Colour Poems

Green

Wavy grass swaying

Alignment of alligators

Uniform in the light

Dream being drowned

lean beef losing his juice

mean bully punching me

juicy green apple

runny mint sauce

fizzy lime drink

gliding in the wind

growing from the ground

seaweed swaying in the sea

soothing the patient

climbing the tree

Sign of Spring

Red

blood running down the leg

fire-engines flying through the streets

juice of a strawberry running down my cheek

sirens wailing in my ear

Robin squarking at nothingness

fire crackling in the house

chewy fruit bursts

spicy hot chilli

medicine in the jar

heat from the fire

smooth tomato sauce

the cover of my book

burns your face

makes you fall in love

sight of the end

French Website

I know that some of the SRL students are learning French as an extra activity.
Here is a really good website that you could use at home to practise your french. It has activities and games to help you learn your vocab.
http://www.digitaldialects.com/French.ht

This BBC website is also helpful. You can choose from a selection of languages and each site has tutorials, videos, games, lessons, worksheets etc. to guide you through learning the language:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

Home Learning This Week

Well done to the people who did an excellent job on their last home learning tasks. Some people in the class need to start taking responsibility for their learning outside of class. Home leaning is not an option, it is a compulsory part of Team Pohutukawa's programme.

There is no home learning this week, apart from your spelling sentences, reading and maths basic facts work.

Instead you might like to try a science experiment (see howtoon.com), produce a piece of creative writing or explore a question you have always wanted to know the answer to. Maybe you would like to help someone at home make dinner, or do a kind deed for a friend or neighbour.

The next home learning sheet will go out on Monday (5 September).

Sailing - Misty's Early Canterbury Poem

Misty wrote a great poem about the journey out to New Zealand. I like the way she thought of some excellent adjectives to describe the setting.

Sailing

My cabin is dusty.
My cabin is crowded.
I see dolphins and fish,
swimming around.
Up the ladders the sailors go.
Hanging the sails, off we go!

The wind howls all night.
Thunder and lightening gives me a fright!
I feel blue.
What can I do?

"LAND HO!"

Early Canterbury Haiku Poem - Mathew

Mathew wrote this poem as part of his home learning. I really liked the way he thought about what the boat experience would have been like and reflected on it in his poem.

Horrible at sea.
I hated people dying.
It was terrible.

At least we had food.
Where we slept was really bad.
Not enough doctors.

When we got to land.
I thought it would be better.
But it was swampy.

Science Fun

I have just come across a great website called: Howtoons (http://www.howtoons.com/)
Here are some great science experiments I have found that you could try as part of your home learning:

Cosmic Cooker





Light Puppets


Robo Fingers


Fizzy Drink Bottle Submarine

Weekend Weather:-)

Hi Room 22,

I hope that you are having a good weekend. Today felt like summertime so I made sure that I spent lots of time outside soaking up as much Vitamin D as I could. (Did you know that your body needs UVB rays from sunlight in order to make Vitamin D?)

I have marked your home learning. Well done to: Thomas, Kiranjeet, Natasha, Danielle, Angelica and Isabella who are all in the star draws for Monday. I know that some of you are planning on bringing your homework in on Monday which is fine. Just remember that you need to include 1) spelling sentences, 2) reading log, 3) maths work, 4) at least ONE 'Can Do' activity.

For your next two weeks of homework, some of you might like to do some science experiments. If you do this you will need to write it up including 1) instructions of what you did 2) a hypothesis or prediction about what you think will happen 3) your results (what did happen?) and 4) an explanation (why you think this happened).

Here is a website you might like to use to find an experiment:
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments.html



Have a great weekend. GO THE ALL BLACKS tonight!! See you on Monday (and remember to bring your recorders)!

Ms Watson

Ways of looking poems - Isabella

The snow that covers
my garden
looks like
a cold smooth blanket
cooling it for springtime.

My messy bed
in the morning
looks like
a rubbish bin
that needs sorting out.

The stars in
the night sky
look like
dots of yellow sparks
glowing on me.

