Graduation Mass

Yesterday we had our Graduation Mass. It was a bitter sweet occasion because I was graduating. All of the year sixes presented a leadership candle to the year fives. After that Frankie had a speech. Once she had finished we got into our positions for our dance. We did our dance to the song Time Of Our Lives by Tyrone Wells. We had spent a lot of time practicing it and it paid off. Then the chairperson of the Board of Trustees. Then she and Miss Gleeson presented each of the year sixes with a present. Then we walked out of the church doors for the last time.

Sherbet

Today in science we made sherbet. We used four different ingredients. Icing sugar to make it sweet. Baking soda to make it fizz in your mouth. Citric acid to make it tangy. Tartaric acid to make it sour or tart. Before we started Mrs Drummond made us taste the ingredients individually. Lots of people ran out to get a drink. Then we started to mix. First we did a spoon of icing sugar, a spoon of baking soda, a spoon of citric acid and a spoon of tartaric acid. We tried it and thought it was a bit to sour so in the next batch we added a spoon more of icing sugar but didn't change anything else. When we tried the next batch I thought it was the perfect recipe. The other people in my group didn't agree so we tried another recipe. This time the rest of my group thought this was the perfect recipe. I had to agree it was pretty good but it wasn't my favourite. It was a really fun activity.

Six60 Tour and Top Hits

In topic we are learning about New Zealand bands and artists. We have a passport which has lots of different activities that we have to do to earn 200 points. There are six different ways to think. All of the activities are worth different points. One of the activities was planning a two week tour for a New Zealand band. I chose to do Six60. I made a poster that advertised when the concerts were and the dates. I also made a calendar and planned out when they would travel, when they would travel and where they would stay. It was a really fun activity and it got me to 200 points.
Another one of the activities I did was listing ten NZ artists and their top hits. I found it fun to see which of their songs was the most well known.  I did a variety of artists like Dave Dobbyn, Lorde, and Gin Wigmore. It was a fun activity and got me finished. Here are some photos of my work.

Persuasive Writig

This term we have been learning how to write a persuasive piece of writing . This is my persuasive about why children shouldn't have homework.

Every night all across the world children sit down at a table or desk and work through their homework. Trying to get it all done so they can watch tv or read a book. Barely able to concentrate because they can hear the sounds of the tv or their siblings playing outside while they’re stuck inside doing work. So today I’m going to tell you why we should ban the most dreaded torture for children. Homework.

Firstly, children work hard at school so why should they have to come home and do more work. They should have time to relax and do what they want. Whether that is reading a book or climbing a tree. Kids should have freedom after school. Some kids like homework so it should be available to them. Whereas other hate it with a passion.

Secondly, many children have after school activities like sport.This means they don’t have much time to do their homework. Kids that have lots on stress about if they’ll get it done. If homework was banned it kids that are busy wouldn’t worry about homework.

Thirdly, homework is soooooooo boring. It’s usually just the same thing you’re learning at school. So you’re just doing the same thing over and over. Your homework is probably what you did at school that day. You would want a break from that work and also let the information sink in.

As well as this, homework can keep you up late. This is really bad as you need at least ten hours of sleep a night. So if you’re up late doing homework it is bad for you. The next day you’ll probably be cranky which will annoy your parents. This can lead to upsetting your whole family.

Lastly, homework can make you antisocial. After school kids should be able to spend time with their families. But instead they have to do homework. If it's a nice day they should be able to go outside and play with their siblings or parents outside. Or if its a rainy day they should be able to snuggle up in front of the tv with a cup of hot chocolate.

Some schools have banned homework for their younger students. This is a step towards banning homework for good. The school that first banned it said they wanted kids to go home, play outside, eat dinner with their families and go to bed early. This proves that there are some teachers out there that think homework is bad for kids and that we need to ban it.

As you’re a probably a kid that reading this you’re more than likely nodding your head in agreement. Is this because you’re really busy or because you hate homework. But you could be one of the kids that likes homework. Whoever you are remember you should have freedom after school, the right to push yourself to play sport, spend time with your family and generally have fun.

World War One Study

This week in class we did a World War One study. We got replica items of things in the first world war, Maggie and I got a map and a diary. Here is the information we gathered about each of them.

The Sons of Moray Place

In Dunedin there is a street called Moray Place. During World War l many families sent their sons off to join the war effort. Twenty three of the families that lived on Moray Place sent their sons off to war. Of the twenty three sons that were sent to the war one returned home without any visible scars. He however had many emotional scars that wouldn’t fade over time. Others did return home to Moray Place but they were either sick or injured. Twelve died in action and the other eleven became sick or injured. All of the families were heartbroken.

