blah blah blah

We have just got back from our trip to Newhaven farm as part of our genetics and farming science unit. We learnt so much about how the sheep are cared for, we met Pippy, the oldest living red deer in the world and we even got given free PIKELETS!!!! Such a great learning experience for us. Here are a million pictures that we are sure you wool love (you see what we did there?). Thanks so much to Jane and Blair Smith for allowing us to visit. And to Deb Kingma for teeing it all up for us.

Today we a are using our coding skills to create personal profiles on Scratch. We are adding a picture and links to different pages with information about ourselves, as well as music and recorded voice messages. The best thing is we are teaching each other- because Mr. Brown has no idea. Sam (our resident expert) was given the tasks of learning how to do it. NOw he has spread his knowledge to a smaller group who are doing the same with the rest of the class. At first, Mr. Brown thought this was a good idea. But now he is thinking he might soon be out of a job!!

For our first writing task, I wanted to learn something new about my students that I didn’t know. I gave them the following examples of my own for the world wide web to know. They came up with some great writing and they will be publishing it on their blogs this week. Anyway, here is the models that they used to create their own exciting writing.

Let me tell you something about me…

I am short. Not just short, really short. So short that it makes people laugh. They call me names; teeny, midget, no legs, stumpy, half man. It drives me crazy. I can never reach the top shelf at the supermarket. I’ve never tasted half the food there. It’s hard. But it does have its benefits that some people don’t know. For example, shopping for clothes in the kid’s section saves me money, and Pumpkin Patch has a great range of cool clothes. Sometimes I can even get into the movies for student prices. The lady at the counter can’t imagine an adult would be so short they struggle to see over the counter. So I guess I shouldn’t complain really. What do you think about that?

P.S. Here is a selfie…..

Let me tell you something about me…

I hate sharks. Not just hate- really hate. I hate their fins, their beady little eyes, their gills, their dull, grey skin. But most of all I hate their teeth. They terrify me. Every time I go to the beach I look out at the sea and think……… Nope. I can’t even dip my toes in. I’m consumed by the idea of a hungry shark chomping down on my leg as soon as I step in. I stand on the shore and wave at my kids as they splash away in the waves. But I’m not getting in. No way. Uh-uh. Never. I like my legs where they are. Attached to my body. What do you think about that?  

Eeeeeeeeew shark!

If you like the idea, maybe you could tell us something about you. We’d love to hear it, whoever you are.

Testing, testing is there anybody out there? I am back at school with a bunch of really cool kids. I can’t wait to get started on some proper learning stuff. As soon as we all have our own blogs up and running. We Will be ready to share with the world. Bring it on 2018. Give it the best you have got.

After finishing 3rd in the regional semi-final Ella, Lena, Jonty and Will (aka Papakaio 1) qualified for the Dunedin Finals, along with 11 other teams from Dunedin and the surrounding area. They were held at Kaikorai Valley College. With the travel time and the length of the event, it proved to be a very long night. However, the kids made the step up incredibly well. After leading at the halfway mark they finished a very creditable 4th place, just 20 points off 3rd. The team faced a range of exciting and interesting challenges including; creating wind turbines, automated cranes, pinball machines and fishing robots. What an amazing experience it was. We can’t wait to go again next year. Well done kids. Your teacher is VERY proud of you!

“Moonhack” sounds like the title of the latest Bond movie but actually, it was a world record attempt organised by Codeclub to have the most school kids ever coding at the same time. And we were part of it. We worked on a Scratch project individually (you could say we scratched ourselves), but we uploaded our projects to be part of the event.

Here are some pics to prove it:

It dragged its giant claws along the floor. Ugly gnarled fingers searched for purchase on the polished timber. The beast roared again, blood curdling sound echoing from the cavernous depths below.. The girl sat still as a stone, It wouldn’t be long now- hold on.  She hoped the portal would close in time. Once more the beast surged. Its voice was joined by the screams of the other broken souls in the abyss. She hugged the bear tighter. It didn’t struggle. It knew that all was lost. The girl stared blankly into its tear filled eyes. “I’m your mummy now”.

We had our senior speech competition today and as usual Mr. Brown was blown away by the quality and caliber of the content and delivery. Congratulations to everybody for getting up and giving it a go. For some people just standing and delivering was a huge challenge- but you did it. And you did it well. Your teacher is SO proud. This year we were challenged to be provocative and try to come at speeches from a different point of view. In this way it challenged our skills in thinking about our topics and writing arguments that we didn’t necessarily believe in. BUT IT WORKED!! This year’s winner was Georgie McCarthy with a speech on why healthy living is a waste of time. Lena Dupu came a close second with a compelling (if worrying) argument on how kids would make better parents than actual parents and Will Plunket rounded out the top three speaking on the importance of taking care of the planet. Highly commended certificates also went to Jonty Nelson, Sam McCarthy and Ella Hamilton. Well done everyone. If you are interested you can read the speeches on the students own blogs. Go on. Have a look. They will change your life.

Perhaps not but they ARE pretty good. 🙂

Above: Speech winners Will Plunket (left) Lena Dupu (right) and Georgie McCarthy (center) with guest judge Whaea Jamaya Fisilau