My mum's cooking
on my plate
looks like
mountains and trees
waiting for me to crunch up.

Ways of Seeing Poems - Mitchell

The snow that
covers our garden
looks like
the garden has fallen asleep
with a blanket.

The tree branches
bare of leaves
look like
a perfect back scratcher
for a monster.

My messy bed
in the morning
looks like
a deep dark cave
with moss on the wall.

The stars
in the night sky
look like
bats eyes in a cave
looking at you.

Ways of Seeing Poems - Mathew

The snow that
covers our garden
looks like
the garden has fallen asleep
in a blanket.

My mum's cooking
on my plate
looks like
a monster has vomited
on my plate.

My messy bed
in the morning
looks like
a deep dark cave
that has monsters.

The eggs on my plate
that mum cooked
look like
my dad's mad,
crazy eyes.

Ways of Looking Poems - Thomas

The snow that

covers my garden

looks like

a warm bed

waiting for me.

My messy bed

in the morning

looks like

the very

wavy sea.

The stars in the

sky at night

looks like

the billions of the threads

in the carpet.

My mum's cooking

on my plate

looks like

some scribbly

art.

The pile of my clothes and other observations

The pile of

my clothes

looks like

Monsters in

the dark

The eggs on

my plate

look like

eyes in

the cave

The fireworks

in the sky

look like

the Northern lights

in Antarctica

The branches

bare of leaves

look like

A fireplace

waiting to be lit

By Tom

Shadow Promotes the PTA Calendars

This afternoon Shadow came to visit Rm 22. He decided that he liked the idea of PTA calendars so much that he chose to snuggle up on them:-) Here are some photos. Remember to see if your family or friends would like to purchase a calendar. Our underwater artwork is up in the class.

If I were a slug...

If I were a slug

I would jump in a mug

and sit down and sleep all day.

Then I'll go to the shop

and an apple I'll pay.

I'll climb on a wall

and jump off and fall

and land in a small white mug.

By Niko

A few reminders...

Hi Rm 22.
Well done for another great day.

Here are a few reminders for this week:
Thursday
WINTER TOURNAMENT - the buses leave at 8:50am so you need to be at school by 8:40 and ready with all your gear. Invite your families to come and support you at Hagley Park!
CROSS STITCH - we are going to start our cross stitch on Thursday from 2:00-3:00. If you have any family members who would be happy to come down and help, that would be great. Just let me know:-)

Friday
HOME LEARNING - this is due on Friday and includes your spelling sentences, maths, reading and at least two 'Can Do' activities. To be in the Star Draw this week, you must complete these tasks.

Other
3-WAY CONFERENCES - your goal sheets need to be returned to me by WEDNESDAY (tomorrow). Also, make sure that your families have booked a 3-way conference with me. If they need to book another time they can call or e-mail me.
VISITING PRODUCTION - remember to hand in your $2 and permission slip for the production that is visiting to perform on Monday 5th September.
RECORDERS - make sure you have these with you each day, especially on Monday for Ms Savage.
RECIPES - if you have any recipes you would like to share with the class, bring them in and you or I can add them to the blog:-)

See you in the morning. I have just made myself some choco-hoto-pots for dessert before I get underway with a big pile of school work!

Ms Watson

Alliteration Poems

We have been writing alliteration poems in class. Each line needed to have: 2 adjectives, 1 noun and one verb which started with the same letter of the alphabet.

Here is Aleisha's poem - 'At the Zoo'

An annoying, acrobatic antelope acting.

A big, bouncy baboon bouncing.

A cute, camouflaged camel counting.

A dumb, delighted deer dancing.

An energetic, excited eagle eating.

A flying, funny flamingo flapping.

A great, gymnastic goat growling.

A happy,hilarious hippopotamus howling.

A irritating,intersting iguana icing igloos.

A jealous,joyful jagur juggling.

A kind,keen kangaroo knitting.

A little,lonley lion liying.

A marvellous,miserable monkey memorizing.

A nasty,nameless newt naging.

A occupied,oval octopus opening oranges.

