Build your wild self writing

In room 18 we went onto a website: build your wild self where we created a wild self and wrote descriptive passages about it. Here are some.

Lurking in the gloomy waters of the deep Atlantic Ocean, hiding in cold and dark underwater caves, waiting for unsuspecting fish to swim past the entrance, this terrifying creature with waving tentacles can put a hole in the side of a boat and tear any prey into confetti pieces in a matter of seconds.
Six black eyes allow him to see further than any other animal in the world; they are as round as a full moon. His mane is as yellow as the sun, at night time it glows in the dark as bright as a light. His ears are as fluffy as a feather and feel really soft. He has arms as green as an avocado and has tentacles as wriggley as a worm on a hook.
His name is Mike.
EP, GF, TN, LF

It all started in the Amazon Jungle, when something went Zooooom. I looked behind, it was there, the monster master of the Amazon Jungle; the Hiss-ho-mon-zeb-at-tree-boa; in other words Te Batman.
She had huge ears like the red river hog and hissing cockroach antennae that were grey and sharp. Her eyes were like green frosted cucumber slices.
It slithered its way over to me with its slimy wet curled up snake tail and weak zebra arms.
It pushed me to the ground and flapped its giant bat wings to show it was angry.
I jumped up and stared at him; he didn’t move; I blinked and she was gone. SPLASH! She had slithered into the creek as fast as a lemonmarco shark. Seconds later I felt a drip of water on my shoulders and her breath on my neck. Her bat wings like gigantic elephant ears could fly at an amazing speed, flying higher than Mt Everest but her beautiful pink T shirt helped her stand out. I screamed in terror, she was horrible. I quickly ran away and pretended it was a dream.
CS, BB, ML, FBH, RW

Dressed only in a red T shirt this terrifying beast looks worse than it sounds. The animal is called a Gir-fen-sha-ger-do-ira-rat.
On its head are two fuzzy rabbit ears and at the bottom of its terrible face are razor sharp shark teeth. It has strong wings and spiny haired crab legs. The tiger arms on it are huge and muscley. As they reach out and clap together, the animal disappears leaving his horrifying mouldy smell behind him.
BM, KG, SC, AH

This horrible creature lives in the Dark Cliffs of Doom. I was looking for a native tree when...I stumbled upon the Rattle snake. Then I looked up... I saw this 50 foot high gingery thorn sharp haired monster. He was wearing a green guitar shirt that smelled of dirty laundry. I guessed, Snakey Guy was his name.
He had cockroach antennas, six black bulging eyes scattered across his forehead. The tip of his tail clattered away like a baby’s rattle. Snakey Guy had the human boy face of a two year old child, eleven fish spines with dead flakey skin hanging off the end blowing in whistling wind. His hairy ape arms dangled at his side. Suddenly there was this rumbling sound and as Snakey opened his mouth wide open, a huge pool of vomit came out of it and covered me in a pink oozing liquid. This was a sign of extreme anger.
TH, RD, HW, JD

Looking away from the lions, the safari group turned in the opposite direction and saw the 6 metre tall scarey looking creature. It looked like something the sea would give up but its skin was very well prepared for the pure heat of the African Desert. She had curved, dark, strong reindeer ears sticking out of a human head. Her straight, long, silky brown hair was tied up in a pretty pony tail. Her ears were quite. Delicate butterfly wings stood out like a rose between thorns. With a wave of her butterfly wings, a roar from her fierce fossa snout and a couple of jiggles from her jelly fish mane, she was off into the blue sky to scare another safari group.
HO, GT, AO, KH

The Things we enjoyed about Term 3

The things we did not enjoy in Term 3

Rockvan

Rockvan came to our school this term...what a great week we had learning to play bass, electric guitars and drums...all culminating in a rock concert on Friday afternoon. These are some of our comments about the incredible week we had.


