Building Bridges

At camp we did bridge building. In my group we made 3 models. Our first model was a failure our second model was ok, but our 3rd was great. We got the baby across first time and it was so great that Charlotte made us carry Theo and surprisingly it worked. Then we showed the class.
Written by Thomas Hart

Abseiling

Abseiling is a form of roping yourself down from a mountain top or a canyon rim.
Abseiling is fun to do and helpful from hunting to hiking.
Unfortunately the down side to this exhilarating sport is that it causes 25% (1 of 4) climbing deaths. Mostly from not securing an anchor, or not putting your harness on properly when going down canyons mountains and steep embankments. So for budding abseilers remember safety tips and bear in mind that these tips can save your life.

By Leah and Elizabeth

Tent Pitching by Tiarne

Tent Pitching
When the middles arrived at Kina we put up the tents, our tent was a fun most. People found it hard and fun. Our tents where big. Tavania’s Dad Glen has a big tent so does Sean G’s tent .
It was such good fun when me, Meila and Tavania went to look in Glens tent he was the only one sleeping in it. Tavania had a smaller tent she slept with Luca. Sean’s was a little bit smaller than Glens. He slept with Josh,Thomas H, Jed and Theo. I liked going on camp it was fun.

By Tiarne

Meila's tasty camp food

Camp Food
All the tent groups got a job to do and my group made dinner. We had hamburgers with the filling , lettuce, tomato, meat, carrots, cheese,tomato suce and cucumber, it was delicious! Every body wanted another one because they were so yummy . After dinner Elizabeth,Leah and Georgia washed up then we made damper mine was made to salty Then we made roasted marshmallows . After that we went to bed . Next morning we had breakfast there were lots to eat including cereal, peaches and toast. I had rice bubbles with peaches. I also had some toast .The rice bubbles were extra tasty.

by Meila.

Fun and games at camp

This is us in a circle at Whenua Iti.'

We played a cool game called dead ant.

Mr Searle is playing it in school with us.

By Luca

thomas b

Flying Rat - by Thomas B

The flying rat is a 18 metre high swing which is basically a team puling up 1 of them . If the person at the front of the line is to light he could be pulled up with the other person. This is what I said it was scary at first but when I got up there I didn't want to come back down again. It was a sunny day so you could see every one else. Second time it was swinging which I loved. By Thomas

Amelia Peels off down the bluff!

Amelia’s Awesome Abseiling



I went abseiling at camp.

What do you know about abseiling?
First you have to put a harness on.
Then you clip a karabiner onto your harness
and put the rope through the figure eight.
You need a glove on your right hand so
that you don’t burn your hand on the rope.
You hold the rope in your right hand behind your bottom
and carefully feed the rope through it. Then you can slide,
jump and bounce down the hill.


I wanted to do it again even though it was scary.
By Adventurous Amelia

Nearly home

Hi Guys

We are at LAX!

So close till "home time''.

In Las Vegas there is a hotel called The Bellagio and every evening as the hour strikes a set of fountains go off.

This is the fountain:

School Holiday Recounts

This week we are writing about our holiday activities.
This is an image similar to Mr Neale learning to snowboard over the holidays!
We are focussing on structuring our writing by making a plan first.
Then our aim is to have an introduction, interesting events with good descriptions and a definite ending. The students are working twards their personal writing goals.Please ask them to tell you what their goal is. Mr Searle.

I'm Reading!

Hi Middles,
I am getting such a big girl and starting to read my books - thank you Meila!
I've also started reaching out for my toys so fantastic choice of toy Eylish!

Glaciers

Hi guys

Today we are driving to Dijon. (If you have heard of Dijon mustard it comes from here)

Yesterday we went up Mont Blanc pronounced Mont Blonk in France.

Built a snowman at the height of Mount Cook. Walked inside a glacier - amazing.

Covered in pumice

Hi Middles

This week we went to Pompei and Vesuvius!

Did you know that Vesuvius erupted in 1944 and the war was stopped because of so much damage? We could still see the lava flow from this as no trees were growing on it. There were some holes in the crater of Vesuvius where sulphur was escaping. Sulphur is the same thing as you can smell at Hamner Springs pools (like rotten eggs).

Guess how far apart Pompei and Vesuvius are . . . I will tell you next time I write.

Pompei is much better preserved than I expected. It is massive and awesome! We saw the dog that had been covered in ash and a few people including children. There was a cool house which was called the 'Mystery Villa' which had a secret room that the owners and their servants hid in with all their treasures, it didn't save them from the poisonous gas. Thomas and Dad ran out in to the Ampitheatre and Thomas shouted "I am Sparticus" just like in the film Sparticus. They has a big wrestle but nobody died.

:-) bye

Two terible two year olds visit school.

Pogo and Mister.

Pogo and Mister came for the day. pogo came Tuesday and mister came on Thursday
me and Meila walked mister and we did three lap’s around the school 1 walking and 2
running. Water went up mister’s leg. It looked like he had a bath. Mister was so so so so
wet so I did not want to cuddle him. His face was not wet and his back is not wet either. His
tummy was as wet as a beetroot trout that has been washed under a tap. Pogo and Mister are the colour white. Pogo is very funny because he always jumped on Mr Searle. When I was the first one at school pogo jumped on my lap. Mister is a good guard dog and he barked at Jenny when she came to see us. Pogo and mister are brothers. they have the same mum. she lives down the road. That is where pogo and mister came from.
by Tiarne

The naughty boys!

