Nood Food Competition

This term we are doing a nood food competition. We have to come to school and show our lunch boxes to Mrs Royle to see if we have nood food and if we do we put a tick next to our name. This will be going on for 2 weeks. The class with the most nood food over two weeks gets a prize.

Camp Poem

From my cabin window

I can see...

the bungy jump swaying in the breeze,

the kitchen across the pathway,

the forest in the distance and the gaga  dodge ball pit.

From the kitchen...

I can hear...

the digger  squealing , 

big bangs,

and lots of hand games in the background.

Woodend Camp

From my bunk room
I can see...
Mess wildly scattered everywhere,
People trying out the climbing wall,
And groups of giggling girls.

Riding down the Flying Fox I can feel...
Wind streaking through my hair,
My heart thumping like a drum,
And tiredness wash all over me.

Woodend Camp.

Camp Woodend.

From my bunk room

I can see...

Sleeping bags ready for sleeping in, girls chattering quietly and suitcases dumped everywhere.

From the gaga dodgeball pit

I can hear...

People laughing, birds tweeting and people clapping.

From the hall 

I can smell...

Lunch getting served,
Teachers having their tea or coffee
and insect repellant.

From the flying fox

I can feel...

Wind blowing in my face,
Bark crunching under my feet as I walk
and the sun shining on my skin.

Our Camp :)

Sprints

                                                                             Sprints

                                                                          Fun,awesome

                                                                    Running,tiring,sprinting

                                                                  Very quick sprinting races

                                                                   Speeding,racing,leaning

                                                                       Exciting,energetic

                                                                              Races

Camp Woodend

From my bunk room door

I can see...

kids on the trampoline

jumping and having fun together

kids playing basketball and teachers coming to check if our room is tidy.

From the basketball court

I can hear...

people arguing over the trampoline

kids yelling in the gaga dodgeball pit

teachers laughing at jokes 

and the bell ringing.

Camp Woodend

Camp Woodend

From going down the flying fox
I see kids playing tag,
blossoms growing,
and wind swishing.

From the gaga dodgeball pit
I hear kids yelling,
go cart racing,
camp bell ringing,
basketball bouncing,
air rifle banging.

camp woodend

Camp Woodend

In the main hall I can hear...

The power of team work and friendship buzzing around the camp,

The yawns of the kids getting tireder, 

Bedtime and the people in my cabin couldn't sleep, because chatter and laughter drowned us,

At the top of the climbing wall I can see...

People giving 110% of effort,

Kids whacking the dodgeball in the GaGa dodgeball pit,

Sitting down I can smell and taste...

The chocolate brownies flavour EXPLODING in my mouth,

And the smell of the burgers travelling through the air,

At Woodend Camp

Camp Woodend

From the main hall

I can see...

People on the trampoline doing lots of  tricks,
Basketballs traveling into hoops and people chasing after soccer balls


From the cabin

I can hear...

Quiet chatter and flushes of toilets
Laughter and screams of excitement

From the swings

I can feel...

Gusts of wind blowing in my face,
The grip of the chain holding the swing in place.

Camp Poem

Camp Woodend

From the top of the climbing wall

I can see...

Go karts racing like tiny ants
 People bouncing on trampolines
Parents supervising gaga dodgeball
Rifles aimed at the heads of metal ducks

From the cabin door

I can hear

People cheering in the dodgeball pit
Chatter and laughing in the cabins
The drizzle of the showers
The drizzle of the rain

Camp Woodend

My Camp Poem

Camp Woodend

From the rim of the gaga dodgeball pit 

I can see...

People hitting around the balls in the gaga dodgeball pit,

The climbing wall towering above me,

People hitting the ball with the putters and

Basketballs flying into the hoop. 

From my sleeping bag

I can hear...

Quiet chatter before the lights go out,

Tired yawns after an exhausting day,

Angus falling out of his bunk with a thump and

Ollie moaning after that.

My Camp

Camp poems

Camp Woodend

From my pillow, to the wall all I see...

Is nothing at all.

Lights are out,

and eyes are closed.

From my bowl I can taste...

Bread and honey tongue.

