Famous Fours

Today we’re going to tell you about how awesome our trip to Rotokare was last week!

Why did we go there?What isRotokare?  Can you guess?

Danielle told us that a sanctuary is “a place where something or someone is safe from danger.”

Well Rotokare is truly like an island on the mainland, because it has an amazing pest-proof fence a-l-l the way around it! It helps to keep all the pests and predators out and the native flora and fauna safe inside.

When we got there, we had to be checked by a special bio-security agent called Finn. He had to sniff our bags and clothes searching for any possible intruders. Can you guess what Finn is?!

We had to drive through a gate and wait until it closed behind us, then open and drive through the next gate.This means if any pests get in, they can’t get in to the next part.

Teagan thought it was a breath-taking place! Rotokare means rippling lake – and it was doing just that! We had an awesome bush walk around the lake seeing native flora and fauna.-

Jenna loved the mud and hearing a Tui

Kiwa was impressed by the massive Kahikatea tree

Emilie loved the views

Makareta jumped when the trap went bang!

Jamie loved the sound of the Fern bird

Jaqeylah- Mei thought working in the outdoor classroom was choice- apart from seeing the predators appear from under boxes!

Lochie loved seeing the fantails dipping and diving around searching for grubs to eat!

Nikaylah imagined she was a Velociraptor on the bush track!

Rylee thought the supplejack vines twirling and twisting to the light were cute.

Cassey liked the silvery back to the Silver Fern.The Maoris used them to mark their way in the dark.

Danielle is pleased to know that Rangiora leaves can be used for toilet paper (and writing letters). It is called” Bushman’s friend”

Sheldon saw pukekos wandering through the Raupo

Tyler just loved finding out about ALL the flora and fauna.

If you want to find out more about Rotokare, check their website.

Here’s another good website you might like to check out- www.kcc.org.nz

This week we have done lots of activities about ANZAC Day and learnt what it was like to be a soldier in World War 1. Read what we know now about this special commemoration:

POPPIES “This week we have been making poppies for ANZAC Day.      The red poppies were growing in Flanders where lots of soldiers were buried. Now we wear poppies to remember them on ANZAC Day.”  Emilie, Jenna, Jaydee and Rylee

ANZAC BISCUITS: “ANZAC biscuits were used to fundraise money          for the soldiers who went to war.Some came back and some died.           The soldiers had to eat Soldier Cookies because they had to be able to    last a long time and travel far away. If they had ANZAC cookies, they        might go off on the boat then they wouldn’t get anything to  eat, not         even a bite or a nibble.”   Teagan, Tyler, Lochlan and Sheldon.

GALLIPOLI: “Australian and New Zealand soldiers went to fight at        Gallipoli. They landed at Anzac Cove at dawn on April 25th. When the New Zealanders marched on the sand, the Turkish soldiers would       shoot them easily, Boom!                    

2,700  New Zealanders died at Gallipoli.

120,000 soldiers died altogether.” Kiwa, Max and Karlos

Gutter Board

This week we have been learning how to play Gutter Board.  We had to use a board and a ball. The idea of the game is to throw the ball at the board and catch it again without it bouncing on the ground. You start by sitting on the ground.  You have to throw it 5 times, then move back.  When you get to 20 you have to stand.  If you win you have to stay in, and it is the next persons turn.

by Emilie, Makareta, Jaqeylah,and Jaydee.

Subway

We got to have some yummy subway on Wednesday. Max had a bread roll with roast beef, cheese, lettuce and cucumber.  Karlos had roast beef, tomatoes, cheese, cucumber and lettuce and no pickle.  Kiwa had ham, tomatoes, cheese, cucumber and lettuce.  It was good food.
By Kiwa, by Karlos, and Max

Sport

We are learning how to do athletics because on Wednesday next week we will be doing the big athletics tournament.

These are the things we are learning: Sprinting, Jumping as far as you can, shot put, relay races, throwing the discus.

by Breeze,by Angel and by Danielle.

Water Safety

Last week we went to Opunake beach.  We learned about water safety.  We made some posters to show what we learned.  A photo will be put on soon of some of them.

By Jenna, and Nina

You may be forgiven for thinking that we forgot to put a post up on our blog last week!….. We didn’t, but as we were having trouble getting in to the site, we posted on publisher so we could cut and paste later. Unfortunately, when we went to find our post to upload, IT WAS GONE!!!

So if anyone finds a Room 4 document floating around in Cyber Space, PLEASE send it back home where it belongs!!!

Here’s a piece of writing about our Beach Ed Day- We are trying to make our writing interesting for our audience and also make sure we have correct basic punctuation.

Nikayla wrote

“We went to the Beach Ed at Opunake. First we went to the playground then we met the lifeguards. We learnt some cool stuff about water safety. Later on we went and played Seaweed we also went in the waves that was really cool! at the end of the day me, Teagan, Jamie and Mrs Parry had an ice cream! We had heaps of fun! I want to go again.”

If you can find somewhere that should have had a capital letter, post a comment to let me know! 100 house points if you can…(300 if you are from yellow house!)

Welcome back to school we are the Famous Fours!

We aim to have fun, be friendly and be the most fantastic class at Matapu School. We are learning to use alliteration in our writing to make it more interesting. Can you find our alliteration?

We had a fabulous day at famous Opunake Beach.

Harris takes us for a warmup