The Elephant Man by Jordan

The Elephant Man was disfigured. He got put in a freak show. People payed money to laugh at him. He had lumps on his face. He got very sad and he yelled at people. He had a very lonely life. He wanted to escape and run to a place where no-one can find him and he wanted to hurt people that tease him. No-one could cure his lumps in those days so he had to hide because he was different and people stared at him and in the end he just died.

Herb the Vegetarian Dragon

Yesterday we read the story of Herb the Vegetarian Dragon. Now we're working on crayon and pastel pictures of dragons and knights. 

The Bad Rat and Fat Cat by Jacob

Once upon a time there lived a bad rat. He lived in an apple tree. One day the bad rat went to the house by the apple tree to get some cheese. The bad rat saw a door open and ran inside. When the bad rat got inside he stopped because he saw a big fat cat hiding behind a door. The fat cat started to chase the bad rat. The bad rat ran away back out the door and the fat cat ran after him all the way to the apple tree. The fat cat tried to climb the apple tree but then the fat cat got stuck and went back to the house to have a rest.

The End

Origami Rose by Wai

This is the video of the rose that transforms into a cube. I found it by looking through the origami clips on Youtube.

Monsters!

Today we learned Maori words for different body parts. We drew faces in the sandpit and made sure that we included whatu, ihu, waho and taringa. Jacob drew monsters on the concrete. His monsters have ihu nui (big noses)!

Our School Gala

We had our school Gala on Saturday. Ms Leishman, Maggie and Troy were in charge of Singstar in the hall. Lots of children had fun dressing up and singing.

Where the Wild Things Are!

Cute Kitten and iphone

Wild Things! by Jordan

The first time we went on stage it was a bit scary but then the second time it was ok. We had to practice about five times a week. It was tiring but it was fun. Practice was the best. When we made the masks it was hard. We had to make the masks with papier mache. Ms Leishman said put on about 12 layers.

Jordan and Jack getting ready to go into the Hall.

Wild Things!

Where the Wild Things Are!

Here's a slideshow of us getting ready to go on stage. If your mum or dad has photos from the show, ask if you can bring them to school. We'd love to put more on our blog.

Wild Things!

Where the Wild Things Are was awesome last night. We knew what we were doing and put on a fantastic show.

Lazer Popping Balloons!

Jack Mitchell found this amazing video on Youtube. Check out how powerful this lazer is.

MrNussbaum.com - Decimals of the Caribbean

MrNussbaum.com - Decimals of the Caribbean The Mammoths numeracy group have been learning about decimal numbers. This is a good game to practice reading decimal numbers.

Smell Like a Monster - Grover's Old Spice Commercial

Joss' Eye-ball

On Thursday my brother and I went to the Porirua pools. He got hit with something. We think it was a foot  or a hand. It hit him in the eye-ball. We went to the Kenepuru Hospital. Then  we went home.

by Jordan

Right Choice Day - Slideshow

Right Choice Day

We had a fantastic day at Marine Gardens.

We were going to build sandcastles but the tide was too high.

So we played in the playground instead. We had a great time.

Maxwell's Holiday

Hi Ms Leishman

We are in France and we are having lots of fun here. We went to a castle that was built in 10AD and watched a catapult being launched.   Annabel and i put our heads and our arms in the stocks. we also went on a little train ride through the Camargue. We saw lots of white horses. They put their heads in the train for food. We gave them bread. A red dragonfly landed on mummy's leg. We saw a beaver in a pond. There were lots of pink flamingos in the water. We rode home in a convertible car. We had the roof down. It was fun but very windy. Back in England we went to the natural history museum in london. When we went in there was lots of things to look at. I got to stand next to a real moa skeleton! There was a whole room full of thousands of different crystals. We saw a robotic t-rex. We got a little stuffed t-rex. In England we got lots and lots and lots of toys. We climbed The Monument which had 311 steps. It was built after the Great fire of london in the 18th century.We went to Hamleys. There was thousands of toys. We got a chatimal for being paitent in the airports.                    

from Maxwell

Maxwell's Holiday

Hi Miss Leishman and Room 8,

We are at Abu Dhabi airport waiting for our plane to London.
Our flight from Wellington on Saturday was cancelled so we stayed in a hotel for the night. We had to wake up at 4.00 am to catch a  new plane but we missed all our connecting flights and will now arrive in London a day later than planned!  
We had touch screen TVs on the aeroplanes and I played lots of games on mine. 
Hope you had a good day at school!

from  
Maxwell

The Dark Blue 100-Ride Bus Ticket

We've just started reading a cool new book by Margaret Mahy. It's called The Dark Blue 100-Ride Bus Ticket. In the book a boy called Carlo is given a special bus ticket by a strange woman called Mrs Christmas, who looks like a Christmas tree! The bus ticket is for the number 13 bus that goes to the supermarket at the end of the world.
After we read the book today we all had a go at drawing the dark blue bus and the passengers on it.

