Monday, September 28, 2009

Our School's Wearable Arts Performance

Last Thursday night we had our Wearable Arts Extravaganza at our school. Our class created costumes that represented individual New Zealanders who have had an impact on the world. Our topics were: Medicine, Science, Movie Making, Motor Sports and Military.

We were very impatient to be on stage and we had to wait for a very long time for our turn. When we were finally lining up to go into the hall, everyone was nervous. When it was over and done with and we had finished our performance, a wave of relief washed over us as we headed back to our classroom.

The winner in our class competition was the Military Group. They also won the runner-up award of the night. The judges said that you usually only saw a small Victoria Cross and it was good to see all the detail on it.

The Movie-Maker group won the award for the best hat and the Science group won the award for the best use of hula hoops and test tubes.


Military Theme:
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Our voice-over was read by Mikayla:
"Our theme is New Zealanders who have contributed to military achievements in the world. We studied Willie Apiata, Nancy Wake, Sir Keith Park and Charles Upham. We decided to create a Victoria Cross because Willy Apiata received one in July 2007.The cross is made from card and paint, the chain is made from card, gold wire and paint. The under-piece is made from two sheets of woven flax, representing the Maori Battalion. The beret is made from an old towel and represents Nancy Wake because she helped the French and was the most decorated woman from the Second World War. The shoes are made from leather and cotton to represent boots."
Mikayla's Dad teaches us how to put army paint on our faces.

Maria wearing camo paint.

The Military group. Jenna and Katelyn in front, Mikayla, Maria, Juliana and Te Ana standing.


" The music for the Military group is supposed to set the mood and to make people feel how other people do about sacrifices for their country. The camouflage paint on our faces is to make us all look the same. I got it from my Dad who is the army and navy. It's an honour to be able to play the Last Post so we know that we had to stand still for the remembrance, " said Mikayla.



Science Theme:
Our voice over was read by Georgia:

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Our wearable art represents New Zealanders’ contributions to scientific discoveries and advancements in the world. We studied Ernest Rutherford, William Pickering, Alan McDiarmid and Beatrice Tinsley. Our artwork represents Ernest Rutherford splitting the atom. It is made of hoola-hoops attached with rivets and glue. Polystyrene balls represent molecules.
The art also represents us because, don’t we all make an impact on the world?
Did you know that 1971 was the centennial of Rutherford’s birth? In that year, Professor Peter Fowler, who was Rutherford's eldest grandchild, was appointed the Rutherford Lecturer to New Zealand.


The Science group. Ameleigh, Sheena, Georgia, Pooja - and So Yeon- the model.

So Yeon models the Science creation.

Medical Theme:
Our voice over was read by Sambit:

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" Our wearable art represents New Zealanders who have contributed to medical achievements in the world. We studied Fred Hollows, Brian Barrett Boyes, Archie McIndoe and Harold Gillies. Our art was inspired by who was a pioneer plastic surgeon in World War One, and his nephew, Sir Archie McIndoe, who was a plastic surgeon in World War 2. The front is a face before the plane crash and the back is a burnt face after the plane crash. The faces were made out of cardboard and papier mache. The cast is made out of a cardboard tube.The crutch was made out of piping and the bandages are recycled bubblewrap."


The Medical team: William, Daniel, Aminder, Sambit, Roneel and Kenneth- the model.

The pilot's face before he crashed his plane.

The pilot's face after surgery.

Kenneth models the Medicine group's costume.
Mrs Vincent said, "Just before Kenneth, the Medical model, was about to go on stage, he noticed that the bandage around his leg was unravelling. Luckily, I was nearby and could wrap it back up and tuck it in again. I hoped that it wouldn't come undone on stage. I was impressed with the way the groups presented their creations on stage."

Kenneth said, "I was scared because because Mrs Vincent might not see it was unravelling."