The crust rubbing in my mouth,

and the flow of water through my throat.

Camp Woodend

Camp poem

Woodend Camp

From the climbing wall

 I can see ...

My rope team pulling with all their might,

Leaves blowing  by in the wind,

Kids moving up and down struggling to climb.

From the climbing wall

 I can feel...

The icy, cold wind seeping through my teeth as I inhale,

My bones aching, shivering, shaking, trying to create warmth,

My stomach rumbling for food and my ears frozen in dreadful pain.

Our Camp

Calendars

We've been making some really awesome calendars so take a look at these!

Four Person Chess Set

Mrs Royle bought the class and the Chess Club a four person chess set. Lots of people are using it. You can play with four individual people or with partners or even just with one partner. It's a really strategic game because if you're playing with partners, then the partners help each other and talk about their moves. It's challenging because there are  a lot of pieces and you have to notice all the moves that are made.

Learning Heroes

In our class we have small charts that say what we got an "always" on all our reports. These are marked with small coloured star stickers. Each one tells what we are LEARNING HEROES in. We dotted the thing we need to work on the most so we can get better at it and be a learning hero. Our heads are stuck to the charts so we can tell it is ours.

Chess fundraiser

Please remember to check with your parents if they would like to buy some family pies, to support the Waitakiri chess team to go to Auckland for the nationals. Thank you! 

School uniform

In 2016 we are getting a new school uniform - it's blue and the logo has ferns on it. The presentation was on Friday the 29 of August. The school uniform is so cool. We can get the uniform now if we choose to.

Our new learning spaces.

Room 31 &35 are proud of the new learning spaces and loving working together and making real choices. We are loving the spaces and we also love how it looks . Waitakiri is awesome and cool 
and I think that it's going to be fun all year.

Chess games in room 35

Chess games are very popular in room 35. Sometimes there are 4 different chess games going on in the morning.

Camp

On the last week of term 3, Team Wonderopolis are going on camp. We stop at Blue skies and have some lunch. Then we are going to travel to Woodend camp and stay there for two nights and three days. We are going to do heaps of fun activities like... Riding on go carts and going on long flying foxes. We are all so so excited to go on camp.

All About Adverbs

In room 35  is learning all about adverbs and inferring. We would like to tell you a little bit about our 

 our learning. :

ADVERBS:

Quickly

Softly

Friendly

Hardly

Hopefully

Swiftly

Kindly

Wonderfully

Camp yay!

At the end of the term, Team Wonderopolis is going on camp for two nights and three days. We're  also going to be doing heaps of activities at blue skies as well.

Weird eye

"Oh that's creepy". An eye was sitting in a tree looking at all the travellers going by. It's just a normal tree but it has an eye in it. Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle gurgle, "wow". Now the eye was singing, I mean seriously who would make that kind of prank? It's just not realistic enough.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Last week Mrs Royle sent home a notice with cyber safety and BYOD. It allows you to bring your own iPad to school and learn on it. We had to get compulsory apps and there was optional, these are the compulsory apps, Explain everything, iMovie, Book Creator, Pic Collage, Puppet pals HD, Notability, Story robe, Strip Design, Wifi Photo, Show Me, QR Reader, apps gone free, Dropbox, Google Drive. These are the optional apps I have Photo comic, Comic Book, Boggle, Spelling City, Hungry Fish, Classroom Dice, King of Math, Pearl Diver HD, Find and Sum, Academy, Word Collage, EverNote, Popplet and iBooks.

BYOD

You can now bring your iPad and iPad Mini to school to learn with.

Learning spaces

In room 35 we have named our learning spaces. Mrs Royle's office is called west, the cloak porch is called south, our room is north, Mrs Banks's room is east. For west you have to ask because you have to be trusted to be in there. If you muck around then you're out of there.

Go home early !!!!

Today we go home early for learning conferences to take place. We leave at twelve thirty.(12:30)wish our learning heroes luck.

chess

Mrs Royle is the Waitākiri schools chess teacher. In the top 8  chess competition our A team came 1st and moved on to the National championships. Our b team came 5th and they tried their best.

