Hasta La Vista y Feliz Navidad

The school year is over!

We had a sad (and tearful for some) farewell today.

Here are some photos of the last weeks at school.

Someone pretends to be Mrs Vincent ... (who was looking for her hat, sunglasses and key and couldn't find them anywhere...)

Prize giving - singing Halleluiah from Shrek.

The last waltz..... The last time we cleared the desks out of the classroom to do dancing.

The last time we did the Maxina.

Rosie picks our sweet peas - the seeds of which were a gift from Mrs Whitehead - except ours grew, and hers ... didn't.
Huia 1, 2010 - on the last day of school. All present except Aminder who is now in India. (His name is written on the sign.)

Ben tried to get in every photo...

The choir boys....

Rebekah - winner of the "Languages Take You Places" cup, 2010. (Note the Spanish flag draped around her - and Ben has the flag of Argentina.)

"Clapping out" the Year 8s - the leavers procession.

The Year 7s farewell the Year 8s.

Our garden - with the outdoor art pole made by last year's Huia 1 students.

It's been an awesome year!
Best wishes for your future at a new school to all the Year 8s
(and Rosie, who is moving schools).

Have a safe and happy Christmas holiday.

Feel free to leave a message on the chatbox.

Our Prize-Winning Movie Pizza Fiesta

Click here
if you are looking for more information about our
STANZA award-winning San Fermin movie.

On Friday we had our pizza fiesta as part of our prize for winning the 2010 STANZA (Spanish Teachers Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) Primary Schools 2 minute movie competition.


We had a Pizza Hut Party Pack of:
2 large Hawaiian pizzas
2 large vegetarian pizzas
2 large meat-lovers pizzas
2 large pizza supremes
4 garlic breads
4 packets of chips
4 bottles of drink.

It was also a sausage sizzle day so we had plenty to eat.

Paris (our special effects man) and some of Kea 1 students (film extras) also joined our pizza fiesta.

The fiesta finished with a Secret Santa gift sharing, organised by Rosie.

Most interesting gifts?: a tiny travel clock for Mrs Lee which she packed in her bag and is already using on her travels; and a box of trivia quiz questions for Hunter which we used immediately for an impromptu quiz... and everyone could answer the question, "Name the Spanish city famous for its annual running of the bulls?".

¡Qué rico! Muchas gracias, STANZA.

We also won a voucher from THE RESOURCE ROOM for $150 worth of Spanish resources for our classes. Check out The Resource Room website for a wide range of educational books, games and activities in a wide range of subject and language areas.

If you are a student at The Gardens School, click here to check out the Spanish resources available.

Let us know which games, activities or resources you would like to use in class.

Recent Activities in our class and school

Click here
if you are looking for more information about our STANZA award-winning San Fermin movie.

It's been a busy term. Here's some of the highlights so far.

Cooking in Spanish

Year 8s have been learning how to cook in Spanish, with Mrs Lee. They have made chocolate cake and tortillas, following a recipe entirely in Spanish for the ingredients, measurements and instructions. Mrs Lee explained the instructions in Spanish only (with some helpful gestures).

Reading the recipe - tortillas
Reading the recipe - chocolate cake.
The finished tortilla.
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Speech competition:

Richard and Kumiko were our class finalists for the Intermediate Speech competition. Kumiko's speech was about World Vision and Richard's speech was about the blood-alcohol limit for driving.

Click here to find out the results from our school newsletter.

Swimming Skills Day:

On the 29th of November some of the intermediate students took a bus to Papakura Pools for a whole day and learnt about water safety. We had groups of 16 students and rotated every half an hour on each activity. There were 6 activates which were kayaking, critical thinking, wearing life jackets, diving, deep-water skills and life-saving. We listed the objects that could float and save possibly save our lives, buckets, empty milk bottles, any type of ball etc.

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Our garden at The Gardens:

Mr Stone, our caretaker, has planted an apple tree in the garden outside our classroom. He is going to espalier it along the the wall. We also have sweet peas also growing up the wall. Our garden is a cuttings garden to prove that you can grow a garden without spending any money.