Movie Makers Theme:
Our voice over was read by Adryan:
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"Our wearable art represents New Zealanders' contributions to the movie industry. We studied Peter Jackson, Nicki Caro, Andrew Adamson and Jane Campion. The giant camera is made from recycled materials including rubbish bags and a cardboard box with a tinfoil-covered plastic container.
Our clapper-board hat was made from papier mache on a balloon. Our model is wearing a rubbish bag dress with a belt made from a rubbish bag strip woven with sparkly elastic. The necklace is an old fashioned film reel which was the most sophisticated item to make, which was made with some trial and error.
An interesting fact we learned was that Peter Jackson made his first version of King Kong at nine years old.

Who knows, maybe soon a movie stars will be wearing our awesome design on the red carpet at the next Oscars. "


Movie-Makers team: Rebekah, Gulnoza, Kumiko, Caitlin and Adryan.

Caitlin models the Movie-Makers' costume as Rebekah, Kumiko, Adryan and Gulnoza stand in the background.

"When the group before us was about to finish, I was getting very nervous. I was quite surprised to win the best hat because some people, (not in our group) had joked about it," said Caitlin, the group's model.

Kumiko said, "I had a lot of fun, but I was really nervous. I couldn't move before our turn. Everyone was looking at our team. I thought that we did well and I was really happy that we won the best hat. I would like to do it again."

"I was so excited when I was at home, before the show, and I was jumping around waiting to go. When I got to school, I almost ran a hundred miles an hour to the classroom because I thought I was late," said Rebekah.


Motor Sports Theme:

Our voice over was read by Mighael:

" -->Our wearable art represents New Zealand motorsport successes in the world. On the helmet are the names of Burt Munro and John Britten to acknowledge motorbikes and Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren to acknowledge achievements in car racing.
The blue jacket, made from rubber carpet underlay, represents the rubber of tyres and the bubble wrap represents safety and protection. The chequered cape represents the finishing flag. The shoes, made from plastic milk containers, represent movement and cars overtaking each other on a racing circuit.
One interesting fact we learned is that Bruce McLaren died in a crash while he was test driving a car."

Mighael - Motorsport team's model.

Mighael models the Motor Sport group's costume as Shane stands in the background.

Shane, Theo, Nathan, Elliot and Mighael, the model.

Friday, September 25, 2009

News From Nikeeta on Holiday in the Cook Islands


Huia 1 student, Nikeeta, is currently on holiday in The Cook Islands. She sent us this email for our blog. Notice the red dot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on our world map - that's Nikeeta.


DAY 1

Wondering...?
I am wondering what it's going to be like there, and all the different things that I am not quite sure of, although I am still extremely excited. However, I'm scared too about going on the plane... (if you know what I mean...)

I don't know, although I do wonder how the roads and people are going to be like. I heard that there is an interesting kids' club and you go at least for a day, and they give you lots of interesting thing to do, as in learning how to weave, snorkelling, looking and discovering new fishes and lastly feeding the fish. I hope the water is a bit shallow.

How the flight went...
The flight went well when it took off, although it was a bumpy ride. We had a good meal. I had
crumble chicken, pasta rice, and ice cream which was delicious. Everything went great and we landed 1.40 a.m. (Cook Island time). I noticed that people put some flowers around people's neck to great new people which I found really cool! I found it really surprising that we didn't have to wear seatbelts while we were in the car - a bit dangerous, I must say.

This was really funny. When we came from the airport, this man took our luggage
and loaded it on the bus. We thought it was stolen although he did put the luggage (with our permission)but didn't take us and then this really kind lady managed to get us a van to take us to the hotel and our luggage was in our room before us. We are in Room 502. It is a bit small in there, all we have is a toilet bathroom and t.v, bedroom and a connecting door to the other room.

