Piha Splash-a-Thon

Our last Piha Pod team day included lots of water activities. We had water gun fights, a slip and slide ride, water bombs and water relays. What a great way to end 2010!

Art Exhibition

In the last term of 2010 Summerland Primary held an Art Exhibition.  We could only choose one of our art works to share.  We created art works in the style of Warren Pohatu or Laurel Burch and decided which one to share.

Kowhaiwhai Patterns

We created these kowhaiwhai patterns to represent us and our families.  We incorporated patterns based on the work of Warren Pohatu.

Mr Sonny is Sensational!

Please read our character descriptions about our wonderful caretaker Mr Sonny.  He does a great job looking after us and our school.  Use the magnifying glass cursor to enlarge and scroll the text.  You might like to comment on this post or leave a comment on a particular story within the VoiceThread.

Term Four Newsletter

Click on the icon to open the newsletter - it has two pages.
ClipArt by ThistleGirl Designs and DJ Inkers

Talk Like A Pirate - Arrgh!

What a great day we had talking like pirates, acting like pirates and enjoying pirate activities with Room 5 at Discovery Time.

Henderson's Carvings

Henderson has been learning to carve at the Arts Centre.  He told us how he used a chisel and a hammer to make the cuts.  The adults came to supervise so no one got hurt.  We think Henderson is a great carver - well done!

All Whites in the making!

Oratia Football Club have some All Whites in training.  Ben, Sasha and Bradley all won prizes at their recent prize giving.  All were awarded medals and trophies for 'Player of the Year' or 'Most Improved'.

Calendar Art

We created gecko artworks using tempera paint blocks and indian ink. Don't forget to order your calendars, cards and diaries by Thursday the 22nd of September.

Gabe's Bull Skull

Today Gabe had some awesome news!  When he went to his Grandpa's house in Kerikeri he came back to Henderson, Auckland with a huge skull.  It is very heavy.  He is going to put it on his fort.  We asked him what kind of animal it was and who killed it.  It had a bullet hole at the top.  We also wanted to know where the meat, brains and eyes were.

Wow! What fantastic artworks.

Glenys Character Descriptions

We have been learning what makes great character descriptions.  Here are some we wrote about our teacher, Glenys.
We have been commenting on each others writing - you might like to check out our feedback.

Kiwi Kick

We went with Room 14 and Mr Nisbet to Kiwi Kick one hot afternoon in July. Adam was our magnificent Kiwi Kick tutor. He is a Kiwi Kick expert. We had lots of fun and learnt how to punt the ball properly.

Term Three Learning Mission

We have been set a learning challenge by a Humanoid that is working for aliens from outer space.  It said, "I am a Humanoid that is investigating Earth for my alien masters.  They have seen many pictures of New Zealand's famous people, food, buildings and kiwiana.  They want to understand more about them.  Please research and find out information for me so I can go home.  I will be able to tune in to your classroom to watch and listen to what you are doing.  Please hurry, I want to go home."
Wow - it was so exciting when we found this message on our blog.  Miss Hughes said to listen carefully and we did!
We needed to find out what a humanoid was before we decided what to do next.
We were also unsure about what kiwiana meant.
We checked out these two words in dictionaries and on the internet.  Then we started to plan what to do next.

Henderson Intermediate Visit Us

On Thursday, the first of July, Henderson Intermediate Bi-lingual unit came to visit Anawhata and Piha teams to help us with our learning.  We had some speeches and waiata to welcome them.  Miss Hughes and Mr Giles spoke for us and we sang Te Whenua O Raumati to support them.  We all bought some food to share for morning tea.  It was such a feast we had some for lunch too!

View the slide show to watch the action.  You might notice us singing in the background, Glenys thinks we are fantastic singers.  Thanks Miss Hughes for teaching waiata to us and letting us join Anawhata on a great learning journey in Term 2.

Indy, Sasha's New Puppy

On Thursday the 1st of July we got a soft coated wheaton terrier.  It was born on the 11th of May.  It was very 'bitey' but the the bites didn't even hurt.  It is really soft and playful and a bit jumpy.  It is called Indy.  Lauren and Mum went to get it from a farm.  The towels smell of his Mum so we wont ever wash them.  On the first night he was woofing and woofing because he wanted to see his Mum, Dad, brothers and sisters.

Symmetrical Aliens

We read 'Aliens Love Underpants' and 'Aliens in Underpants Save the World' by Claire Freedman and then wrote a character description about one of the aliens in the books.

Then we created these symmetrical aliens in Photoshop.  We drew half the alien along a mirror line (line of symmetry) and then copied and flipped the image to create the whole alien.

Henderson's Tank

In the weekend I made a tank with bottles, a pencil and a spray can.  It has a gun at the top and caterpillar tracks to move on.  I had lots of fun making it with my sisters and brothers.
We all think Henderson did a great job using recycling materials to create a toy to play with.
Tumeke 12 have been making toys out of recycled materials too - check out all their toys by clicking here.

Michael - A Great Summerland Citizen

Michael's initiative has been recognised by the Anawhata teachers.  They awarded him a citizenship certificate for helping others when they needed it.  Great job Michael!

Hayley - Croatian Dancer

I went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum on Saturday because there was a celebration of Dalmatian cooking from Croatia.  I get dressed in my Dalmatian costume and looked at all the photos on the stand.  My Dida was in a photo.  He was cooking 28 lambs on a spit barbecue.  I did my dance with Nicholas and lots of people were watching.  We only made one mistake and I felt nervous.  It was a great day with Nana, Mummy and Dida.