Christmas Float

Float Movie from Pam Thomson on Vimeo.

Saints

Pictures in the Mind

I have been practising writing words that give readers pictures in their minds,

A few weeks ago, our whole school went into the hall to watch Mana, The Spirit Of Polynesia.

The performer’s name was Bernard. The first thing he told us he would do was a hoop dance. He also told us that he had to make all sorts of animals and plants using five to seven small plastic hoops while dancing! They looked very hard to dance with! When he started his performance he was just dancing then he picked up some hoops and started to make animals and plants.

The first animal he made was an eagle. He put all the hoops in a position that made it look like they were stuck to his back and his arms and hands. When he made the eagle, he stretched his arms and flapped them gently like a real eagle soaring through the air!

The next animal he made looked pretty hard. The animal was a horse. He then put the hoops in a different position on his body and started to put some of the hoops in his hands. It looked like he was actually riding a real horse! It looked really realistic, and I could just imagine him as a cowboy riding through the wild west.

When that was finished, everybody clapped thunderously loudly. It really did take a long time for people to stop clapping because heaps of the children thought it was amazing.

Well done, Lara. You have used words to give me pictures in my mind. I can see Bernard putting the 7 hoops across his back his arms and his hands. Were his arms and hands stretched out? You need to tell us that. By telling us that he seemed to be riding  real horse, it has helped me to see what it looked like when he had his hoops in his hands. I can hear the applause because you have written that it sounded like thunder.

My Afternoon Walk

Last night, my mum, my dad and I went for a walk around the River Walk with my dog, Poppy.

When Mum and I decided that we wanted to go for a walk, I begged Dad to come with us. He didn’t really want to but he came anyway. He took a long time to clean up the kitchen. Well, knowing him, he is the family chef, after all.
After he had finished cleaning up, we went out the door with me holding Poppy’s lead tightly in my hand.  I knew very well that, when the door was open, Poppy would zoom as fast as a cheetah out the door, and almost make the lead slip out of my hand. To my relief, she zoomed out the door but I had enough grip to hold onto the lead.
When we all got outside, I pointed to the River Walk and asked, “Do we go that way?” 
Mum said, “Yep, we're going there,”  so I ran with Poppy, all the way to the River Walk, until we came across this old keyboard that, for some reason, I thought was haunted, but my dad said it wasn’t haunted, so he tapped one of the keys and said, “It has run out of battery.”
After that, we walked over to the hill that led to the River Walk. I was scared I would slip on the rocky side of the hill so I went on to the grassy side with my parents and walked down with them. 
When we reached the bottom of the hill, I started to run with Poppy along the River Walk path. I stopped, turned around and looked at my mum and dad far behind me. I giggled, then ran back as fast as a racing car, and stopped just in front of them. I said, “Come on, you slow pokes!” Mum and Dad started to walk even faster after that.
When we reached the silver gate, Poppy went under it, which made the lead go under and over so I put the lead under the gate and stepped over it.  Of course, Mum and Dad were too lazy to step over it, so they went around it. I don’t blame them though - it was Poppy’s fault, after all. She always does that.
After a long time of walking, we finally reached our stop. I thought that we would go over the two bridges but that was only in the long River Walk, but we couldn’t go that way because it was too late. We then stepped over the fence and walked down the hill, through the park, and stopped in front of our house.  
When I got inside, I was so exhausted and hot that I just collapsed on the couch and had a great night’s sleep.
I thought that it was the best walk I had ever had.
Well done, Lara. You have shown, in the way you wrote about your walk, that you really enjoyed it. Your recount shows energy because the story moves along and contains phrases such as 'I ran with Poppy', and 'When we reached the bottom of the hill, I started to run with Poppy along the River Walk path. I stopped, turned around and looked at my mum and dad far behind me. I giggled, then ran back as fast as a racing car, and stopped just in front of them. I said, “Come on, you slow pokes!” 

Humour in your personal voice is evident - 'He took a long time to clean up the kitchen. Well, knowing him, he is the family chef, after all.' and 'I knew very well that when the door was open, Poppy would zoom as fast as a cheetah out the door, and almost make the lead slip out of my hand. To my relief, she zoomed out the door but I had enough grip to hold onto the lead.' and 'Of course, Mum and Dad were too lazy to step over it, so they went around it.'

You have used some good pictures in the mind vocab, like 'begged', 'held Poppy's lead tightly in my hand', 'like a cheetah', 'enough grip', 'pointed', 'reached the silver gate', 'stepped' and 'collapsed. Change 'went' to a better verb, and change 'got' to a better verb.

Next Steps:
Think about the events you include in your writing - are they important to the story? In this story, is the part when you found a keyboard and thought it was haunted an important event?

Make a list of alternative endings, then choose the one you like best.

Draw a picture of Poppy going under the silver gate and insert it into the relevant paragraph.

