Week 7 Homework

Well done last week to those who did their homework. Its great to see you take pride in you work. I hoped you enjoyed your maths last week

As usual your spelling words can be found at spellingcity.com. Click the link below to go to your words.

SPELLING CITY

Please post your results every night you do them. Go to the Google form below to tell me how you did.

https://docs.google.com/a/greymain.school.nz/forms/d/1bDWveQGui2vYmJfbYDgo3oc5hVCq1MHjbzOII3Cp4lE/viewform

For Maths please follow this link mathsbuddy and login. Begin to complete the work set. There is no google form to post results as I can see them on that site.

Don't forget to log your reading, every night that you read. Follow the link below.

https://docs.google.com/a/greymain.school.nz/forms/d/1QMb2FeQj02LygjdtVu5z6ArpHtvAOFoNHlonhnZzP2Q/viewform

Homework Week 6 18th-22nd

Well done last week to those who did their homework. Its great to see you take pride in you work. This week there is a major change in maths. I hope you enjoy it.

As usual your spelling words can be found at spellingcity.com. Click the link below to go to your words.

SPELLING CITY

Please post your results every night you do them. Go to the Google form below to tell me how you did.
https://docs.google.com/a/greymain.school.nz/forms/d/11e5i5Yq8YdWdzRaWusMZ3MweCQ_m3zW69cJbK3iDPTg/viewform

Hopefully everything went smoothly this morning in class and you enjoyed maths buddy. Please follow this link mathsbuddy and login. Begin to complete the work set. There is no google form to post results as I can see them on that site.

Don't forget to log your reading, every night that you read. Follow the link below.
https://docs.google.com/a/greymain.school.nz/forms/d/1iru0PHcDJfqWdUZOebnTcGFpLc9Ek2c6A8EqdDJHBv8/viewform

Your science this week can be found in the class science folder...or you can click the link below

Science Friction

Please don't answer on the sheet, but on the google form below.
https://docs.google.com/a/greymain.school.nz/forms/d/1jFNglmb6beo6wV5ib0mChf-7M1dUWKgyUzRFG_vya6A/viewform

Writing-Lucy's Bay

WALT Describe a setting with a particular slant

In the book Lucy's Bay by Gary Crew, Sam visits Pops place by the beach. This place is a sad place for Sam because his sister Lucy drowned at the beach nearby, in a little bay which the family call Lucy's Bay. Sam has never been there as he feels responsible for Lucy's death.

We are investigating the way in which Gary Crew uses words to create not just a setting but an setting with Sams emotions-his point of view.

Follow the link below to fill out the Google form

https://docs.google.com/a/greymain.school.nz/forms/d/1y04utjDQ1x_9B5njvnFGBnJBY-hsqfUHX77rPiqUpkA/viewform

When you have completed that, begin a paragraph of your 'Lucy's Bay'. Choose a setting you know and substitute it. What words will you include to give it your point of view? Similes? Metaphors? Personification (giving non humans, human behaviours)

I love the sentence...he would not stand between the papery branches to watch the quick bright finches flash high in the branches. How could you use something like this?

Homework link

Follow this link to your words

https://www.spellingcity.com/Stephenw72/

Follow this link to post results

https://docs.google.com/a/greymain.school.nz/forms/d/1bZgVYE-iL6ebSGEXKkqsx385Nl_gNqmsKEPgmKuB3ZI/viewform

Follow this link to post results for basic facts*

https://docs.google.com/a/greymain.school.nz/forms/d/1ZwiAH5TpHkgB4KCFkqnMZKVCvsBsoSBJ9cN61Yj6N8M/viewform

Follow this link to post responses to your science/reading*

Reading/Science link

https://docs.google.com/a/greymain.school.nz/forms/d/1MOsWfm3XcdPR99JcvJNk0dHRDYUjZ0BfM0N_3vOAf7I/viewform

(*you need to collect a sheet from Mr Wood)

Follow this link to post responses about your personal reading this week

Reading Log

25 years ago today

I remember it well...

Tesellations

During maths we have been looking at shapes that tessellated. We have been using a mix of technology and "old school" cutting and pasting (you know...with scissors  and glue).

Using a parallelogram on google draw we made a shape/scribble on one side, cut and pasted it to the other parallel side. This was then repeated until we had a random shape. We then printed these off, coloured them and pasted them together like a jigsaw. 

Next we are going to investigate why some shapes will tessellate and others won't. 

Plate Tectonics

We watched this cool video and these are the new learning's, or questions that came as a result.