The Place...
The place is great and the people are so kind. They say "hello" to people and also we have breakfast for free and even dinner. There are special activities you get to do daily which I find really interesting. We have got the kids' club - thinking I should go today (Day 2).
I will be going and feeding the fish at 1.30 (Cook Island time). The safety people say that you shouldn't really touch the fish because they don't like it although you can feed them as soon as you get those fish feeds, which are a type of food for the fish. They come up to you and, oh boy! They love their food and especially who feeds them it. There is also a big swimming pool next to the sandy beach which is awesome. We haven't tried it yet although we will get a chance.

My Day...
My day went great. As soon as I woke up I felt a bit tired because we didn't have that much sleep because we landed just that morning. Although, after a while this really nice lady named Mairah, at least I think that's how you spell it, gave us the orientation about this whole hotel. She helped me make a tiaras with some leaves that you weave with. Mine was the best!!! It was soo awesome. I enjoyed my day.

There is a special Cook Island night and that is the night were you get really into Cook Island traditions. It is great because there are lots of Cook Island dances which really fascinate me and lovely food which is known as lovo in our culture and Cook Island. What lovo is, is that
there are pork,beef,lamb and chicken and those are really nice types of meat cooked underground with some spinach cooked.

I am looking forward feeding the fish today.
Catch ya later!

Say Hi to all Huia 1 students.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

End of Term Update.

This week is the last week of Term Three. We have two weeks of holidays before we come back for the last term of the year.

This week has been very busy (muy ocupado). We have been finishing last minute touches on our wearable arts ready for tomorrow night's show. Our class has five different themes relating to New Zealanders' contributions to the world. We are covering the themes of military, science, motorsport, medicine and movie-making. Hopefully we will have some photos to add after tomorrow night.

We have also had lots of tests. In our "100 Need to Know Basic Facts NZ General Knowledge" test, Gulnoza, Mikayla and Sambit achieved 100%. (That's the 100 questions in the previous post.) Test yourself and see what you get.

In the "100 Need to Know Spelling Words " test Maria, Gulnoza, Mikayla, Ameleigh, Daniel, Nikeeta, Sambit and Aminder achieved 100%.

We also had a test on the correct usage of: to, too or two; I or me; there, they're or their; it's or its, whose or who's ; and theirs and there's. We have been learning about these this term. Gulnoza, Ameleigh, Georgia, Mighael and Maria got 100% - including putting every capital letter in the correct place - there were 22 of them. Jenna got 100% of her words correct...

We also did a 100 Mixed Maths Basic Facts Test (multiplication, division, subtraction and addition.)We had five minutes to get all the answers written and correct. The people who got 100% were Gulnoza, Theo, Caitlin, Andy, Mikayla, Ameleigh, Nikeeta, Sambit, Pooja, Jenna, Te Ana and Maria. Sheena, Daniel and William didn't need to do the test because they have already achieved 100% in over five consecutive months. In fact, Theo and Mikayla have also achieved 5 consecutive 100% results before, but they wanted to improve their time so they did the test again. Mrs Vincent is astonished that her class are so keen to do these tests - especially Shane, Caitlin and Nathan who had already done the test earlier in the day in the maths swap class and asked to do the test again to improve their scores.

All the Intermediate classes have been writing about themselves in Spanish for their portfolio samples. Some students are able to complete a whole page of information in Spanish. We have been looking at SpongeBob Square pants (Bob Esponja) episodes in Spanish on Youtube and have had fun working out what is being said. We also looked at a news video clip about a teacher in Parana. We looked at similarities and differences between our school in NZ and this school in Argentina.

News from Mrs Irwin about Daffodil:
Daffodil the lamb is getting nice and big. Her tail has nearly dropped off so there is no chance of fly-strike. She has also moved in to the big paddock and made a new friend called Snowdrop who is another lamb.

News from the past two weeks:
Miss Gifford came to visit us to show us her wee baby daughter, Imogen, who was born in June. Miss Gifford will be returning to teach in Kea 1 again next term. We are looking forward to having her back again.

Miss Gifford and her baby daughter, Imogen, visit our class.

