Room 4 Halcombe School's surprise!!!

This afternoon we had a parcel delivered to our classroom. How exciting! It was a big box addressed to Room 10, Wairakei School.

When we opened the parcel, we discovered that Room 4 from Halcombe School have been very. very busy. They wanted to make us something to make us smile after experiencing the awful earthquake in February, and the ever-following aftershocks.

The children in Room 4, Halcombe School have designed and made each child in our classroom their very own t-shirt! We think that is very cool! We loved trying them on at school today.

As luck would have it, Room 10 is hosting the school assembly tomorrow, so we will wear our fabulous new t-shirts!

Thank you, Room 4. We have made a video for you.


For art this term we are learning how to sculpt using clay. We are learning the basics first with playdough. Have a look at our video.

Our Cultural Video

We have been learning about differences within our classroom. We discovered that many of us were not even born in Christchurch. We decided to learn where in the world we all came from, so we all brought something about our culture to share with our classmates.

Here is our video.

Hooray for Miss Scott!!!

Last year Miss Scott and her partner, Brendon, set off over to England for their 'Overseas Experience.

When they heard about February's earthquake, they organised a fundraising relay style run from London to Christchurch (Dorset)...which is about 100 miles!!! Whoa!!! The run was held yesterday. We can't wait for Miss Scott to tell us how the run went.

We think Miss Scott, Brendon and their friends are ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

Click on the picture to read an article about the run.

Baa Baa Smart Sheep

2011 NZ Post Book Awards

Every year we look forward to reading the finalists in the NZ Post Book Awards. We are lucky to have a teacher (Mrs Pringle) who has purchased all of these finalists for our school library. Click on the above link to see who the finalists are!

The other day we read Baa Baa Black Sheep...and we rolled all over the mat with laughter! To cut a long story short...it is all about a very smart sheep who tricks the turkey into eating a pile of poos!!! Ew!!! We loved it!

Sadie's 6th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Sadie! We hope you had a fabulous day yesterday. We were all thinking of you.

Sadie and her family have been in Auckland since the February 22 earthquake, so we miss her a lot! Last week we all wrote letters to her, and she should have received them on her birthday.

We hope you liked our letters, Sadie. We can't wait to see you when you come back soon!

Houdini the snail!

So today one of our snails earned his name, Houdini.

Room 10 boasts a super duper fish tank. You can see it above. We have 5 Minnow fish, 1 orange fantail fish (Brocky), 1 white fantail fish (Alby), 1 giant apple snail (Cecil), 3 baby apple snails, and 2 black mystery snails.

Yesterday, when I (Miss O'Neill) got to school, I glanced inside the fish tank and performed the obligatory quick head count, I discovered that one of the black mystery snails was missing! What a mystery (excuse the pun!)! I found the snail lying on top of the air pump (which sits down behind the fish tank). The snail was rather dry and I immediately thought the worst. Something in me, however, decided to put him into a jar of water and "wait and see".

After school I looked at the jar and was amazed to see the snail busy slithering along the side of the jar - awesome! Back into the fish tank he went. I thought that would be the end of the story...

This morning, I arrived at school and, again, I checked the fish tank. One black mystery snail AWOL again! He was not lying on the air pump, not crawling up the whiteboard, not slitering down the table leg, not lying on the ground....hmmm! After quite a bit of hunting...I finally found him! He was lying in the rubbish bin (which sits underneath the fish tank table) and again...I thought the worst. However, I put him back into the jar of water and put it on my desk.

Later in the day Room 10 and I checked the snail and it was alive. So back into the fish tank he went. Yay! We have decided to call him Houdini - named after the famous Harry Houdini the escape artist.

Something needed to be done though. I can't be hunting for a snail each time I come to school. Our fish tank has a glass cover on top, but along the back there is a gap due to our water filter. After chatting to one of school cleaners, Keith, it was decided to celotape a plastic ruler over the top of the gap. Brilliant! The ruler fits perfectly...and hopefully there will be no more escapes from Houdini!

Welcome to Jaxson and Jesse

Yesterday Jaxson and Jesse had their first day at Wairakei School. Before the earthquake they were attending Freeville School. While Freeville School has been badly damaged by the earthquake, Jaxson and Jesse were in the process of moving schools anyway, as they had moved house. We are pleased they chose Wairakei School!

Here is a photo of Jaxson and Jesse. Can you tell who is who? Here is a clue...Jaxson has a wee scar by his eye.
Last week we finished our bugs. We mixed primary colours together to make new colours. We used our creations and turned them into bugs by adding legs and eyes. Don't they look fantastic? They are on display outside Mr Buckner's office...hopefully they don't scare him!