Fuzzy's Big Adventure Disaster

Once upon a time, there was a cat called Fuzzy and her owner, Vanessa. They lived in a city called Luminose City. Fuzzy was a ginger cat with white paws and black stripes on her back and tail. 

One day, Fuzzy went into the backyard and looked through the fence. Suddenly, a great Dane, as tall as a tower, came up to the fence in front of Fuzzy and stared at her with a fierce look on his face.

Fuzzy was trembling with fear. 

Carefully, Fuzzy backed away from the fence when suddenly, the great Dane jumped over the fence and chased Fuzzy around the backyard, barking so loudly that it was heard all around Luminose City!!!

Fuzzy was almost ready to give up when she remembered there was a big tree in the backyard so she ran up the tree and stared down at the great Dane that was looking up at her and growling madly at her, then, to Fuzzy's relief, the great Dane turned around and walked down the street and out of sight.

Fuzzy was so happy that she forgot that when she looked down at the ground, she got a bit scared so she tried to get down from the tree, but she was too scared to come down.

Just then, Vanessa came out of the backyard door calling, "Fuzzy! Fuzzy! Where are you girl?" 

She was very worried now. Where was her cat? Vanessa looked all around town but couldn’t find her anywhere!!! 

Poor Fuzzy was stuck in the big tree until Vanessa got home and decided to sit under the tree to help her calm down. Suddenly, she looked up and saw a ginger tail waving on the trunk of the big tree.

Vanessa gasped in surprise. “Fuzzy was there all along!!” she said as she climbed up the tree to get her down. 

When they got down to the ground, Fuzzy jumped out of Vanessa’s arms and ran into the house. Vanessa gasped in fright and ran into the house to find her all cuddled up in a little furry ball on Vanessa’s bed.

After that, Fuzzy and Vanessa lived happily ever after, without any great Danes.  

Good story, Lara. You used picture-in-the-mind words to describe the characters and their actions. I especially like the fact that you used a simile to describe the Great Dane.

Athletics Practice

We are practising throwing the discus.

Raccoons

Raccoons are small animals about the size of a fox. They live in trees or on the earth.
Raccoons are nocturnal animals. They sleep during the day and wake up at nightfall.

What Raccoons Look Like.

Raccoons have thick fur and have a bushy tail with  black rings on it.

Raccoon Homes.

A raccoon’s home is in a den or sometimes in a tree or in a hole among rocks. It may be the old underground home of another animal, such as a skunk. The den is a safe place to live. On a warm day, a raccoon may climb into a tree and lie in the fork of branch or in an abandoned bird’s nest. A raccoon likes to sleep in the sun.

Raccoons In Autumn.

While it’s autumn, raccoons eat lots and lots of food.They become fat and move slowly. When winter  comes and food is all gone, the extra fat helps them to stay alive.

Raccoons also grow a very thick coat of fur to keep them warm.

Raccoons In Winter.

Raccoons that live in very cold parts of North America, sleep in their den for long periods during winter, and only come out in warmer days.

Raccoon Babies

When it’s spring, a mother has two or six babies. Raccoon babies are called cubs. When cubs are born, they are very small and blind. At about seven weeks old, the cubs leave the den for the first time. When the cubs are older, their mother takes them hunting with her. She teaches them where to find food and how to catch it. Mother raccoon and her cubs keep in touch with each other by making all sorts of noises. They can hiss, growl, purr and grunt. Cubs are very good at climbing trees

Hunting For Food.

Many raccoons live in woodlands, very near some streams and lakes, where food is easy to find.

When it is dark, the raccoons wake up and leave their dens to go hunting. Sometimes they hunt for mice, earthworms and grasshoppers. They wade and swim to find fish, crayfish, tadpoles, frogs and turtles. Raccoons use their front paws to catch moving fish. They can open mussel shells with their strong fingers, and feel  for frogs hiding in the mud.

The Masked Bandit.

Raccoons sometimes raid hen houses and take eggs or young chicks. They use their front paws to open the hen house doors.

Raccoons will climb trees to find birds’ eggs or nestlings.

They will tip over birds’ nests to eat the yum seeds. They take fruit from sunny orchards and vegetables from gardens.

Raccoons In The City

Most raccoons live in or close to towns and cities. Because they eat different foods, they always find plenty of food to eat in rubbish dumps and inside garbage cans. When there is plenty of snacks, raccoons will eat as much as they can to fill up their chubby stomachs, then they will nap for a while, and then wake up to eat some more food.

They do this lots of times.                                                                   

Cross Country

Book Character

My Speech

Lara from Pam Thomson on Vimeo.

The Best Dad

Do you want to hear about the best dad in the world?  Well, the best dad in all the world is skinny, tall and has long ears.  I call them elf and raccoon ears. 

The best dad in the world works at the Waikato District Council.  My dad looks like a policeman in his work uniform. 