Perpetual Crackle of Fire

A Diary 

This is Hami Grace’s diary. In the war they were not allowed to write very detailed letters home because if they got trapped with the enemies they won’t give away important information. But they were allowed to write a diary and that they could write anything in. Many soldiers had diaries and Hami was one of them. In his diary he wrote about Gallipoli and how horrible it was. At Wellington college he was known for being good at sports and especially at cricket and shooting. This turned out to be helpful in the war. Hami had very good aim which meant he could shoot easily. He also used his good bowling aim to throw grenades very accurately into the Turkish trenches.

The two items we got were a map of Dunedin streets. The story behind that was the story of The Sons of Moray Place. The other item we got was a diary. It was the diary of Hami Grace a Maori soldier. The story behind it was the story of Perpetual Crackle of Fire.

St Peters Orchestra Visit

Today the St Peters Orchestra visited our school. They started off with the string instruments who played two pieces. Then it was time for the brass. After they played a couple of pieces together the different parts of the brass played different songs. My favourite was the Pink Panther Theme Tune played on the saxophone. It was an amazing performance and I can't wait to play an instrument next year at St Mary's. 

Beak experiment

Today in class we did a science experiment. We used six different tweezers to act as different bird beaks. First we had to list our equipment (which was the tweezers or forceps), cut up gummy worms, skittles and ripped up paper. Then we had to make our predictions. After we had made our prediction we were ready to go. The first thing we tried our beaks on was the gummy worms. Then we did skittles. Last we did paper. All the different things were standing in for something. The gummy worms were standing in for real worms. The skittles were standing in for berries and the paper was standing in for leaves . It was a very fun experiment and I can't wait for our next one.

Here is a picture of my group experimenting.

A-Z of NZ Bands and Artists

This term for topic we are learning about New Zealand bands and artists. We have to do lots of different activities to earn 200 points. One of them was to list A-Z of NZ artists. It was worth twenty points. There was no artist or band that started with X so we had to find a band or artist with the letter x in it. The 20 points I earned were my first points. Only 180 points to go.

Athletics

Yesterday was our school athletics. I was competing in the eleven year old girls. First up we had 800 metres which was optional and was open to anyone. In that I came second. Woohoo! The juniors did track events while the seniors did the running races. Next we had 200 metres in which I came first. Then 400 metres. I came second. Before I knew it it was 100 metres. The clapper went and I started to sprint. I crossed the finished line second. We had some lunch then it was off to the track events. First we had discus and I came third.  This was a great result because I'd never come a place in discus before. Next up was long jump which is my favourite track event. I jumped 2.9 metres and came first. Last was shotput. I couldn't believe it. I'd came first. At first I couldn't believe  it. Never before had I come a place in shotput let alone first. It was great fun and I can't wait to do it again. 

Kiwi Song Album

For topic this term we are learning about New Zealand artists and bands. We have to earn 200 points over the term by doing different activities that are worth different amounts of points from different learning perspectives. One of the activities was making a kiwi song album for a school disco. It had to have at ten to fifteen songs. I worked on it for a couple of days then it was finished. Mrs Drummond approved it and I got forty points. Here is computer version of my work.

1. Slice of Heaven - Dave Dobbyn 

2.Royals - Lorde 

3. Woke up late - Drax Project

4. I See Red - Split Enz

5. The Gumboot Song - John Clark

6. How Bizarre - OMC

7. Bananas - Tami Nelson

8. Better Be Home Soon - Crowded House

9. Poi E - Patea Maori Club

10. Why Does Love Do This To Me - The Exponents 

11. April Sun In Cuba - Dragon 

12. Written In The Water - Gin Wigmore

13.Tennis Court - Lorde

14. Don't Give It Up - Six60

15. New Rush - Gin Wigmore

High Jump

Yesterday was the eleven year old's high jump competition. It was optional but I still entered. There aren't many eleven year old girls and only three entered: me, Eva and Frankie. We started at 95cm and I made it over. It then jumped up to a metre. Eva was eliminated the round before so it was between me and Frankie. Frankie made it over but I didn't make it, so I came second. I was really happy with this result as I had never placed in high jump before.

Comics

This week we have been learning about how to write comic strips. On Monday we were given some small comics without words. We had to fill in the speech bubbles with a story we made up. It had to make sense with the pictures. Then on Tuesday our teacher's husband came in to teach us all about drawing. He is an artist. He also taught us about how to make up lots of different and original characters for comics.

After he had shown us a slideshow we got to work making our own comics. My first comic was about a character called Captain New Zealand. He's kind of like Captain America except he solves problems in New Zealand. On Wednesday he came in again. I did another comic. This one was about a girl who does a slideshow presentation. She tells her teacher that she has some special effects. Her teacher is okay with that so she starts her slideshow. It turns out she went a bit over the top with her special effects.