Our Inference Learning

In Room 35 and 31's reading programme, we have been learning about how to infer so its like an aid to help the people in the reading groups understand more about what they are reading.  Here is an  example on what we say when we are inferring   "I need to read between the lines". In our learning conferences coming up we will be talking to our parents about how to infer which for some is very exciting.

Living fossils

Tuataras lie so still so predators  find it hard to see  them. Here are some facts about them:

Tuataras have no eardrums or even ears!

Tuataras only have one row of teeth.

Tuataras means spiky back inMāori.

A couple of days ago there was a big pile of bark on the grass. We used the bark for the garden.

They must have thought the old bark was getting too old. So they decided that they would get some new bark. Kids wanted to help so some got buckets and some got shovels. The kids

dumped all the bark in the wheelbarrows. The wheelbarrows would deliver the bark to the garden.

At the end of moving the bark we all got an ice block and a chocolate and a certificate saying thank

you for helping.   From Josh & Brock

On the Job Writing

After having a relaxing drink of lemonade, I continue my journey through a magical forest. When suddenly I see this freaky eye staring at me. I feel scared and want to run away. But I couldn't. My eyes wouldn't move off the thing. Somehow the eye was saying something but I didn't know what. I just stood there staring at it thinking what it was and if I should report it to the police.

On the Job Writing

I'm walking down a deep dark forest and I look at all these trees. Something doesn't feel right I say to myself. As I go closer to see what it is I am speechless as they are eyes. Eyes on every tree I see. It's so weird to see this. Am I having a dream? I āsk myself. I think it's real. The eye is green and the pupil is black. It looks like arms are holding it but they are just branches.

Chess Games in 35

Chess games in 35 are very common now in the morning.  The game you see now is Jhan and Daniels.

Pluto the dog is marking Jhan's turn and it will move to Daniel's side to mark his turn when Jhan has made his move.

The volcano

The night sky lit up as burning hot lava started pouring down the side of a volcano. People started running to escape from the smoke that had gone everywhere. The trees started burning down on the hot land. Concrete started melting down. "I need to go to the bathroom", I heard someone yell.

The Big Red Truck

On Tuesday morning I got to go to school in a truck because  I had won a competition. The truck had picked me up at home and driven me to school. When I arrived at school my class were waiting outside on the bridge for me. They all cheered and were really excited to see me up in the big truck. Dave the driver gave me a beanie and a hat. I felt special. Ro, Mrs Royle , Miss Reynolds and Mr O'Reilly took photos of me.

Classroom 31 and 35

 The classes have been learning together and we have got a big hole in the wall. Also we do not have to walk down to each other and waste our learning  time and we are learning well.  

Home Learning

In room 35 we do home learning to improve in our reading and maths.  We write down the questions that we get wrong in our Monday test and practise them through the week, then we will get at least 10 more than we got in our Monday test on Friday. We also improve in reading by reading at least 15 minutes a night. We get ticks on our list if we do our home learning, we get dots if we don't. We don't get the home learning treat at the end of the term if we have 6 or more dots. 

Principal morning tea

Today 6 learning heroes are going to have morning tea with Mr O'Reilly and those learning heroes are ....

Eleisha, Isabella,Angus,Rose,Emily and Josh! Hope you have a great morning tea!

Principal morning tea

Six students are very excited today ( 7 of August ) because they are going to have morning tea with our principal! Here are some pictures. They are learning heroes!

Alliteration

Room 35 are writing alliterations with our buddy class. We are so excited! So remember to bring your letter things from home!

Alliteration

Room 35  and our buddies ( room 11)  are working together to make a PowerPoint presentation. Me and my buddy are doing the letter O. The wonderful teachers are being kind and are doing the hard ones. At the end of the term we are going to be leading the learning celebration and showing all the learning we have done.

The Special Person

Tomorrow a special person is going to be coming in to Waitākiri!

She is known very well in New Zealand.

The kapa haka will be performing for her and she will probably have reporters with her!

It is very exciting for us!

Can you guess who she is???