We have been able to use Skype to speak to some students and their teacher, Gabriela, at the Step English School in Paraná, Argentina, where where Mrs Vincent was in March and April. We were able to talk a little bit and use some of our Spanish. It will be good to do this again soon.

We wish our Principal, Miss Fowler, a good recovery from her operation and look forward to having her back at school again next term.


By Maria and Mrs Vincent

Monday, September 14, 2009

How Much Do You Know About NZ?

This term we have been researching interesting facts and figures about New Zealand. We have had a short test every week and this week we will have a test on the complete 100. See how many you know. Answers are at the end.
100 Basic Facts about New Zealand’s Culture, Heritage and History
Keep checking for more pictures which will be added during the week. Do you know which picture relates to which question?



1. Which city is the capital of NZ?
2. What are the 3 colours on the NZ flag?
3. What is the Maori name for NZ?
4. The Maori name for NZ means...
5. Which is our largest lake?
6. Which mountain is the highest in NZ?
7. Name NZ’s longest river.
8. How many stars are on the NZ flag?
9. New Zealand is in which ocean?
10. What is the name of the sea between NZ and Australia?
11. What is the name of Captain Cook’s ship in which he sailed to NZ? It is also on the 50c coin.
12. What is the name of the long chain of mountains that make up the backbone of South Island?
13. What is the third largest island in New Zealand?
14. When did New Zealand change to decimal currency?
15. The largest (population) city in NZ is not the capital. Which city is the largest?
16. Name the plant that is our national symbol.
17 Which flightless bird is also a noun for New Zealanders and an adjective for anything to do with NZ.
18. Which New Zealander was the first in the world to climb Mt Everest?
19. What is the name for a traditional fenced Maori village?
20. Name the two harbours which border Auckland city.
21 What Australian marsupial has become a pest on Kawau Island?
22. What is the largest native tree in NZ?
23. What is the name of the stretch of water that separates the North and South Islands?
24. Which city is named The Garden City?
25. What plant did Maori weave into baskets?










26. What is the name given to the Parliament Buildings in Wellington because of its shape?
27. What is the Maori word for stomach?
28. What is the name of our national museum in Wellington?
29. What is the name of the ‘living dinosaur’ that only lives in NZ?
30. Which Maori chief composed the haka (ka mate ka mate) made famous by the All Blacks?
31. What is the name of the national rugby team.
32. What is the name of the national netball team?
33. Drysdale, romney, and merino are all breeds of what?
34. Which New Zealander directed the “Lord of The Rings” films?
35. What is the Maori name for the sweet potato?
36. Which island of NZ has the most people living on it?
37. What is the name given to the underground method of cooking used by Maori
38. Which NZ city is the first to see the sunrise each day?
39. Who is the NZ cartoonist who created Footrot Flats?
40. What important agreement between Maori chiefs and the British crown was signed in 1840?
41. In the Maori legend who was the first person to land on New Zealand after being caught in a storm?
42. What do the stars on the NZ flag represent?
43. Who was the first explorer from Europe to visit NZ?
44. Which English captain was the first known white man to land on NZ soil?
45. What is the northernmost tip on the North Island called?
46. What is the most southern settlement of the South Island called?
47. Which are the 2 main political parties in NZ?
48. What is the name of the hard green rock used for Maori carvings?
49. Which colour is the Maori word ma used for?
50. Which city was the capital before it moved to Wellington?