I found it really fun and can't wait to do it again.

Concert Ticket

For topic this term we are learning about New Zealand artists and bands. We have to do lots of different activities to earn 200 points. One of the activities was creating a concert ticket for a New Zealand band or artist from the past. The band I created a ticket for was Crowded House. It was only worth ten points but it was a lot of fun.

Another activity I did was doing a dance to an New Zealand song. You could do a solo or do it in a group. I chose to do it in a group with two of my friends. We did a dance to the song Closer by Six60. It was really fun to choreograph a dance of our own and I can't wait for our next dance activity. 

Hippos

This week in reading my group read a book called Under Cover Of Darkness. It was all about lots of different nocturnal animals. After we had read the book we had to pick one of the animals to do a small poster on. I chose to do hippos. The reason I chose hippos was I didn't know much about them and they are my dad's favourite animal. On my poster I wrote about what hippos do in the day and night, what they eat and how they got their name. Then I drew some pictures. One of a hippo opening its mouth. Another one of hippo tracks and the last of a hippo's head half above the water.  Here is my finished poster. 

Saint Poster

This term we are learning about lots of different saints. We got to choose a saint to research. I chose to do Saint Clare of Assisi. The reason I chose her was because she was the saint I chose for my Confirmation saint. Another reason I chose her was because I liked that she refused to be pushed around by her parents and by men. Here is a picture of my finished saint poster.

Possum Problems

This week my reading group read a book about possums. Once we had finished reading the article in our books we had to write lots of reasons why possums are bad for the NZ wildlife. Here are my reasons.

1. Possums eat most of our native plants and birds. This is one of the main reasons are native plants and birds/animals are becoming more and more endangered.

2. Possums can carry a disease called bovine tuberculosis which they caught from infected cows. Cows can recatch it from possums if the sniff or lick them.

3. Possums have a massive effect on wildlife so people try poison and shoot them. But there is a problem. Hunters can accidentally shoot or trap native wildlife and sometimes native wildlife eat the poison.

4. In my opinion we should try get all/most of the possums deported or try to run more over.

5. Possums are destroying our native bush. There are no predators to eat or hunt them so they roam free with no worry.

In conclusion possums are very bad for our native animals and plants. They are very dangerous and if we don't do something about them soon all our wildlife will disappear for good.

Bike Course

Yesterday and today we had a visit from Bigfoot. Bigfoot is a bike company that comes to schools to teach the Year Five and Six children bike safety. In our first lesson we didn't actually ride our bikes. It was more about learning the safety aspects so when we ride our bikes out and about we know how to be safe. Today we got  out onto the courts to put some of our learning into action. We learnt more things like ; how to indicate you are turning and which way you are turning. Another thing we learnt was how to check our bike was safe before we ride it. Here is a picture of me in action. 

My Shield

During this week we started the Kia Kaha programme. Kia Kaha is run by the New Zealand police  force and it teaches us about bullying and why its not ok. We also learn about how we are all unique and different to everyone else around us. Even though we learn about how we are different we also learn about our similarities and how to work together in a team. We made shields, on one side it said I am unique because... here we had to put why we aren't like anyone else in the world. On the other side it said Our class is special because.... here we had to put reasons our class altogether was special. Here is a picture of my shield. 

Calendar Art

Every year everyone in the school has to make a calendar art. My class coloured in a piece of mindfulness colouring each.  After the long time of colouring and concentrating they were finished. The next thing we needed to do was on the back carefully draw our sun and suns rays. This was because we were cutting up our colouring to make a sun. It was great fun and I can't wait for our next art project. Here is a picture of my nearly finished colouring.

Rainforest Diorama

In the past two weeks every chose a habitat and researched it. Then when we had done some writing on it we got to make a diorama of that habitat. I chose to do the rainforest because I didn't know much about it and also because there are so many life forms. It took me three or four days to do it. In my diorama I put in five animals. They were a bird of paradise, a sloth, a snake, a fish and two butterflies. I also put in quite a few plants like trees, grass and bush. Here is a picture of my finished diorama.

Bird Information Report

What is the rarest penguin in the world? Which penguin is the smallest in the world? The yellow eyed penguin and blue penguin answer both of these questions. These two bird species are native to New Zealand. The blue penguin is the smallest penguin in the world and the yellow eyed penguin is the rarest penguin in the world.

Both penguins live by the coast. They build their nests in vegetation and hollows in the ground. The blue penguin is found in various places around New Zealand, but especially in the lower South Island and upper North Island. Whereas the yellow eyed penguin is found in Banks Peninsula (Christchurch), Otago and multiple Southland coasts. 

