BFG by Roald Dahl - Book Review

The BFG - By Roald Dahl

Illustrated by Quentin Blake

This is a story about a big friendly giant and his little friend called Sophie. In Giant Country there are nine nasty giants who like to feast on human beans. Sophie and the BFG hatch a plan to save the children from being eaten. 

We would recommend this story for children aged 7 - 14 years. 

It was an excellent book to read aloud to a class. We are Year 3 & 4 students and we loved it. 

"I liked the end when all of the giants got captured." - Madison, Caitlyn & Emily

"I liked how the BFG saved the kids." - Nick & Lochie

"I liked that no one got hurt in the end" - Angus

"I liked it when they met the Queen." Katie, Kade, Luca, Oranje, Floyd and Ava

"I liked it when the BFG and Sophie met inside the BFG's cave" - Archie

"I liked it when the BFG did a WHIZZPOPPER in front of the Queen." - Amelia

"I liked it when the BFG fed the giants SNOZZCUMBERS" - Logan

"I liked it when Sophie met the BFG." - Grace and Aria

"I liked it when they gave the Giant a TROGGLEHUMPER while he was sleeping." - Olive

"I liked the way the BFG muddled up his sayings and words all the time." - Mrs May

Shining Star - Madison

I am always very proud of any Room 4 student who receives the shining star award, as it means that they are truly a wonderful citizen of our school. Madison was awarded this trophy after her public display of kindness and compassion on Tuesday morning at the speech finals. She stood silently with a friend in need, offering support without words. She did not make a show or a fuss, but simply stood in support. This was a wonderful display of friendship and everyone in the Library recognised it as a kind gesture. Well done Madison! You are a truly kind friend!!!

Student of the week - Floyd

For the past five weeks we have been training every day for our school Cross Country and then for the South Otago Cross country. Everybody has been working hard to become fitter, faster and run further. The person who has lead us around the course every day at a blistering pace has been Floyd. He pushes himself to the very limit every session, trying to get faster and run further every time. His hard work and dermination have paid off when he was placed 8th in the Year 4 boys race at the South Otago Cross Country. Keep it up Floyd! You are an excellent wee runner. 

South Otago Cross Country Runners

Today Kade, Logan Floyd, Caitlyn and Luca all took part in the South Otago Cross Country in Clinton. It was a bit cold and windy for running, but at least it wasn't raining. 

Luca was 4th in the Year 4 girls.

Caitlyn was 5th in the Year 4 girls.

Floyd was 8th in the Year 4 boys.

Logan was 13th in the Year 4 boys.

Kade was 14th in the Year 4 boys. 

Special visitors to our classroom

Over the past two weeks we have had three very special visitors in Room 4. 

For morning talks some of the children have been talking about their pets. They decided that rather than sharing a photo of the pet they would bring their pet in for us all to meet them. 

Amelia brought in her dog Snowy.

Nick brought in his dog Maxi.

Aria brought in her kitten Poppy.

Room 4 speech makers

 This morning we had a our junior school speech and poetry recital in the school library. Caitlyn, Amelia and Logan presented speeches for Year 4.

Angus, Grace and Archie presented speeches for Year 3.

Amelia and Logan were joint first place for Year 4.

Archie was the winner for Year 3.

Congratulations to you all, it is no mean feat to stand up in front of that audience and deliver a speech. You made us very proud today!

Adopting Nora the kakapo

Last term, while we were on school camp, we visited the kakapo chicks in Invercargill. We had been studying them before our visit, so we knew that they were critically endangered. 

When we got back to school we decided that we wanted to do more to help this species of precious birds survive. We held a mufti day on the last of term to raise money. 

We used the money raised to adopt a Kakapo bird for a year. We adopted Nora. Nora was found on Stewart Island. She has been key to the breeding programme which has been run by DOC. 

Today we received a package from DOC, which had our adoption certificate, and a a fluffy soft Nora. We also got a bookmark each that tells us all about Nora. 

We are excited to be making a difference and to be helping to save a species. 

Cross Country

Today was our school cross country up Gabriel's Gully. The weather was amazing and the course was great. It was a bit frosty in parts, but mostly dry. 

We were all excited to get underway!

Katie, Madison, Grace and Emily got into the house spirit and ran in their house colour of red, for Woods.

Everyone gave it their very best effort. We had been training for weeks, so we were all fit and fast. 

It was a great day for everyone. 

We were all pleased to meet our Cross Country goals. It was a spectacular day for a spectacular event. 

Supporting our local rugby boys

 This weekend the local Lawrence Rugby Nuggets are playing Clutha in the big final. We spent the morning making supporters banners so that they can be at the game tomorrow. We took a whole school photo to show our support.

 Mr Auld threw a rugby ball into the middle of the photo. 

This is the sign that room 4 made for the Big Game - we really hope that Lawrence wins!!!!

Pen Licences

Everyone in Room 4 works really hard to get neater at their handwriting, and none more-so than this crew. They have progressed from flicks to linking and now they are finally onto writing in pen! They were very excited to day when they were presented with their pen licences from Office max and their very own pen to write with. Congratulations guys - well done. 

 Luca

 Caitlyn

 Kade

Lochie

Book fair colouring competition winner

This week was school book fair so Melinda and Andrea ran a colouring competition for each class. Amelia did an amazing job of her entry and was rewarded with the prize. She was very happy with her book from the fair. Congratulations Amelia. 

Student of the week - Aria

We have been studying a unit in our class room which helps us to become better friends and to learn how to help our friends who need help. It has been great to see Aria taking such an interest in our topic and making valuable contributions to our class discussions. Great work Aria. 

Our BFG Art

 When we had Mrs Hughes we made some BFG art. We have been reading the Big Friendly Giant for our class novel. 

 We started by drawing our Big Friendly Giant on black paper and then we cut him out. This outline formed a silhouette on the page. We glued it onto a piece of dictionary paper.  

 Then we made more black shapes to add to our art. We could draw buildings, trees or clouds, but we had to place them on the page so that we could see how tall the BFG was in comparison to the other shapes. Check out our cool art work. 

Billionaire Boy - David Walliams Book Review

This is the story about a rich boy called Joe Spud who wanted to go to a normal school. He tried to keep it a secret that he was a billionaire so that he could make a true friend. Read this story find our how he made a friend, but how hard it was to keep his secret and to keep his friend. This book is really funny and will have you laughing a lot. 

We recommend this book for ages 6 - 17 years. It is very funny and we enjoyed having it read to us by our teacher in our Year 3-4 class.