51. What is New Zealander Kiri Te Kanawa famous for?
52. In 1976, New Zealand Day was changed back to its original name. What was that original name?
53. What is the name for a Maori war dance or challenge?
54. What is the name of the stretch of water that separates the South Island and Stewart Island?
55. Which Banks Peninsula town was originally settled by the French?
56. What is the more common name for the NZ owl?
57. What is the name of the NZ women’s rugby team?
58. What did Maori villagers keep in their pataka?
59. Which NZ er was the first person to split the atom?
60. Which New Zealand fruit was originally called the Chinese gooseberry?
61. What is the name of the voting system to elect members of parliament?
62. What is the largest city in the Waikato?
63. What is the name of the volcanic island off the coast of Whakatane?
64. When did NZ win the World Cup for rugby?
65. Which race horse was born in Timaru but was claimed to be an Australian horse?
66. Which NZ band had, amongst many of its members, Tim Finn and later, his brother, Neil Finn?
67. Where, when and what was the name of NZ’s worst ship wreck in terms of loss of life?
68. Which Wellington-born NZ woman is still considered to be one of the world’s best writer of short stories?
69. What is the day and year that NZ and Australian troops landed at Gallipoli?
70. What is the Maori name of a wooden box made for keeping precious feathers of a specific bird?
71. What is the name of the national soccer team?
72. What is the name of the national Rugby League team?
73. Which NZ town has a large carrot as its symbol?
74. What dolphin became famous and was named after the beach it visited in the Hokianga harbour in 1955-57.
75. Which volcano erupted in 1886, destroying the famous Pink and White Terraces?
76. Which city and area was hit by a massive earthquake in February 1931?
77. What is the name of the marae and the town which is the home of the Maori King movement?
78. Who was the leader of the campaign for women to have the right to vote in elections?
79. Where and when was New Zealand’s worst air disaster?
80. What was the name of the Greenpeace ship, sunk in Auckland in 1985?
81. Who is the current Maori King?
82. Who said, “E hoa, ka whawhai, tonu ahau kia koe ake, ake,” at the battle of Orakau, and what does it mean?
83. Who was the leader of the settlement at Parihaka?
84. When did the first shipment of frozen meat leave New Zealand and what was the name of the ship?
85. Where did 6,500 NZ troops fight between 1899-1902, and what was the name of the war?
86. Who was the first New Zealander to take to the air in powered flight in the early 1900s?
87. Who won New Zealand’s first Olympic track gold medal. Where and when?
88. Which New Zealander set a world record in flying from England to New Zealand, in 1936?
89. Which New Zealander was awarded the Victoria Cross two times in World War 2?
90. Who led the Maori Land March from Te Hapua to Parliament in 1975?
91. What sports event divided New Zealand opinion and caused protest marches in 1981?
92. Which NZ adventurer and leader of NZ America’s Cup challenge was murdered in Brazil in 2001?
93. What is the name of the NZ base at Antarctica?
94. Joe Hawke led a protest against the loss of Maori land at which Auckland landmark in 1977?
95. Which animal is on the NZ coat of arms and what does it represent?
96. Where would you find the Treaty of Waitangi today?
97. Who is the most recent NZ recipient of a Victoria Cross?
98. Who is on the $50.00 note?
99. Who wrote the words for the New Zealand National Anthem?
100. Where and when was New Zealand’s greatest disaster, in terms of lives lost in a single day?

How did you go? Check out your answers below.