The ice house

As I walk on the freezing ice, a house appears . It has icicles hanging from the snowy roof. Then I turn around and I spot a little dog kennel with a dog standing on the roof. Then I decide to go in the house. I wonder who lives here, because it will be too cold for anyone to survive. As I walk into the house I spot an old sewing machine. I start to walk towards it. Then I pricked my finger, that is how the story began.

On the Job

I scream as the monstrous waves hammer me down onto the surface. All I can taste is salty water running slowly down my throat. Oh no! I crash into the water and the furious waves push me under water. Loudly I scream for help but of course no one hears me because I'm out in the middle of no where. Slowly I sink down to the bottom of the sea.Will I survive?

New library

Our new library is little  but cool -  a great pace to learn and place to read. Mrs Stevenson is our teacher of the library.  She always knows where books are  and if a book is out .

Camping

In September just Team Wonderopolis will be going camping. We will be going to Blue Skies and also Woodend, for 2 nights and 3 days. I'm sure we're going to have so much fun!

Team Wonderopolis

   At the end of the term, Team Wonderopolis is going on camp. We are going for two nights  and  three days. We are going to Blue Skies at Kaiapoi and Woodend and it will be so much fun at camp.           

Up coming School Camp

We are looking forward to school camp at the end of this term, because the activities will be..... archery, go karting and lots of others. We will either sleep in cabins or dormitories.  Our team(wonderopolis) will be going to Blue Skies first for all sorts of fun activities. We will all help with preparation with the meals.

Esio Trot

Character Description - Mr Hoppy

Mr Hoppy is a lonely person because he was retired and lived on his own. The two loves of Mr Hoppy's life are his plants, flowers and his secret Mrs Silver. Mr Hoppy does not let Mrs Silver in to have a cup of tea because he is too shy.

Introducing Mrs Silver

Mrs Silver has a small tortoise, Alfie who she loves very much. She wants Alfie to get bigger and

bigger.

Our new library.

A few days ago are new library finally opened.

It took 10 days to transfer all the books from the old library to the old room 38.

We love our new library. 

Breaking news

Breaking news! Can you guess how many hits we've got on our blog?

If you guessed the number above then you're right.

We would like to try and get to five hundred hits by the end of the year, so please

help us with our goal and go on as much as you can throughout the year.

Red and black day

Remember to wear  your red and black clothes tomorrow (Friday the first of August )

Add an adverb

Lately we have been learning about adverbs. Adverbs make our writing more interesting. Adverbs are words that often end in 'ly' like suddenly, cautiously and quickly. They don't always end in 'ly' though. Fast is an adverb too.

Raspberry cake - On the Job Writing

One day there was a dog named Raspberry.On the 29 of June there was a birthday at Raspberry's house. All Rasperry ate was Rasperry flavoured things.There was a cake and it happened to be a raspberry cake. She was lying down in the lounge and she smelt the cake.She came running up on the table and she ate the delicious cake.And she said what makes you think I ate the cake?

On the Job

O.M.G  what has happened here? There was rasberry cake all over he place and I knew exactly who did it. SNOOPY! He had rasberry icing all over his face and paws. He must've jumped onto the table and gotten into it. SNOOPY THAT WAS EXPENSIVE! I screamed. Snoopy knew he had done something wrong because he had a guilty look on his face. I dragged the little ratbag outside and he wasn't aloud back inside for 3 weeks straight!

Rm 35 is so happy that we are learning together with rm 31. We love all the spaces to learn in.

The Commonwealth Games

 This is the semi final - I have to win this. Now it's my turn to go up. I can hear people cheering for Valerie  Adams the best player in the games. As she pushed the shotput hard she turned around and around. The shotput removed itself out of her hand really heavy and fast. Wishing the shotput to go higher and higher. "Valerie Adams rocks" , I said as I finished my race.

Narratives

Narratives are to do with rising action and falling action and are fiction. A fairy tale for a example like  the three little pigs.The rising action is the wolf climbing through the chimney and theclimax is when he falls in to the pot.

Sophie's Bright Sun

The sun is the one of the smallest stars in space.  It keeps our crops growing.  If you stare at it for too long you can get blind - so don't stare at it at all.

Rm 31 and Rm 32 Co-teaching Together!