The two penguins have very similar diets. They both eat small fish and squid. But the yellow eyed penguin can dive to depths of over 160 metres which is about twice the depth then that of a typical blue penguin. This means that the yellow eyed penguin is able to catch fish that live on the seafloor.

Both penguins have similar appearances. Small sharp beaks and powerful strong flippers. Even though they are similar in some ways in others they are different in others. Yellow eyed penguins live up to their name and have yellow eyes. The blue penguin is, you guessed it blue. Even though most penguins have blue coats but little blue penguin has a more vibrant blue coat therefore earning its name the blue penguin.

Both the blue penguin and yellow eyed penguin have Maori names. The yellow eyed penguin Maori name is hoihoi which means ‘noise shouter’. Kororā is the name of the blue penguin in Maori. Blue penguins are also known as fairy penguins. Since the yellow eyed penguin is the rarest penguin in the world they only have a population of 6000 - 7000 yellow eyed penguins in the world. However the blue penguin population is around 600,000 birds so a lot but that doesn't mean they don’t have some predators and other worries.

One worry of the blue penguin is the increasing amount of plastic in our seas. If they eat the plastic it can kill them. Another concern of blue penguins is oil spills. Oil spills are when boats carrying oil sink or their containers split and spill into the sea. A patch of oil the size of your thumbnail can be deadly to a penguin. If a penguin has oil in their feathers and they start preening themselves they will swallow the oil and die. Preening is when birds clean and smooth their feathers.

Penguins has seven main predators. Some of them are in the sea while others are on land. While they are swimming they are prey to fur seals, whales, and sharks. On land they are prey to rats, cats, stoats and ferrets. These predators contribute to the troubles some penguins face. All of these predators are introduced to New Zealand therefore the penguins weren’t ready or evolved for the predators therefore their numbers decreased dramatically.

I hope you learnt about the blue penguin and yellow eyed penguin. How they are different in many ways but similar in others. Both these penguins are beautiful creatures but we need to protect them from threats like predators and poison, so they don’t become extinct.

Welcome to the Rainforest

This term we have been learning about habitats. Everyone had to pick a habitat and do a flip book about it. I chose to do the rainforest. A fun fact I found was that rainforest only covers 6% of the worlds surface.  We presented our work as an app flip book. Each page had a different topic including the weather, the animals that live there and more. It was a great learning experience as at the start I didn't  know much about the rainforest but after I learned lots of facts about the rainforest. Here is a picture of my finished flip book.

 

Cultural Week

This week is Cultural Week. At school we celebrated nine different cultures by being put in different classes to learn all about.  I was put in the Brazilian group. It was great fun. We learned a few basic samba steps which is the national dance in Brazil. We also learnt about the culture and the language. My favourite thing we learnt about was the Amazon Rainforest which is the largest rainforest in the world. To top off the week we got to perform our Samba dance in front of the whole school. It was great fun learning all about the language, culture and dance of Brazil.

Women Suffrage 125

Today was Suffrage 125 which means 125 years ago women in New Zealand won the right to vote. My mum and I went to the Sunrise Celebration in Aotea Square. Jacinda Ardern, our third woman prime minister, spoke. She spoke about her mum. I found it really cool and inspiring that she spoke about her mum. Next up was Selina Tusitala Marsh, the New Zealand poet. She spoke about her mum as well but also talked about what it was like to be Pasifika and to be dawn raided. Last but not least Annie Crummer, the famous  NZ singer. She sung three of her songs. Lots of other people spoke about the campaign for the vote but these three were my favourites.  It was great fun and I learnt lots I really want to go to another suffrage morning. Maybe I'll still be alive for Suffrage 200. Suffrage 200 here we come!!!

Crosses

In art class, we are painting crosses. They are to be put around the school. First we had to plan them in our art books. Everyone did a few drafts. Then it was time to start painting. We had to do two base coats. I did mine orange. Next we had to put our pattern on. Mine was quite simple it was just a ying yang in the middle of my cross. I chose a ying yang because it is a symbol of peace and balance.  All I had to do was paint two coats of white in a circle then put the lines in with vivid. Here is a picture of my finished cross.

Author visit

Today we had an author visit. The author that visited us was Raymond Huber. The reason he visited us was because he is taking part in the Storylines book tour. He has written lots of books including Flight of the Honey Bee, Sting, Wings, Gecko and Peace Warriors. I have read a few of his books. He talked to us about his books and he also talked to us about how he writes his books. It was really fun and I can wait for the next author visit.

My Feather

Today we decorated a paper feather each. We put them together so it would make a korowai, which is a cloak made out of feathers. We did it because this week is Social Justice Week.  I coloured mine blue and purple.  The two colours mixed really well because I used pencil not felt. We also had to write a word about social justice on our feather I wrote different because everyone is different.  It looked really cool when we put it together. Here is a picture of the korowai.

