The Kite

As part of our reading this week, we read this poem:

The Kite

by Harry Behn

How bright on the blue

Is a kite when it's new!

With a dive and a dip

It snaps its tail

Then soars like a ship

With only a sail

As over tides

Of wind it rides,

Climbs to the crest

Of a gust and pulls,

Then seems to rest

As wind falls.

When string goes slack

You wind it back

And run until

A new breeze blows

And its wings fill

And up it goes!

How bright on the blue

Is a kite when it's new!

But a raggeder thing

You never will see

When it flaps on a string

In the top of a tree.

Here are some of us reading the poem:

The Environment: How can we influence positive change?

As part of our Inquiry we have been thinking about how we can take action. We want to influence positive change in the environment. Today we started to brainstorm ideas about things that we can do... 

Remember Poems

Artwork by Matilda

We wrote poems based on this poem...

Summer by Marci Ridlon

Have you ever smelled summer?

Sure you have.

Remember that time

when you were tired of running

or doing nothing much

and you were hot

and you flopped right down on the ground?

Remember how the warm sun smelled and the

grass?

That was summer.

Remember that time

when you were trying to climb

higher in the tree

and you didn’t know how

and your foot was hurting in the fork

but you were holding tight to the branch?

Remember how the bark smelled then

- all dusty dry, but nice?

That was summer.

Remember that time

when the storm blew up quick

and you stood under a ledge

and watched the rain till it stopped

and when it stopped

you walked out again to the sidewalk?

Remember how the pavement smelled

- all steamy warm and wet?

That was summer.

If you try very hard

can you remember that time

when you played outside all day

and you came home for dinner

and had to take a bath right away,

right away?

It took you a long time to pull

your shirt over your head.

Do you remember smelling the sunshine?

That was summer.

Here are some of our poems...

If You Learned Here Book Published...

If You Learned Here book is ready to download... 

We are so proud of all of our students for their contributions to the project. It has been fantastic to connect with other schools across the globe. 

Book Download Blog Post

They’ve hosted the book in Google Drive for downloading. Here are some tips for getting the book...

• Download it on a computer.
• If downloading on the iPad, be patient! After tapping the Download Anyway button, there is quite a delay before “Open in iBooks” appears.
• For viewing on a computer, use Readium (for Google Chrome) or Calibre.
• If the ePub format proves challenging, try using the PDF instead.
• QR code flyer

Helping Circle: Student Voice

Today we asked our students about the "Helping Circle"... 

This is what they said...

Kate: In the helping circle, you help each other. I find it helpful because someone is helping me.

Edward: The helping circle is cool because everyone lets everyone in the circle (everyone is included).

Leola: The helping circle is very good. By helping each other we put more detail in our writing. I ended up writing lots more.

Dylan: The helping circle is good as it helps you to learn new stuff and listen to other people’s ideas.

Adam: The helping circle gives me ideas. For example, if we had to write about fishing, other people might know more about fishing and they can share their ideas. Today I asked Ollie if I could piggy back ideas for my writing. He said, “yes”.

Hunter T: The helping circle helps me to spell words. I added more adjectives today.

Griffin: In the helping circle, I know that I can get a pencil and start adding onto my story. I gave Ridley advice to make his writing shorter. (The task was to retell a story in 4 sentences).

Izar: The helping circle helps me to write and helps me to concentrate.

Charlotte: The helping circle helps me to know what I’ve done and I can give ideas to people who don’t have ideas.

Liam: In a helping circle, you get to connect with different people and it’s interesting to see what they do in their writing. We can make changes or cross stuff out.

Jupiter: The helping circle is a good activity for people. It is a good way to learn new words that people use.

Kirsty: The helping circle helps me to listen to other people’s descriptive words . I can use them in my writing. It helps me to spell the whole of the word. Raffy helped with spelling today. I could help her too. She showed me how to skip lines.

Rim: In the helping circle, some people give me inspiration. They tell me their stories. While we are reading, we are correcting.

Ridley: The helping circle helps us to spell words we get stuck on.