Everyday, Room thirty one and Room thirty five learn together in writing and reading. In reading, we have big groups, but kikorangi is the biggest group, we have fourteen children in that group. Since we learn together, our groups are mixed from each class. Example: Livia and Eleisha are in the same group, but from different classes.

Thank you for reading this post, we hoped you liked it!

Lily Talking About the Traffic Lights

The traffic lights are for managing the level of talking and noise we have in the classroom.  The green one is talk all we want to . We might be problem solving or collaborating.  The orange one is talking in a quiet voice when we are learning.  The red one is no talking at all . That might be when we are doing basic facts or On the Job writing.

Traffic Lights

Room35 and 31  use the traffic lights for their learning. Green is for talking, Orange is for whispering, Red is for silence. We use green light for art and a activity where we need to talk like problem solving or maybe some inquiry. We use orange for reading,writing,maths and basically everything we do. We use red for basic facts and tests.

Aaawwubbis

If you have ever wondered what aaawwubbis  are? It is a starter word to make your sentence more complex.

Reading with Room 31

Every Monday to Thursday room 35 joins room 31 for reading!

Mrs Royle our teacher and Mrs Banks Room 31's teacher have put us into Maori colour groups.

We have a chart that tells us what tour Must Do list is and then  what our Can Do list is! We have a timer and we put it on for fifteen minutes and then we keep on rotating around the three activities. 

The new learning space

Rooms 35 and 31 have combined to do learning together in reading,word study, writing and including on the job writing! It's really fun. To make it easier there is also a big hole in the wall between the two classes so we can just walk right through the wall, well hole!

Hole in the wall

We're so exited to have a hole in the wall.

Also learning with Rm31. Good thing is that we have the same time table so we can learn with them. This term is going to be a good one!!!

Our Mind Gym

Room 35 and Room31 have been learning together as a class. We are allowed to switch between learning spaces by walking through a hole in our wall, and kids have been able to catch up with each other. So they can move to another space if needed. We collaborate together in Reading, On the job Writing and Draft Writing as well as Word Study. Both of our teachers take groups of children for these subjects.  It has made our learning spaces very different for learning but has also brought us together more.  Our classes have been planning to make our cloakroom another learning space. The cubby holes will be taken out and we will have the floor carpeted. We love our Mind Gym where great learning is happening.

Hole in the wall

To do learning with Mrs Banks class we decided to put a hole in the wall over the holidays, so we could collaborate together. We are so excited to be able learn with Mrs Banks class! I'm sure that all the kids that are in room 31&35 are very happy to be sharing ideas and to be learning as a team.

The hole in the wall

Room 35 were so happy to be next door to room 31 to share a good learning space so we decided to put a hole in the wall.  And when we did we were so surprised. And we get to learn with room 31 more often. We love the hole in the wall . Here are some photos of us getting on with our learning SO well this morning - what fantastic learning heroes!

Reading

Today we started reading for the first time together with R31 and 35 and it's really fun! 

Here are the groups : 

Kowhai

Poroporo

Whero

Karaka

Kakariki

Kikorangi

Red Puppy Apeal Dog comes to the Wetlands

On the 27/6/14 everyone that made cookies to raise money for the Red Puppy Apeal scooted to the wetlands to see a lead dog and its blind owner.The dogs name is Winny, she has been through a lot of training when she was younger.We were told how she got trained to behave,obey,and lead their owner were they want. Winny is nine years old and been working for her owner for about six years,after learning about her we gave her pats then scooted back. We had a great time with Winny.

Friday choices

Rm 35 has been learning to include onomatopoeia in our writing.
People's ideas:
.oink
.flash
.kapow
.splat
.bing
.ring
.zap
.boom
.yum
.puff
.pop
.crack

The Room Transfer

On Thursday Week 9 Waitākiri Primary School is moving rooms.
If your child did not get this notice here are the classrooms that are moving.

Rm's 26,33 & 32 will be moving to the Library
Library moving to 38
Rm38 Ms Hygate moving to 26 to collaborate with Mrs Hadfield
Rm31 Mrs Banks moving to 32 to collaborate with Mrs Royle
Rm35 Mrs Royle moving to 33 to collaborate with Mrs Banks
Rm37 Mr Taylor moving to 31 to collaborate with Ms du Toit
Rm42 Mrs Aberhart moving to 37 to collaborate with Ms Travis
Music room moving to 35 & OSCAR moving to 42 41.

