on a road with freaky neighbours, with a yellowish house and paddock in the front and heaps of trucks going past.  One of my neighbours gets drunk.  They always walk around town with beer bottles and when the recycling truck comes it's all beer bottles getting picked up.
          by  Devon.

I live on a main road just out of Morrinsville, with a dairy down the road.  We don't have cows, we have a dry stock farm.  Our neighbour likes cars, so do we.  I like showing off on my motorbike when the traffic is going by.  I like making the cars and trucks beep their horns.  We get a lot of trucks and cars go by, but not many motorbikes.
                     By Shae.

We live next to a main road.           By Josh


(The names of the roads have been deleted for privacy reasons).

Coke Explosion!

We all sat around a coke bottle wondering what would happen.  Ben felt nervous because he thought it might splash on him.   Brenden was excited because he thought it would make a mess.  Then at morning tea he could slide through the spilt coke on the ground.   When it was time to do the experiment Adam unscrewed the lid.  Then Adam dropped in a blue mint (the mint was green inside because Brodie saw a cracked one).  We all stayed close to the coke bottle.  We had to move quickly away from the bottle before it splashed all over us- Adam got splashed!  But no one else did.

By Ben, Adam, Brodie and Brenden

Our Favourite and Interesting Things.

Purpose: To tell our own stories using photos, to help prompt our thinking, of things we like to do with our time.
Write in a way that for someone who doesn't know what it's like, (as not everyone lives on a farm),  can get a picture in their head.





I was riding the four wheeled motorbike with Josh on the back and diesel the boy dog was chasing us.  Josh was holding onto the back bar so he didn’t fall off.  He needed to do this because I went over bumps really fast.  I wasn’t allowed to go in last gear, only second and first.  If I did Josh would fall off because I have done it before, and he hurt himself.

Ben with brother Josh on the back.

                                             By Ben

I went motorbike riding a long time ago with my Dad, and friends.  We put cones down to drive around them, making a track for our motorbikes.  We made dirt tracks around the cones.  We drove up the hills and down the hills.  You can go fast down the hills, but when you go up the hills you go slowly.  Some people had a crash. An adult’s bike was munted because his kid pulled in front of him, so he crashed into him, it was Ben, his son.  

Adam with his motorbike.

                                          By Adam.

Some years back.

I like Holden’s because Ford’s always break down.  My family reckon Holden’s are cool.  We have a Holden commodore V6 car.  We also have two other Holden’s that are V8’s.  They sit in the garage.  One is a Ute and it isn’t used for anything either because we don’t need it for anything.   My photo was taken in Waihi at my home.

                             By Brenden.

 

I was standing on top of the rock jumping into a swimming pool, with my friend watching.  I slipped and sunk down to the bottom of the pool and my friend had to dive down to rescue me.  He swam down and got me up and had to keep doing that until he got me to the side of the pool. I had sunk to the bottom and I didn’t float back up until he pushed me up.  His nana was inside making a cup of tea.

The swimming accident.

                             By Shae

 

Riding in the park with Mum, my friends and my friends mum, I brought my orange bike.  I tried to pull a high wheelie but I was too young and I wasn’t big enough or strong enough to pull one.  I didn’t like any other photos, I liked this one because my bike helps me exercise a lot.

You might see my chicken pox in the photo but they are just scabs because it is healing up.

Biking at the park.

                   By Devon 

I am on my motorbike in a paddock racing my friends.  I have all my gear on, helmet, goggles – safety gear.  I was riding in a maze paddock.  I was racing and playing around with our motorbikes while I was skidding.  I fell off when another person passed me.  He hit me as he passed, so my bike flipped over.

       By Josh.

In the maze paddock.

Environmental Writing in Small Groups.

Purpose: To write with detail and description so that the reader gets a picture in their head of what you have writing about: -

Brown spikes with some white spider webs.

Feels prickly and sharp when I touch it with my hands.