A puney,perfect platypus playing.

A quzzical,quite quzar quacking.

A ripe, resting rabbit racing.

A strong, slimy snake sliding.

A tall, tough tigger telling tales.

An upset, useless unicorn umpiring.

A violent, violet vulture vaulting.

A white, wonkey whale walking.

An excellent, experienced xylophone x-raying.

A yakking, yellow yacht welling.

A zippy, zig-zagged zebra zapping.

Scintillating Sentences

In room 22 we've been learning to make sentences more interesting. First we got a sentence like 'Mum drove the car' and asked ourselves 'how could we get this more interesting?' and kept changing the sentence until we got to 'Mum raced the 4 wheel drive way faster than the speed limit which was 50 because she was 30 minutes late for work.'

Here is another example:

I went to bed.

I jumped into bed.

I leaped into bed.

I leaped into my nice, cozy warm bed.

I leaped into my nice warm cozy feather bed because I was tired.

I leaped into my nice warm cozy feather bed because I was too tired to do anything else.

New species of eel linked to first eels 200m years ago!

A new species of eel found in the gloom of an undersea cave which is a 'living fossil' astonishingly similar to the first eels that swam 200m years ago, biologists reported. The strange find was made last year in a 35-metre- (113-feet) deep fringing-reef cave off an island in the Western Pacific state of Palau.

Check out other interesting photos and discoveries at this link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/aug/19/week-in-wildlif-in-pictures#/?picture=378069840&index=0

Millie's Information Report

Here is Millie's information report on Cleopatra. She has used very clear sub-headings to divide up the main parts of her life.

Thinking tools and the universe

Hi Room 22,
I hope that you had a good afternoon with Ms Savage. I am looking forward to hearing (literally) how the recorder is going.
I learnt some excellent new thinking tools at my course this afternoon so we will be trying these out in class in the next few days (a bit like we tried out PPMI last week).
Also, have a read of this article. It was interesting to learn about the way galaxies are running out of gas and how this impacts on stars.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/5486519/Stars-fade-as-universe-runs-out-of-gas

Maddie's Information Report

Here is Maddie's information report on Ancient Egypt. She has an impressive amount of information included in the report and it is well organised into sub-sections. I also really liked the way she wrote it in a style which really drew the reader in.

Tom's Information Report

Here is Tom's report on Ancient Greece. I like the way he used sub-headings to organise the different sections of his report.

Jacqueline Wilson

Here are some Jacqueline Wilson interviews you can listen to. In the first one she talks about how she started writing. In the second one she explains how she became a teenage fiction writer. In the third one she explains how Tracey Beaker's name came about.

http://www.cam.ac.uk/festivalofideas/video-and-audio/jacqueline-wilson/

You might like to listen to these interviews and take some notes about the interesting things you leant from it. You could share these with the class, or, write about them as part of your home learning.

How did we get our alphabets?

Watch this excellent slide presentation about how writing and alphabets originated:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14544388

Reuben's Information Report

Here is Reuben's information report on tadpoles and frogs. Reuben has made an excellent job of writing a summary which re-caps the main points from his report.

Elena's Information Report

RATTLE SNAKES

Snakes are part of the reptile family. Rattlesnakes are also part of the viper group. There are many colours and patterns.


MOVING
Snakes move with their muscles and the large scales underneath them. These scales help them to grip on to rocks and move easily along the rough ground.

BABIES
Rattlesnakes keep their eggs inside their bodies and give birth to live babies in the summer. They have 2 to 25 babies in the late summer. Baby snakes sometimes look a little different. As they grow up the colour of their scales changes to be the same as their mother.

HABITAT
Rattlesnakes live in North and South America and are usually found in the wilderness.

WHAT RATTLESNAKES EAT
Rattlesnakes open their mouths as wide as possible when they eat. They eat woodrats lizards rabbits frogs and eggs from other animals.

CONCLUSION
Rattlesnakes are very interesting reptiles. They like to live in the wild and do not eat humans. But don't get to close to them as if they are disturbed they will bite and this will hurt and may even kill you.

