We have just finished reading Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

Spoiler alert:  
Do not read any further if you have started the book and have not yet finished it. You may not want to know how it ends until you get there yourself.


We have just finished listening to Mrs Vincent read aloud the novel Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo.  

By reading this story together we learned:
-  to recognise foreshadowing in a story and to recognise when foreshadowed events occurred later in the story 
- to recognise different types of conflict in a story and to identify if it is conflict with self, conflict with others, conflict with technology, or conflict with the environment 
- to identify themes in the story - such as war, family, time, bullying, and bravery 
- to recognise imagery and symbols as they appeared and recurred in a story and how they are used to link the first part of the story with the second part - such as birds, mud, time, the song Oranges and Lemons 
- the background of the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons
- to know and love - or hate - the characters, and to feel genuine sorrow at the way the story ended
- to compare our own experiences with the characters' and to find similarities and differences 
- to enjoy listening to stories, to enjoy sharing a story together, to enjoy discussing, wondering, predicting, discovering, and confirming our ideas and opinions 

- I can't believe he is going to die.  I thought that Charlie would not die because he's strong and brave. I'm a bit angry that the book didn't continue because it should have ended when Tommo went home so we could see Molly's and Mother's reaction. At the start, I didn't get it much and found it boring, but slowly I started getting it and started enjoying it.  I was really happy when I found that Horrible Hanley died because he was really cruel and I hated him. Overall, I love the story and I will read it again. (Ramandeep) 

- I thought the story would be longer and that Charlie wouldn't die. I really enjoyed the story and there was a lot of drama. I feel a little angry that Charlie died and was happy when Horrible Hanley died. It was a mysterious and really nice story to listen to. I'm wondering if there will be a Private Peaceful 2. (Lili)

- I enjoyed all of the story parts unravelling piece by piece, like pass the parcel. (Jamarl) 

- I am angry because it ended so quickly, and there has to be another book. (Dominic)

- Around the end, I think I picked up more things about the story and I could tell some things were going to happen before they happened. I started to realise that things happened at the beginning of the story  that  also happened at the end. Charlie knew all along that Tommo thought he had killed his father. I think Charlie getting the cane from Mr Munnings was the same as Charlie getting shot at the end of the story. (Syvannah)

- I wish there was a series of books of Private Peaceful. I wish Horrible Hanley wasn't so mean to Charlie and Tommo because they both had their lives ahead of them. It was quite sad when Hanley put Charlie on Field Punishment Number One. I would like to reread the book because I am a little bit lost. It will take me a while to get over it. (Brylee)


- I really think I understand the story and how it all came together. I wanted to hear more and I wanted to know more about what happened back at home - more about Tommo's life and feelings. I 100% understand what the story is about and I now understand more about any novel. (Mason)


- It's really touching and gripping. (Alex) 

- I love this book. I hope one day that someone else could feel about the book as we felt. (Amber-Lee)  

- I felt Charlie didn't deserve to die, just for looking after his brother. (Aiden)

- The times all add up now. After doing so calculation, I worked out that Tommo wrote the book in 7 hours and 55 minutes. (Mwaniki)

- I was teary when Charlie died. I liked the part when Charlie gives Tommo the watch and handed him the responsibility of little Tommo.  It should have ended like this: Tommo goes home and meets little Tommo and tells the family that Charlie has died. Big Joe runs to the church and climbs to the roof and looks at the sky, remembering Father and Charlie. I learnt a lot from this book. (Vanshika)  

- I think the end was really sad because Charlie died and it didn't feel as if the story had ended. When Charlie got shot in the foot and he didn't come back to the camp it felt like he had really died.  I now understand foreshadowing better. (Jupman) 

- The story had many emotional scenes in it which makes the butterflies on the cover of the book relevant to the story. (Alisha) 

- I'm frustrated  because I wanted there to be more of the story. I was thinking that Tommo and Charlie would both survive.  I loved the story and I can understand foreshadowing and conflict.(Sheffy)

- I think that the book should have kept on going because I wanted to know what happened to Tommo. I didn't like how Charlie got shot and I didn't like the ending. (DC) 

- Charlie sacrificed his life for Tommo to live; he is a really brave guy. I was angry because I thought there should be more about what happened to Molly, Tommo, little Tommo, Mother, the Colonel, Wolf Woman and Big Joe. What happened after all that? Horrible Hanley should have died by Charlie and then everyone could have blamed the Germans. I loved it so much and I can read it again. That book is the best book ever. With calculation, Tommo wrote the book 7 hours and 55 minutes before Charlies dies. (Sukhdev)

What was in the letters Charlie gave to Tommo to take home for him? 