Sometimes my dad plays tricks on me in the car on the way home from school.  He likes to tease me.  Once I asked if we could go to get me a treat at the dairy, then my dad asked, “Is it night time?” I said, “No,” and he said, “Well, that’s your answer, “No,” but we went anyway.

And that’s why my dad is the best dad in the world.

I Saw It First

MAQ00003 from Pam Thomson on Vimeo.

My Wonderful Mother

My mother is wonderful because she takes me shopping. When we go shopping we mostly go to get me the latest computer games and toys that I would really like to get. She also gets me some clothes if my other clothes are too small for me.

My mother is wonderful because she takes care of me when I am sick. She lets me go on my computer. She checks on me every now and then. she sometimes let me sleep in her bed when I am tired.

My mother is wonderful because she calms me down when I am scared and lets me sleep in her bed if I have a nightmare in the middle of the night.She also walks me into class because I mostly just worry about her if she doesn't.                   

What I Found Out About Breakfast Cereals.

I learnt that you shouldn’t have cereal with a lot of sugar in it and that you should add fruit to cereals that are not that healthy. You should always look on the back or the side of the cereal box and see if the fibre/dietary fibre is more than 5 grams, and that the sugar is less than 15 grams and that the fat is less than 10 grams. So, next time you have to buy cereal, make sure to look on the side or the back of the cereal box and look for those limits. You should have these cereals for breakfast every day -  Weetbix or Porridge (with fruit or not with fruit). You can have spaghetti if you have wholemeal toast with it. You can add fruit to Cornflakes and Ricies to give them more fibre. Some things that you should never have for breakfast are Coke and Cookie Time. They are only treats but you can have them just don’t have too much, but you should never have Cocopops or Nutrigrain for an every day breakfast.

Matariki

Matariki

Zero Waste.

It is important to reuse,  recycle , reduce and compost so that we don't keep adding to the landfill, every month. New Zealand makes a rugby field long and 30 classrooms high of rubbish. We can reuse our old things that we don't need any more, to make something useful, such as pencil holders, bags, piggy banks, lunch boxes, bird seed holders and flower pots.

Elgrego

Yesterday,Elgrego came to our school and performed magic in an anti-bullying show.
When we were ready, Elgrego began his magic by making birds appear. The first trick he did was the bird in a book trick. For the trick, he showed us the book was empty, then he closed it and then he snapped his fingers two times and then he opened the book and then a beautiful white dove came out of the book. The whole school was stunned.

Next, he performed a magic trick with fizzy raspberry drink. He put the cup of raspberry fizzy drink into a little box he called the ups and downs box. When he put the cup of raspberry fizzy drink in the box, he closed the lid and turned the box to the side and turned the box upside down, then he turned it up the right way and opened the lid. All the school held their breaths, then he took the fizzy drink out of the box and it hadn't spilt one bit. The whole school was amazed.

For the next trick, he was talking to a baby green dinosaur about bullies at his school. See More told Elgrego that he needed his help, so Elgrego told the See More about using his wits. Seemore asked him, "What are your wits?" When See More asked this, Elgrego and See More started singing The Rainbow Song from The Muppets. When they were finished singing, Elgrego taught See More and the school about using our wits. When he taught us the things you have to do if you are using your wits, he was putting the main words of using our wits on the words
ladder.
Finally, Elgrego performed the brick wall trick.When it was almost the end of the show, Elgrego pulled out a brick wall and told us a little legend of a wonderful magician who walked through a brick wall, so Elgrego said he would try to walk through the brick wall just like the magician, so he put his head in a small hole in the brick wall and put his hands in tiny hand-shaped holes in each side of the brick wall while holding a blue blanket in front of him. When he was all sorted, he started making pushing noises like "Eerrrrrr! Ehhh! Errrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Ahhhh!" then, suddenly, he dropped the blue blanket and the whole school saw that he was standing in front of the brick wall. We all gasped. We all were amazed that he could walk through the brick wall.
I thought that the Elgrego show was amazing, helpful and inspiring.

Frog Hunting In Fiji.

Last year, Mum, Dad and I went to Fiji for a week.
One night, in our hotel room, my dad was on the laptop and my mum was in the bathroom, and I was out frog hunting with my friends.
When we were out frog hunting, we caught a big fat warty toad. After we caught that, we all felt proud of ourselves. We put it into a bathtub, but it jumped out and got us all soaked!!!

Holy Week.

Holy Week is the week we get ready for Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday is when Jesus rose from the dead.
The start of Holy Week is celebrated on Palm Sunday. This day reminds us of Jesus riding into Jerusalem.  The people were so excited to see Jesus that they laid  their cloaks on the ground for Jesus to ride over them.
On Holy Thursday, Jesus shared the last supper with his disciples.  For their meal, they had bread and wine which were the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
The next  day  was Good Friday. This day is the day when Jesus was nailed to the cross, but Jesus did not stay dead for long.
Two days later, Jesus rose from the dead.  We remember this  day as  Easter Sunday.  On Easter Sunday we eat Easter Eggs. Easter Eggs represent new life.