This is my dark blue bus. The passenger at the back is reading one gigantic newspaper. The passenger next to him is a giant bat hanging from the roof. The man in front of him wants to stop the bus because he has to get off. The guy in front of him is wondering if he should have fish and chips or pizza or chinese. The lady in front of him has just seen a flying elephant. 

The crazy kid in front of her is pressing against the window and he’s hypnotised. The chubby fat man in front of him is just staring out the window. In front him is a mutant insect with a chinese hat. Then there’s a giant walking potato chip man. Then  there’s Carlo and his mother. At the front of course there’s the driver. The bus has lots of stars on it. Its number 13. At the top of the back is a jet engine. Its the fastest bus ever.  

by Maxwell        

Whaling in Kapiti

Dear Ms Leishman,

Dear Ms Leishman,

In the time you were gone we had an awesome teacher. At the end of week one we got milky way bars. At the end of week two we got lollipops and toffee. 

We learned a lot about whales and whaling. I mean a lot! I made a booklet about whales and whaling. The sperm whale is called the sperm whale because it has spermacetic wax in its head that is used to lubricate watches and to make candles. 

We also did meat tray prints with Ms Sallis. At our house we got new window doors for the play room. My friend Jack came over and we played with the battle strikers he brought. We booked our flight to England.

From Maxwell

Leaf Drawings

Ms Sallis taught us about observational drawing. We had to study what we were drawing very carefully and try to show what we could see with pencil.

Dear Ms Leishman,

Dear Ms Leishman,
For the last two weeks with Ms Sallis we have been learning about whales. First we measured 27 metres. We also learnt how you throw a harpoon at the whale, then you stab the lance into its heart or lungs. We also drew pictures of whales. We also made a poster of a whale. Me and Emma M. wondered if you had a great time doing Jesus Christ Superstar. Then we did a gymnastics sheet about what we learnt. We learnt a lot about whales. We had a great time.
From Megan



Dear Ms Leishman,
Mrs Sallis taught us mostly about whales and drawing. Most kids liked learning about whales but personally I liked drawing. Mrs Sallis is an artist. She showed us some of her artwork. For calendar art we did meat tray prints. I drew a killer whale jumping out of the water. I think Wai's turned out really well. We all missed you.
From Jack G.

Opening Night!

Kia ora. Here's a picture of me with two of my friends from the show. Have a great time with Mrs Sallis. I know she's got lots of exciting things planned to do with you. See you all in a couple of weeks.

It was the blackest night...

Elizabeth and Maxwell had a go at writing a cooperative story. They took turns at writing, one sentence at a time.

It was the blackest night that ever was. I heard a scuffling noise behind me. I thought it was my cat but when I turned around it was something scary. Well not scary, it was a stone statue of a dog. I blinked and it moved. It was really weird. I had to run. I blinked. It moved again. I thought I was having a nightmare but I wasn’t. I stepped back. I fell down a hill. The dog was now looking at me. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. I felt something, a sledgehammer. I could smash the statue to smithereens. But I looked up and the statue was right in front of me. “What am I going to do?”

Awesome Aotearoa - Pataka

We had a wonderful time at Pataka yesterday. We learned about First Footsteps in the Porirua/Kapiti area. We were also given the opportunity to dress up in the type of clothing worn by children 100 years ago. We'll post more information about our trip soon.

The Dolphin Birthday by Jessie

The Dolphin Birthday

Once there was a blue sparkly dolphin.

Her name is Jessica. Jessica liked to play with her big brother Jesse. Jessica went to her friends house. And Mum said to Jesse ‘Remember it is Jessica’s birthday tomorrow.’ ‘I know Mum’.

‘She is having her birthday at Kapiti gymnastics.’

‘What!’ said Jesse.