The thing that I enjoyed was learning the drums and performing song "I Fought the Law" by The Clash to the school. AWESOME!!!
RD

Rockvan was the thing I enjoyed most this term I played the drums for the first time it was really cool to experience this type of instrument not just percussion.
HW

Rockvan was so cool because I got to play the drums. The drums had so many cool sound that I could play with.BB

Rockvan was awesome because we got to have a concert at the end of the week and we performed our song to the whole school.AM



I really enjoyed lerning the bass guitar because it wasn't to hard to learn because there were only 4 strings. I was really nervous that I would muck up on stage...... but I didn't!!!! GF

I loved playing the drums at the concert it was rocking the world!!!!!They had lots of cool sounds that I loved to play!!!42 I think?M.L

The base was fun to play because I have never had the chance to play the base guitar in my life and i'm definatly going to get a base guitar!!!T.N

I really enjoyed rockvan because they helped us learn a instrument and on Friday we got to peform a concert to the other pods which was AWESOME!!! I really liked playing the base guitar aswell because it was easy to learn and only had 4 strings.
E.P !!!

I realy enjoyed playing the bass guitar because I have never played the bass guitar before .I also enjoyed you guys teaching me how to play the bass guitar I would like to play the bass guitar agin .J.p

I really liked RockVan because it was a great opportunity to try a new instrument I had never even touched let alone played before. The drums were really fun and it was cool that they had different settings! I found the guitar and bass really easy ad fun and the teachers were awswome!B.M

Rockvan was a great oppertunity for kids as we got to play instruments we don't usually get to play at school. Playing the electric guitar was an exciting experience that I will never forget!!!!!!:NM

I really enjoyed Rockvan because I always wanted to learn the drums and they gave me the opportunity to. I also really enjoyed the concert!! C.S

Clocks and time

Our topic for this third term has been CLOCKS.
As a class we looked at how clocks developed from the early sandclocks, sundials and candle clocks to the precise clock mechanisms we have today.The highlight of this unit was to spend a day building our own clocks according to the designs we had researched and planned beforehand.
We encountered many difficulties on this day from dust sticking to our wet paint, to not getting the numbers even and to realising just how hard it is to paint thin lines with a wobbly hand.
Many of the clocks were made for our dads as gifts for Fathers Day and I'm sure they would have been delighted with their personalised clocks and will treasure them for many years to come.
Have a look at how our clocks turned out!

Science Electives

We're fortunate at our school to run electives one afternoon a week for the whole of Term 3. One of the electives on offer is science experiments.
For our first session we looked at surface tension and related experiments. Check out this great experiment from Brainiac via You Tube!



During this lesson we made our own "Non Newtonian liquid" using cornstarch and water. It was amazing because when we hit it quickly it was rock hard and yet it also became runny enough to slide off our hands, as these pictures show!










MILK SWIRLS and SURFACE TENSION
We also had a heap of fun making milk swirls when we took a saucerful of milk, added a couple of drops of different food colourings and then a drop of dishwashing detergent to the centre of the milk. Wow we made some fantastic patterns and had great fun seeing if we could get the swirling to continue by adding more dishwashing liquid, more milk or more "anything"!

Can you believe it, we're also MUMMIFYING SAUSAGES! Yes, that's right, we are dessicating(drying out)a variety of sausages with bicarbonate of soda; a bit like the Ancient Egyptians did when they mummified their Pharoahs.
Each week we recoat out sausages in fresh bicarbonate of soda because we have found that the bicarb. becomes quite saturated and encrusted from the fluid it is drawing out of the sausage. We also measure the weight, length and circumference of the sausages to see if there are any differences from week to week.
Follow this table to see what the results show on RD,O and SL'ssausage:

Pre mummification
Weight: 0.1g
Length: 6cm
Circumference: 8.5cm
Features:Colour Red
Smell:chicken but not roasted
Teacher’s/student’s comments: RD: I can't believe we actually get to do this. Can we put the insides in a sarcophagus too? Mrs H: NO!