We wanted to know what Charlie put in his last letters home, so we made some up for ourselves. Here's some of the things we thought he could have written:

 - to his son, Tommo Junior: 

... I stood up for everyone. Sergeant Hanley said we must run out there and give it our all, and we all thought and knew it was suicide. So I didn't listen. i was looking after your uncle ... (Alex) 

... I'm about to die, but it wasn't my fault. I wasn't a coward - I was protecting my little brother Tommo. He was really wounded and I needed to help him. My time has come. 
From your beloved father, Charlie Peaceful 

- Hello, son. No doubt your uncle and mother are caring for you a lot. I love you, Tommo, and I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I hope you forgive me. 

- to Molly: 

- Sorry, Molly, but I couldn't leave Tommo behind because  he was wounded, and he's my little brother. I know you would have agreed with me. But don't worry, Tommo will take care of you both, and I know he will. (Jupman)
  

-  Everything Tommo has told you about the execution is true. I died with dignity and I wanat our son to know that. I died singing Oranges and Lemons. Let Big Joe know that I am with Father and am taking care of his mouse. (Cameron) 

- to his mother:  
I disobeyed the sergeant's order because it was a stupid and suicidal order. I had no witness - not even Tommo, as they said he was my brother. (Sheffy) 

- I will not be making it home due to punishments for not following orders from the sergeant when looking after Tommo. 

Joanna's  drawings to show different examples of conflict with self and conflict with others.

Here's a video of some children interviewing some of the people involved in making the movie Private Peaceful.


Here's a video of Micahel Morpurgo talking about how he writes his books - and his thoughts about education.

What do you know about the Panama Canal?

Today Huia 1 learnt about the Panama Canal, which opened 99 years ago on the 15th August 1914.

We learnt King Charles V of Spain decided there must be an easier way to get from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. This is when they decided to make a canal through Panama. The project was delayed for 300 years due to wars in Europe. This project would make a 2,000km trip only 80km.

In 1819,  the government announced the official construction of the canal. The French started the official construction, but failed due to the tropical disease known as malaria.

    In 1904, the USA helped Panama gain independence from Colombia; in return Panama let the USA take over the project. Ten years of American construction led up to the official opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. The project overall cost US$327 million (a lot of money in the time).

    In 1999, the USA gave the control to Panama again,  and in 2007 the construction for the expansion of the Panama Canal began.  

 Unfortunately, the building of this great canal came at a horrible cost. About 26,000 of the 40,000 workers died due to malaria and landslides.

Written by:
Mwaniki, Mason and Karmveer

• We learnt what an isthmus is: Panama is an isthmus and so is Auckland. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land between two larger areas of land, and has water on two sides. Auckland isthmus is between the Manukau Habour and the Waitemata Harbour.
• We learnt that malaria is a disease spread by mosquitos.
• We learnt that there is another major canal in the world; the Suez Canal is between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. 

This week's learning - the sequel

This week's school newsletter.

This week we are also learning about the possessive apostrophe, but we ended up learning  about the apostrophe to show missing letters (elision) at the same time.  The apostrophe of the day today is for not: 

did not = didn't      had not = hadn't      will not = won't     were not = weren't 
could not = couldn't        have not = hadn't       is not = isn't       does not = doesn't 
    
We learnt that: 
- the writer George Bernard Shaw did not like to use apostrophes and only used them when they were needed to make something clear 
-  the apostrophe  punctuation mark came from France
-  the word apostrophe comes from Greek:  apo =  away, and strephein = to turn 
-  the word apostrophe also has a meaning nothing to do with punctuation; it is used in the theatre in plays  when an actor is talking to someone who is not actually present, or is talking to an abstract noun - such as 'honour', or to something which is an object - such as the moon
- the English language has gone through  at least three stages of change
- Old English used to have the suffix -es to show possession or ownership,  eg the cyninges haet meant  the hat belonging to the king; this became the kinges hatte in Middle English, and then the e was dropped and replaced by an apostrophe for the king's hat in Modern English (We should thank the French for that, says Mwaniki)


We are also learning the difference between passed and past. We know that passed is always a verb, but past  can be an adverb, an adjective, a noun or a preposition: 

Best in the class so far: Cameron and Lili, who can write sentences for all forms of passed and past - and identify the parts of speech. Clever!