‘You need to get her a present Jesse. Said Mum. And the next day Jessica woke up and got dressed the family woke up and said happy birthday to Jessica. Then Jessica and Jesse went to School and after School it was Jessica birthday party.
THE END
By Jessie Room 8

Get Wise!

We had a very busy day today. In the morning Jeff from ASB took us to the Cash Olympics! We learned about eftpos cards, shopping around, needs, wants, saving and spending money.

Here are some fun games about money and financial literacy:
Money games - Sorted.org.nz

We had an early lunch then went to plant trees in Queen Elizabeth Park. Check our blog again in the weekend to see video footage of us helping our community.

Haast's Eagle

Kevin's reading group were learning about giant eagles today. Did you know that the biggest eagles in the world used to live in NewZealand? Liam and Maxwell found a great animation of a giant eagle attacking a moa on the Te Ara website. Click on the link to watch it.
Haast's eagle - Te Ara website

Awesome Aotearoa!

We're learning about New Zealand history. We've been finding out what it was like in New Zealand before the first people arrived. Emily talked to her parents about what we'd been reading and her mum gave her some more information on giant weta and moa to share with the class. Jack B took some photos of Emily telling the class what she'd found out.

Gymnastics

On Tuesday we went on a bus to gymnastics. We acted like dominos with Rose. We jumped on the trampoline and we swung on the bars. We also climbed the rope. I was pretty close to the top. We acted like monkeys. We made lots of noise. We went on the beam. It was awesome on the way back. I sat in the front. We went past my house. When we were waiting for Room 6 we went to the park. It started to rain. We got back on the bus. The rain was pretty heavy.

by Otis

Fergus

Today Emma Y brought her dog Fergus. He is black and white and he is ten weeks old. He is really cute and really soft. 

Today Emma Y brought her dog Fergus. He is black and white and he is ten weeks old. He is really cute and really soft. He ran to me and went on my knees. He went under my legs. When I said, “Shake hands,” he put his paw on my hand and I had heaps of fun.

by Liam

My Holiday

In the holidays it was my birthday. For my birthday party we went to Laser Strike. You have  to shoot people in the other team. You need to shoot them four times quickly before their shield powers up. If you manage to shoot them four times quickly you get about 60 points. My sister who’s about four and one third got 180 in her first level! It was the best birthday ever.

by Maxwell

Lily and Molly

Today Kate’s baby sisters came. She loves them because they are her baby sisters. I got to hold Lily and she is cute. Kate got to hold Molly and got to have her photo taken. We all had a turn to hold Lily and Molly. Kate’s other sister was there too. I had fun.

by Kiaya

Ms Leishman will put some more photos of Lily and Molly's visit on the Room 8 media section of the school website.

Pet Day

We held a Pet Day to celebrate Right Choice Day at the end of Term 2. It was great fun. Mr Deadman took these photos of the lady from the Kennel Club and her dogs.

New Games!

There's some great games on this site for Basic Facts practice. Try them out and tell me which ones we should use at school.

Fruit Shoot and other games

Gesture Based Computing

This is the link and video for the New Scientist article Ms Leishman was telling the class about on Monday.
Gesture Based Computing - New Scientist

Our Writing

It's been a busy week in Room 8 (and it's only Wednesady!). Check out the new stories on our writing page: Daniella and Megan by Daniella; The King and the Devil by Jack B.  and The Princess and the Dragon by Emma Y.

Shark Research - Reading

On Monday and Tuesday Dug’s Group did some research on sharks. Our group found out that great white sharks have up to about 7 to15 rows of teeth. On Tuesday I brought in a sharks egg. My mum let me see a documentary of a sharks egg. We found it on the beach when I was 5. I have not seen it for a long time.

I got some shark stuff from the computer and it was fun. After we got a some paper and we did some work about sharks. It was hard. I was partners with Kate. We had lots fun. The names in our group are Emily, Kate, Oits, Jordan and Jessie.
By Emily

Portfolios and Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews are being held at school next week. We have been working hard to get our Portfolios up to date so that we can share our learning goals and achievement with parents. Mrs Carver helped us on Thursday by taking photos for our cover pages. You can see the photos on our school website:

Room 8 Media - Galleries

Our New Playground

Our new school playground was officially opened on Thursday. There was a ceremony, speeches and performances from the senior kapahaka group, Kowhai Syndicate and the ukulele orchestra.

Jamaya and Jack G. took photos for our blog.