1 week later
Weight:0.1g
Length: 6cm
Circumference: 6cm
Colour:Dark red
Smell: mouldy dead rat
Teacher’s/student’s comments: Not sure about the accuracy of your circumference measurements, boys...we’ll have to check them this week! (Mrs H)

Have you ever tried making icecream using ice, salt and plastic packets?
We did last week.
Into one small packet we placed 1/2 cup of milk, chocolate/peppermint or strawberry essence, a spoonful of sugar...and zipped it closed.
This small packet we placed inside a larger packet with a couple of cups of ice and about 6 spoonfuls of salt. We ziplocked this one closed as well and then started squeezing the milk against the ice.
Some of us squeezed a little too enthusiastically and our bags popped (luckily we were doing this outside!) but those who persisted squeezing GENTLY ended up with some delicious icecream.
One packet of ice contained no salt and that one never became ice cream...it remained milk. Why was this do you think? We know..but we'd like to hear your comments! (A clue...it has to do with the effect salt has on the melting point of ice)
So, with very cold fingers and full tummies, we think we could make quite a lot of money from our new found knowledge!



Static Electricity
Have you ever bounced on a trampoline and touched a friend, only to have them shock you?
We explored this shocking effect by looking at the flow of charge from a positively charged body to a negatively charged body. At first we tried using our socks to charge the balloon but as this wasn't particularily successful at giving a big enough charge, we caught onto the idea that by rubbing the balloon on our own hair, we could create a bigger charge.
Using the positively charged balloon we then lowered it over a dish of pepper and made the pepper dance by being attracted to the balloon. When we were quiet enough we could even hear the crackle of the pepper as it was attracted upwards onto the balloon's surface. Of course, if the balloon touched the sides of the dish, it was discharged and would no longer attract the pepper upwards.

creme the egg marble run

In the middle of Term 2 a few boys in our class were very keen to build a marble run. This has been one of those of projects that has gone from strength to strength and is by no means completed yet. We now have a full wall of marble tracks in our classroom and by the end of Term 2 our track had gone aerial! One of the clips that has amazed us has been this one from You Tube. Watch this space for videos of our own track during the course of Term 3!

Digital stories

As part of our English unit, we looked at writing explanations.
Yes, we practiced with some of the more ordinary topics, but then looked at the explanations written in the Dr Xargle's Books of Earth Relations by Tony Ross. This added a whole new dimension to our explanations as we could make up words for some of the things humans use and we could step back and see our earthly habits from an alien perspective!
Enjoy our stories with us!

Dr Maharaj's Explorations by NM

Earthling story by AM

Room 18's system prints

We had a lot of fun designing these prints. As we were studying systems we looked at robotic systems as a set of related parts that worked together.

After designing our systems, we spent many hours cutting out different textured materials and building up the layers by glueing them onto cardboard backing. It was then time to choose a colour, ink the print, turn it over and then, with heart in mouth, peel it back to see what we had created!

Unknown bug...Help!

KB brought this interesting bug to school this week. We were able to look at it under our digital microscope; take a picture of it...but now we don't know what it is. Could anyone help us?

Summary Week 7 (Term 2, 2009)

This week has been history, history, history with the 30th anniversary celebration coming up on Friday. 30 years of Shelly Park Primary! WOW!!! Hey and did you know the sports shed was on the side of the library!!!
In Pod 3’s assembly they asked heaps of questions about when Mr Tom Beals the first principal was here and how much the school has changed.
Also, we had our I.C.A.S science exam.

Some of us did jump-jam. It was such fun!!!
This week has been a mixture of weather: raining, sunny, raining, sunny etc. It’s a monkey’s wedding (meaning that it’s sunny and rainy at the same time)!

This week has been awesome! I’ve enjoyed it. I can’t wait for next week!!
H.O

Summary of Weeks 5 and 6 (Term 2, 2009)

This summary is for this week, and last week so...

Last week was a normal week except Thursday when the whole of pod 4 had an art day; no maths only morning tea lunch and P.E. The art room 18 did was card-board printing. What we had to do was some kind of system. Mrs H did a flower garden but most people did robots. I did a marshmallow-maker. Some of us have already done our wax rubbings; others are still on cutting and designing or glueing. Soon were going to do the prints!!!

This week was pretty ordinary too. We went to the life education van and met Harold the giant giraffe puppet and learned about stress. 2 weeks ago we learned about the brain and this week we learned about stress.
Guess what?
Today, Friday, we had a bake sale entirely made by Pod 2. The muffins and cakes were 50 cents each. They were delicious!!!

