Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Fun Run.  It was wonderful to see so many parents and relatives supporting this event.

Hands and Feet Picture

We created these hands and feet pictures by first drawing round our hands and feet, then adding a smaller body behind the hands and feet. The hands and feet look as if they are closer to you because they are bigger.

Lily Mirfin

Nicole O'Malley

What is Limestone?

What is limestone ?

Limestone is a type of sedimentary rock with at least 50% of calcium init. It has shells and bones in it. It was made billions of years ago. Limestone was made in the sea and the desert.

What is limestone?

Limestone is a sedimentary rock made of bones, dirt shells, mud, sand and pebbles. It contains at least 50% calcium. It was made in the sea, the desert, lakes and rivers billions of years ago.If you put limestone in vinegar  it starts to bubble like the bottom of a big bottle of lemonade when you open it up. After a couple of days soaking in vinegar it forms tiny white crystals.

Lily Mirfin

The Lone Robot

We watched Tabula Rasa from The Thinking Shed https://www.literacyshed.com/the-thinking-shed.html then we wrote stories based on what happened in the video.

The Lone Robot

As the sun peeked through the dark grey clouds, rust red sand blew around in circles,like a whirlpool, smashing against tall ragged rock columns. A lone robot stumbled through the dirty sand, feeling more dead than alive. The sun shone on his dented metal body as he trudged through the heavy red sand. The lone robot couldn’t think why his family and friends had left him stranded on this horrible planet, so far away from home.

Crash, the robot smashed against the hard clumpy sand. The robot lay there feeling he would never get up again, until suddenly he turned his head, noticing a little green thing sitting in the sand. Using all of his strength, he lifted himself up lumbering to the the green thing. As he got there, he crouched down, and when he went to touch it, it flinched and he jumped in fright. He thought for a moment then he picked up the plant, and searched for where he could plant it.

Suddenly he saw an amazing tall rock that stretched above the clouds.The robot was now already halfway up the cliff when he slipped, falling backward off the cliff. Now he was plummeting toward the ground. Luckily he grabbed a ledge and managed to struggle to the top of cliff, with dirt covering his body, and scratches wrapped around his legs like bandages. The robot was weak; he dropped his plant and crashed to the ground.

Years later the tiny plant had transformed into a huge tree. Leaves blew around as the robot lay there dead, on the top of the cliff, where he would stay forever.

Nicole O’Malley

Stalactites and Stalagmites

Stalactites are rocks hanging off caves roofs. They look like icicles and they feel bumpy and sharp at the tip. They have lots of colours like brown, red, orange and brown red. Stalactites are formed by calcium mineral. The calcium mineral comes from limestone.

Stalagmites are like stalactites but they are formed on the ground of caves. They look like icicles forming on the ground. They feel bumpy and at the tip it is sharp.

By Liam  

Mondrian Art

Mondrian was an  artist  who  was  born 7th of March 1872 .

He passed away February 1,1944, aged 71. Mondrian was born in

the Netherlands. Mondrian was  a Dutch painter.He died of an acute attack of pneumonia in New York.

In my Mondrian picture I had the colours red,yellow and black.

I used for my lines big fat lines and small lines. Some of

the things we used for our shapes were squares and rectangles.

By Doreen A

Mondrian

Mondrian Art

We created some artwork inspired by the work of Mondrian.

Nicole O'Malley

Alanna Tafua

Coby Butcher

Ella Lysaght

Liam Irvine

Xanadu Cave

After our fantastic trip to Xanadu Cave in the Paparoa National Park, we wrote about our experience:

In The Cave

Glow-worms lit up the bumpy,uneven roof like candles. Before we went into the cave I was very nervous because the entrance looked very skinny, but Marion told us that it would get wider. At the start we had to jump over a big hole and I just about fell, but Jack helped me across. When we got to a very small room and turned off our lights to see small yellow glow-worms,  there were only 1 or 2 of them. We switched  on our lights and carried on. After  a couple of minutes we stopped, and Marion told us about the hardened mud, which is named petrified mud. We carried on and found a little hole filled with water, named the sink. After a while there was a big loop. Around the corner there was a rock shaped as a moa foot. On the way out I could just see some light and when we were

finally out, the sun was hurting my eyes. I was relieved, but I really wanted to do it again.

By: Max

Room 5 had a great day exploring Xanadu Cave near Punakaiki.  Check out some of our photos of the rock formations.  Many thanks to all parents for their help with transport and their support during the activities.  A huge thank you to Warren Smith, Marion McComb and Jack Grimshaw for providing Room 5 children with what was a really special experience.

Keep a look out for our Xanadu writing, appearing on this blog soon..