Jackie Thomas!

We were pretty lucky at assembly today as we got to sing Jackie's song back to her! Cool aye?

Replay

we are using this cool little video to inspire us in our writing. Our stories will follow soon...enjoy this in the meantime.

WOW- World of Wearable arts!

In two weeks time we will be holding our biennial WOW evening. This time its a little bit different. Instead of costumes, we have only been focusing on headpieces. It has been a lot of fun so far (as well as very very messy!) and I'm pretty stocked with the work so far. 1 and a half weeks to go!

Cody & William's Dragon

Jack with his and Caleb's Samurai Helmet

Flanny with his Water Horse...Sorry... Dragon!

Polar Plunge

Check this out...some familiar faces! Big ups to Foster, Jonny, Ronan, Caleb's Mum, Ronan's mum AND dad, Mrs Thomas and Ruby


Polar Plunge Event 2013 - Life Education Trust West Coast from WestCoastFilm on Vimeo.

Cantamaths 2013

On Wednesday we went to Cantamaths. Here's a short video of George running around!

Woolvs in the Sitee

In a strange and sinister world, Ben is in hiding from the 'woolvs'. His only ally, Missus Radinski, doesn't believe the woolvs exist-until it is too late.

Alone, Ben must go out into the streets and confront his fears...



(Some) FOCUS QUESTIONS:
What is the significance of the sky?
Why does Ben spell so badly?
Why is he burning furniture?
Why does he have no food or water?
What happened to his parents/family?
The 'woolvs' aren't the "luvlee wyld creechis, running in the woods'...so what are they?
Why are the seasons all "topsee-turvee'?
Why doesn't Missus Radinski look down?
Where is Missus Radinski?
What is the significance of the use of colour?
Is Ben a reliable author?

For other ideas and questions, click links below.
Woolves in the Sitee notes
More Woolvs in the Sitee notes

TASK
1.Complete a 'Generalisation' SOLO hotmap

2.Post your generalisation and 'double because' in the 'Evaluate Generalisation' box.
3.Post a question you want answered.
4.Answer someones post question.

Flanny's Speech

For those that missed it, here is Matthew's speech. What do you think?

Camp milk crate challenge

Dangling in the air is fun.

Alex, our instructor, led towards some of the biggest trees I've seen in a long time. Straight away she tells us to put on helmets, or it’s an instant 10 press-ups! ( That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think so? ) Because there were safety barriers.

Anyway, Alex shows us how to put on a harness. It’s fairly simple, but I won’t go into too much detail as you will probably get bored. Alex teaches us a short song in case we forgot what to do. It goes like this, ‘Three C’s, Squeeze squeeze, Helmets Please, Yo Alex!’.

There were two trees: a tall but thin pine tree and a many branched gum tree. There were three paths on the gum tree, one easy path, a slightly harder one and an expert path on the gum tree, but only one long path on the pine tree. Straight up, straight down.

Levi, Caleb and I were in a group and we all decided that we weren’t going to do the wimpy beginners course. So we planned that we would do the medium path then the expert path, and then the single pine course. That was a pretty good plan.

We got ourselves strapped in next to the medium path. Levi went up first so, Caleb was the anchor if Levi fell and I was the fireman pulling all the leftover cord into the bucket. All together we sang the Climbing song. Alex came over and gave us the thumbs up. Caleb and I asked if Levi was ready. He was. He asked if we were ready. We were.

Levi CAREFULLY crept up the ladder like a sloth, then got into action. He lifted his foot into a foothold, then hoisted himself into a wedge between a branch and the trunk. At that height he was about two and a half metres to three metres from the ground. It doesn’t look far from the ground but it is far from his POV ( that’s point of view ) . He said the magic word - marshmallows - and he started abseiling down. Not too bad. Caleb’s turn.

Caleb’s goal was to beat Levi’s height of three metres. He told Alex that but she said try and beat yourself. He took that in, but he still wanted to beat Levi. So we swapped jobs, I became the anchor and Levi was the fireman. We sang the song again and this time Alex hung around. We asked Caleb if he was ready. He asked us if we were ready, then off he went.

Caleb went as slow as Levi up the ladder, which was pretty cruisy. He wedged himself where Levi bailed. I heard the other groups. Man! They were loud!! Caleb’s mum, Shannon, told me to focus because I started looking around. Caleb started to freak out and we had to calm him down. He said marshmallow and he started abseiling down. I was so light that when Caleb came down, he lifted me of the ground like a gorilla lifting a banana. He bet Levi by about thirty centimetres. At least he’s happy. My heartbeat quickens. My turn.

