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.

Term 4 Goals

Last week we reflected on our learning and set ourselves some new goals in reading, writing and maths so that we can continue to get even better at these things. Then we picked one goal to share with you!

Term 4: Looking Forward

Here are some more Room 8 members to share with you what they are looking forward to.

What we have learned in Term 3

Here are some more Room 8 learners to share the most important thing they have learned this term.

Where Do Unicorns Come From?

We are busy doing our matinee performance of the production today. Tomorrow is our evening performance and we are so excited! In the meantime, here are Charlotte and Queenie to tell you all about where unicorns come from.

Where Do Unicorns Come From?

Unicorns come from the land of lollies.

In the land of lollies there is a knitting machine. It makes unicorns.

The knitting machine knits the unicorns body out of lollies. Then there is another machine that undoes the knitting and pushes in the heart lolly and knits the body back up.

Finally, they are fully made of lollies and are free to run away and explore lolly land. They can eat all the lollies too.

Unicorns come from the land of lollies, they never come from anywhere else.

By Charlotte and Queenie.

Measurement: Taller and Shorter

For maths, we have been drawing Kid Pix pictures showing at least two things, one tall and one short. We could choose to draw anything we wanted. Some people chose to draw shapes, others drew flags, and Toby even drew dinosaurs! Watch the movie to see our amazing pictures, and don't forget to leave us a comment if you think we got it right!

Writing to explain: The first female Prime Minister elected in New Zealand

This is the next explanation in our series explaining important changes in the 2000's. Can you see the identifying statement, explanation sequence and summary statement the group have used? If you can, leave them a comment!

Who was the first female PM elected in NZ?

Helen Clark was the first woman to be elected as Prime Minister.

Helen Clark was born on 26th February in 1950. Her mum is called Margaret and was a teacher. Her dad is called George and was a farmer. Helen Clark has a husband called Peter Davis. When she was young, she went to Epsom Girls Grammar School.

Helen Clark was the first woman to have won at an election for Prime Minister. Clark was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2008. She was also the Minister for Art and Culture. Her party was the Labour Party.

Helen Clark is now in Washington DC. On April 17, 2009, she became the Administrator of the United Nations and she is the first woman to have this job.

Helen Clark was the Prime Minister for New Zealand. She is now the first female Administrator for the United Nations.

By Queenie, Charlotte and Inaise.

Term 3 Goal Setting

Welcome to Term 3 in Room 8! There are lots of exciting things happening this term, not just in Room 8 but all around Grey Lynn School. We are getting ready for our centennial celebration, which includes our production as well as lots of other special events, but we will also be doing really fantastic reading, writing and maths!

To make sure we know what we are aiming for, we have been looking at our Term 2 goals and setting new goals for Term 3. Watch the movie to hear some of our writing and reading goals so far!

Term 2 PMI: Charlotte

Here is Charlotte to share her PMI.

A Dramatic Rendition of the Popcorn Procedure

Queenie, Toby, Charlotte and Isobel chose to use the flip video camera to film themselves reenacting the popcorn procedure.

First we chose our videographer, Isobel, and our narrator, Queenie. Then we decided what Toby and Charlotte, the actors, would do. Next we filmed it, and then Queenie did the voiceovers. For our music we chose Cotton Eyed Joe because we thought that it would match what was happening in our footage since it's a fast song. We hope you enjoy watching it.

Group C performs "Lucky Dip"

This week, Group C used their dramatic ability to act out a play from Junior Journal 40, called Lucky Dip. The play is all about a shopkeeper who sells different types of birthdays in boxes. You can buy any type of birthday party you want - ice cream parties, loud parties, quiet parties, fancy dress parties and lots of other kinds. Unfortunately, two dogs knock over the shelves and mix up all the parties. How will Luka and Tiana solve this problem? Watch the movie to find out!

Descriptive Writing: Charlotte's Mum

My mum's name is Angela. Here is my description of her. I like my mum because she is funny. I hope that you like her too!

By Charlotte.