Maths pattern

Today in maths we got given a sheet with a grid. We had to colour every square. You could do a pattern or you could colour random squares random coulors. Since there was 100 squares you picked a colour, counted how many there were in the pattern and wrote it as how many out of 100, as a decimal and as a percentage. For instance if you had 7 pink squares you would write, 7/100, 0.07, 17%. It was a fun way to learn about fractions. Here is a picture.

Marine Iguanas

In class we have been learning about reptiles. Everyone picked a reptile and wrote about it. I chose marine iguanas.  This is my slideshow about marine iguanas. I chose marine iguanas because I didn't know much about them, so it was great to learn more about them.

My Game

In maths we are learning about fractions. Maggie and I made a board game relating to what we are learning. When you land on a fraction you have twenty seconds to name as many equivalent fractions as you can. However many equivalent fractions are named you get to move forward that many spaces. Here is a picture of my game.

My favourite word

Yesterday we each chose a word that relates to 'promise'. I chose love because it is so big and endless. Also it means a lot to me because I love so many people. This is a picture of my word.

Wordsearch

Today I made a word search with all my spelling words. First I drew up a grid. Then I wrote my words in. Next I filled in the gaps with extra letters. Now my word search was complete, all I needed was someone to find the words. Anna and Frankie did my word search which took them about ten minutes. Here is a picture of my word search.

Netball

On Thursday 9th August two teams went to the Auckland netball tournament. We played six games in total. I played center my favourite position for the whole day. The six teams we played were :  Maungawhau, Balmoral, Owairaka, MENPS, (Mount Eden Normal Primary School) Marist and Edendale. It was really fun and a great learning experience because we had to persevere and be resilient. We won two of our games but the other team won their grade. I had lots of fun and I can't wait for the next competition.

Mary Mackillop Feast day

Today was Mary Mackillop's feast day. First we went to mass. Then we did some Mary Mackillop art. We dipped cotton buds in paint and then went carefully around the outline of Mary Mackillop, so it looked like a silhouette. Next we did some research on Mary Mackillop and made a slideshow about her. This is my painting. 

My Slides

In reading we have been learning about Pasifika myths. My group read The Turtles of Namuana. We then had to pair up and do a slideshow about it. Namuana is in Fiji. I chose The Turtles of Namuana because I like turtles and also because I liked the myth This is my slideshow.

Hauora

Today we learnt about Hauora. We brainstormed ways we got hurt and ways we could help people if they were hurt. Not only physically but also emotionally, socially and spiritually. Physically hurt means if somebody has been hurt on the outside. Emotionally hurt means somebody's feelings have been hurt. Socially hurt means when someone has been hurt in their social life. Spiritually hurt is when someone has been hurt in their religion or culture.  Everyone in our class made a hand and wrote people that could help us. I wrote family, friends, family friend, nurse and pets.

Evolution

This term we are learning about evolution. This is my title page for evolution. I did a sort of acrostic poem and linked every word to evolution. Here is my title page.

Animal Classification

Today we learned about how animals are classified into groups. Animals are either vertebrates  (which means they have a spine) or invertebrates (which don't have a spine).

Invertebrates are animals like jellyfish,crabs,insects and octopus.

Vertebrates are put into five groups. They are mammals, birds, reptiles,fish and amphibians. Mammals have fur or hair and give birth to live young. Birds have feathers and lay hard eggs. Reptiles are cold-blooded and lay soft eggs. Amphibians breathe through  their skin and need to keep their skin moist. Fish breathe through gills and have fins.

Five examples of each type:

Mammals: rabbits, llamas, giraffes, koala and tiger.

Birds: penguins,parrots,swans,eagles and owls.

Reptiles: sea turtles,snakes, alligators,chameleons and tuataras.

Amphibians: frogs, salamanders, toads and newts.

Fish: sharks,eels,fish, seahorses, and stingray.

The Turtles of Namuana

I made a wanted poster because in the legend The Turtles of Namuana, Princess Tinicoboga and her daughter get kidnapped. This is a wanted poster for the men that kidnapped them. I made up their names and appearances. We did this activity because we have been learning about Pacific Island myths and legends.

Hansel and Gretel

Today in drama we did small snippets of Hansel and Gretel. Some of the groups put a twist on the fairytale. This is a video of my group's skit that we did. I learnt how to get into character. It was a really fun thing to do and I can't wait for our next drama project.

Jesus' saving work

Today in R.E we did dances, skits, mimes and posters to represent Jesus' saving work. Saving work is  what Jesus did to save us. The three things that he did were helping the weak, forgiveness and healing. This is my group's dance of one of Jesus' miracles.