The only climbing I’ve done is on the climbing wall at school,and I got stuck on that, I was fairly nervous ( understatement of the year ). I attached myself to the pulley. Felt a bit heavy. We sang the song and Alex gave us the all clear. Levi and Caleb asked if I was ready. ‘I am,’ I lied. ‘Are you?’ I asked them. They are.

I shook off myself. I start climbing the ladder surprisingly fast, faster than anyone I’ve seen. I slow down a little bit because Levi and Caleb had trouble keeping up. I get to the place where Levi and Caleb stopped in one minute, were it took them about three minutes. Pretty good for a rookie. I put my back on a branch as I plan my way up. There was about seventeen steps until the end of the current track. There is one way up anyway, so I just started climbing. My groupees cheer me on all the way. I just make it to a dead step when I decide to stop. The adrenaline was starting to leave. ‘Marshmallow.’ It took awhile for me to accustom to the abseiling position. It’s ok.

My teammates congratulated me when I got down. ‘It wasn’t too hard,  once I got used to it.’ Now to the next one. The hard one. The path basically starts where Caleb and Levi gave up. After that is a single, long, treacherous path. Caleb’s turn. Then Levi’s. Finally, me.

I started up the long, unstable ladder slightly slower than last time. I was scared that I was going to fall, but why should I be? If I fall Caleb and Levi will catch me. I get to the place where Caleb stopped, not too far from where I was. I start to climb again. ‘Use your leg muscles.’ someone says. ‘What muscles?’ I mutter. Focus. I grab onto another hold, and I heaved. I made it to the spot where I gave up. I looked down. Bad mistake. My heart rate quickens. A sudden surge of strength comes. I start climbing even quicker. One hold at a time. That actually works. I make it to the pulley for the previous climb. This is high enough.

This pine tree looks very tall, but no one seems to care. I saw Daniel and Cody climb all the way up, but they've done this before. Caleb’s turn. We all strap ourselves in, and Caleb ascends the ladder. It is a wooden ladder thankfully, like the first one. Caleb manages to get up the ladder before he gave up. Same with Levi. Okay. I’m ready.

I start to climb the ladder. It seems unsteady. I’m not tall enough so I have to stand on the tip of the ladder. I lose my balance and I launch myself onto the nearest branch and I hang for a while. I don’t know why I jumped Levi and Caleb would have caught me. I guess I wanted to be kinda cool. I don’t manage to finish. I’m cool with that.

Now onto something really cool, the Twin Towers activity. The task was easy. Stack milk crates in two towers next to each other as high as you can. Pretty simple, eh? Well it isn’t. Once it gets past level four your helpers have to hand the crates up to you. Then they have to throw them up to you. One level of the crates is about forty centimetres, so multiply that by ten is four metres. That’s high. And it is really unstable.

Levi was throwing them up to me. We’re on level thirteen. Levi thre one up. I missed. Second time. I caught it when it’s falling down. So pro. The record is seventeen. That was with adult help. We haven’t had any help at all. I placed down the crate and moved. Being balanced isn’t one of my specialties, if I had any.

Level seventeen. Finally! Man, it is high! Levi threw a crate up and I caught it. Cool. I got the crowd rooting for me. Eighteen. We won!! We won anyway because we had no adult help. I wanted to go higher. Nineteen. I told everyone I’m going to bail. So... I did. Matthew was being stupid and he stayed right under where I tipped the towers. Egg.

When my anchor people brought me down, I was still excited. Mr Wood caught all of the action on the iPad. So I didn’t fabricate this whole story. Tree climbing is epic! I would definitely do that again.

My Dad

Here's Will.i.am's (not the really famous one, our much cooler version) piece of writing about his Dad. Not sure whether its prose or poetry. What do you think?

Hanmer Video

2 weeks ago we had our winter camp at Hanmer Springs. He is a wee taste of what happened...more to follow. A big thanks to Miss Panther for the cool vid


Hanmer Camp 2013 from Jacinda Panther on Vimeo.

Celebrating our Role Models for Matariki

Matariki is a time to come together as a whanau and a time for celebration. In room 14 we are celebrating the shining stars in our lives-the role models that we look up to. Read and enjoy.

My Uncle Adam

My uncle Adam is a role model to me because he fought cancer and he is still alive today. That takes guts, because he must have been scared and if he died the world would be a horrible place without him.