By Elena Wilson

Weekend Tasks

Hi Room 22,
I hope that you are enjoying the beautiful sunshine - it's hard to believe that a few days ago we had sleet and snow falling!
I am looking forward to reading your information reports. Remember, these need to be handed in by 9am on Monday morning - if not, you will be spending lunchtime getting these completed. You can either hand publish them, print them out or e-mail them to me (bethwatson25@gmail.com). If you e-mail them, I will be able to post them on the blog for you.
I know I told a couple of people about a delicious dessert that I have been making lately. They are called choco-hoto-pots and are a Nigella Lawson recipe.
Here's the recipe as promised (and warning, they are VERY rich!!)

115 grams of butter
1 cup of chocolate chips (preferably dark chocolate chips)
2 eggs
3/4 cup castor sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 200 degrees C.

Butter the ramekins (i just used coffee mugs that could be put in the oven).

Either in a microwave or in a bowl suspended over a pot over simmering water, melt the dark chocolate and butter, then set aside to cool a little.

In another bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar and flour with a hand whisk and beat in the cooled butter and chocolate mixture. Divide the mixture between the 4 buttered ramekins. Bake for about 20 minutes, by which time the tops will be cooked and cracked and the chocolate gooey underneath.

Place each ramekin on a small plate with a teaspoon and serve. Make sure to warn people that these desserts will be HOT! I often put a small scoop of vanilla ice-cream into the cup when I serve them:-)


Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I hope that sports games have gone well for everyone.

See you Monday,

Ms Watson

Angelica's Information Report

Here is Angelica's information report on Cheetahs. Enjoy reading it:-)

Kobe's Book Review on Dragons (that was meant to be an information report!)

Kobe was working on an information report on dragons BUT... he accidentally wrote a book review instead! Here it is:

Marduck and Tiamat and how the earth was formed

Introduce

This is the 1st book of dragons, gods and warriors in this series .You will some gross creatures and I hope you enjoy this story made nearly 4,ooo years ago starting from the nothing.

The gods and the dragons

First there was nothing not even Earth. Only Apsu and Tiamat. Tiamat was a dragon. She had the power of salt- water and chaos. Marduck was the most powerful god of all times. Between Marduck and Apsu together contained seeds.
Ea was a female god, she had the power to foresee the future.

The death of Apsu

Apsu decided to destroy Ea. Obviously Ea knew as she could foresee future. So Ea saved herself by tying him up and killing him. Tiamat was furious when he heard the news, so she decided to kill Ea. Ea held a meeting of other gods. They asked Marduck, he said; “Yes, but on one condition. If I win I will be lord over all universe”. So they both set up a battle.

WARNING
I recommend at this part that if you don’t like injury don’t read on unless you want this book

The battle

Marduck armed himself with a net and a club, a bow that fired thunderbolt arrows. He rode a chariot , pulled by four angry horses with winds to accompany them.

Ea made a bunch of horrible monsters including Demon lions, Savage dogs, Scorpion men and eleven dragons.

The battle began:

My favourite part is this part when…

Marduck sent one of his winds inside her, captured the monsters with his net and fired a bow through her mouth which blew her jaws apart and Ea split in half.
With one half he made heaven with the other half he made Earth.

The Earth is almost there

The Earth is not fully formed yet. Read more books to find out how the Earth was fully formed.

The next 2 books

Indra and Vritra and how the water came to Earth
Heracls and Hydra.

Price: $2.50
I recommend this book to people that love war.
Age: 8 or over

By Kobe Mallon-Marsh (age 9)

Information Reports

Today we worked really hard at getting our final information reports written for our end of unit assessment. Some of us learnt valuable lessons about time management! We hope that you enjoy reading our reports - we were allowed to choose our own topics to research and write about





.

Kiranjeet's Final Information Report

Kiranjeet has written a report on Sea Turtles for her final information report. Have a read and learn some new facts about this beautiful animal!