- it's complicated but when you get the hang of it, it's quite easy (Cameron)
- practice is all you need to get better (Brylee)

Here are some examples of our class's work today. We had to write short sentences to show we understood the different ways passed and past could be used: 

I passed the salt. (verb)  Cameron
I tip-toed past. (adverb) Cameron
We are sorry for our past actions. (adjective) Cameron 
I went back into the past. (noun) Cameron
We sprinted past the house. (preposition) Cameron
I passed the fish and chip shop. (verb) Jason 
The runner passed him at the finish line (verb) Mason
The past years have gone quickly. (adjective) Kylah
Jamarl passed the Percy Jackson book to me. (verb) Alex
A wasp flew past. (adverb) Lili 
In the past, we went to Rainbow's End. (noun) Lili 
She went past the school. (preposition) Lili 
The child was sorry for his past actions. (adjective) Brylee

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
We are now in part two  of the story, and we are looking for parallels that were foreshadowed in the first part of the story, for example, Mr Munnings, Tommo and Charlie's headmaster, was a bully, and in the army Sergeant Horrible Hanley is also a bully.  Charlie sticks up for Tommo when he is bullied by others at school, and he does the same when Tommo is bullied by others in the army. 

Here's the link to the "You can't do correct English under pressure" game. 

This week we have learnt:

--> This week we have been learning more about Vincent van Gogh. 

We have also been learning to select information from different sources: books, videos, websites, You Tube,  and artworks,  and to synthesise  this information (combine, compare, evaluate, select, and  summarise it). 

 We have learnt that:
-  he had mental illness
-  he only sold one painting in his life
-  his paintings went from darker and sombre to lighter and vibrant and swirly
- he used to paint hard-working people
- today his paintings are worth a fortune 
- he saw everything differently to everyone else 
- he didn't want his photo taken; he thought his real self was in his self-portraits 
- he only painted what he saw
- he told his story through his art
- everything he did was done well because he did it with love
- he believed his paintings would one day be worth more than the cost of the supplies he used to paint them
- he loved to paint nature
- his self-portraits were based on his reflection in a mirror
- as an artist he never got any money or recognition in his lifetime
- he wrote a lot,  and many of his quotes are now well known
- he was obsessed with the poor and drawing and painting hard-working people and ordinary scenes
- he liked to write to his brother Theo
- after he died, his paintings got more recognition
- his brother Theo's  wife  worked to get recognition for van Gogh's art
- he did in fact have schizophrenia along with Bi-Polar, and ADD - according to Wikipedia

I find it cool how he can cope with painting with all the mental stress. He really had a passion for painting. (Mwaniki)

 We have also been learning about the longfin eel. We have found information mainly from You Tube videos and other information online, and some books belonging to Mrs Whitehead. We are using our research skills to select, evaluate and synthesise information to complete a project. 

We are also learning to present our work in interesting ways to help show understanding of the topic and for our projects to be eye-catching and clear to read.  

 
The longfin eel:

Did you know that:  
- they are native to New Zealand
- a female eel can grow up to 2 metres long
- a male grows up to 1 metre long
- they will eat anything they see moving in the water 
- the dorsal fin (the top fin) is longer than the lower fin
- one of their main threats is overfishing by commercial fishers 
- they've got really sensitive skin 
- after they breed they die 
- they go to Tonga to breed
- on their way to Tonga they don't eat anything 
- they go through three different stages before becoming an adult eel
- when they are born, they don't know who their parents are 
- the Maori name for eel is tuna,  and the Maori name for the longfin eel is kuwharuwahru 
- their bodies change before they migrate

Here's the link to the site:You Can't Write Proper English Under Pressure.
Congratulations to Sukhdev who completed the game up to Level 8.  

We are learning about Vincent van Gogh

Term 3 Week 1 school newsletter.

As part of our art theme for the second half of the year, we are learning about the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. It just so happens that the 123rd anniversary of his death (29 July) was the first day back at school for Term 3  - so we took that as a good enough reason to choose him as an artist to study.  We started by researching some vocabulary which would appear in a reading comprehension task:

influential, pioneer, post- impressionism, sombre, pointillism, technique, self-portrait, intensity, psychiatric, committed, vibrant, 

canvas, obsessed, quarrel, remorse

Then we looked at this video of some of his paintings and listened to the song Starry Starry Night by Don McLean. 