Sustainability

Rm35 is learning about Sustainability. Sustainbility means being environmentally kind and saving the earth.

Peoples ideas:

Don't put rubbish in the water because sea animals will die.

Look after the earth   (because if you don't look after the Earth, the Earth might end)

 Put your rubbish in the red rubbish bin in your class not the green

Nood food for Waitākiri School please.

Take care of the animals in the sea

Clean water for the animals as well as us.

Looking after native animals and plants.

Looking after all nature.

Friday Choices/Wai TV

Wai TV's goal is to report what goes on around the            school and put it into movie form on iMovie. Mr. O'Reilly   gave us a whole list of things to report about like the red  puppy appeal,arbor day,school garden and stuff like that. Me and Angus are doing arbor and recording it on             iMovie. Wai TV is run by Karen or Mrs. Jeffrey- she is like  the technical assisant on the River Campus so she helps us when our computers stop working or  our apple TV  doesn't show up on our devices. We have 4-5 iPads that   we record on. Usually we have groups of two on a project  but sometimes it's one or two groups of three.    
                                                                                                  
By Ethan                                                                                  

Friday Choices/Board Games and Chess

Every Friday we do Friday Choices. There are lots of choices but we are going to report about chess and board games. First is board games. 

Mrs Hadfield runs it. First you come up with ideas then you start your draft copy.Your game can be anything, anything that can be played on a board.After about two weeks of doing your draft copy,you start your real copy. You get given a piece of coloured paper you work for about three weeks on it Then on the last week you have a chance to play them. Now on to chess.
 
Every Friday you go along to chess with Mrs Royle.We're allowed to play games of chess with each other, play on shredder chess or do puzzles or maybe a chess crossword. Last week we sat a National chess exam and several of us passed Level One. We also learn new moves and have tricky or easy chess problems to try and work out.

Friday choices

For Friday choices I do photography we have taken photos in thirds, quarters, close ups and  portraits. First we used cameras and then iPads. After that we used laptops to transfer our photos to Mrs Keeling AKA: my mum. On the second to last session we made a flap book of our pictures on the laptop.

Onomatopoeia

We have been learning about onomatopoeia which can be used to make our writing more interesting. Here are some of our art examples.

Arbor Day

We were planting trees and bushes at the Wetlands for Arbor Day with our buddies . These are the trees that we planted:   kowhai
                  native bushes
                  cabbage trees                   
                
We had to dig holes so the trees could fit in, so they won't die or rot. First of all John the park ranger told us how to plant a tree and a bush.  First we dug a hole in the ground then we put a fertiliser pill in and then we had to put the plant in. We put the dirt on top, then we put a blanket round the plant and then we put the sticks in the holes in the blankets. After that, a plastic  bag was placed on top with two holes in ether side then it was finished.

After that we got planting some more. We planted heaps of trees and bushes and it was so much fun!

It's Arbor Day!

On Thursday the fifth of June room thirty five scootered to the Wetlands Campus.
We put on our gumboots and got our buddies.  Then we walked to Clarevale Park. We all felt so excited and cold. When we got there Room thirty five and Room eleven were instructed by  the park ranger John on how to plant the native trees and shrubs.  First we had to find a tree or shrub  on the ground and dig a hole in the soil.  Next we had to put a fertiliser pellet in the hole. We covered the hole and stood back to make sure our plant was straight and wouldn't be able to pulled out by pukekos. We did the pukeko pull!

Arbor Day Tree Planting

Did you know it's Arbor Day today / 5 June? Arbor Day is observed to encourage people to celebrate nature by planting a tree. So Room 35 decided to scoot to the Wetlands Campus to pair up with our buddies and head down to the Travis Wetlands to plant some trees ourselves. We met up with John, the Park Ranger and he showed us how to plant the trees. First we had to find a plant , dig a hole which needed a lot of teamwork and strength. Then another challenge awaited us, (getting the plant out of the pot) then we put the cover over it and we were finished - it looked great. What a nice way to help the environment.      

