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...

We learn that some things are the same and some things are different

On the 7th of November some students from Wodonga South School, Australia, came to New Zealand for an exchange program.

They were picked up from Auckland Airport by their host families. We had to wait for almost an hour until they finally came out of the doors. Most of them woke up at 4:00 a.m. to get the bus at 5:00 to get to the Melbourne Airport at 11:30 a.m.

Here are some quotes from the students themselves:

Karen: I personally think that it is much more greener than Australia. It is great that we don’t have to wear shoes because in Australia we have to wear them all the time.

Zoe: Everyone is really nice. The times are different to Australia, and so are the lunchtimes. This school is a lot greener than our school, and your field is square; ours is oval.

Darcy: Much greener than Australia. Everyone has been really welcoming and nice to me.

Sarah: Everyone is so nice, their school is so big. the time is 2 hours different to Australia, they do things different in class like they don’t wear shoes in class. The weather is really cold compared to Australia.

Ande: The Rangitoto trip was great, the view was awesome. I like not having to wear shoes at this school. When I was walking through the water it was up to my thighs and when I slipped over and got soaked and I was cold.

Braiden: When I came over, the families were very welcoming and have been really nice to me.

Michael: Way different than our school. It’s larger than our own school as well.

Liam: The school is very different to our school. We moved classes to do maths. With subtraction they use a very different technique. They have a big rectangular pitch, and we have an oval. The two schools are both good schools to be at.

Georgia: The school is different because they have a break first, then lunch. The school is bigger and much greener.

Ash: The school is so big, so much bigger than South and has heaps of kids. All of the kids here are so nice and so is my host family. I want to stay here for longer.

Cassie: The Gardens School is so cool. It’s bigger than Wodonga South for sure. Everyone is so nice and wanting me to say, "six' or "fish and chips".

Thomas: I had fun at Rangitoto and the climb was easy to get up.

Avery:It’s been fun so far. I liked the ferry and the climb of Rangitoto.

Abbey: The school is bigger than ours.It is good that we don’t have to wear our shoes.

Wodonga students update their blogs in our computer suite.

And the people that are hosting them:

Caitlin: I am hosting Karen and I really like how she is enjoying it so much! Everyday we find something fun to do, e.g scarecrow tag, guides, dancing, etc. At Rangitoto yesterday everybody looked like they were having SO much fun!!!! It was funny to find out that they call jandals “thongs”.

Louise: I’m hosting Cassie and Michael. My family and I are really enjoying them being here.

Matt: I’m hosting Braiden and he hosted me when I went to Wodonga South last year. We had lots of fun then and now we are having lots of fun since we already know each other.

Connor: I’m hosting Liam. It's really fun because we get to do things he wouldn’t do and we go to really cool places.

Jack: I’m hosting Thomas n he is a really awesome kid because he is a brown belt at karate.

Abbie: It’s been a great experience to have a person from another country come and stay at my house. Abbey has brought us an Australian game of Monopoly, and we have had lots of fun playing it.

By Caitlin (on loan from Kea 1 while Mrs Whitehead is at Athletics Day), Darcy, Zoe and Karen (on loan from Wodonga South School).

Bienvenidas a nuestras amigas australianas

Bienvenidas a nuestras amigas australianas

Welcome to Huia 1 to Darcy and Zoe from Wodonga South School in Victoria, Australia. They are part of a group of students on an exchange visit to our school this week.

Already we have discovered that we pronounce 'fish and chips' and 'six' differently.

Already, Zoe and Darcy have learnt some Spanish.

Madison and Zoe, Darcy and Kumiko.

On Top of One Tree Hill

Halloween Disco at School

Here are some photos of the Halloween Disco we had at school on Friday 29th October. It was organised by the Gardens Support Team of parents.

Mrs Scott, who teaches new entrants, does not look like this every day.

Mrs Loakman and Miss Delaney getting into the spirit of it all.

One of these boys is in Huia 1 - do you recognise him?

Note from Mrs Vincent: Click on this link to take you photos of a school's Halloween party in Argentina. NB. This is a link to a Facebook site so you will need a Facebook account to see it.

This is the Step English School I went to when I was in Argentina last year. What can you see that is the same about celebrating Halloween in our school and at Step? Can you find any clues that tell you these photos are not taken in New Zealand?

Here is a newspaper article about the students in Argentina participating in a Halloween fiesta. Can you tell if Halloween is a festival celebrated in Argentina or is it a way of experiencing English-speaking culture?