Pogo and Mister.
Pogo and mister came to visit, they are both brothers. Pogo came to visit on Tuesday and mister came on Thursday. People in our class got to walk the dogs. Mister is really fast at running, but Pogo isn’t so fast .We got to play ball with Mister before school.Mister is younger than Pogo and they are both brothers. Mister has a pink nose and Pogo has a black nose. Mister is a faster than Pogo even though Mister is younger.They are both white Lowchen dogs.They both like cuddles and to sit on peoples laps. Pogo got really tired when he came. They liked scrounging peoples food which Mr Searle is trying to stop them doing!
And they were born down the road from school in a yellow bach but they are white and there mum was golden and thats where they came from.
by Meila.

Pogo and Mister
were at school last tuesday and thursday.
Lots of people wanted to walk him and I got to play fetch with him, and walked them both. They sleep under Mr Searle’s desk when we are working. We had them in at different days. They were in for the whole day.
By Leah Miles
PS this is Mister because his nose is pink.

Boys in a box

Hi Kids.
Let us know if you want us to come for another visit.
We tried sneaking into school in this box of schoolbooks, but our dad
spotted our wooly ears sticking out.

Birthday boys Bash!

Here is an action shot of Sean putting away his first of four goals against Dovedale School.
Nice accuracy under pressure Sean! Your last goal was nicely on target as well.
Happy 8th birthday today.

New Students in the Middle Room.

On Tuesday Leah and Josh brought their 8 week old baby rabbits to school. Leah's rabbit
was jet black and her name was Lily. Josh's was blue and white and her name is blue.
by Leah.

Big Buddha

Last Saturday we went up to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island, Hong Kong.

On the way to the Buddha we had to go on a cable car. We had the option of having a crystal cabin which is where the bottom of the cabin is glass and the seats fold up so you can sit on the glass, but we decided not to because it was about 1000 foot drop.

We saw some people fishing in a little reed boat. Then the cable car stopped. We were hoping that we didn't drop to our doom! Luckily they were just loading on food and supplies for the residents and cafes of Lantau Island.

When we got to the top there was a sculpture that looked like a handbag with bubble gum bubbles filled with rolled up coloured plastic bags.

Then we went up the 268 steps to the Big Buddha which was made with plaster and bronze. It was over 5m tall.

It was the biggest thing I had ever seen and was really suprised how they had hidden the welding in the pattern of the Lotus leaves. We could even go inside it.

It was built by the monks of the Po Lin Monastry.

Sunday 5th September 1st chapter

We are at Hong Kong Airport waiting for our 12 hour 55 minute flight to England. When we got there we got a limo to our hotel also known as our Grandmas house. By Thomas

Rain

to a farmer rain is as precious as gold

to an athlete it is poison

the roses are partying

while the spiderplants are diving for cover

by Elizabeth

New Friend....

Hi Middles,

I went to Oregon on the weekend and made friends with a reptile. This is Lefty - a 6 foot corn snake.

At first I was nervous and a little afraid, but he is soft and cool to touch and he's a very cuddly guy!

Lefty and I became good friends and now I want a pet snake when I get home but Mum said "NO, you cannot have a snake in NZ (thank goodness)" - she is a bit of a scaredy cat!

Only 2 weeks till I'm back - Yay!!

Ssssssseee you all ssssssoon!

Love Ella the snake wrangler.

Ella again....

Hi Middles,

Here are some pictures of what I've been doing lately. Some of the Grand Coulee Dam and one at a tiny school we visited with only 2 students!! (on an island) I also lost 2 more teeth!

We are coming home in 3 weeks! I can't wait to see you all soon.

Love Ella xxxx

Thomas meeting Cassie

Cassie says hello!

Hello everyone,
Cassie wanted to say hello and say she can't wait to meet you all. She is being very good and will get to go home soon.
A big thank you to Whaea Jane who came in and fed me!
Can't wait to see you all, I love checking the blog and seeing what you are all up to,
take care Middles, I'll be in soon,
Love Mrs Scorrar

lemonade stand - by Ella

Yesterday I decided to do a business, I thought I would be good at lemonade stand so we went to the store and bought the stuff we needed - lemonade, cups, straws. We got home and mixed up the lemonade. I got a lot of customers, I have made a profit of $7.50.

First I was nervous, but it was fun to meet new neighbours and earn money. I sold out, but I'm going to buy more and set up at Dad's work!!

I hope they're thirsty....

The Winning Apprentices

Luca spent his $10 Mahana dollars at Whaea Jane's six pin bowling, hoping for some fun and and also a chance to win the big prizes.












Thomas, Josh, Oscar,Leah and Elizabeth are on hand as eagle eyed judges. Looks like Luca got four down, but sadly missed out on the last two. Remember to tell businesses what they can do to make you happier with their product. We all need to listen to what our customers want from us when we operate a business.
Did any-one notice how quickly customers will complain to their friends if they think they have been 'ripped off"?

The Apprentice - Mahana style

In this photo we see Amelia and Sarah making patterns, or doing product development with the "try-Angle" as invented by our "apprentice", Mr Neale. He only made $60 after an awesome sales pitch.

Being Kind

We watched a video of Billy who had no friends. He finally found some friends.
Also did a feeling thing where we choose which side whether we like it or not - being excited, sad, grumpy and lots more.
If Mr Neal said only 10 people could go to a circus would this make you happy or sad?
Or if you couldn't go home how would you feel? (Stuck at school forever!)