Gymnastics

On Wednesday 27th June some girls went to compete at the Tristar Gym Fun festival. We had three routines: vault, floor and beam, but first we warmed up by doing stretches. It was really exciting being there after practicing for so long.  My group competed on beam first, then we moved onto floor. Lastly we competed on the vault. After we had finished that, we received our ribbons. Everyone was excited to see what ribbon and scores they had got. Everyone did really well. It was a great learning experience and really fun. I can't wait for the next competition.

Ode Poem

An ode is a poem that is usually dedicated to someone or something you like. Here is my ode to a ginger kiss.

To: Ginger Kiss

Oh ginger kiss, you are more perfect than a piece of cake. 

You are like an angel.

You are a slice of heaven.

Like your name, you kiss my tastebuds. 

Oh ginger kiss, how I adore you.

Science Roadshow

Yr 5/6 Science Roadshow Trip

Last week our year five and six students had the opportunity to see science in action at the
Science Roadshow.

There were lots of different exhibitions.  The first thing was when we sat down to watch
‘The Fire and Ice Show’. The show was my personal favourite as we learnt about temperatures and
how the molecules warm up and cool down. We then did an experiment using a metal hoop and we put
a pool ball through the hoop. We tested it a few times to make sure it fitted through and then the scientist
put the hoop in some liquid nitrogen (that liquid nitrogen was -273 degrees). We left it for a minute and
thenwe tried to put the ball through the hoop again, but this time it didn’t work. It didn’t work because the
molecules had frozen, therefore making the hoop smaller.

Next we were allowed to roam around the exhibitions. There were four flagged exhibitions that if you
figured out the science behind it you would get a click on your card. Once you got two, three or four
clicks you could enter it into the draw to see if you would win some cool 3D glasses and pictures.
Once we had had some time we then sat back down for ‘The Human Body Show’. We learnt all
about how our body works.

The Science Roadshow was a great experience for all of us. We learnt a lot and it was great fun.
I can’t wait for our next science experience.

This is a picture of us at the science roadshow.

Book Week

This week was Book Week at my school. We had a Book Fair in the library, which is where you can buy books. There were lots of different competitions. I entered two of the competitions. One was the benefits of reading and the other was a fifty word story called a dream. Also on Friday we had a book hunt which was lots of fun. Another thing we did on Friday was dress up as a character from a book. My friend and I went as Mr and Mrs Twit. I really like Book Week because there are lots of fun activities related to books, like the benefits of reading. Book Week was really fun and I can't wait for the next one.

The Toy Shop On Zip Zap Avenue

This week we had our school production. I was a Jack-In-The-Box, which was a lead role. It was a great success and worth all the hard work. Everyone in the school was involved. it was about a magical toy shop. On the day the show starts a young family come to the shop and purchase a buzzy bee toy. The shopkeeper locks up for the night.  But this shop is magical and the toys come alive at night. Tonight is extra special as they are celebrating the sale of their dear friend Buzz the Bee. Each toy takes turns to perform an item in honour of their friend Buzz the Bee. Then as the sun starts to rise the toys must return to the shelves, so their secret is not discovered. In all the excitement everything is not left as it was the night before. So when the family comes back to purchase another toy... will the shops secret be discovered?

I was really excited about it because we had been practicing for so long. From this experience I learnt that every role is important no matter how small. It was great to have this opportunity within school and I will always remember it as my first production. 

Art

In Art we have been learning to blend and mix colours. Mrs Drumond took photos of us and then used an app to convert them into drawings. Next she printed them out. Finally we coloured and blended to make realistic drawings of ourselves. It was great fun and I can't wait for our next art project.

Cross country

Yesterday it was our school cross country. These are some photos of me running the race. It was a tiring race as everyone did two and a half laps of the school grounds. I wasn't really nervous because I had been practicing a lot. It was a really successful day as I came fifth equal. 

Holy Spirit

In R.E we have been learning about the symbols of the Holy Spirit. This is a page in my book that has three of the seven symbols.

Canada

Recently in reading everyone has done a study on a country. I choose to do Canada. Here is my work.

The Life Cycle Of A Sloth

I am learning to write a life cycle of an animal.

Sloths. They are the cute slow moving animals of the South American jungle. Today I am going to tell you
all about the life cycle of these beautiful creatures.

Sloths are built to live in trees so naturally they also mate and give birth in the treetops. When a mother
gives birth she is often upside down. During the precarious birth the mother pulls the baby from her hind
legs. Other sloths make sure the baby doesn’t fall. Newborn sloths are small and they cling to their
mothers belly for weeks or even months.

Young sloths are like any young animal, they need their mothers care,protection and food. After some
time the young sloth is old enough to start eating leaves and foliage on its own. It still needs its mother's
care but it is more independent.

