Japanese Lessons

Today we were lucky to have Mrs van Beusekom teaching us about Japan, and also teaching us how to speak some Japanese. We made little books with the greetings and we are learning about our name in Japanese. We found out that Japan has about one hundred and twenty million people in it even though the country is about the same size as New Zealand. We learnt that the greetings are different if you are talking to someone you know well, and if you are talking to a stranger. We really enjoyed learning from Mrs van Beusekom today.

Our vegetable garden

On Friday we were lucky enough to have some student helpers from AUT come and help us plant out the veggie garden and hanging baskets. We planted spinach, tomatoes, kale, peas, capsicum and lettuces. We planted marigolds around the edges to stop the bugs eating them. In the hanging baskets we planted succulents because they last a lot longer and don't need watering much. We need to water the garden everyday so that our plants grow into veggies we can eat. Thank you to our special helpers we could not have done it without you!

Ginger the Guinea Pig

OMG!!! Mrs Hook brought a guinea pig into Room 19! It used to be called Sparkles but now she's called Ginger. She's so cute I can describe her in three words: cute, pretty and sparkly! I wish we could have her! I think we can only have her for 1 hour because it is Ashley's, and Ashley is at her dance exam. When I patted her she vibrated. I also felt sad because I used to have 2 guinea pigs but they died because my family was on holiday, so we gave them to my cousins, but they fed it too much so the guinea pigs died. :(

Drum Performance by Brenna

Yesterday we had a show. The people were from Ghana over in Africa. They played drums and sang songs. They did an African dance and a love song. They played on the flute and played a hand game. It had eight levels. At the end the teachers had to dance. Mrs Hook had to go to the front. Mr VB was hardly dancing. Mrs Hook was the best dancer. We also asked some questions, one of them was "How old are you?" One of them was 40 and the other one was 39.

Swimming at Hilton Brown By Fletch

Today we went swimming. When we got there we went in the changing rooms and got changed. Then we sat on the chairs and waited for our lesson to start. We got in the pool and I was surprised because it was a little warm, probably because it had mini heaters. First we did back stroke and after that we did freestyle and it was easy for me. We also lay on our backs and paddled with our feet and that was a little bit hard. When Sanggun did freestyle he went to a different group that was in a shallow pool. Then at the end we played a game called Tug. It is when someone has a straw and tugs them with it, then they're they're in with the straw and the person who is in counts to five and we swim away, then they tag someone and carry on.

Cooking with Carrots from our Garden. By Omar

On Friday Mrs Lisk came to cook with Room 19. We made carrot soup. We got carrots from the school garden. They were fresh. Then we went to the hall kitchen. First we got the carrots and scrubbed them until they were clean, They gave us knives to cut the carrots, they poured boiling water in the pot, then they put the carrots in the pot. They gave us some carrots to taste. They got the blender and mixed the carrots together. Then two minutes later Mr Weston came in with cooked muffins that the other group had made. Then Room 19 came back from the library to the hall and sat down in front of the kitchen. Then Mr Le Sueur, Mrs Ward and Mrs Hook came to the hall to try some carrot soup and carrot muffins too.

Making the muffins

Putting them in the muffin tray

The soup ready to be blended

Yummy! Enjoying our soup and muffins. Fresh from the oven and stove top!

 Thank you Mrs Anderson and Mrs Lisk for helping us! You were amazing!

Maths Week - The Amazing Race!

No doubt you heard all about our Amazing Race for Maths Week, and also about the Maths Wizard visiting. The Maths Wizard was very impressed with our Maths ability, and we were able to answer even the trickiest of questions!! Look out for some of the great recounts the children wrote about the Maths Week.