Sunday, March 13, 2016

Our Sneaky Visitor

Mrs McKenzie came to work on a Saturday morning.  
She moved one of our yellow, wooden boxes.  
Out rolled a hedgehog.  Yikes!  Boy, did he smell bad!  
How do you think he got in there?  
How long do you think he was stuck in there?
We wrote our own hedgehog adventure stories ...

Arghhh!  It’s raining.  I need shelter.  That place looks nice.  There’s a box I can lie in.  BANG!  Oh no! It fell on me.  How can I get out?  I know, I’ll scratch my way out…
Five days later, I’m curled up in a ball.  Mrs McKenzie pulls the box up.  I’m free!  Mrs McKenzie gets a shovel and carries me to the Nature Trail.  “I’m home,” I said.  I feel so excited to be home.
by Anna

Arghhh!  A bird is chasing me.  I am scared.  I want my family.  Aye! The light.  Yay, I am free.  I am on a shovel.  Mrs McKenzie lets me go.  I am standing there looking at her.  She stands there looking at me.  I’m on my way home.  Don’t worry my family, I am coming home!
by Lydia

Mrs McKenzie opened the door.  I rolled into a ball and fell into the box.  I’m stuck.
Finally, Mrs McKenzie lifts the box.  Mrs McKenzie screams and the box stinks.  She gets a dustpan and she puts me on the Nature Trail.  Yay, I’m free.
by Hodan

Once upon a time there was a hedgehog.  A bird chases me into this strange place.  I bump into a box.  Thud!  It falls on me.  Help!  No one can hear me.  I am too quiet.  Oops, the children are coming.  Shhh!  Wait, it’s quiet now.  I will see if I can nibble my way out.  Nibble, nibble.  Oops, I can’t.  Oh no, it is getting brighter.  Yay, I’m free.  Wait a second.  There is something coming towards me, I don’t know what it is but it is lifting me to home.  Yay!  Oops! 
Thank you Mrs McKenzie.
by Sam

I get into the door, then I crawl over to the box.  The box falls on me and I am stuck!  One day Mrs McKenzie comes into the classroom,  suddenly she lifts the box.  I come out of the box.  She lifts me on a red dustpan.  She puts me outside in the bush.  I feel happy.
by Jamie

Oh no, I am stuck in the box.  Who will help me?  I am stuck here for six days.  Aha! I’ve got an idea, I am going to chew the box.  But I can hear Mrs McKenzie.  She lifts the box.  She gets a fright and jumps up in the air.  She gets a shovel and takes me outside to the Nature Trail.  I felt frightened like Mrs McKenzie.
by Dezyre

Wow!  A hedgehog.  I wonder how he got inside our box.  I think he walked in when we were working and hid in the box.  Then it tipped over and fell on him when the children walked in.  They went past the box and BANG!  I wonder how long he was there…
Hedgehog…
I wonder how long I am going to be here.  I could try to dig a big hole but that doesn’t work.  The next Saturday, someone’s coming. Hide!  I curl up into a ball.  Help!  Someone has picked me up on a shovel.  I’m free, I’m free, smell the beautiful air.  Yay, I’m free, I’m going home.  Yay!
by Cassia

This looks like a nice place.  I crawl up the ramp and peek around the corner.  I slowly walk into the classroom and walk towards a box.  I accidently roll into the box and it falls on me!  Help, help!  It’s dark in here…
Finally, I can see light.  Oh no!  It’s going to eat me.  I’m on its scoop thing and it is so loud.  Where are you taking me?  We’re outside, yay!  I’m coming family… Mum, dad, I’m here.  I went on an adventure.
by Ashen

I am in a scary box.  It was very frightening when the box landed on me.  I am trapped.  But someone saves me, I am finally free.  I race down Putikitiki to my family.  I have a mum, dad and an uncle.  We live in the bush.  My claws were left in Room 16.
by Logan

I am a hedgehog and I am stuck in a box.  I am scared.  I try to scratch my way out but that doesn’t work.
Wait, I see Mrs McKenzie coming.  She screams loud as!  I’m on a shovel.  I’m coming home.
by Carmelo

I am in a box.  “Help!”  No one can hear me.  One day Mrs McKenzie lifts the box.  She gets her shovel.  Oh no!  She puts me on her shovel and we go outside.  She puts me down outside.  I feel happy.  Yay, I am free and I go home.
by Hassan

Sneak, sneak, sneak went the hedgehog.  He rolled and rolled until a box fell on him.  How long did he stay there?  Ten days, he was like a spy.  But Mrs McKenzie got him and took him outside.  He was happy because he could be with his mum again.
by Ezra