As an adult, sloths try to find mates. Sloths have a most peculiar way to find a mate. A female makes a
cry or wail, letting males know she is ready to mate. When a male arrives and they mate, males usually
leave and let the female take care of the baby when and if it is born.

So now you know all about the life cycle of the beautiful, slow moving sloth. But they are in danger from
threats like poaching and deforestation. We need to protect these beautiful creatures.

Roll an Answer

Today in maths we played a game called Roll an Answer. It tests the skills we have learnt this year like rounding, place value, addition and subtraction. My group did a board game about addition 

How a pencil sharpener works

This is an explanation piece I wrote about how a pencil sharpener works. I chose this topic because I wanted to know how something little like a pencil sharpener worked.

Diary Entry

My reading group are reading books about the war. This is a diary entry I wrote as if I was a soldier at war.

5/9/1915

The bullet in my heart

It was a hard day today. Jimmy got shot in the leg. He’s going back home and the nurses think he might survive. They got the bullet out. I spent the afternoon digging out a new trench with some of the other blokes. I’ve been here for two weeks now and it seems like more men are dying each day that goes by. I feel like the war will never end. I feel as if the rest of my life will be full of bullets, guns and trenches. As if I will never be free of this horrible world.

The Pencils

This is a piece of free writing I wrote. I got the idea from the book The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons came Back.

Once there was a little boy whose birthday was coming up soon. For his birthday he got some chocolate and a pet goldfish. But what he liked best were neither of these. The box of pencils that he got was what he treasured most in the world. He decided he would never use them, which as we all know is not what pencils are for. Pencils are meant to be for writing, drawing and coloring. For fun and for games.

After a few days the pencils became restless. They wanted to be used and sharpened. They wanted to write, draw and colour, have fun and scribble. But the boy didn’t listen to his parents telling him to use them. Nor his teacher when he brought them into school. The little boy just wanted to show them off and keep them fresh and new.

One day when he went to school leaving the pencils behind the pencils checked it was all clear, then climbed out of their pencil box and ran around the room. Then they went running around the house and finally  running around the garden.

When the little boy came home he went to his desk to admire his pencils as he did every other day. Yet all there was was a note it said. WE QUIT! We are sick of not being used and are going on holiday! 

Good Friday

Today in Religious Education we learnt about what these symbols had to do with Good Friday because Easter is coming up and tomorrow is Good Friday.

The Aquarium

It was another calm day at the aquarium when we got a new arrival. I only briefly saw the cage as it passed my tank. Inside was a crab. I didn’t pay much attention to it as I needed to breathe. So I gently floated up to the surface, blew out some water took a breath and went back down.

That night I heard a clicking sound. I assumed it was the crab but the sound got louder and louder until the crab was right outside my tank. WHAT IN THE NAME OF NEPTUNE WAS IT DOING IN THE CORRIDOR AT THIS TIME OF THE NIGHT!!!! I thought. Its meant to be in its cage-tank thingimigic. Great absolutely fantastic. Now I’ve got to put up with this annoying clicking all night long.

5 hours later, I felt like I was going to explode. The crab was sooooooooooooo exasperating. You know what I wanted to say to the crab right then? Yes we all get it clickety click click click. At around 7 o’clock the crab sidled back to where it belonged. I didn’t get it at first. Why did the crab suddenly disappear? Then when the manager came round I got it. The crab spent the whole night in front of my tank but went away when the manager came round in the morning . The sly sneaky beast. He deprived me of my beauty sleep!

That day I tried to rest as much as I could because of what I knew was coming in the night. I felt sad and lonely because I could hear other whales in the distance. The crab came that night like I knew it would. This time I asked him what he was doing out here in the corridor. Suddenly he broke into tears. I comforted him and he told me his story. He had just been trying to get a bunch of fresh seaweed for his fiancee when he had been kidnapped by the manager of the aquarium. I decided I must get him back to the ocean as his wedding was tomorrow. Suddenly I had a plan!

My tank was by the ocean and there was a little beach in my tank. I told the crab to wait there. Quickly I swam up. Yes I was right there WAS a little door that people came through to feed me. I took another breath and went back down. We didn’t have much time. It was 5 o’clock and he needed to be out of there by six. Somehow after a few minutes the crab who I by now knew was called Bubbles was on the beach of my tank.
“ How did you do that” I asked him but he just said
“Uh uh a good crab tells no crab secrets”
”Right.” I said. “You see that door it leads to the reception once your in there you have to get out the revolving doors and onto the beach. Then you’ll be safe”
“ What about you” Bubbles said
“I’ll be fine here.”
“Ok, but won’t you be lonely?” he said
“ No I’ll be fine. Now go” I told him but I knew he didn’t quite believe me. I was very happy when he got through the door.

