Friday 29 May 2015

Touch Rugby

Room 5 had their first session of touch with Coach Trevor from Auckland Rugby. We learned some new skills such as how to scoop up the ball when running, how to step over the ball and how to pass to the dummy half.

Thursday 28 May 2015

The Little Blue Penguin

The Avengers described New Zealand's own Little Blue Penguin after reading an article on DOGO news about the Rena oil spill.


WALT - Describe a Little Blue Penguin   

New Zealand is home to a very unique and precious penguin, the Little Blue Penguin. This native penguin suffered through New Zealand’s worst pollution disaster when the Rena cargo ship hit an underwater reef in the Bay of Plenty spilling 400 tons of oil into the ocean.

Colour - Arav
The little blue penguin is called blue because of the colour of their feathers. Little blue penguins also have a white belly and pink webbed feet.

Size - Israel and Dev
The little blue penguin stands 16-17 inches tall that’s about the same size as your ruler. It also weighs about 1 kilogram (2 lbs). That’s as heavy as two blocks of butter! that’s a very light penguin.

Diet - Priscilla and Sherlyn
The Little Blue Penguin feeds off small fish and small squid in the shallow warm waters off Moturiki Island during the day.

Natural Habitat - Chantelle and Anthony
The little Blue Penguins natural habitat is around New Zealand’s Moturiki Island. At night they come onto the beach and spend their time inside rock crevices or inside little caves to sleep or to hide from predators.
Conservation - Skye Kalani
During the oil spill over 2000 penguins died during the disaster.The Oiled Wildlife Response Centre saved about 500 penguins. They rescued the penguins then
nursed back to health before releasing the penguins.

In the future for these birds to survive and thrive we need to make sure that the pilots of the ships have a clear path around reefs, design the ships differently so they cannot spill oil into the ocean maybe having rubber on the bottom of the ship and put floating devices around the reefs to stop the oil from spreading.

We think our description is extended abstract because we have thought about the future of these birds and how to prevent disasters in the future.

Save the Sea Turtle

The Avengers created these posters showing what we can do to protect the endangered sea turtle.

Elephant Seal

The X-Men created these posters to show what they now know about Elephant Seals from reading 'Elephants from the Sea' by Kim Westerskov.


Tuesday 26 May 2015

New Zealand's Oiled Penguins Released Back Into The Ocean

The Justice League read an article on DOGO News called 'New Zealand's Oiled Penguins Released Back Into The Ocean'. They then summarised the information in the article and created this news broadcast. Enjoy

Should People Be Allowed On Beaches?

Room 5 have been writing persuasive arguments. After finding litter on our trip to Piha we got thinking about whether people should be allowed on beaches. Who do you agree with?




People Should Not Be Allowed On Beaches


New Zealand is a country surrounded by many beaches such as Piha and Mission Bay. Lots of people use these beaches to walk their dogs, have a picnic or just chill out. However the beach is also an important habitat for a variety of  animals such as seabirds, eels and more. As the beach is an important habitat to native animals some people argue that we are having a negative impact and that people should not be allowed on beaches. I agree with the argument that people should not be allowed on beaches.


Firstly people should not be allowed on beaches because people take more fish than they’re supposed to.  In fact I think that if people continue to take too many native sea creatures they will become extinct.


Some may argue that you should be allowed  on beaches because you can explore new flora and fauna. However people are stepping on important plants and habitats when they go exploring. It may be fun to go to the beach but people still need to act responsibly.


In my opinion another reason people should not go on beaches is that people litter which is bad for the environment. When people litter sea creatures think the litter is food and when they eat it they die.


As  you can see from the reasons above people should not be allowed on beaches. They litter, take too many sea creatures and step on native plants like pingao. I strongly believe if  people don’t take care of beaches they should not be allowed on them.


By Sherlyn

People should be allowed on beaches

New Zealand is surrounded by water so that means that there are beaches all over such as Mission Bay, Piha, Orewa and Waiheke.  Lots of people go to these beaches to have fun, explore and socialise.  Also the beach is home to native plants and animals such as crabs, ducks and sea birds also known as flora and fauna.  Some people argue that we are becoming careless about the beach environment so they think people should not be allowed on them.

Firstly I believe that people should be allowed on beaches so they can have fun, meet with people and explore interesting things, also people can have a relaxing, cheap holiday or day trip.

I think people should be allowed to go on beaches because we can do beautiful sand art. People create cool paintings and sand sculptures.  Art on beaches is like going to an art gallery without having to pay.  This is why going to the beach is important.

Some people may argue that we should not be allowed on beaches because we destroy sand dunes. When sand dunes are destroyed the wind blows all the sand into people’s lawns and that makes them feel that we should be banned from beaches. However if people follow the signs and stay off the dunes this should not happen.

In my opinion though we should be allowed on beaches because we have fun as well as save the beach wildlife. For example during an oil spill, such as the Rena disaster, people rescued thousands of birds.  People can be good for ocean life and that’s why people should be allowed on beaches.