The Plague - New research

This article about new research on the plague suggests that it was humans and not rats who were the carriers of the disease. Have a read and we'll have a chat in class about it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/17/black-death-rats-off-hook

Fun in the Snow!

Angelica sent some pictures of her having fun in the snow.
"We had a great time at the snow. As you can see the golf course was behind us.
I am just happy that i got to play at the snow. me and my sister made a really big igloo with a roof but forgot to take the photo. By the way i did my SRL planning and that i did my draft in my SRL book."

DRESSING WARM AND DRY FOR TOMORROW

At this stage school should be re-open tomorrow. If things change, I will post on the blog about 7am tomorrow morning.
Make sure that you pack and dress to keep warm and dry.

Keeping warm/dry might include the following:
- gumboots (it's going to be wet and slushy, especially as the storm-water drains at school don't work post-quake)
- slippers and/or warm socks for wearing in the classroom (I will be bringing my slippers)
- warm clothes - wear thermals under your uniform to keep you warm (I will be!)
- hat/scarf/gloves/raincoat for the trip to school and for morning tea/lunch if it is fine
- if you have a thermos that you are able to use - bring some hot milo, soup, noodles or something that you can have at lunchtime to warm you up from the inside:-)
- a good book or game to keep you entertained if we have a wet lunchtime

AND...DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR BRAIN AND A SMILE! I'm looking forward to getting back into learning and to hearing all about your snow experiences.

See you in the morning,

Ms Watson

Natasha's End of Unit Report

Here is Natasha's final report for our Information Report Topic. I really like the way she has used sub-headings to organise her information. She has also very effectively summarised the most important pieces of information about Godwits. If you are still at the note-taking/drafting stage, I would make sure that you do some research this afternoon/evening and bring those notes to school with you tomorrow. This will be very helpful for the writing stage (as there is nothing worse than not having enough information - it's like trying to make a yummy sandwich with only bread and a tiny bit of margarine).
Read Natasha's report and think about some feedback you could give her - something she did well and something she could improve on or do differently next time.

Fun in the Snow!

Natasha has also been having fun in the snow. I like the action figure in the snow (I thought it was your dad in a Jeep at first!). She has also been busy with her SRL activities. She has written her weekly goals and has been doing some of the weekly list of activities. Natasha has also finished her end of unit Information Report on the Godwit bird. This is very impressive and means she will get to do 'free writing' for the next few days while the rest of the class finish their reports. Like many of you, Natasha told me that she can't wait to get back to school, which as a teacher is always nice to hear:-)

Cross Stitch

Today I went to Spotlight and got some cross stitch material, needles and thread so that we can learn how to do cross stitch. It will fit in with our Early Canterbury topic and Fabric and Fibre for Art.
If you have any spare embroidery thread or material that your family would be happy to donate to the class, that would be excellent. I will make sure that I have enough for everyone, but we could always do with more, especially the thread!

Perfect Weather for Baking!

I have been out in my car for the first time since the snow storm. There is certainly a lot of snow still around but luckily most of the roads are cleared (it's trickier to find a place to park on the sides of roads!).
I've been doing quite a bit of baking over the past few days and thought that I would post a couple of recipes that you might like to try with your family. It's a perfect afternoon for doing some baking (and the bonus is that having the oven on helps to warm up the house!).

Here's a recipe for ANZAC Biscuits. The recipe includes a summary of the history of the biscuit:
http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/an/Anzac_biscuits

And here is a recipe for Chocolate Self-saucing Pudding. A perfect dessert for a cold night like tonight!
http://www.nzfavouriterecipe.co.nz/recipes/desserts/65-chocolate-self-saucing-pudding

Let me know how the baking goes and send me through any photos of you baking and/or any recipes that you have been using to do some baking during the snow break.

Ms Watson

Fun in the Snow!

Kiranjeet has been having fun in the show while school has been closed. She told me that "The snow was fun and cold!" She made a "funny snowman". I am also impressed that she wrote her SRL goals for the week, and she did her draft of her second information report! Kiranjeet is hoping that school will open tomorrow.
Here are some photos of Kiranjeet making a snowman:-)