It helped us understand the reading comprehension story by seeing the video first. We learnt that Vincent sold only one of his paintings in his entire life - even though he painted over 900. We wondered where he stored all the unsold ones.  After reading the story, we watched the video again and were able to work out which ones were his earlier paintings (darker and sombre) and which were his later paintings (brighter and with more  swirls). We understood the words of the song a lot more once we understood that van Gogh suffered from mental illness. We were also able to work out which painting was The Potato Eaters, Starry Night, and the portrait of his doctor, Doctor Gachet. Here are the lyrics of the song Starry, Starry Night, and a summary of what they mean, from vangoghgallery.com: 

Description		Lyrics
Expressing Van Gogh's inspiration for the painting. One line says : "Look out on a summer's day." This is giving Van Gogh's vantage point looking out from the asylum at Saint-Remy. When he first entered the asylum, he painted mainly from his room or the courtyard garden, but later went further afield to paint.		Starry, starry night. Paint your palette blue and grey, Look out on a summer's day, With eyes that know the darkness in my soul. Shadows on the hills, Sketch the trees and the daffodils, Catch the breeze and the winter chills, In colors on the snowy linen land.
		Now I understand what you tried to say to me how you suffered for your sanity how you tried to set them free. They would not listen they did not know how perhaps they'll listen now.
These are references to other Van Gogh paintings. Flaming Flowers: The Sunflower Series Swirling Clouds: Starry Night Field of Amber Grain: Wheat Field with Crows Weathered Faces: The Potato Eaters		Starry, starry night. Flaming flowers that brightly blaze, Swirling clouds in violet haze, Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue. Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain, Weathered faces lined in pain, Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
This is Van Gogh's tragic Death. Even though he loved painting, his paintings could never love him back. Van Gogh attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest, which ultimately led to his death two days later.		For they could not love you, But still your love was true. And when no hope was left in sight On that starry, starry night, You took your life, as lovers often do. But I could have told you, Vincent, This world was never meant for one As beautiful as you.
Van Gogh's artistic legacy is contained within his paintings, drawings and writings. They are everlasting and will never "forget" the style that created them. They are Van Gogh's eyes that watch the world. This is all metaphorically speaking though.		Starry, starry night. Portraits hung in empty halls, Frameless head on nameless walls, With eyes that watch the world and can't forget. Like the strangers that you've met, The ragged men in the ragged clothes, The silver thorn of bloody rose, Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
Finally we come to the conclusion of realizing Van Gogh's eternal struggle.		Now I think I know what you tried to say to me, How you suffered for your sanity, How you tried to set them free. They would not listen, they're not listening still. Perhaps they never will...

Here's a video with more of Vincent van Gogh's paintings, and some of his quotes which help explain his outlook on his life and his art.

We had fun with this interactive jigsaw puzzle  of the self-portrait of van Gogh after he cut off his ear lobe. We know that he cut off his left earlobe, but in his paintings, it looks as if it's his right ear lobe. That's because he painted his self-portrait from what he saw in the mirror.

Here's a short video showing the change in Van Gogh's self-portraits over the years.

Here's a link to some printable outlines of some of Van Gogh's work to colour in.

--

Here's an amazing animation of some of Vincent van Gogh's artworks.

 
Here's a video which changes from a self-portrait of van Gogh to a modern-looking colour photo of him.


Some of our thoughts and questions about what we have learnt so far:

•  I would like to know how much he sold his first painting for, who bought it and where he sold it.  I would also like to know what sort of gun he shot himself with. (Dominic)
• I understand how and why Vincent drew - or rather painted -his pictures, and if you look deeply at each picture, there is always a meaning in why he painted it. (Alisha)
• I think he had a gift, and maybe because no one could see the world through his eyes he felt alone, so he took his life. 
• I like the swirl technique,  the way he paints the poor, and his painting Starry Night . I wonder why his other paintings didn't sell. (Vanshika)
• I would like to learn more about Vincent van Gogh because he is an interesting guy, and he has amazing paintings. I like his Starry Night painting. (Jupman)
• I understand that he had a mental illness. My favourite painting is the potato family. I like how he has his very unique way. (Mason)
• I can't believe a poor man with 2000 paintings became famous. I'm really obsessed with Vincent van Gogh paintings because they are just so beautiful and creative, and he had amazing skills. I love the song; it's just so beautiful. I'm shicked that he could paint the stars which are in the exact place. How could Vincent tell where the exact stars were? (Amber)
• Why did he use swirls all the time? When did he have mental illness? Why di he shoot himself? (Tara)
• Where did he sell his painting. (Jason)
• I understand that he didn't know how he fitted into the world. I don't know why he shot himself. My favourite painting is the sunflower one, and Starry Night. In the painting of his bedroom, I feel sorry for him because he is so closed in. (Syvannah).

