Duncan the two legged dog meets the beach for the first time!

Duncan the two legged dog meets the beach for the first time!



Today we met Duncan who only has two legs. We think he is one determined little dog who has never given up. He shows how to be successful and has gotten his life back because of it. His family treat him no differently to the other dogs and he looks as though he has a very happy life. We think Duncan is one awesome dog!

Some of our superstars

 Both S.B and L.C had a busy weekend doing their dance recitals. As you can see they both look fantastic in their costumes and they had a great day. All of their hard work and rehersals have paid off!
Well done girls :-)
(sorry the picture is sideways, it wouldn't load any other way)

Our Space Dioramas

For our homework over the last 4 months we have been making either "A moment in time" or "Blast off into space" which shows either our Earth or a space scene. We had to have labels to explain what was happening and why a planet was either a good or bad place for us to live. We all realise that Earth is the right planet for us because it is the perfect distance from the sun (not too hot and not too cold), has liquid water, has food and shelter and oxygen.
I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.

If you're not sure what to do with your long lovely Summer holidays why don't you compete in

The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge...
 

This year it is New Zealand vs Australia!
 

We all love a challenge that involves us beating those across the ditch!

So all you have to do is read for 10 minutes (how easy is that) every day and log on to the web site and join up! EASY!
The country that records the most minutes will reign supreme as Summer Reading Champion!

Log on and join in the trans-tasmin fun at www.scholastic.co.nz/summer 

Good luck and let's beat those Aussies

What we saw out of our rocket window

We thought long and hard about what we wanted to know from this Inquiry

What we want to find out

If you go to the end of space will you come back to where you started? N.B

How did the planets get their names? B.P

How were the planets made? A.A

If you stayed on Mars for more than 2 hours would you die? S.P

Why are the planets named what they are? S.B

How were comets made? M.T

Why are planets so famous? L.C

Are there aliens living in space? J.H

Why do planets stay in the same place all the time? M.vdM

How long would it take to get to the biggest star in our Universe? J.W

Why doesn’t the sun move? J.J

Are new planets being formed all of the time? H.M

Can we leave the Heliosphere? O.S

How come there is no oxygen in space? J.S

Does space ever end? G.B

Why are some of the planets so hot? H.D

How hot is the sun? P.P 

Why do some planets have moons and others don’t? V.V

Why is space called “Space”? H.T-S 

Why is Earth the only planet that has life on it? G.H 

Why is space dark? D.B 

Why is there no gravity in space? N.S 

How many times does Earth fit into the biggest star? A.E

Why don’t other planets have air? R.R

Why does a black hole suck you in? J.R

What we learnt today

What does a planet need in order to be called a planet?

There are three criteria

1.                It needs to orbit the sun

2.              It needs gravity to maintain its shape

3.              It must have cleared away other objects from its orbital path

 

Space School is in session

Our class page 2013

So you think Earth is big...

Our new Inquiry topic is Our Place in Space and this is a short clip showing the size of some of the planets and stars in our Universe. It certainly makes you think.

Our winning letters to New Zealand

For our last homework of Term 3 we had to write a letter to the people of New Zealand telling them why we need to reduce, reuse and recyle. The following 4 were the best examples in the class. Read them and see if you agree with what they are saying.

To the people of New Zealand

 

Do you want rubbish to take over the world? Do you want landfills everywhere?

 

We must all work together as a team to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle all the things we use every day but end up throwing away because if we don't our world will become unclean and untidy and our oceans and rivers will become polluted.

 

If we do not look after our planet fishes, animals and plants may become extinct like the Yangtze River Dolphin.

 

So here are some simple things you can do:

At weekends when you go to the beach take a plastic bag with you and if you see rubbish that's been left on the beach pick it up and take it home and dispose of it responsibly. If everyone did this we would have a clean world to live in.

Get a compost bin to recycle scraps in, this will rot the food away and turn it into compost to feed the garden.

 

So remember these useful tips and help make our planet to be clean and green.

 

Yours sincerely

N.B

Dear New Zealand

I am writing to ask you to please reduce your waste.
You can do this by composting your food scraps, using a worm farm and mulching your lawn clippings and garden waste.

Reduce what you can.
Give old toys, clothes and appliances to opportunity shops, friends or sell online.

Remember things such as plastic bottles can be used to make sprinklers, pots, wind chimes etc.
Buy products made from recycled materials.

Lastly, recycle whatever you can.
It takes less energy and resources to recycle, it creates less pollution and it helps the environment. For example if we cut down fewer trees there will be less soil erosion and more and homes for animals.

Did you know that animals sometimes mistake rubbish for food? This can kill them, so by not throwing out rubbish you could be saving a life.

We should reduce the amount of things we throw into the rubbish because the Earth only has limited resources and once we use them up they are gone forever.