It reminds me of a hair ball that the cat coughs up.

I wonder what grows inside ?

                By Adam & his buddy.

White, holey, rough pumice that blasted from the volcano.

Feels rough and light to touch.

Reminds me of running on the beach on a hot

summers day.

The surface is like a full moon on a dark night.

I wonder if it came out of a volcano ?

     By Shae and Josh.

Brown and black lumpy spikes shooting out the middle like a baby hedgehog.

Smells funny and feels weird.  Hard, prickly and rough.

I wonder if it will grow into a tree ?

It reminds me of a baby hedgehog putting out its spikes as it turns into a ball. 

                                                                        By Ben & his buddy.

Commenting on Blogs

After some discussion we decided we needed to consider some things when posting comments on our own or others blogs so we came up with some main ideas.  Wordle has been used to put these main ideas together and this is posted on the right side of this blog. One of the main things we decided is that if someone asks for our suggestions, we think of 2 positives and 1 thing they could think about or work on further - this is how we'd like our work to be treated too. 

Livestock Day

"I didn't go," said Brenden "I went to Waihi with Mum".   "I ate sausages and sold raffle tickets with Devon," said Adam.   "We ran out of the tractor raffle and the grocery raffle".  What is a tractor raffle ?   It's a remote control toy tractor.   "I lead my calf around the ring," said Ben.  "I touched a peg and you are not supposed to do that, because I didn't know.  My calf behaved well and the judges said her butt was too small, so she didn't win, but I got some ribbons".

Me and my small butted calf - Ben.

By Ben, Brenden and Adam.

Motumaoho Livestock Day

The winning leader.

On Friday morning everyone got ready for livestock day.  Josh and Ben had calves.  Josh's calf is called Jay and Ben's is called Taffy.  We were competing for trophies and raising money for school camp plus the PE shed.  Devon sold raffle tickets and Shae ate sausages.  Josh and Ben had to lead their calves around a ring.  The calves had to behave and follow their leaders.  Josh won a silver cup for champion leading !  Josh was real happy and proud.  Some people brought lambs to walk around the ring.  And some people brought goats.

By Devon, Josh and Shae

Our Class Makeover

The class walls.

We got a class makeover just before the holidays.  I came to the school in the holidays - none of the others did.  I had a look at the class and my teacher was putting the spelling words on the wall.  I thought "It was awesome" !      
                     By Ben

On the first day of school I thought it was cool because the colour was green and blue - they are good colours together.  I thought the desks were put around the classroom neatly.  The carpet is soft and it smells funny because it's brand new.
                       By Adam

Our new writing corner.

When our class was empty to be fixed up, we went into the Junior room.   It was kind of boring because we had to clean up their mess.   We went into the library sometimes to learn our times tables.

More views of our class.

                By Brenden

Our classroom getting re-built

3 of us in front of the pink batts that have been added to the walls.


Just before the Sept/Oct holidays we had to pack everything up and put it in the library and in the garage where the bus goes.  So we had to do all our learning in the Junior room as our room was bare.  The builders and sparkies (we called them this, they are electricians) came in and smashed the walls down and there was walls, paint and dust all over the floor.  We had the walls lined and it took them 2 weeks in our classroom, then they spent 2 weeks in the junior room doing up their room.
Coming back after the holidays it was much warmer than before, with the pink batts in the walls, that weren't in there before.  The walls are green and navy blue, because they are our school colours. We can't see the pink batts now - but we sure can feel them.


By 3 fantastic writers !

Our visits to try to get ideas and the purpose behind setting up a blog.

We visited the local Intermediate School and St Josephs School to find out all about setting up a blog.  The purpose for this was to see what we needed to consider re; safety, ideas for on the blog, what we should include and to 'buy into' the whole process of a blog - not just to be told to do it.   We thought the schools we went to were really cool and they had lots of ideas to share with us, thanks Jane and Terry for being so helpful and friendly, with lots of great ideas.