Our Town

Last week we wrote poems based on the poem, "Our Town" by James K  Baxter. We used the same structure to write about a place of our choice. Enjoy!

These students are buddy reading "Our Town" poem. 

The Helping Circle

We have been reading a poem called, "Our Town" by James K Baxter. This week we will be writing our own version of the poem. As a group, we brainstormed places that we could write about and then we went off to work on our own brainstorms for our poem about our chosen place. 



At the end of our writing session we worked in a sharing circle. We read our brainstorm to a buddy and they read theirs to us. This is a great opportunity to edit and improve what we have written.  




Students have been helping each other to brainstorm what they can see, smell, touch, feel and taste in their chosen place. 

This links with our school focus about being connected. 

This is the poem that our students have been reading:

OUR TOWN

By James K Baxter

The town was usual enough; it had

A creek, a bridge, a beach, a sky

Over it, and even a small tin church

I never went to. My brother, my cousins and I

Did what boys do- dozed in the hot

Schoolroom, made bows and arrows, dodged the mad

Boat builder, crept like rabbits through the black

Under-runners with a weak torch,

Burnt dry rushes, wrestled or swam

Doing nothing important.

Our Insect Art and Alliteration Writing

Naughty Animal Writing

This is our helping circle. We read our work to one another to see if we need to make changes. Our buddies can help us. We listen to our buddies so that we can get ideas for writing. We can make changes if we need to and we learn more about language.

We watched a movie about Brian (the sheep) walking in  the Marlborough Sounds. 

Brian was snatched by a naughty weka, never to be seen again!

This inspired us to write about naughty or funny animals...

Dora 
By Clem
One day my cat went under the house. There was a door that led under the house. My cat was scratching. My Parents got some food so Dora  would   come out of under the house, but it did not work.  So we tried meat, but that did not work. My mum had to go under to get her out.

Mini 

By Nikora

One day when I went to my friend’s house we played outside. We went inside and right in front of the door was Mini the dog. He jumped up on me and didn’t stop licking me on my face. I wanted Mini to stop but I couldn’t open my mouth.

My Cat 

By Finlay

One day my cat had escaped from my house. She ate a dead bird. I was very mad at her because she ate the disgusting dead bird. It wasn’t good at all. Then she ate another one. I was so mad that I nearly exploded.

The Weka
By Angus W
The weka stole my favourite toy motorbike.  I had to buy another one. The new toy is even better. It is remote control.  

Naughty Animal 
by Marnie

Nic and the awesome sheep called Brian went on a adventure. They saw a naughty, naughty weka and he scuttled over to Brian. Brian wanted to take a photo with Mr Weka. So Brian got ready for his photo. The weka started scuttling over to him...

What really actually happened to Brian?

Mr Mouse 

by Liam

Mum was frantically opening the draws. I could see mum reaching for the peanut butter jar. She went off to wash her hands. I walked forwards, just then two sneaky eyes approached. Then it scuttled forward. It had four legs, a pointy nose and long teeth. It was a mouse! It ate all of the peanut butter. ‘’MUM!’’ I screamed.

The Duck
By Cooper
The duck stole my train. I loved it. The duck lived very far.

Naughty Worms 
By Leola

Mum was planting broccoli in the garden on a sunny calm day. “Mum, what are you doing?” I screamed from the bathroom.

“I’m planting!!!!” Mum responded.

A few days later…”Aaaaaaaaaaaaarghhh.” Mum shouted.
Then I came… “what’s wrong?” I asked.

“These worms are munching in our broccoli.”

The Weka
By Olivia
The weka stole my bag. I got it back. Then I got the weka some food from home. He ate the whole packet.

Our Punctuation Orchestra

When we have been talking about reading goals with our students, some of them said that they wanted to learn more about punctuation. This is the punctuation pyramid. It has 5 levels of punctuation. We have made an action and a sound for each one.

This is us having a go at the punctuation orchestra.

See it for yourselves at assembly on Friday!

The Tide

Shona's base group talked about what happens in the rock pools so that the creatures can survive when the tide goes out. Have a read of some of our stories.