Lost Property Left Over From Camp

Here's a link to The Gardens Give a Little fundraising page.  We are fundraising for a sculpture to reflect the many cultures within our school.

Here's a link to the latest school newsletter.

Here are some items of clothing still left over from our Year 8 camp. They've all been washed, so they may be more recognisable than they were straight after camp - although some of the white socks have experienced a bit of permanent colour change ...
Let me know if any of these are yours.

One pair of never-will-be-white-again socks; two mis-matched (but look like a pair) of white socks with green soles - one says "Bonds"; one pair of grey "Bonds" socks; two odd white socks; two odd white socks with blue heels.

One pair of Blues (rugby team logo) socks - look a bit more purple than blue; one pair of black boot socks with grey band; one pair of small new-looking grey socks.

One pair of black boot socks with dark-grey band; one pair of white socks; one hair brush; one black long-sleeved polyprop singlet - size small; one black t-shirt - size medium.

One Reggae Nation Jamaica t-shirt; one odd one-was-white sock with grey band and heel; one black sock with holeproof written in yellow;

One single black fitted sheet.

One blue rain jacket "Franhold" brand, with plastic triangle badge with 'Hason' written on it. 

One pair of black shorts - Adidas brand. Also, one pair of long track-type pants - Hallensteins brand, size 12.

One pair of  long weatherproof pants to match rain jacket above.

Huia 1 Update

Latest school newsletter. 

It's been a very busy term.
Here's a few things we have been doing this term.


Your life in jelly beans - a video we enjoyed watching.

--~~~o0O0o~~~--

For reading, we are studying the novel "Private Peaceful" by Michael Morpurgo.
One of the recurring themes in the novel is the children's nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons". We decided to do a bit of research on this nursery rhyme. Thanks to Karmveer for the links to each of these bells.

Oranges and Lemons

Oranges and lemons,     
Say the bells of St. Clement's.    
You owe me five farthings,     
Say the bells of St. Martin's.     
When will you pay me?     
Say the bells of Old Bailey.     
When I grow rich,     
Say the bells of Shoreditch.      
When will that be?   
Say the bells of Stepney.  
I do not know,     
Says the great bell of Bow.     
Here comes a candle to light you to bed,     
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

Chip! Chop!Chip! Chop!   

The last man’s dead!

The story behind Oranges and Lemons  
Here's what it sounds like with the bells of Saint Clement's actually
ringing  out the tune of the nursery rhyme. 

Some of the topics we have been learning about recently:
- Nelson Mandela
- Helen Keller
- Mount Tarawera eruption
- The Wahine  Disaster
- The  huia bird
- The North Island brown kiwi
- Sir Edmund Hillary
- The story behind Queen's Birthday Weekend

After Camp: the photos

Thanks to Mrs Whitehead and Mrs Robinson for these great photos. As you can see, we managed to have a lot of fun learning -  in spite of, and sometimes because of, the weather.

Here's the link to the video about boys learning about electric fences...

Sunrise over the last day of camp

At last - the sun! Be prepared for much wet laundry heading home - some of it mud coloured, and possibly some you've never seen before - with happy kids (and some tired ones...)

Check out some of the boys learning about farming technology - and teamwork. 

Happy Campers - Day 4

More rain today but we still managed to get a lot done:

Cooking toasted sandwiches on a hobo stove.

An early morning walk to visit the cows, orienteering, cooking on hobo stoves, a walk to Crab Island, a beach clean up and a clean up of one of the walking tracks, and the mudslide - all before dinner. Tonight's dinner: small tuna rolls and grape-juice-based sangria for tapas, empanadas with salad - and a special potato curry by Mrs Singh, one of our parent helpers; chocolate pudding,ice cream and peaches.  A very busy day and a very special evening for our last night.

More weather and science at camp. I guess we know where the real Rainbow's End is now.

Happy Campers - Day 3

Look what we found at the beach after Mrs Whitehead's lesson on the habits of the mud crab. Two of these are not mud crabs.

This is our view in the afternoon, after it stopped raining, or was it just before it started raining - or both?

Team building activities with High Wire Trust instructors. This was the winning team.

This is what happens when you are late to  High Wire instructor's activity. (It only happened once!)

A happy camper!