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Answers: Please leave a comment if you disagree with any of our answers.
1. Wellington, 2. red, white and blue, 3. Aotearoa, 4. Land of the long white cloud, 5. Lake Taupo, 6. Mt Cook or Aoraki/Aorangi, 7.Waikato River, 8. Four, 9. The Pacific Ocean, 10. The Tasman Sea, 11. Endeavour, 12. The Southern Alps, 13. Stewart Island, 14. 1967, 15. Auckland, 16. silver fern, 17. Kiwis, 18. Sir Edmund Hillary, 19. pa, 20. Manukau and Waitemata Harbours, 21. wallabies, 22. kauri tree, 23 .Cook Strait, 24. Christchurch, 25. flax, 26. The Beehive, 27. puku, 28. Te Papa, 29. tuatara, 30 Te Rauparaha, 31. The All Blacks, 32. The Silver Ferns 33, sheep, 34. Peter Jackson, 35. kumara, 36. North Island, 37. hangi, 38 Gisborne, 39. Murray Ball, 40. The Treaty of Waitangi, 41. Kupe, 42. The Southern Cross, 43. Abel Tasman, 44 Captain James Cook,45. North Cape (Cape Reinga is northwesternmost point), 46. Bluff, 47. National and Labour, 48. pounamu or greenstone, 49. white, 50. Auckland, 51. opera singing, 52. Waitangi Day, 53. haka, 54. Foveaux Strait, 55 Akaroa, 56. morepork, 57. The Black Ferns, 58. food, 59. Ernest Rutherford, 60. kiwi fruit. 61. Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMP ), 62. Hamilton, 63. White Island, 64. 1987, 65. Phar Lap, 66. Split Enz, 67. Manukau Heads, 7 February, 1863, the HMS Orpheus, 189 lives lost, 68. Katherine Mansfield, 69. 25th April 1915, 70. waka huia, 71. All Whites, 72. Kiwis, 73. Ohakune, 74. Opo, 75. Tarawera, 76. Napier – Hawkes Bay, 77. Turangawaewae Marae, Ngaruawahia, 78. Kate Sheppard,79. Mt Erebus, Antarctica, 1979, 80. Rainbow Warrior, 81. Tuheitia Paki, 82. Friend, we will fight on forever; Rewi Maniapoto, 83. Te Whiti, 84. 1882, S.S Dunedin,85. South Africa, Boer War,86. Richard Pearse, 87. Jack Lovelock, Berlin, 1936, 88. Jean Batten, 89. Charles Upham, 90. Whina Cooper, 91 Spingbok Tour, 92 Peter Blake, 93. Scott, 94. Bastion Point,95. sheep – farming, 96. The Archives NZ building on Mulgrave St. Wellington, 97. Corporal Willie Apiata, 98. Sir Apirana Ngata, 99. Thomas Bracken, 100. 12th October 1917, at Passchendaele, (Ypres) 850 dead. (In some places it states 840).




Friday, September 4, 2009

Hola de Huia 1 - Hablamos en Español

¡Hola!
Me llamo Brittany. Soy de Manurewa, Auckland, Nueva Zelanda. Tengo doce años. Mi cumpleaños es el doce de julio. Mi mejor amiga se llama Caitlin. Mi escuela se llama Los Jardines. Me gusta netball y el rugby de toca. Me gusta comer pasta y las patatas fritas. Me gusta más a bailar .


¡Hola!
Mi nombre es Adryan. Soy de Nueva Zelanda. Vivo en Los Jardines. Tengo once años. Mi cumpleaños es el dieciocho de febrero. Hay tres personas en mi familia y tengo un perro se llama Misty. Mi maestra se llama Señora Vincent y mi profesora de español se llama Señora Lee. Hay treinta y uno personas en mi clase.

¡Hola!
Me llamo Pooja. Soy de Nueva Zelanda y vivo en Manurewa. Tengo once años. Hay cinco personas en mi familia. Tengo un hermano y una hermana. Mi padre se llama Andy. Mi madre se llama Praveena. Mi hermano se llama Sunny y mi hermana se llama Priyanka. Me gusta el libro se llama 'Twilight' y me gusta el chocolate. Mi cumpleaños es el veintiséis de enero. Me gustaría ser una abogada.

¡Hola!
Mi nombre es So Yeon. Soy de Nueva Zelanda. Vivo en los Jardines. Tengo once años. Mi cumpleaños es el nueve de diciembre. Hay seis personas en mi familia. Tengo un hermano y dos hermanas.


¡Hola!
Mi nombre es Rebekah. Soy de Manurewa, Auckland, Nueva Zelanda. Tengo once años. Mi cumpleaños es el nueve de enero. Hay cuatro personas en mi familia. Tengo un padre, una madre y un hermano. Se llaman Ken, Diana y Michael.Me gustan mariposas, chocolate, helado, mi familia y mis amigas. No me gustan malos sueños. Hablo inglés y un poco de español. Tengo un gatito, se llama Pippa.Tengo un pájaro azul, se llama Jessie. Tengo cinco amigas. Se llaman Rebecca, Jade, Ricki-Jean, Tamara y Kumiko. Les gusta chocolate también. Tengo una profesora, se llama Señora Vincent y una profesora de español, se llama Señora Lee.