(B.M)

A Rock with a Story

Lots of people with bright white coats and weird glasses were poking and brushing me with something. I thought back to when I was in a big comfy volcano with my friends. The whole place started shaking. We were going to blast out of this huge volcano.
BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I shot up into the sky and landed on all the volcanic ash. I was crawling down the giant hill. I went slower and slower, until I had stopped completely. I didn’t know how long it was, but I had become heaps stiller and rougher... more dull and boring...I was a rock!
Now that’s when I started getting a bit scared. Where was I? What was I doing here? I just didn’t know.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps of those mean humans. No offence but they had made my brother into a footpath!! I was getting more and more scared, until they were right there in front of me. Well.... I couldn’t really see them, but I knew they were there. Their footsteps were like heaps of earth-quakes!! I felt their hands grab my body and all went black as I hit the bottom of complete darkness.
I heard something else humming. It was another rock. He told me that those humans picked him up a few days ago and separated him from his family.
It was dark and cold in the bag. It felt like hours until we stopped again. I could hear the humans walking up something... maybe stairs? I don’t know. In rock language I heard the screams of heaps of rocks that had been made into concrete. Suddenly, I heard a door open and they dropped the bag onto a table. I wasn’t ready for the suddenness of the light but I couldn’t do anything about it. A hand reached in the bag trying to pick one of us out. I was hoping and praying that I wouldn’t get taken out. What would happen to us? Would they put us on display in a glass cage? Would they grind us to the core to make something? I just didn’t know. Just then a hand closed around something. I shut my eyes and got ready for whatever they were going to do to us, but it didn’t happen.
A few days must have passed before I got taken out of the bag. And here I am now, getting poked and brushed.

By H.O

We had lots of fun looking at Limericks and then trying to write our own and making sure we referred to a body part somewhere in the limerick! It wasn't always easy getting the 8 syllables for lines 1,2 and 5; and 5 or 6 syllables for lines 3 and 4. We managed it in most cases,though! Enjoy and have a giggle!

There once was a small boy called Bee
Who really hurt his small clean knee
He fell off his bike
Got a very big fright
Causing the end of his pet Flee. (Room 18 friend)

There once was a boy called Deal
Who had a really big meal
He fell on his head
Then went straight to bed
Oh that very poor boy called Deal. (Z.S )



There once was a boy with a brain
Who acted like he was insane
One day he turned red
And thought himself dead
That boy is now alive back in bed. (H.W)



There once was a boy called Sidney
Who had an enormous kidney
One day it fell apart
And then broke his heart
That very poor boy called Sidney. (M.L and B.B)

There once was a good man called Sain
Who lived in a big candy cane
He had a big brain
Then he went insane
And that was the end of poor Sain. (M.L and B.B)


There once was a big fat tummy
One day he felt really funny
Oh, that butterfly
That was in his pie
Made a chrysalis in his tummy. (BM)


There once was a person called Bill
Who liked to sleep on a steep hill.
After he poked his eye
He started to fly
Then old Bill had to take a pill. (F.B-H and T.H)



There once was a glow-worm called Joe
Oh he wished he had a big toe.
He fell into a trap
And saw a big map
Then he found himself in the snow.
(T.H and F.B-H )


There was a snake called Karate
Who always loved a good party,
His radio broke
His hair started to smoke
Oh poor old brainless Karate. (H.O and E.P)

There once was a crab named Bob
Who liked to eat juicy corn-cob
But one strange weird day,
His tongue blew away
And now he can’t eat his corn-cob. (H.O)

There was a young boy named Crane
Who travelled to the human brain
He bumped his toe
And yelled oh-no
And that was the end of young Crane. (G.T)

There once was a boy named Dimple
Who had a great grey weird pimple!
But then one sad day
His pointy nose went grey
That very poor wrinkled Dimple. (K.G)


There once was a friendly boy called Joe
Who had a lot of fun with a bow
He had only one eye
Covered in meat pie
Oh that poor little boy that's so slow. (T.N)