I love him. He is an awesome uncle. He is a hard working man. He respects lots of people. He works for W.C. Public Health, his job is to help people who have cancer. He organises wood and coal if they need it, he sits and listens to their old stories. Sometimes he even takes them out for a meal. When an old person is about to die he would take them to a nice quiet restaurant and get them something to suck on.

He is a caring, loving person everyday that’s why I am inspired by him.

The best thing is that he has just found out recently that he is going to be a Dad! So I’m going to have another cuzzie!

He’s just awesome My Uncle Adam!

By Jack Olsen

MY UNCLE ANDREW by Riley G

My Uncle Andrew is my role model. This is because at school he couldn’t read or write, but boy, if he saw something that was broken he could fix it as quick as lightning. The awesome thing is that he made cars that won top car awards and sold them for great amounts of money. And even though he couldn’t read or write, he persevered.

It’s great that he can read and write now.  I like how he built me a ramp for my scooter and how he built a coal and garden shed for his house. He’s amazing. This is why my Uncle Andrew is my inspiration.

Book Character Day

One of the highlights of the school calendar is the annual book character day. On this day we celebrate some of our favourite books (and movies, and sometimes magazines) by dressing up. Here are our efforts this year...they range from amazing complex costumes to the pathetic I-put-it-together-at-the-last-minute-using-a-metre-ruler-and-a-sheet effort. There are also a couple of strange, rather disturbing ones...

Liam-AKA the Cat in the Hat

Tuhi as Harry Potter

Cinderfella?

Cody...you have issues. You are truly a disturbed young man

Tyla as Mr B our DP. Renown for telling the odd short tale!

Snow White and Black Beauty. More of a beautiful caramel I would have thought William!

Flanny as The Witch King of Anmar from LOTR...and a very pathetic Gandalf

WOW! A metre ruler and a white sheet...BEST GANDALF EVER! 

Nice Effort Flanny

Caleb really does look like this when he gets miffed!

The 3 Potters: 90s cool Potter, Almost Ginger Potter and  Maori Potter

Lakin as Doc Brown (Back to the Future)

Jai, ready to bring the hurt!

Luke as Robin Hood

Brock Jack C, Jack O & Levi from League Weekly

I made it!

Any chance I can get my sports badge now fellas?

The marathon was a hard slog...long boring straights and the Nor' Westerly kicked up and  made it a real struggle at times.

I did what I told you guys not to do, I went out to fast and after 14km or so knew I was in trouble. Still...I didn't give in. Such fun...

Spelling sorted!

Luke's Machine

Drillatron Series XXS Prototype

The Drillatron Series XXS Prototype is a gargantuan drilling device, that can be used for big drilling jobs. The drilling device’s features contain these: two moving devices, two joining pillars, a central control hub, a shaft that propels the drill into the ground and of course, the drill. This machine would be very useful in situations where a lesser drill would take too much time.

The central control hub houses the million volt lithium-ion battery, which powers all the monitoring systems, the 1500 bhp engine and the dashboard. There is no windows because if there was, it would be dangerous because of the debris the drill would bring up. Instead, you see through the monitoring cameras.

The drill is the main piece of this wonderful creation. It has a span of 5 metres, and has serrated edges throughout the drill. There is a reinforced steel shaft that propels the drill down into the ground and makes it spin around at incredible speeds.

The whole entire Drillatron series moves on a series of caterpillar tracks, that swivel on a series of large ball bearings built for all terrain, including inclines and declines.

The Drillatron Series XXS Prototype is the first Drillatron in the Drillatron drill series. Only 100 of these gargantuan machines will be built because of what the device can do. The XXS Prototype will begin production on September 6 2022, so it will share its birthday with its creator, the highly decorated mechanical engineer Luke Baatjies. The XXS will begin production the following winter. Drillatron will live on!

- Luke Baatjies, Highly Decorated Mechanical Engineer

MK2 Intergalactic Mobile All-Terrain Mashing and Pulverizing Device-a-tron 3000 v2.0

Here's Joseph's drawing. Writing still to come...hopefully! (Won't hold my breath waiting)

Norton's Hut

Here is Hamish's story about Norton from Norton's Hut . Make sure you check out Caleb's Post from last week if you haven't already.