If we don't reduce, reuse and recycle our planet will look like a giant rubbish bowl and there will be no trees, no animals, and no air to breathe because trees give us air.

Recycle and we can have a lovely green Earth filled with plants and animals.

The choice is yours.
Act now and save our planet.

Yours sincerely
N.S



To the people of New Zealand

Why it is important to reduce, reuse and recycle.

If we don't reduce our waste we will run out of space to put it. We can help by packing our lunches in a lunch box instead of plastic bags.

Also reducing saves money. We should switch off lights when we aren't using them and fix dripping taps.

Reusing is a good thing, it saves us money and makes us buy less. If we buy less it makes us create less waste and we can all pass on old clothes and toys.

When we recycle we make something new out of something we don't use anymore. For example we can reuse containers for storage.

 I hope we can help reduce, reuse and recycle so we don't need to fill our world with rubbish.

Thank you
M.vdM



Dear people of New Zealand

We need to RECYCLE!!

Do you want our land full of rubbish? Heaps of holes filled with rubbish?

Make sure that you don't put recycling things in the landfill. Put everything you can in the recycling bin.

We have heaps of ads to try and make people quit smoking. We need ads that try to make people think more about recycling. Also we need to have workshops for everyone to go to so they can learn what to recycle and how to recycle. For example, what things we can use to compost.

We need to make programmes so lots of people can help clean our beaches and parks, just like Sustainable Coastline has programmes that you can join in and help clean your local beach.

Help clean your neighbourhood today!
Keep our world clean and green!
Don't litter!

Yours sincerely
S.B

Learning with playdough

For the last week of term we have been looking at fractions. We made playdough because the recipe showed fractions in every day life. After we had made it we sat on the deck and showed different fractions using our playdough. We made 1/2 then 1/3 and then different amounts with 5ths and 10ths. We had so much fun and cannot wait to use it again tomorrow.

Reading Response

Each Monday we do a comprehension cliffhanger in which we try to work out a mystery. We learn new interesting words and are having fun trying to solve each story. We are reading about T.D who is a 12 year old sports detective. We had to design an ad for a magazine or newspaper for T.D. These are some of the BEST in the class.

A special moment for one of our own

 

FULL TIME: Counties 37

                        Waikato 25
Counties hung on for a thrilling win in their second successful Ranfurly Shield defence.

Waikato showed tremendous resolve to claw their way back from being down 11-20 at halftime and give the hosts a fright in front of a bumper Pukekohe crowd.
The visitors started the afternoon well but once Counties got on a roll they had too much attacking thrust.
Among all of this action was our very own J.H who was lucky enough to be one of the ball boys for the day. It was a great honour and one he enjoyed a lot.
Way to go J!! You are a future star :-)

Our incredible evening

Our Inquiry has been about recycling and "How can we wear that?" On Tuesday night we put on our show which proved you can recycle everyday objects and still look amazing. We decided on the concept of trying to Save our Sea and then created a show that had this in mind. The children came up with the words for our Salty Seadog to say then created their awesome costumes. Have a look and see what you think....

Spelling Word Stories

Words I used:
wizard
witch
without
wishes
worried
Once upon a time there was a wizard and he was worried about a witch that everyone was scared of. She steals and kills and is a criminal. One day a wizard came across the witch. The witch said "If you don't give me wishes because you are a wizard I will kill you."
The wizard gave the witch 5 wishes. He had to give the witch his wizard cloak. He walked back home without his cloak. The witch and wizard became friends.
By S.B

Words I used:
president
prettiest
pretend
primary
prettier
Today the president went to the  prettiest primary school. He tried to pretend to be the richest person in the world. A couple of girls came to him and said "We are prettier than you." That night he was very sad.
By M.B


Words I used:
prince
prettiest
princess
prison
prevent
Once upon a time there was a prince. He fell in love with the prettiest princess. The wicked witch threatened to put the princess in prison if the prince didn't get her a golden crown. To prevent her going to prison, he went as quick as a flash and got the golden crown. He gave it to the wicked witch and the prince and princess lived happily ever after.
By M.v-d M

Words I used:
swum
suspicious
swung
sword
tried
Once upon a time a heroic knight went to rescue a beautiful princess locked in a castle by an evil witch. Around the castle was a deep moat with crocodiles. The brave knight swum across the moat and every time a crocodile came near him he swung his sword at them to keep them away. When he got to the other side he tried to get  into the castle by shouting up to the princess who was looking out of the window at him. But the princess was suspicious of him and did not let him in so he swum across the moat again and went home for his tea.
By N.B

We are showing our support for Team New Zealand

Room 22 has a brain break

 

 

After a hectic night doing our Fashion Show Mrs Reid gave us several basic facts tests. To soften the blow and keep us fresh we got to do some "Brain Break" activities. One of our favourites is the Sid Shuffle form the Ice Age movies. Have a look and see us in action.

