Thursday, November 28, 2013

Student of the Week - Toby

Keep your eyes peeled for this young man's name on the front cover of a book in the future - he truly is an author in the making.  Check out the beginning of his latest narrative....

Big Ears was a skinny little elf who was quite good at hearing but not very good at talking.  However, his wife Little Ears was quite good at talking, but unlike Big Ears, quite bad at hearing.

One Saturday morning Big Ears was waddling down from his retirement home to get the post.  Suddenly he came rushing in, but being old it took him three minutes to get back to his retirement home which was three metres away from the post box!
"Yippee! We're going to our son's wedding.  Yippee" ........

Friday, November 22, 2013

Student of the Week - Kate

Congratulations to Kate for achieving excellent results in the recent E-Asttle reading testing.  Kate demonstrated fantastic reading comprehension skills and received the top score for Room 4.  Your love of reading is evident in your results Kate.  Awesome work!

Friday, November 15, 2013

Student of the Week - Jessica

Jessica produced an outstanding sunflower painting, mixing colours effectively.  She also helped others in the class to get theirs finished once she had completed her work.  This was done quietly, without bringing attention to herself.  This is very worthy of 'Student of the Week' Jessica.  Top job!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Earthquake Drill


Room 4 had an earthquake drill on Wednesday morning, and although it was not real, it was quite scary. Read our recounts to see how each child felt during the drill.
CRASH, BANG, SMACK
“Get under your desk!” Mrs May shouted. Then the desks shook and shook and shook. We held on to the legs so they didn’t fall on us.
Glue sticks fell, pencil sharpeners and rubbers falling. Rulers and pencils falling everywhere. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
The chairs fell over BANG! SMASH!
“AHHHHHH!!!” we shrieked.  - Emma


CRASH, BANG! Went the desks as we huddled under them. We all started screaming our heads off like headless chickens. The chairs started rocking all over the place like wild broncos. Then my desk started to move and I was stupid enough to lift my head up, then thump there was a funny noise as head hit my desk. While I was shivering my head off with fear the rest of the class were still screaming. Then the earthquake suddenly came to an end. To my relief it was only Mrs May and Grant doing it so we had something to write about!
By Kate


Bang! Bang! Crash! Crash!
“Get under your desks,” my teacher screamed. Who was scared? Not me. It was an earthquake and it happened at school but it happened at 10:00 on Wednesday. I heard my friends screaming, drink bottles falling, pens and desk lids crashing to the ground with the chairs. The fire siren had gone off and people were scared. I thought to myself ‘What happened?’ but then the teacher said it was just a fake. Thank god.   - Blake


Smash! Bang! Off goes a siren. It stopped. Suddenly everything was shaking. Books, pencils, pens and drink bottles fell on the ground. What was happening? Desks and chairs had fallen over. I can’t believe it was an earthquake. - Max


“Quick kids get under your desk. It’s an earthquake.” I could smell dust falling from the ceiling. It smelt like expired pizza. Room 4 were clutching onto the desk legs and everyone one was screaming like a little girl in pain. Everything was falling  off our desks and being thrown about onto the floor. The desks were crashing, banging and shaking. Luckily it was only the teachers. It was a drill!  - Hamish



The fire siren went off.
Mrs May said, ‘’Get  under your desks, there is a earthquake .’’ Everyone in Room Four got under their desks quickly.   We all got down and held the legs of our desks. Chaos, chaos. Drink bottles were flying everywhere. Desks were shaking and books were falling off the desks. - Lucy


“There is an earthquake,” said Mrs May. I was scared and terrified. “Quick get under your desk and hold onto the leg.” I heard screaming, thumping and a siren and desks were crashing and banging . Drink  bottles scattered everywhere. Pencils were falling on the ground . Suddenly it was all over. We stood up and looked around the room. Desks were moved, drink bottles had tipped over.      - Venessa


Woooooooo!!!!!! “Earthquake get under the desks!!!!” Bash, bash, crash, crash. I rush under my desk like my pants are on fire. We heard the crashing of desks. “Eeeeeeek!!! Eeeeeek!!!” The screaming of girls was unbearable. Things were falling like boulders falling off a cliff. Closer, closer, nearer, nearer. Whosh! Ryan caught his falling writing book. Finally the earthquake stopped. I was so confused. Why didn’t we go to the tennis courts? Why didn’t we hear a rumble before the earthquake? Why wasn't anything broken? I may never know.  - Toby


I was curled up under my desk then suddenly it started shaking. Everything fell off the desks and all the chairs tipped over then…


About a minute earlier a siren went off. Mum yelled out
“Earthquake get under your desks.” We all got under and held onto our desk legs. I was laughing and talking to Jenaya. But just because I was laughing doesn't mean I wasn’t scared.


At least it was just Mum and Mrs Grant shaking the desks and knocking things off them.  We all knew it was them because we could see their feet. - Alyssa


“Get under your desks there is an earthquake,” commanded Mrs May. Desks were shaking. Every single person was screaming and the fire siren was going very, very, very loud around Lawrence. Shake, shake, shake went the desks. A glue stick fell down, then Mrs May said
“Ok, it is safe now.” - Rubie


“Whooh’’ went the fire siren.
’’Get under your desk!‘’ shouted Mrs May. ‘Its an earthquake.’’ Bang! Crash! I could hear everyone’s desks crashing and banging. People were under their desks , clinging. Mrs May shouted out
“Don’t come out until it’s safe.” So, when it was safe Mrs May said that we could come out. We looked around. There were felts and pencils everywhere. The desks were bare. In the end it turned out to be fake and the fire siren was a sound off the computer.  - Samara


A siren went off and Mrs May said
“Get under your desk, it’s an earthquake.” I jumped under, holding my desk leg and all I could hear was screaming and then desks crashing. People where moving right under their desk. All the desks were moving. I could see people curled up right under their desk. - Paris