I curled up in a ball and rolled, THUMP!  Someone put down the box and I was stuck.  I am really scared and frustrated.  I try to get out.  I scratch the box and the carpet.  Finally someone opens the box and I am free.  I am on a shovel and then we are outside.  I curl up in a ball and roll to a bush and down a hole.
by Tyson

When I bump into it, I get stuck in a box.  I can’t get out from here.  I try eating the carpet.  Boy!  The smell is disgusting.  I poo in here too.  I am only a small hedgehog.  I am stuck and scared in here.  I can’t get out from here.  How long could I be here for?
“Help, help!”  Someone looks under the box and I get out.  I am free!  Now I am fine and back with my family.  I am happy with my family.  It is a happy ending for me, I am having fun now.
by Jasnoor

Yum!  Look a snail trail.  I am going to eat that snail.  Climb, climb, and climb, up the stairs.  Slowly I enter the classroom.  Swoop!  Arghh!  A falcon.  Phew!  A dark and smelly place.  BANG!  “Help!”  Yay, Mrs McKenzie saves me.  This is even better than I thought in the first place.  “I’m home, Mama, Papa, Grandma.  What an adventure guys!”
by Nicholas

I was walking to find some food.  But as I walked, something was different.  Swoosh!  A bird came.  I bounced and bounced and then I ran as fast as I can.  I heard kids coming so I bumped into a box.  I’m stuck in the box for a week.  Mrs McKenzie finally got me out.  She got a red dustpan and put me in the Nature Trail.  Yay!  I can go home.
by Noah

I quietly and slowly climb up the stairs.  I hide behind the schoolbags.  Thump, thump, thump!  All the children run past.  It is quiet now.  Swoop!  A bird is chasing me.  I quickly run into the classroom.  I hide behind the reading trolley.  It is dark and smelly.  I sneak along to the yellow wooden box.  BANG!  Oh no, the box fell on me.  “Help!"  Nobody can hear me.  I can’t get out. 
Stomp, stomp, stomp!  The children are coming back.  Shh!   I scratch at the box, scratch, scratch and scratch.  I scratch the carpet, trying to dig my way out.  “Ouch”, my spikes get stuck in the carpet.  I will have to stay here all night. 
Tap, tap, tap.  Oh, the light is bright.  Mrs McKenzie lifts the box.  “Wheeee! I’m free.”  Oops, now I’m on a red dustpan.  Where is she taking me?  I can feel the breeze, I can smell the air.  Yay, I am going home.  Hooray!
by Brooke, Keeley, Ariana, Matiu and Raumati




Singing Cicadas

The cicadas sing outside our classroom.  
How do they make their noise we wondered?
The cicada... 
rubs it's two back legs - Anna
calls out - Logan
rubs it's wings with it's legs - Nicholas
rubs it's front legs on it's face - Sam
Buzzes when it is hot - Ezra

We found out ...
  • male cicadas have 2 drums called tymbals on their abdomen. They use them to call to the females
  • nymphs can live underground for up to 17 years
  • some cicadas have red eyes
  • nymphs suck on the roots of the trees
  • nymph is a baby cicada that has no wings
  • cicadas can damage trees because they suck all the sap out of the tree
  • the female cicada lays her eggs in the bark of the tree
  • an adult cicada only lives for about a week
  • cicadas have 2 large compound eyes and 3 little eyes
  • the cicada sucks it’s food through a tube called median ocellus
  • the shells of cicadas are really their old nymph skins
  • cicadas have 3 parts to their bodies, a head, the thorax and an abdomen
  • 2 small antennae, 6 legs and 4 wings
  • cicadas don't like water



Art-Self Portraits

We used glue to draw our faces on black paper.  
The glue spread everywhere!
After it dried we used pastel to colour our skin and clothes.  We looked closely at our eyes and mouths using mirrors.  We chose three colours to make a background pattern.  
Lastly we talked about adjectives.  We each used the computer to write a list of adjectives to describe ourselves, changing the font and size.  We added these to our backgrounds.


Statistics

We have been finding out about ourselves and each other for Statistics. 
We looked at different types of graphing to share the information we have found.

We investigated and sorted what kind of shoes we wear to school.
We made a Pictograph to show what we found out.
We wanted to find out if we had more girls or boys?
We made a Bargraph.
We investigated where our favourite places to play were.
We asked each other and kept a Tally Chart.
Then we put our information on a Bargraph.
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Co-operative Games with Project Energize

Wonderful Erin from Project Energize, came to teach us some new co-operative games. Here we are trying to get a hoop all the way around our group without looking or letting go our hands.

Our Garden

We went for a walk to explore our class gardens.
It was very exciting to find so many vegetables busy growing over the holidays.
Look what we found...
plump tomatoes
juicy, red strawberries...

and a GIANT pumpkin.
We hope Room 16 wins the Pumpkin weigh in at our Harvest Festival.