NORTON by Hamish Markland

The moment we stepped into the hut I felt something was strange, moments before we were yahooing and loud but as I opened the door my face dropped and made everyone wonder what I had seen.
Sitting by the fire was the silhouette of a man as we came through the door the man slowly turned his head towards us, the hood his oilskin jacket doing its best to cover his face. His dark, shaky eyes piercing us with a paralyzing gaze cautiously we tiptoed into the hut and laid our pack down on our bunks strangely the man had no gear of his own other than what he had on him. We try to talk to him but strangely there is no reply, we ask him where he came from or if he wanted food but he refused with a slight shake on his head and turned back to the fire which cast a sinister shadow on the wall. We caught our last glimpse of the dark figure before we went to bed. The next morning we woke up and it was just like he was never there… he was gone!

10 things that annoy Mr B

Another Andy Griffiths-inspired list by Jack Olsen

1. Kids who fart
2. Kids who scream
3. Guns
4. Screaming kids who have guns which make farting noise instead of BANG!
5. Women who don't like, or understand cricket, that ask "who's winning?" on the first morning of a test match
6. Dreams about women  asking "who's winning?" on the first morning of a test match
7. Waking from a dream where a woman asks him "who's winning?" on the first morning of a test match, to find that he's fallen asleep in front of the TV and his wife walks in an asks him "who's winning?"...and the test match has only just started!
8. Not listening to him
9. Slugs in his garden
10. Kids who don't listen to him and sprinkle slugs in his garden thinking that they were anti-slug pellets

10 ways to annoy Mr Wood...

An Andy Griffiths-inspired list by Joseph and Cody 

They look like this in real life too...

1. Your teacher asks you to write a 10-point list and you write only nine
2. Scribbl### in your b##k
3. Kill him 
4. Kill him twice
5. Kill him to death
6. using badly grammar
7. txt lng
8. wrtin wrk n txt lng
9. kling hm 2x 2 def
10. ...

Norton's Hut

This week we read 'Norton's Hut', by John Marsden (illus.Peter Gouldthrope).

Without giving too much away it's a spooky story with a twist. A bunch of kids go tramping and unexpectedly have to stay in a hut until a storm passes. When they arrive at the hut a mysterious man is there as well.

We used this as a motivation to write our characterisations.  Scroll down and enjoy.


NORTON 

As we entered the hut we were greeted by a roaring heat of an unnaturally large fire. But even more disturbing was the shadowy figure hunched in front of the blazing flames trying to absorb every last ounce of heat yet still the cabin had an unnatural chill.  As we unpacked in silence, trying not to disturb him, he slowly turned revealing half of his face, the rest of which remained hidden beneath the hood of his damp old oil skin.  His skin had a youthful appearance as pale as the blizzard surrounding us.  His one exposed eye had an undeniable knowledge within its darkness.

We tried to greet him with a smile and an offering of warm food which he declined with the turn of his head back to the blazing flames without a word spoken.  This made us feel uneasy.                          

                                     By: Caleb Anderson

The mysterious man from "Norton's Hut"

Reading SuperHero

A little video Mrs Woo's kids at Lake Brunner made about her for a competition. Well edited I thought!

Bailey Bridge

Last year, Mr B and I saw a teaching resource that was advertised in the Education Gazette. It showed high school students sitting around a 1/6th scale bailey bridge that they had created. The resource demonstrated how temporary bridges were constructed and assembled. Possibly more important however was the social aspect behind it. A team, working together, to achieve a common goal...perfect for bonding a new class. 

After having a run through in the morning, the boys decided that they wanted to see how fast it could be completed in the afternoon. 16mins and 33secs is our record so far...I wonder how much faster we could go? 

The panels go up

The rakers start to straighten and strengthen the panels.

Transons will support the chess (decking timber) later on

Foster oversees quality control.

Most of the transoms are on

Team work was the key to a quick successful build

The stringers go on top of the transoms

Panels are still being contructed

Alex pinning the panels together

Jack bolting on a racker to the panel and transom

Foster, Levi and Flanny; hard at it.

Will and Kobie begin to add the chess

The beginning to the end of the build. We are flying!

Jai and Alex

Foster and Jack

Still hard at it.

Halfway there...

Now the ribalds (kerbing) can be added

Jack having a smocko break

The final few panels are added

Daniel going for it

Levi, Dan and Kobie

Not far away now fellas...about 12 mins into the build

Add caption

Jonny...quiet AND working!

All you need Foster is shorter shorts and a singlet...

Zeal

Broc

16mins and 33secs later...I think we could go faster however.

Quality control will have to be better next time fellas...i can see a decking timber sticking up. Who's in charge?