“There’s a fire,” I said to the people beside me. Mrs May told Room 4 to get under our desks because there was an earthquake. The sirens were going off. Desk lids were banging, things were going everywhere like pens, pencils and gluesticks. I could hear screaming but I was not. I knew that the sirens were off the computer. I saw my gluestick beside me. I picked it up with my hands trembling, I thought it was real. Mrs May said,
“You can come out from under your desk now.” I think to myself I glad that it was just Mrs Grant and Mrs May.   - Lucie


WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE WEEEE went a siren. I looked around. Where did that come from? Then Mrs May called out of the blue
“Get under your desk, it is  an earthquake.” We all scuttled under our desks like crabs. The desks started to rattle like pompoms. One shook here, then another there. We all started to laugh because we knew what they were doing. Mrs May and Mrs Grant were trying to make us experience an earthquake. We all tried to get out from under our desks but Mrs May just said
“Just wait until we tell you that it is safe to come out. Ok now.”
We all crept out from our desks. We stood up. All of our things were scattered in all directions. Our desks were crooked. Luckily it was just Mrs May and Mrs Grant but they had me scared a little. - Abby


Bang! Bang! We get under our desks. I could hear the lids banging on the desks. I could hear screaming and crying. My desk was the wobbliest desk and it almost fell down. I was shocked. I bit my lip. Someone in my class screamed the loudest .I could smell and feel blood coming down my desk. We were under there for ages. Then I saw lots of sparks on the desk. Then the windows smashed and there was glass everywhere. The chairs were down. - Lanie


Crashing, screaming, banging. As the siren went off everyone got under their desks. Things were bouncing off the desks and onto the floor. It was so noisy! The desk legs were cold as I gripped them tight. Then CLANG!! I had to scream. My desk lid was clanging everywhere. I could see the blue carpet and the people beside me.  I was wondering what was happening? And why weren’t the teachers under the desks? Luckily It was just a earthquake drill. - Jessica


We were sleeping but then BANG! BANG! CRASH! CRASH! I woke up with a thump. My Mum rushed into my brothers room and Dad ran as fast as a ROCKET into my room.
“I think I’m awake now,” I said.
“’Well that sure was an earthquake, I'm wide awake,” complained Dad.
It was shaky so hard that I keep on falling over like a newborn lamb. It was that hard to stand up! I think I needed to go on a wheel chair. - Ryan



As the siren went off Mrs May said
“Get under your desk.” I was scared as well as  excited. All the desks started to move and all the chairs fell down. My gluestick fell on my head. As everyone started to get up Mrs May was not under a desk. Mrs May said,
“Do you all know that it was a fake?”. - Jenaya


Bang, crash! Ahh, ohh! ”Whats going on?” I said in my head.
”Under desks,” Mrs May said. My foot was all squished very tightly into Jenaya. A worried feeling came into my head. Shake, shake went the desks. Ohh, there goes a glue stick. Shakier and shakier, scarier and scarier. Lots of kids were screaming. Then it was over. We got up. Once we got up there were pencil cases everywhere, drink bottles scattered under desks, books everywhere and pens all around me. - Josie


“Get under your desk!” the teacher yelled so we got under our desks. I thought I was going to DIE!! Then I could hear people screaming like pussy cats. Pow! Whack! I got a kick in the face with a shoe by Ryan.
“Ouch! Get back here now you little brat!” Then I saw a quick flash of red pants. What the…? The a horrible smell went, mmmmm, how do I put this? - Alesana

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Sports Extravaganza

WOW - what a super fun day we all had in Balclutha today at the Sports Extravaganza.  We were in mixed teams with several other Y0-4 students from around South Otago, competing in 12 different challenges throughout the day.  Most activities involved some aspect of teamwork, particularly the relays.  It was great seeing so many children having so much fun, participating actively in a range of different activities.
Venessa, Zoe (Warepa School) and Aaron compete int the team board walking challenge

Samara aiming her beanbag at the target

Tyler from Waitahuna, squeezing every last drop from his group's sponge into the bucket

Sofia passes the sponge to Rubie to empty

Connie throws the wet sponge to her team member to squeeze into the bucket

Connie and Grace at the water bucket

Alesana's team trying to keep control of the balloon

Ryan in one of the scooter relays
Room 4 students - leave a comment telling us about your favourite part of the day.  Which station did you like the best and why?


Sunflower paintings

Room 4 students were super-excited to learn that we had been asked to produce some art work to help decorate the South Otago Theatrical rooms for the up-and-coming play that Mrs O is involved in. We got straight to work yesterday and created some visual masterpieces. Firstly, Mrs O showed us a sunflower painting that her grandmother had done and we talked about how the artist had made the painting look really effective - the use of space, shape of the sunflowers, colour-mixing... The first step was to draw out our design with chalk and then we painted our background first, using a variety of tools - sponges, brushes and fingers. After lunch, when our backgrounds were completely dry, we set to work to complete the sunflowers. We focused really hard on trying to mix colours as we painted.
The motivation - Grandma Jean's sunflower painting
The boys' table
The girls' table
It's exciting to know that over 700 people will see our art work over the next two weeks!!

Pencil sketching

We have been working on developing our pencil sketching skills in Room 4 since the beginning of Term 4. We try really hard to use 'ping-pong' eyes looking up at the object that we are sketching, then down at our page, up, down, up, down... We are getting lots better at sketching what we actually SEE rather than what we think is there. Some of us have been experimenting with shading too. Check out our great sketches!

Friday, November 8, 2013

The other students in Room 4 all knew who our 'Student of the Week' was this week.  Lanie has been working extremely hard on her writing, with very pleasing results.  Ka pai Lanie.