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Dancing:

We have been doing a bit more dancing and taught our Australian guests how to do the circle waltz. We have now polished the Maxina and can do the veleta.

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Sonnets:

Earlier this year we learned about sonnets, and many of our students entered a sonnet-writing competition.

Congratulations to Rebekah, from our class, who was placed third in New Zealand for the primary school section of the (NZ) Stratford Shakespeare Society's sonnet writing competition. Congratulations to Shae and Jessica, from Huia 2, The Gardens, who came first and second in the competition.

Rebekah's sonnet:



LOVE?

On paper love is just a boring word,
Accompanied by page and common lines.
Is love an emotion we all have learned,
And gradu'ly this feeling soon declines?
What is this feeling that steal all my heart,
And leaves it in pieces and in a mess?
I have tried to discover this strange art,
But then end up with worry and distress.
Hard is it to write about these feelings,
Like love and hate and joy and grim on page.
New things to us your live are revealing,
Learning new emotion while we age.

When the word love comes alive,
Hold on, it's going to be a rough ride.

By Rebekah

Our New Video......On Air!

Click here to go to our latest movie.


This is our entry in the STANZA Junior Video competition.

Recently we have created this movie because we are learning about San Fermin in Spain.
Thanks to all the people below:
Director/Co Director:
Nikeeta
Brittany

Camera Operators:
Nikeeta
So Yoen
Brittany

Editors:
Mrs Lee
Mrs Vincent
Brittany
Nikeeta

Viva San Fermin:Rosie
Speakers:Rebekah
Richard
Mighael
Hunter
Bulls:
Bailey
Donny
Rosie
Nikhil

Music Directors:
Nikeeta
Brittany

Special Thanks To:
All the people in Huia 1 for participating and making an awesome effort!
Mrs Lee
Ms Fowler
Miss Gifford
Mrs McCartry
Mrs Hansen
Paris
Madison
Hunter
The Gardens Hospice Shop
Volunteers from other classes in the Intermediates
and all the people who gave a helping hand.

The making of the movie:

Students from our school entered a competition, organised by the Spanish Teachers Association of New Zealand, to make a short movie called:

"Las celebraciones en español son divertidas"

Here is the link to our movie:

We chose the Festival of San Fermin because we had learned a bit about bullfighting when we listened to Kea 2's debates and we wanted to find out more about why it was important to the Spanish people. We discovered that bullfighting, in Pamplona, is part of a much bigger festival and we wanted to try to experience something of the excitement of the festival.

Script for San Fermín movie

Rebekah - ¡Oye amigos! ¡Estoy muy emocionada! Hey guys! I’m really excited!

Richard - ¿Por qué? Why?

Rebekah – Porque mi madre dijo que vamos a ir a Pamplona el año que viene. Because my mother said that we are going to go to Pamplona next year.

Richard – ¿Por qué Pamplona? Why Pamplona?

Rebekah – Hay un festival allí cada año, llamado San Fermín. There is a festival there every year, called San Fermin.

Richard - ¿Qué fecha es el festival de San Fermín? What date is the festival of San Fermin?

Rebekah –El siete hasta al catorce de julio. Pero la fiesta se abre en el 6 de julio en mediodía, con un chupinazo. The 7th July until the 14 July, but the party begins in the 6th July at midday, with a sky rocket.

Hunter - ¿Dónde está Pamplona? Where is Pamplona?

Rebekah – En el norte de España. In the north of Spain.

Mighael - ¿Cómo es el festival de San Fermín? What is the festival of San Fermin like?

Rebekah – Hay desfiles, música, baile, bandas, unas corridas de toros, y cada mañana, los encierros. There are parades, music, dancing, bands, bull fights, and every morning the running of the bulls.

Mighael – Quiero ir a un encierro. I want to go to a bull run.

Hunter - Yo también. Me too.

Richard – Para mí, quiero ver una corrida de toro. Me, I want to see a bull fight.

Mighael - ¿Quién es San Fermín? Who is San Fermin?

Richard – Él es el Patrón Santo de Pamplona. He is the Patron Saint of Pamplona.

Todos – ¡Viva San Fermín!

No bulls suffered in the making of this movie...