There was once a bright girl named Jane
Who broke her leg and cried in pain
One day there was a crow
Who sadly bit her toe
That’s toeless Jane with a big brain. (NM)



There once was a man named Pierre
Who had a big fat ugly ear
He had so much gear
to catch a speedy deer
that he needed trucks for his gear. (A.M)




There was once a young black kitten
Who loved to sleep in a mitten
She slept for a day
But then ran away
Please come back little black kitten! (E.P)

Summary Week 4,Term 2

This week we went to the Life Education caravan and met Harold.We learnt a bit about the 'brainy bunch'.Here are a few facts we learnt about the brainy bunch.

Did you know the brain sends messages through the spinal cord to the body?
Did you know the stomach crunches food into a liquid called chyme?
Did you know muscles help you move?

It was also the week for our Prepared Readings.In the class we had to read a passage about a book we had read. I read from the Little Captain by Paul Beigel. I felt nervous during the reading but I think I read well.

SPORT

We played two sports, soccer and netball and we won them both! The score for soccer was 7-1 and the netball score was 8-5 . Go Shelly Park!
M.L and A.M

Summary Week 3, Term 2

This week room18 has been very busy with a lot of things. All of us have been working on sketches, leaf rubbings and prints. After we have done all of these we're going to put it on a piece of paper in stages. Pod 4 have also had a spelling test. A lot of people passed onto even harder lists. Some people have gone up three spelling tests this year!
Room 18 also had a very yum shared lunch for reading 500 books in 1 term!! We've beaten the class record. We have to feed the Blobbinator, give him books, so he can survive. See picture.
Just to end the week there was a Pod 4 assembly, the first one this term.
By FB-H

Week 2, Term 2

This week we have had a WET week! This weeks weather has been bad and by saying bad we mean 4 days of rain, bad rain. We are very miserable because soccer field day was cancelled. Soccer field day is when schools make teams and play each other in friendly matches.Now onto the next bit...postcards for Mothers Day. (Just a little secret. We are going to post them then our mum's will get a big surprise!)
(ML and RD)

I've added the photograph boys, because we started our Topic this week. I wonder if any of our followers will guess what our topic is from the photograph!
Mrs H.

NM"s diorama

My scene showed it was a lovely day with a bright blue sky and a couple of fluffy white clouds. There were a few light and dark green coloured trees and also some short tiny grass hedges. As well as big brown rocks, there was a large drinking pond for the dinosaurs.

My long neck was munching on some juicy leaves for lunch while my Triceratops was really excited and hungry as she had been waiting for her eggs to hatch, and finally the eggs started hatching!

NM

What my diorama showed

My diorama showed 3 dinosaurs: a Triceratops, a Diplodocus and a Flying dinosaur. We only put 1 tree on the diorama, and that was in the corner. Underneath the tree was a nest with 3 huge eggs. In the opposite corner there were 2 exploding volcanoes. On the ground there were 4 sheets of green paper and heaps of grass. Also, across the ground was a river with glitter in it and rocks on the side.
Next time I think that instead of having 2 volcanoes I could’ve had had 1 volcano with lava blasting out, because it may have looked more realistic.
FB-H

Summary of the First Week of school, Term 2

Each week, the class leader is encouraged to summarise the week that has been. This summary could include the highs, lows; things they have enjoyed; things they endured, something new they learn't etc. we do hope you get a feel for some of what's happening in our classroom.




Week 1

This week started off as a rough week with Bookweek and sports but we managed to fit it all in!


When we say Bookweek we mean a week when we spend most of the time with another class that is younger than us. Every Bookweek we have a different theme. This time the theme was dinosaurs. At the end of the week we dress-up according to the theme and we have a parade on our school courts. in Room 18 we spent our time with Room 7 and we created dioramas.

Some of the sports we did were netball, soccer and basketball. With all the practices at lunch we sometimes didn't even get time to eat.

It has been a great week and we look forward to the rest of the term!

TH and friend

Welcome to Room 18's blog. We look forward to sharing the remainder of our school year with you, from Auckland, New Zealand.