Recycling is cool

recycling is cool - slideshow

For homework we each took a plastic bottle and created something new and interesting out of it. These are some of the designs we came up with... we have a very creative lot in Room 22.
 

Kohunga Festival

Botany Downs looking amazing as they take the stage.

Three wahine in their outfit ready to perform.

 

On Saturday Botany Downs Kapa Haka group attended the Kohunga Festival which was held at McCleans College. The group has been working very hard to learn many songs in Te Reo Maori and they sounded amazing. Many schools were there but, as usual, Botany Downs was by far the most exciting and interesting group. Mr T said they sounded awesome and very professional.

Kids for Kids rocks

 

Last night 14 members of our class took part in the Kids for Kids concert and had an exceptional evening. As always the children represented our school with perfect behaviour and made Mr T and the other teachers who attended very proud. Botany Downs has the most amazing choir.

Nathan King (former front man for Zed)

Jackie Clark

This year, Kids for Kids celebrates 19 years of bringing inspirational mass choirs to New Zealand students, with an estimated 250,000 kiwi kids participating in a Kids for Kids choir. As always, Kids for Kids aims to promote the great work of World Vision by encouraging young people, their whãnau and school communities to make a difference in the lives of children around the globe.

 

 

Last Sunday was Father's Day and we made some ties for our Dads. Each tie said four things that our Dad could do and one that he couldn't. We took them home and some of our Dads took a photo wearing their new, very cool, accessory.

 

Mr H certainly looks as though he loves his new tie!

 

 

Mr and Master B looking very happy.

 

  

 

N.B's Dad looks very comfy in his new tie.

 

M.V.D..M's Dad looking very smart indeed.

What an awesome team! S.B and her Dad.


We love our Dad.

Happy Father's Day

 

L.C enjoying her coffee before a hard day at school.

 

A relaxed and casual Mr T enjoys Father's Day breakfast.

Every year we host a morning for all of the special men in our lives. Our Father's Day breakfast is always a huge hit and has lots of dads and their children enjoying a bacon buttie and a coffee. Mrs Reid managed to snap some of us with our dad. We love our dads and think they are really awesome!

Our Super Gymnasts

 

 

Today our school gymnastics team went to the inter schools gymnastics competition. Some of our girls were part of the team and did very well indeed. J.S has reached the Champion of Champions level and we are all very proud of her and the entire team. Our friendly photographer Wayne Martin was there to capture the event and has snapped some of our girls just as they are about to compete.

 

A little ditty for dad

 

Mrs Reid spent some of Sunday having a walk along her favourite beach. After having Mr Cochrane from Sustainable Coastlines come and talk to us she took a good look at what else was on the beach. This is what she picked up in only a short space of time and it is most upsetting to see it is mostly plastic and lots of the rings from milk and juice bottles. It is a good reminder to us all to put our rubbish IN THE BIN and if you can't find one, take it home! Let's see if we can try to make a change in how we leave our beaches.

What an amazing visit

Our focus on education is straight forward: create large-scale awareness of the problem and provide achievable solutions. We teach simple steps and creative changes that anyone can make to prevent litter from getting to our coastlines in the first place. In other words: the fence at the top of the cliff, not just the ambulance at the bottom.

http://sustainablecoastlines.org

Today we were lucky enough to have Mr Cochrane come to talk to us about having a sustainable coastline. We learned that every piece of rubbish that goes into the drain ends up in our precious oceans where it causes problems. We were unlucky however in that Mr Cochrane showed us pictures of sea life that had been killed through eating plastic. We also saw a turtle that was disfigured from getting the plastic ring from a milk bottle stuck around its middle. It was really horrible to see and it showed us how careful we have to be with our rubbish.
As a class we learned that we need to make sure that any rubbish goes into the bin and if we see rubbish we must pick it up so it cannot get into our waterway.
We are trying to organise a rubbish clean up of our local Causeway and we will keep you informed of what happens.

Book Week is Awesome

James Bond 007

Hermione Granger

Fairy Godmother

Greg Heffley aka Wimpy Kid

Detective

1 of the 101 dalmations

Little Red Riding Hood

Queen Susan  from Narnia

High King Peter

Pippi Longstockings

Little Red Riding Hood

 

Pirate

Bride of Frankenstine

Karate Kid/Jackie Chan

Batman

Pippi Longstockings

Girl spy EJ12 (from differnet books)

Little Red Riding Hood

and another Little Red Riding Hood

Bilbo Baggins

 

The Wizard of Oz

 

Captain Underpants

 

Harry Potter

 

 

Our teacher who forgot to wear a costume.....