Room 4 and 8's Zoo Trip

On Friday Room 8 and Room 4 went to the Auckland Zoo as part of our inquiry into changes in the Grey Lynn area in the last 100 years. We got to see lots of changes, even since some of us had last visited! Check out our photos to see what a great time we had, and see if you can recognise any changes to the zoo since the last time you were there!

Charlotte's Writes: Clare and the Seven Witches

For narrative writing this week, Room 8 kids were given a book cover. They were then told to work with a friend or on their own to write a narrative using the book cover. Here is Charlotte's one. See if you can find her orientation, problem and resolution.

Clare and the Seven Witches

Once there were seven witches. They lived in a small cottage far away in the jungle. The witches were mean witches, but they were nice to each other because they all knew they had to stick together or die in the terrible jungle.

One day, a little girl passed their cottage. Her name was Clare. In the window Clare saw a pizza and she felt really hungry, so she went into the house to take a bite. Clare didn't know that the witches were hiding in the little cottage. They were hiding up on the roof. When they saw her take a bite of the pizza, they jumped down the chimney behind her. They reached out and grabbed her. "Oh no," she said. "It's a trap."

The next day she woke up in a cage. Then she saw one of the wicked witches and the witch said, "ha ha, you have to do our cleaning for the rest of your life." "Oh no," said Clare. "I don't want to be here the rest of my life."

Clare had to wash the dishes, the floor, the walls and everything else in the house. It was hard work. Two days later she was still cleaning without a break. She was so hungry and tired of all the world. She started to think of a plan for running away. She said to herself, "I am going to try to get away tomorrow." So all night she washed, did the dishes and cleaned until it was almost the morning. Then she checked to see if the witches were still asleep. They were!

Her first job was to find the key to their bedroom so that she could lock them in and then to find the front door key. She looked in the wardrobe and found a marvelous gold key. It said "bedroom" on it. She kept it in her hand and very silently she looked in the bookcase to find the other key. At the end of the shelf was a hollow book shaped like a diamond. Inside she found a very clean silver key that said "front door."

Quietly she went to the witches bedroom and locked the door. Then she went to the front door, which was locked. She got the silver key and unlocked the front door. She crept through the door silently, locked it again and then raced away, chucking the key into the bushes on her way. She sprinted all the way home and into her own house. When she got there, she thought, "well I guess I learned my lesson about stealing." After that, she lived safe and happy in her house, never doing the dishes again.

The Ngarara: A narrative

Here is the Ngarara narrative written by James. Check and see if he's used any time connectives, adjectives and similes to make his writing interesting. If he has, leave him a comment saying so!

Once upon a time there lived two girls called Molly and Sophie. They wanted to paint a Ngarara on the wall because they had learned about him at school. First they drew it on a piece of paper for a rough copy. It looked as good as a real painting. Then they started to paint it on a blank space on the wall.

When they were finished, they thought they heard an earthquake! They heard a rattle and a shake and a thunk. Then suddenly they heard a swish that came from the wall.

Narrative Writing: The Ngarara

Here is Toby's narrative about the Ngarara, based on the School Journal story. Can you see if he has an orientation which explains the setting, problem and resolution? If so, leave him a comment!

Once upon a time there was a Ngarara trapped in the wallpaper of an old house. The house was owned by a man names Bob. He was 39. He had brown hair and green eyes.

One day he took down some of the wallpaper. Then suddenly the Ngarara sneezed his way through the hole in the wallpaper! Bob was terrified. He ran to the phone and called 111 as quickly as he could.

When Bob turned around again, he couldn't see the Ngarara. He sat down on his chair and suddenly realised that he was sitting on the Ngarara. The Ngarara said, "I will eat you." Bob was very upset.

Then the police arrived. When they saw the Ngarara, they ran away because he was so scary. Bob tried to run away with them, but as he was running, he tripped over some paint. It splattered everywhere, all over the carpet, all over the walls and all over the Ngarara. "Ahhhhhhh," cried the Ngarara. "It's burning me!" Then the Ngarara turned to dust and everything was ok again.

The Ngarara: A narrative based on the School Journal story

Last week, Reading Group C read "The Ngarara" by Melanie Drewery, from School Journal Part 1, Number 5, 2007. Then they set about writing a narrative with the Ngarara as one of the characters, based on what they had learned about him in the story. Here is Elijah's narrative.