As you can see from all the reasons above people should be allowed on beaches. I strongly recommend that people enjoy a deserved day out from all their hard work.  So once again, people should be allowed on beaches

By Nuha

Speech Topics

It's that time again - Speeches! We created this list of interesting speech topics and some not very interesting ones (that are now banned). Which do you think is the most interesting topic?


Hawksbill Sea Turtle

After reading 'Plight of the Sea Turtle' by Jill Macgregor the Avengers described one of the turtles in the article the Hawksbill Sea turtle.



WALT - Describe a Hawksbill Turtle

Sea turtles were once a common site in the Pacific Islands. However the numbers of sea turtles have plummeted in recent times. One turtle that is currently threatened and endangered is the Hawksbill turtle.

Appearance - Risa/Samarah
The hawksbill turtle has a hawk shaped beak which gives it its name. On the shell it has striking colours like a jaguar’s skin. It is a one of the smaller turtle's it is 114 cm long and 68 kilograms in weight.

Diet - Nuha
Hawksbills are omnivorous and will eat mollusks, marine algae, crustaceans, sea urchins, fish, and jellyfish.  Sometimes they think that plastic bags are jellyfish and eat them. This causes the turtles to choke.

Breeding - Torres
Female sea turtles lay around a hundred eggs two or three times a season with only a small amount of hatchlings surviving.  Hardly any survive safely to the ocean because predators such as gulls, rats, dogs, pigs and crabs raid eggs and hatchlings for food.

Human Impact - Ansh
The Hawksbills turtles shells have been traditionally used to make jewellery, spears, tools, fish hooks and combs. Human impact has made these turtles threatened and endangered. That is why some people are starting a campaign to save these turtles.

Other threats - Kevin
Other threats to turtles include fishing nets, plastic rubbish and bags which cause the turtles to become tangled but their biggest threat is humans destroying their nesting sites by building hotels, marinas and seawalls.

In the future people may realise that they need to protect these endangered reptiles otherwise they will become extinct. If the turtle became extinct people would never have a chance to see these amazing sea animals in the wild and the food chain would be disturbed causing many more animals to die. How people can protect these creatures is by disposing of their rubbish correctly, not disturbing the areas where turtles feed or nest, never buying things made from turtle shell and saying no to plastic bags.

We believe that our description is extended abstract because we made a prediction about the future and linked several ideas.

Monday 25 May 2015

Rounding and Compensating

Here is Ansh explaining the strategy of rounding and compensating when multiplying.

These Are No Ordinary Beaches.

The Avengers read an amazing article on DOGO News about some very unique beaches Here is their summary of the article.

Elephants from the Sea.

The X-Men today were learning to make inferences. They were given a photograph from the text and had to infer as to what happened before, during and after the photograph was taken.
 

Measurement

In Maths we are now studying measurement. We will be studying digital and analogue times, timetables, calendars, units of measurement and more. We discussed how measurement plays an important role in all different areas of life. Below are some of our ideas.


Friday 22 May 2015

Crabs On The Move.

After reading 'Crabs on the move' by Don Merton the Justice League used the information in the text to create this news broadcast. Enjoy


Did the Kiwi ever fly?

In Science we have been learning about animal and plant adaptations. During one lesson Anthony came up with the question "did kiwis ever fly?" We used twitter to ask an expert.  Matt Rayner, Curator of Land Vertebrates from Auckland museum answered his question.

Click to read the answer to "Did Kiwi's ever fly?"

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Thursday 21 May 2015

What is it like to go to school in England?

Our twitter friends Room 4A from Tollgate Primary School in Eastbourne, UK sent us a questionnaire about going to school in New Zealand. Our responses are in red and theirs are in blue. Where do you think you would prefer to go to school?

Hello from 4A At Tollgate School, Eastbourne, UK

Here are some of the things we would like to know about your school.

What is the name of your school and class?
Room 5 at Halsey Drive School
4A (Year 4, teacher Mrs Allen) Tollgate Junior School

Where in the world is your school?
Auckland, New Zealand
Eastbourne, East Sussex, United Kingdom

How many classes are there in your school?
21
13

How far away is your school from the beach?
About 1km. Our school is right by Manukau Harbour
Our school is 0.7km from the nearest (stony) beach with cold water! It's the English Channel

Do you wear school uniform?  If so, what colour?
Yes. Green Polo Shirt, Navy shorts, pants or culottes and a navy fleece jacket in winter
Yes we wear a blue jumper, shirt and a blue and grey striped tie, with trousers or shirts.

How many pupils do you have in your school?
500
420

How many teachers are there?
22
We have 17 teachers, a head teacher and a deputy head teacher

How many children in your class?
25
31 but classes have between 28 and 34 pupils

What is the name of your Head teacher?  Do you have a Deputy Head teacher?
Mrs Davies-Crook is the principal and Mrs Ritchie and Mrs Strang are the deputy teachers
Mr Dennis and Mrs Fegan is our deputy

How old is your school?
The school opened in 1968
Ours is 48 years old

Do you have school pets?
No
We have guinea pigs and African Giant Snails

What facilities do you have?
Swimming Pool, Two Playgrounds junior and senior, tigerturf court, sand pit, library, fields
Hall, computer suite, field, 2 playgrounds, library, stage and recording studio.