Arbor Day Activity

Today it's Arbor Day and Arbor Day means tree day in Latin. So we scooted to the Wetlands campus and picked up our buddies.Then we wandered off to the Travis Wetlands and planted a couple of plants, and it was awesome! So first we dug a small hole big enough for the tree or plant. We included some fertiliser. We hope our plants grow. It was so much fun and we enjoyed it, especially with our younger buddies.

Arbor Day Activity

Did you know it is Arbor Day today?

Arbor means tree in Latin. Our class decided to visit the wetlands. We scootered to the Wetlands Campus to pick up our buddies. After that we put on our gumboots. Once we arrived at the Wetlands, John the park ranger explained what to do. We had to dig a hole for the plants and drop in a fertiliser pellet and then we had to bury the pellet and then take the plant out of the pot. It was quite hard to pull the plants out of the pots because of the strong roots. Next we had to put the plants in the hole and  put a blanket around the plant keep the weeds out.   Also some bamboo sticks were stuck through the material into the ground and  a bag was placed around it so pukekos won't eat the roots of the plants. It was really fun.

Arbor Day

Room 35 and Room 11 started planting trees for Arbor Day today.
John the Park Ranger told us all the steps to plant a tree.
First we got into our buddy groups.
Next room 35 got the shovels and room 11 got the bamboo sticks also room 11 got the plastic covers.
Room 11 found some great spots to dig with the shovels.
After we dug the hole we put the fertiliser in and put some mud over it.
Then we put the plant in-  there were different types of plants, one was a cabbage plant the other was kowhai.
Then we put a blanket around it, it was grey.
After, we put 3 bamboo sticks in the holes of the blanket.
Also, we put a plastic cover over it and we put another bamboo stick in the blanket hole.

A great time and we were helping the Travis environment.

Arbor day-tree planting

It was so fun planting trees at the Wetlands for Arbor Day, but we got a bit dirty!
These are the trees we planted:
1.  kowhai!
2. Native bushes!
3. Cabbage!
These Are the stuff that you will need:
1. A plant
2. A shovel
3. 4 Bamboo Sticks
4. A plant blanket
5. plant bag that shelters it
6. a little pill of Fertilizer
We had so much fun with our buddys.

Room 35's Visit to the Travis Wetlands

Today we had a great learning experience when we visited the Wetlands. Some of the things we learned were:

If one creature from the food chain dies then the whole food chain can be affected.
The difference between omnivores, herbivores and carnivores.

Different species of birds take shelter at the Wetlands and different birds have different features.

 When the birds migrate to the Wetlands they are refueling like a plane landing in an airport.


Paradise ducks with white heads, are the females.
The backswimmers have two legs we can see while their other four legs are hidden  so they can swim faster.
Many of the birds have legs which bend backwards which helps them to not sink into the mud. 



The mites are the smallest water insects.
Different species of birds eat different things.
When the food chain is disrupted, there would be so much plankton below the surface of the water that the plankton on the bottom would rot because they wouldn't get the sunlight. 
All food chains start with plants.

Plants produce their own energy in a process called PHOTOSYNTHESIS.
When the damselflies are young ( at the nymph stage) they live in the water.
The Godwits fly to Alaska and back in Summer  - 10,000 kilometres. 
Some insects have hooks on their legs so they can hook onto plants in the water.
The Wetlands provides a good, safe nesting ground.
There are heaps and heaps of different species that live in the water.
The small, clustered leaves at the bottom of the pokaka tree, protected the tree from moa and at the top the leaves are more spread out. 
In the 1800's, 95% of Christchurch was a Wetland but now only 3-5% make up Wetland areas in Christchurch.
About different creatures such as scaup, spoonbill, shoveller, backswimmer, pied stilt, leech
There is a type of mite which lives in the water.
The kahikatea can live for 1000 years. 

The Wetland acts like a sieve as well as a sponge - if you're not sure why, just ask all of us and we will tell you all about it.

We learnt so much today!  Happy times and wonderful learning happening!