Once there was an old and creaky house. Living in the old house was an old, happy man. However, he didn't know that his house was in the woods where the Ngarara lived.

One stormy night, the old man wanted to go for a walk. He opened the door and there was a flash of lightning and in the flash, he saw the Ngarara! He was very frightened. He ran back into his house, slammed his door and locked it. Then the Ngarara flew up to the roof. He blew hard and the roof fell off.

The Ngarara flew inside the house and then saw that the old man was wearing a uniform. It was a Air Force uniform, complete with a walkie talkie. He used the walkie talkie to call the Air Force. They came as fast as thought with their jets and fired at the Ngarara. That was the end of the Ngarara.

Narrative Writing: The Enchanted Anklet

Oli and Maya got a book cover with a picture of a foot with an anklet on it. Here is their orientation and problem. Leave them a comment if you'd like to read the ending...

The Enchanted Anklet

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princes. Her name was Angelina. She lived in a palace with her mother and father and she was a really happy girl. She always listened to her father and mother. She had blonde hair and blue eyes.

One day, it was her birthday and she wanted to wear a very pretty dress. She ran to her closet and picked a splendid dress. Behind the dress there was a gold box which said "birthday jewellery." She opened the jewellery box and saw an outstanding anklet. She had never seen it before. She took it out of the box and slipped it on her right ankle. Then she hurried downstairs for her birthday breakfast. On the way down, she tripped and ripped her pretty dress. "Oh no," she said. "I wish I had a better life." Suddenly a portal opened. She fell into it. There were clocks and pianos and all sorts of strange instruments. She sank down to the bottom and landed in some sort of school. The teacher said, "this is a new student called Angelina..."

Narrative Writing: Weaving Earth and Sky

Here is the interesting narrative that Nina and Juanita have come up with so far. Can you tell what parts of the narrative they have written? They also received a book cover, and this is what they came up with!

Weaving Earth and Sky

Once upon a time there was a boy named Maui. Maui had three brothers named Kae, Kia and Matua. Maui was the most powerful. He lived in the wharenui with his brothers.

One day he went to the beach while his brothers went fishing. Suddenly he saw a taniwha in the water. "Oh no," he said. "There's a taniwha in the water! It might attack my three brothers in their boat." Maui ran as fast as a moa back to the wharenui and got a taiaha. Then he ran back to the beach, dove into the water and said...

Narrative Writing: The Great Big Enormous Turnip

Here are Nathan and Arlo to share their orientation and the complication of their story with you. They were given a book cover and told to make up the story that went with it. Leave them a comment if you'd like to hear the end of this exciting narrative!

The Great Big Enormous Turnip

One Saturday evening a man had just remembered that the King was coming to his cottage to have turnip stew for dinner the next day because he had won a stew contest and the King wanted to try it. He had all the ingredients for it, EXCEPT for fresh turnips, so he walked to the seed store to get turnip seeds. On the packet he took it said, "Magic seeds in this packet." "Yeah right," the man said to himself. When he got home he planted his seeds, then went straight to bed.
When he woke up in the morning, there was a great, big, enormous turnip blocking the window. He went outside and mumbled, "Wow!" then said "this could serve a million people. I could invite the Queen, the Prince, the Princess and thousands more!" He ran up to the turnip to pull it out but the problem was, it wouldn't come out! He twisted and turned and tugged all about but it just would not come out...

Calendar Art

Our photos are finished! We are very proud of our spring tapestries and the nature photos we took of them. We have decided to use them for the calendars that will be sold in the next few weeks. Parents, get your child to show you which photo is theirs so you know what you're buying, or come into Room 8 and look at a hard copy. Also, if you click through to the vimeo website you will be able to view them full screen. We hope you enjoy looking at our fantastic spring tapestries!

Spring Tapestries from Georgie Hamilton on Vimeo.

Spring Tapestries

Here are some of our finished spring tapestries. Once the border had been sewn, we went stick hunting and found a stick to thread through the material at the top of our tapestry. Then we plaited wool, using colours that would compliment our work, and tied it to the stick to give us something to hang our tapestries with. Next we took them outside and placed them in natural surroundings. We took photos of our tapestries in three different locations and then chose the best photo. Watch the clip to see the results!