The Tide is Going! By Eddie.
Oh no! The tide is going out. Get ready Mr Mussel. Shut your shells tight! Get ready Mr Sea Anemone. Tuck in your tentacles.

The Tide is Going Out. Be Nela.
Oh no! The tide is going out. Get ready Mr Chiton. Pull your shell close to the rock. Get ready Mrs Cockabully. Hide in the seaweed. Get ready Mrs Limpet. Pull into the rock like chiton. Get ready Mr Crab. Scuttle under a rock quickly. Get ready Mrs Sea Anemone. Pull in your tentacles close. Get ready Granddad Starfish. Cling onto a rock with your suckers.

The Revenge of the Tide. By Mitchell.
Oh no! The tide is going out. Get ready Mr and Mrs and Master Mussel. Hold your shells tightly.

Get Ready Rock Pool. By Nye.
Oh no! The tide is going out. Get ready Mrs Sea Anemone. Put your tentacles in and Mr Crab, scuttle under a rock.

The Tide is Going Out. By Emelie.
Oh no! The tide is going out. Get ready Mr Crab. Get under a rock.

The Tide is Going Out. By Rim.
Oh no! The tide is going out. Get ready Mr Crab. Hide between the seaweed. And sea anemone, get ready, close your tentacles. And cockabully, hide between the seaweed. Limpet get your shell and cling onto the rock. And mussel, close your shells together.

What Happens When the Tide Goes Out? By Ruby.
Oh no! The tide has gone out. Get ready Mrs Starfish. Hang on! Get to safety. Quick. Quick. It's going out. Get into the seaweed or your life will come to an end. This is going to be a tough ride. Get ready Mr Chiton. Cling onto the rock. Get into your shell or you will burn to death. Get ready Mrs Cockabully. Swim into the seaweed or you will be transported into a different dimension.

What Happens When the Tide Goes Out? By Lily.
Oh no! The tide is going out. Get Ready Mrs Crab. Get under a rock. Get ready Mrs Cockabully. Get into the seaweed or you will get teleported to a new dimension. Get ready Ms Mussel. Hold together. It's a long ride.

Zucchini and marrows.

Chrissy and Shona's writing groups looked at the marrows in the classroom and the zucchini on the plants in the garden. They have been writing about them:

I have zucchini growing in my garden and I eat the zucchini. By Emelie.

I like zucchini with crunchy chips and it is very delicious. By Keir.

I don't like to eat zucchini because it is too squishy for me. By Marnie.

I like zucchini. I hope Shona brings a zucchini slice to school. By Hadley.

It grows in gardens and on plants. I like it with wet noodles. By Chris.

I like zucchini with onion and tomatoes. They taste yummy. My Mum lets me put zucchini on the barbecue. Sometimes Mum lets me take it to other people. By Stella.

Magic Box Poems

This week some of us have been reading the poem, The Magic Box by Kit Wright. We have been inspired to create our own Magic Box poems and Magic Box art...

The Magic Box

By Violeta

I will put in the box...

A dragon as red as the fire.

A mouse jumping  over the moon.

A rabbit swimming.

I will put in the box,

A little angel as gold as the sun ,

A purple sun,

and a blue beach.

I will put in the box,

A rainbow flower with a ladybug and yellow spots,

I will put in the box,

A very long snail

a GIANT  MOUSE and a tiny elephant,

A very long snail  with a very short snake.

My box is fashioned from gold and silver and iron,

with spots on the lid and wishes in the corners.

Its hinges are as black as the dark and as gold sun.

The Magic Box 

By Leola

I will put in the box

lunchboxes flying and lemonade walking.

a mouse chasing a cat and a cat chasing a dog.

a frog flying and a fly jumping.

I will put in the box

a giraffe that is small and a and a mouse that is tall.

a giant that is angry and a jaguar giggling.

Hayley hoop runs a loop

I will put in the box

dark is light and light is dark.

a part of body and a part of head.

people making milk and cows collect.

I will put in the box

a carrot eating people

a frog floating and a boat jumping.

a fly eating a frog.

My box is fashioned from stars and gold and ice

with storms on the lid and  love in the corners

its hinges are love and wishes.