My Birthday

Last year, when it was my birthday, I had three friends over. Their names were Stevannah, Olivia and Eden.
The first guest to arrive was Eden.The first thing we did was play with my toy food and my baby alive.
A couple of minutes later, Stevannah arrived. Eden and I explained to her what we were playing so she decided to play as well.
Soon we got sick of the game we were playing and we decided that we were going to play something else. When we decided we wanted to play hide and seek, Olivia came. She didn’t want to play so we all decided to play with my playdough. We played with it for a while until Stevannah said, “Why don’t we mix all the playdough together?”
I said yeah, Olivia said yes and Eden said ok, so we grabbed all the playdough and mixed it all together.
We went to play a little bit of hide and seek because we were bored.
When we came back, we saw our playdough was all dried up but I said, “Oh well, I have a lot of other good toys.”

St Patrick's Day

Swimming Sports

Our whole school went to swimming sports at the Ngaruawahia pools yesterday.
Mr.K called the eight year old girls to the small pool to start our race. I stood behind the small brick wall along the line of my contestants. I stared at  the water and it stared back at me, beckoning me into its trap. I suddenly heard Mr. Emms say, “Hop into the pool!!!!”
I dived into the pool and shivered like nothing else because the pool was ice cold, so I  held onto the edge of the pool and waited for the whistle to blow. Suddenly I heard the whistle blow so loud that I couldn't miss the sound and I started swimming as fast as I could. I tried my best to catch up to them but they were too fast for me so I ended up coming last.
At the end of the day, we had our free swim. When I heard that we were having a free swim, I quickly got into my togs, and hopped into the pool.
When I was in the pool, I swam as gracefully as a mermaid to the other end of the pool. When I got there, I swam around in circles, then I swam as fast as a cheetah to the other side of the pool. I spotted my friends in the deep pool so I hopped into the pool and met up with Alex.

Proper Nouns

This morning our class learned Proper Nouns. Proper Nouns are special names given to normal nouns. They all start with capital letters, for example:
Name of a girl, Stevannah.

Name of a boy, Bob.
The name of a squealing boy, Fred.
Name of a dog, Poppy.
Name of a cat, Mr. Whiskers.
The name of my school, St Paul's Catholic School
The name of our school's street, Belt Street.
The name of my town, Ngaruawahia.

Life in NZ Compared to Life on Kapo Island

Our donations to Caritas are used to help people on Kapo Island in Papua New Guinea.

Our donations to Caritas are used to help people on Kapo Island in Papua New Guinea.

Lara

Smart, funny, bookworm, fast.

Daughter of Janene and Rob.

Sister of Evan.

Lover of chocolate, Big Tedz and chocolate sticks.

Who feels excited, happy, goofy.

Who needs love, praise, family.

Who gives love, care, gifts.

Who fears floods, fires and the Grim Reaper.

Who would like to see the Eiffel Tower, to see the Statue Of Liberty, the whole littlest pet shop set.

Who comes from New Zealand.

Who lives in Ngaruawahia.
Koppers.

Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday. This morning, we burnt last year's Palm Sunday palms to ash, so Father Keane can  use them on Ash Wednesday, when he  makes the sign of the cross on our foreheads and reminds us to follow Jesus.
After  swimming, Olivina came to say thank you, St Paul's for your contributions of money.
Olivina told us all about Tonga and that they buy pigs to raise them to sell them and eat them. They sell them for their children to get into a school and buy them uniforms and books and pay the school fees.

Whangamata

When Mum, Dad, Lauren and I went  to the beach, our friend  Lily came for the night.
The first thing we did was spy on  Lauren's brother, Tom, playing with his pokemon.
Suddenly, Lily dropped a couple of candy rappers down.
Soon I noticed, then  Lauren and I dropped all the candy rappers down, and cracked up laughing because Lauren's dad came in to check on Tom and saw the rappers and made Tom pick them up.
It was so funny!!!

Waitangi Day

Waitangi Day is the day when NZ became a nation. It is also a national holiday for New Zealanders.
The Treaty was signed on the 6th of February, 1840.
It was signed in Waitangi in the Bay of Islands. 500 Maori chiefs  and the representatives of the Queen signed the treaty.The Queens representatives agreed that the Maori  would continue to own the lands forests and oceans and Maori agreed that the Queen set up the rules for the country and the government.
On Waitangi Day this year, I went shopping with my mum and dad. We brought some clothes for my mum and dad and littlest pet shops for me and, for a treat, I got an ice cream. It was the best ice cream I had ever tasted!!!!!!