What days do you go to school?
Monday - Friday
Monday to Friday

How many year groups in your school?
6
We have 4 year groups (yrs 3-6)

Do you have a nursery?
No we don’t have a kindergarten
No nursery as we are a junior school only (ages 7-11)

What do you have for lunch?  How many school cooks do you have?
We don’t have any school cooks we bring our own lunch to school
We can bring our own lunches or have a meal from the canteen.  We have 4 cooks in our kitchen

How long is your school day?
8.55am - 3.00pm
We start at 8.45 and finish at 3.20

How many different nationalities come to your school?
In our class we have NZ European, Samoan, Maori, Malaysian, Chinese, Indian, Fijian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Taiwanese students and our teacher is English
We have Polish, Australian, Indian, Chinese, Irish, Armenian, Iranian, Italian, Spanish children in our school.

What subjects do you do? What languages do you learn?
Maths, Science, Written Language, Reading, Inquiry, Spelling, Handwriting, Dance, PE and we learn Te Reo Maori for our language lesson
English, maths, science, history, geography, RE, Art, Design and technology, PE, PSHE, music, French.

Do you have assembly?
Yes, we have it on Friday afternoons. Each class is responsible for one each week. We just had ours last Friday.
We have assembly every day. Monday with the head teacher, Tuesday singing, Wednesday with our local vicar, Thursday in our year groups, Friday celebration assembly.

What is the time difference between your school and ours (we are in GMT)?
If it is 12pm here it is 1 o’clock in the morning for you.

Do you have Interactive whiteboards and iPads?
Yes 5 I pads and 5 Chrome books and an Apple TV in our class at all times and we can book extra devices
We have interactive whiteboards in all classes and 8 iPads per class.

Have you read any Harry Potter books?
Yes some of us have
We read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in class and then we watched the film.  After that we went to the Harry Potter studio tour on a school trip. You can read about our trip here: http://tollgate4a.edublogs.org

Do you have any questions for us?
How many playgrounds do you have?
We have 2 playgrounds, one for years 3&4 and one for years 5&6.  We will take some pictures for you - but today it’s raining, so we will wait for a nicer day!  We could share in a padlet?

Do you have a swimming pool?
No, but all year groups have 6 hours of lessons each year at the local pool.  It is about 15 minutes walk from us.  

How do your pupils get to school? Walk, cycle, bus, scooter.

Do you have to buy your own stationery? No our teachers provide it for us.  In year 6 we are allowed to bring our own if we want to.

Thank you

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Food Chains

In Science we discussed food chains. A food chain shows how each living thing gets food, and how nutrients and energy are passed from creature to creature. We learned that in a food chain plants are producers (because they can produce their own food) and animals are consumers. This is because they cannot produce their own food and they consume (eat) plants or animals.


Here are some of our own marine animal food chains.







How To Eat A Worm

If Eli, Jolui, Sebastian and Espen convinced you to eat worms you are probably thinking how to prepare them. Luckily the X-Men have thought of this and created these guides to eating worms.





Which beach is best?

The Avengers read an article on Dogo News about some very special beaches. They then compared two of them California's Glass Beach and Hawaii's Papakolea Beach.



WALT - Compare Two Unique Beaches

Looking for a slightly different beach? One that does not include ordinary sparkling white sand? Well you may like to visit California’s glass beach or Hawaii’s Papakolea beach. These beaches are very unique. Both beaches share similarities and differences.

Ansh - Firstly both beaches don’t have the typical white sand you find on ordinary beaches. These beaches have special types of sand. California’s famous Glass Beach is made out of smooth multi coloured glass pieces while Hawaii’s Papakolea Beach is made out of a semi-precious stone called Olivine.

Torres - Both beaches are unique and lots of people come to have fun or tours however Hawaii’s Papakolea beach can only be accessed after a rugged 2-mile hike whereas the California glass beach is popular tourist destination.

Kevin - The sea shaped both beaches. The glass bottles on California's glass beach were broken down by the sea and got turned into smooth pebbles. Whereas Hawaii's Papakolea beach was formed by powerful waves that dragged green crystals onto the beach. 

Risa - People have influenced both beaches. California’s glass beach used to be an official dump where the trash and rubbish eventually got turned into pebbles. However because very few people go on Hawaii’s Papakolea beach it has stayed its amazing green colour. 

Overall we think that Hawaii’s Papakolea Beach is a much better beach to visit because it is a natural attraction rather than the result of pollution and damage to land. Papakolea beach is also found in Hawaii, which is a tropical island with great scenery and interesting marine life.

We think we are extended abstract because we used vocabulary such as overall and think. Made several comparisons with similarities and differences. We also made a judgement too as to which was the best beach to visit and why.