The next evening I felt happy and content because it was Bubbles wedding day and he had got home in time for the wedding. What happened next surprised me completely. I was just getting ready to sleep when I heard a click like the ones Bubbles made but a thousand times louder and that was because Bubbles and his crew had come to rescue me.

What happened then was my tank wall that was on the ocean fell down. Water surged out into the ocean carrying me with it. Finally I was out of that cramped tank. Finally I could be with the other whales. Finally I was free.

What is your favourite sport?

water polo	3
cricket	4
basketball	3
swimming	3
rugby	2
hockey	4
soccer	3
netball	2
dance	2
tennis	1
gymnastics	2

  These are my results of doing a survey of doing my class's favourite sport. Cricket and hockey were the two most popular sports. I presented my data as a pie graph. I wonder what the results would be if I asked people what their favourite summer or winter sport is?

The Estuary

The estuary was usual enough, it had caravans,good climbing trees, rocks, an island and a swing. 

Maggie and I did what girls do, went crabbing, swum to the pontoon, played on the island, climbed trees and paddle boarded 

Doing nothing important.

Mantra

Be yourself, 

everyone 

else is 

taken!

This means that you don't need to pretend to be someone else because that is what they are and you are unique and should be yourself . It doesn't matter what other people think because unless you are you they won't get to know you as you are. We did this activity in class to give us lots of positive inspiration.

A Day At The Beach

On the 27th December 2017 my family and I went to Tindalls beach. At first me and Evie just played in the water doing flips and chasing each other. Then we asked dad if we could swim out to the pontoon. He said yes. So we swam out and had been there for about five minutes when I heard a figure on the shore screaming “Gina!” then I screamed back“Anna!”. Next Anna started swimming out to the pontoon. Finally after what felt like five hours, Anna arrived at the pontoon and climbed the ladder. Then we jumped off. Sneakily we climbed back on and pushed Evie off. It was very funny.

Then what happened was Evie wanted to show us her dive. We said that she could show it to us after we jumped in. So me and Anna were treading water and Evie was preparing to do her dive when dad creeped up behind her. We didn’t say anything. “Ok this is my dive,” Evie said. She was about to dive when dad pushed her off. Anna and I started cracking up and then we swam back to the pontoon. Dad was laughing as well. “Fabulous dive Evie,” we said between our giggles. Then we saw Logan was swimming out with his skim ball We jumped and flipped of a few more times and then it was time to go back in. “Race you!” Logan said. We were already gone. Of course we won the race.

When we got back to the shore we had some food and went back into the water. We stole Logan’s skim ball and threw it out into the water. Then we had to go get it. From then Anna and I just flipped and played in the water. We laughed a lot and then it was time to go home.

All About Me

Hi, my name is Gina. In my spare time I like to  draw, read, write stories, swim and play hockey. My favourite animals are rabbits, pandas, and red pandas but rabbits are my number 1 favourite. My family is made up of my Mum, my Dad, my sister and me. We have a dog called Keppell. I like books like Harry Potter but then I like a lot of different books. I enjoy going to the beach and boogie boarding. I have lots of friends at school including Anna,Molly and Maggie, we are all year six at Good Shepherd. This year I have a job as a journalist. I'm excited about starting a blog and I hope you enjoy it. 

Year 6 Camp

Year 6 Camp

On Monday 29th January, 30 excited year sixes arrived at M.E.R.C. in Long Bay. There was a
lot of anticipation in the air, but there was no time to think about it too much as we were straight
into activities. There was a range of activities including archery, surfing, abseiling, surf kayaking,
slingshot, mountain biking and the giants ladder. Over the week that we were at M.E.R.C we
developed lots of leadership skills and got to know each other better.

Lots of the activities involved teamwork. For instance the giant ladder, the rungs get further
apart as you get higher. Two people climbed at once and everyone were very supportive of
each other. Also lots of people conquered their fears on the abseiling wall, giants ladder,
surf kayaking and mountain biking. Everyone showed lots of resilience and strength when
they completed their activities.

On Tuesday night we had camp mass. The year sixes were excited to see their families.
We had a barbecue and lots of yummy food. The very next night we had our student council
elections and chose our leadership roles for the year. On Thursday night we had the talent
contest and the winner was Noah, he had a befuddling card trick.

On Thursday during the day there was a lot of excitement because it was very stormy.
We all stood on the sea wall and got splashed by massive waves as the tide came in.
By the end of it everyone was saturated and had to go get changed. We started our activities
for the day and it was particularly difficult to climb on the rock walls because they were slippery
and the wind was blowing but we got to the top anyway.

It was a great leadership experience for all of us. Everyone had fun and made some new
friends. It was a great way to start the year and it was a definitely highlight for everyone.