¡Hola!
Me llamo Kumiko.Tengo once años. Soy de Japon. Vivo en Auckland. Mi cumpleaños es el veintiuno de diciembre. Hay cinco personas en mi familia y dentro un poco sería seis personas. Mis amigas son Rebekah, Serena y Latia. Me gustan comer 'Mellowpuffs' y 'cottoncandy' y chocolate blanco.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Term 3 Week 7 in Huia 1

We have been learning about Los Desaparacidos and the Mothers of the Disappeared. Sunday 30th August was the International Day of the Disappeared to remember people from all over the world who were were kidnapped and killed because they disagreed with their government.

We studied the lyrics of the song by U2 and looked at You Tube clips to get more information and ideas so we could illustrate the song when we wrote it in our Anthology books. Our Anthology books are where we write and illustrate poems and other literature. They look fantastic . We got lots of information out of this video on You Tube. It had some pictures we used for inspiration.


Some students researched some really sad things like daughters taken away from their mothers which made us feel really sympathetic
. We could understand some of the Spanish in the video when the mothers were saying the names and ages of their children. We also understood “¿Dondé Estan?” written on some of the banners and signs means, "Where are they?" We know that "Los Desaparecidos" means the disappeared people. We also noticed a spelling error on the video - they spelled "disappeared" with 'ss' and only one 'p'.

We have found a new spelling site called SpellingCity.com. It has amazing games to help us learn our words. There are about ten different games such as crosswords, wordfinds, find the missing word, and match the word to the meaning. The words come from our spelling lists for the week. We have ten words to learn a week. There are also lists of other words we have learned. We also have a cool maths site. It's a fun activity to learn counting and place value with decimal numbers. We also use TutPup and Mathletics sites to help us improve in our maths and spelling. Mikayla is currently our class's highest achiever in Mathletics with 100% at each activity up to Level 4. Theo has the most correct answers at Level 3, followed by Gulnoza and Elliott.

Last Monday, Connor Newall, a student from our school, organised a fund-raising cupcake sale for the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Mrs Irwin's class also brought along cupcakes to help out. They sold delicious cupcakes for $1.00 each. Kenneth has the record of eating 4 cupcakes. He could have eaten five but he gave one to William.

Last Thursday we had Wheels Day where we could bring our bikes, skateboards, roller skates and scooters to school to use at interval and lunchtime. We had to pay a gold coin donation to participate ($1 or $2). This was organised by our student council who raised $243.50 for school projects.

Last Friday was Daffodil Day in New Zealand to fund-raise for the Cancer Society. We could buy a daffodil to wear or some bracelets or stick-on tattoos. Our school raised $111.30 for the Cancer Society.

Daffodil the lamb is growing day by day and Mrs Irwin now leaves her at home because she is getting too big for the classroom. Mrs Irwin brought her for a farewell visit on Friday and now Daffodil will spend her days in Mrs Irwin's paddock with other sheep. She has grown since the first day she came to our school and her wool is cleaner and creamier-coloured.
Daffodil is getting bigger. She also likes the taste of Mrs Irwin's best book. Look carefully to find the nibbled edge of the light blue book cover in the bottom right-hand corner of the photo.

In Huia 1, we are also learning about zero waste which means minimising waste to be incinerated or which goes to landfill. It is better to recycle, reuse or reduce waste to keep the environment from pollution and green house gases in the atmosphere.

Here are some of the websites we used to get information:
http://www.zerowaste.co.nz/default,72.sm
http://www.plastics.org.nz/page.asp?section=recycling