Things That Are Happening in Our Class and School

Term 4 Week 2 - Already!
Here's an update of things that are happening:


This is a very testing time... we are having tests for maths, reading and spelling as well as completing samples of work for our portfolios.

We are also preparing for the Intermediate school speech competition. Everyone has to prepare and present a persuasive speech. Finalists will present their speeches to the rest of the team in early November.

We are entering the STANZA primary school video competition. This year's theme is Las celebraciones en español son divertidas and we are going to make a video about San Fermines which is festival in Pamplona in Spain which includes the world famous el encierro or the 'running of the bulls'. We started to get interested in bullfighting when we viewed the Walt Disney cartoon of Ferdinand the Bull, which coincided with listening to Mr Yates class's debate on bullfighting. Then we discovered that it was part of a much bigger festival with a very old traditions.

Here are some sites which will give you lots more information about the festival of San Fermin:

Here is a guide for tourists planning to go to San Fermin. It has lots of information and video clips.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on San Fermin

Here is a blog entry from a person who goes to Pamplona every year for San Fermin

Here is a karaoke version of one of the songs sung about San Fermin. You have to be fast!

There's plenty of other information you can find just by searching San Fermin.

Wednesday 20 October and Thursday 21 October

The Mangawhau (Year 3 and 4) Team Presents:

A GIANT PLAY-MINI PRODUCTION...

THE QUEST FOR THE MAGICAL TOTARA TREE

1 pm
The Gardens School Hall
Children: FREE
Adults: A gold coin donation
- pay at the school office
- please be seated for a 1 pm start

Huia 1 is attending the Thursday performance.

Bandanna Week - Fund-raising for CANTEEN supporting young people living with cancer. Bandannas are being sold this week and next week at school for $4.00 each.


Tuesday 26th October -Rhythm Interactive Show (first day back after long weekend). $5 per student admission.


Thursday 28th October: School Athletics and Canteen Fun Day

Friday 29th October- Halloween disco.

Homework this week:

- Keep working on your speeches. We can start presenting them in class from about Friday if you are ready. Remember to follow the guidelines which you will find here.


- Remember the sheet you took home over the holidays for 'calendar art' ? This is to be completed at home and brought back to school if your family want to buy calendars of that art work. Discuss with your family what they, or the recipients of your wonderful calendar might like to look at - for an entire year. It can be a photo or art work or a combination. Nothing 3-D or sparkly as it will not show up.

- Check out Mitchell P's blog. He's having the most amazing time overseas - and has even flown a jet plane! Leave him a short message, if you like.

- Check out the websites about San Fermin. As you view material, can you think of things we do in New Zealand, which you do in your own culture or which you know happen elsewhere which are similar? What can you tell about festivals from your research?

Brand New Desks for Our Class

On Friday - the last day of the term, Huia 1 got brand new desks . Previously students had been seated around shared tables. Now there is an individual desk with lift up lid and a pull out tote tray for each student.

Here's some of the comments from Huia 1 students:

" They're wood so they're so much better. It's good because I have never had a desk before." Hunter

"I really like these new desks because we have more room in them." Sarah

"They rock. I'll have to get used to it." Brittany

"It was really exciting getting the desks and even more exciting because I got to help taken them out of the bug blue truck." Ben

"The desks are better because we don't have to always get up to get our books and pencil cases. Now we just have to lift the lid and our books are there." Bailey

"It's so smooth and nice. I love them. The desk will make me learn more about stuff. Thank you Mrs V and Mrs F." Kumiko


"I like the desks because I don't need to move to get my things." Sambit

"These desks are very cool and modern. The trays are bigger - I love these desks." Aminder

"I think it is very handynow. I think it is going to be much easier." Juliana

"They will help me get on with my work." Madison

"i think these will help us learn more because we won't have to get up and grab our books." Maria

"They're awesome but there are rules." Nathan

"They are great - better than the old ones. They are so convenient, with a tot tray holder underneath them. " Richard

"I am really enjoying the new desks but I am still getting used to them, which will take me a while. I feel like I have more room. I like having my books under my table. My work will now hopefully be cleaner." Erica.

"Wow! A new desk, The reason I'm happy is because I can get my books and pens very easily."Donny

"I think it looks cool and the room has more space. I am thanking the school for buying them and spending a lot of money on the students." Roneel

Click on each link below to find out about:

Our Science Fair projects
Our Spanish sentences for the week
The Intermediate Ball
Photos of the Ball
And More Photos of the Ball