The Duathlon

Our Duathlon was a fun challenge. We had to run, ride, run. It was a tough fitness test as the second run was two laps around the domain. Everyone felt proud of themselves for meeting the challenge.

And the Winners were.........

The winners from year 7, year 6




year 5, year 4 and year 3.  They worked incredibly hard to win this tough event.

Thanking Our Sponsors

 A large group of Sponsors donated money to our school to buy 28 computers. Our Board of Trustees worked very hard to get sponsors to support our ICT programme. The sponsors were vets, trucking companies, farm bike suppliers, farm supplies and several others all involved in servicing our rural community. The Higgies let our BOT use their exotic gardens, Paloma , as the venue to thank the sponsors. Some of our students waited on the guests and passed the food around. It was a very successful evening.

Room 15 Boys Visit

Thursday, Room 15 boys class from Carlton School came to visit us because we had invited them to a day in the country. After we greeted them we had to take them for a run around our fields. Two of our families agreed to host the boys on their farms and show them what being a sheep farmer and a dairy farmer meant. We enjoyed having the boys visit us and have lunch with us. The boys learnt a lot and did a lot. To find out more about their visit check out their blog: The Lions Learning Den.

Visiting Other Schools

Today I visited a year 3/4 class at Riverdale School in Palmerston North and it was great to see them at work there and then I visited a year 3/4 class at Manchester Street in Feilding. They were both wonderful schools doing all sorts of great things. Mrs Reddish and I went together and we thought the Principals at both schools were very helpful, friendly and informative. They also gave up a lot of their time to make us welcome and to tell us about their school. Their deputy principals shared a lot of knowledge with us. We were really lucky. We have a new buddy class so follow this link and make new friends. I think Russell is going to go there for a holiday too.


Follow the link on the right and see what they are up to.

Crayon Portraits

We have been working with crayon this term and learning all about the properties of crayon. We are very pleased with our crayon portraits.

John's Story

 Follow the link on the right.

Think of an Eel

We know a lot about eels now. We know that eels come from very few places in the world and that eels which live in New Zealand and Australian rivers come from somewhere in the Pacific Ocean where it is undisturbed and warm. Read Georgina's story to find out where other eels come from and the life of an eel. It is amazing!!!!

Eels

The Eel

In the Sargasso sea an adult eel is fertilizing eel eggs. His black and silver body winds through the sea. Suddenly he becomes stiff and stops moving. He slowly floats to the bottom of the ocean.

In a tiny egg  an eel is moving. He wriggles out of his egg and  starts his journey to the river. Half swimming, half riding the waves, he says goodbye to the Sargasso sea for a very long time.

Three years later the baby eel has reached his destination. But the river is too cold so he waits and turns into a see through eel. He is like a thread of glass He is now called an elver.  Through the river he swims, climbing waterfalls and gliding silently. He reaches a shallow, weedy river and explores his new home, trying  to find a house. An old tree stump lies in the middle of the river. It is hollow. It is a perfect house for the eel.

The elver spends his days gliding through the river.  His slimy skin is darkening. It is turning yellow and brown. The elver is not an elver anymore.

For 22 years the yellow and brown  eel lives in the river. He is slimy  and slit eyed. He is thick from eating shrimps and small fish. Sometimes there is no food in the river so he slithers like a snake to the pond where he feeds on snails.

The eel can’t eat! His stomach is shrinking. He is turning black, but his stomach is silver.  His eyes grow and turn blue. They  are the eels own personal headlights. The eel swims around, saying goodbye to the river he had lived in for 22 years. He then waits for a dark night and glides down  the waterfalls he had climbed up as a elver. He swims silently down the river and begins the eighty day journey  to the Sargasso sea. He doesn’t eat, he doesn’t sleep. He just swims to his birthplace.

In the Sargasso sea an adult eel is fertilizing eel eggs. His black and silver body winds through the sea. Suddenly he becomes stiff and stops moving. He slowly floats to the bottom of the ocean...

Georgina 

Ruby's Puppies

 George's Mum brought their puppies in for us to see. The puppies mother is a fox terrier called Ruby but father is a shaggy dog and these puppies are going to have shaggy hair like the last two litters Ruby has had. Ruby is a gentle dog with a lovely nature and she didn't mind us playing with her babies. 

The Twins are growing !!

Birthday Month

Lou lou is 8 now and she got this very flash bike for her birthday.
Our class has had a lot of birthdays this month : Renee, Georgia, Libby, Caitlin and George have all had special birthdays in March.

Surprise Visit

The Variety Club surprised us by driving up to our classrooms and leaping out of all sorts of vehicles. They gave everyone in the school a free calculator, rugby badges, lollies and a lot of laughs. Ewen Gilmour talked to us. There were all sorts of T.V. and  Movie characters and lots of wacky cars, vans and trucks. We loved it. Elena said it was better than Disneyland. They gave us a big box of books for our library and a signed rugby ball. We hope we get some more surprises like that.

Group Roles

We have done a lot more practice with group roles and we are great at working together now and we understand the different roles group members need to make working together productive and harmonious.

The Secret Club

When it’s dark we will be able to go in to the secret club. The people that are in my club are Lou Lou , Bridie, Simon and my fox terrier Chevy.

We have to wear costumes and I am going to be a vampire. Lou is going to wear a ghost costume. Chevy is going to be a king. Simon is going to be a walking, racing zombie and Bridie is going to be a witch's cat.

Our haunted house is so creepy because ghosts, crabs, bats, bugs and spiders live in our haunted house.

By Christian

Fire and Earthquake Safety

Dean came to our school and did the very last Fire and Earthquake show. He is going to do other things with his life now. He is sooooo funny that we laughed so much we didn't want him to leave. We learnt about surviving in a fire and all the things we need with us to prepare for an earthquake.

What do you think Georgina is doing?