Day three and all's well. The day started with an early morning walk with Mrs Whitehead to meet cows. She has some great photos, but you'll have to wait to see those. We had another great activity session with the instructors from High Wire Trust, with lots of team building challenges, goal setting and self-evaluating. There was no mucking about, and no lateness was tolerated. (See photo above.)

In the afternoon, we went down to the beach to explore for evidence of mud crabs. We managed to get back before the downpour.

Dinner was hamburgers - patties cooked on the barbecue in the rain by the fathers and some of the hardier boys - and apple crumble.

There has been a bit of rain but we are all fine.

Happy Campers Day 2

View of waterspout on the Manukau Harbour this afternoon. We had a very good view of this from our cabin steps. The best kind of outdoor education!

We've had another great day - with a range of weather.  We started the day with beautiful weather and a walk around the park with the park ranger and camp manager. Students learned to climb a fence and a gate in the proper way, and how to identify electric fences. 

Students head for the cattle, after being given instructions on how to herd them.

Cattle, observing being herded by kids

 We fed huge eels and visited an old homestead of the first settler farmers here. Then we came back for homemade soup and pies for lunch, and an afternoon of games and activities. For dinner we had roast chicken and roast potatoes, carrots and peas, followed by ice cream, jelly and fruit salad - then later Milo and home baking. (We are loving the home baking, by the way.)
To finish the day, Mrs Whitehead and some of the parents took a group of students on a night walk up to the look out for a view of the lights of Auckland.

Happy campers - Day 1

We are having a wonderful time already. We are doing outdoor survival activities with the Hirewires Trust staff. Happy kids, happy parent-helpers, happy teachers.
Dinner tonight: Spanish tortilla and nachos, followed by fruit salad ans ice cream.

Information Updates

Here's a link to our latest Year 8 camp newsletter.  

Here's a link to our latest school newsletter (Term 2 Week 1).

Congratulations, team, on a very polished and well-prepared Anzac Assembly on Friday. Our guests from the Manurewa RSA, and our  other visitors  were very impressed with your work.

We will have some writing and photos of our Anzac assembly posted soon.

 - WANTED - 

Empty and cleaned

sweetened condensed milk tins 

we need these for making hobo stoves for outdoor cooking 

 and 

clean ice-cream containers - with lids 

to use for camp activities  

and

lemons 
for camp also

If you have any of these to spare, could you please bring them to us at school. 

- Thank you -    

Welcome to Term 2

We had a wet 'n' wild start to Term 2 today.  We hope the weather will be better in time for our Year 8 camp on two weeks' time.

Wanted for camp:
- clean 2 litre ice-cream containers and lids 
- clean, empty sweetened condensed milk cans

Our main focus for this week is preparing for our Anzac Assembly on Friday morning, as a follow up to  our homework research on the history of Anzac Day and the Victoria Cross.

 

Intermediate Team's Anzac Assembly 

Friday May 10 

11:00 a.m. 

The Gardens School Hall 

with special guests from the Manurewa RSA

Parents and community are invited to attend this special event, hosted and run by our Intermediate students. 

   

Lost and Found: What's living in our garden?

 Here's a link to Kereru 1's  video about bullying. It has some powerful messages.


Read the latest school newsletter; you never know when Mrs Fowler will ask us a question about it at assembly.

Our swan plant was looking pretty sick. Over Easter, the three caterpillars disappeared. We thought they weren't old enough to make a chrysalis, and wondered if someone  had taken, or harmed them.

But this week, three caterpillars appeared on another healthier swan plant at the other end of the garden. We wondered if someone had transferred them. There does not appear to be any other monarch caterpillars around our garden this year. 

The aphids - and lady birds are back.

You can almost see the bee's knees . . .

Another caterpillar in our garden. This is not a monarch caterpillar. Is it helpful or  harmful? What kind of butterfly or moth will it change into?

We enjoyed reading about  Mrs Whitehead's pigeon (kerereu) rescue. You can find out more about it here.   We are looking forward to hearing about its progress.

On Sunday, Karmveer and Corbin are representing us at the Sunrise Walk to help raise funds for the local hospice. The class have brought donations to help support our two boys and the cause.

Our Rugby Picks for the Weekend:
(Winning team and winning margins written first)
Brumbies 13+ against Highlanders Picked the winner but not the right margin
Chiefs 1 - 12 against Reds
Blues 1 - 12 against Hurricanes
Rebels 1 12 against Kings
Crusaders 13+ against Force
Sharks 1- 12 against Stormers
Cheetahs 1-12 against Bulls