Monday, June 28, 2010

Amazing Photos

Hi everyone
I've very quickly posted some of the wonderful photos you took last week in the frost.
I think a few of these are Cameron's. What do you think? Is he talented or what!! Leave a comment and I will post more photos in the next few days.
You are all so talented. Keep grabbing the cameras but make sure that you let me know that you've taken photos so that they can be added.
I will show you how to do this next term.




Thursday, June 24, 2010

Southern Zone Choir Festival

I have just had the privilege of listening to an amazing group of children singing in the Choir Festival. I felt incredibly proud of all of you! We are so lucky to have such an amazing group of children at our school. You are true leaders and that showed through tonight.
Well done everyone!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

2000!!!!!

Wow! We've hit more than 2000 visits. This is a great reward for all your hard work. You absolutely deserve to have everyone reading this blog and seeing how hard all of you are working.
Keep adding those comments.
Any predictions about how many visits we will have by the end of the year?? What is your thinking on this?
I won't be able to moderate your comments tonight as our email link to school has gone down. I will get on the case in the morning, however, and have them all on for you.
Don't forget the choir practice tomorrow - make sure that you have a big lunch with you, lots of snacks and a big drink bottle full of water.

Celebrating Two Awesome Bloggers

Just wanted to say a BIG, HUGE thank you to Adam and Taimana! Both of you have taken so much time and put a great deal of effort into adding very specific comments to everyone's writing. You are going to keep me on my toes when I add mine!!
I'm sure everyone really appreciates your care and attention, I know I do!
Keep up the awesome work.




Tuesday, June 22, 2010

NeuroKids

Hi everyone - again!
I have just found a site that I think you'll really like.
It's called NeuroKids and it's been developed by children your age.
It has some really interesting information and activities on it.
Have a look and see what you think. Ass a comment to this post.
Is this something you could use to develop and share your thinking?
Could you create your own website to show your learning and share it
with others? Could it be linked to the blog and to the school website?
What is your thinking on this?
Share your ideas!

Brain Links

Hello Petals! I will start to add some brain links for you to explore.
Have a look round the sites and let me know if you find any others.
I will show you how to add the links tomorrow.
We will be focussing on the production tomorrow
and making links to our Inquiry learning.
In the Brain Links there will also be links to Multiple
Intelligences learning and information. Share these with
your parents.
Keep thinking about what we can add to the blog to show our
learning.

Rory's Dunedin Musings

Hi everyone, my name is Rory. The trip to Dunedin was so much fun. When we got to Dunedin we went straight to the Young Leaders Conference where leaders talked about our choices and how to be a good leader. My favourite speakers were nick Tuitasi, a policeman for 26 years, and Mark Inglis who has metal legs from frostbite. He was funny.Then the conference ended and Rm 8 went to the Dunedin Art Gallery to meet John Neumegan. He taught us an amazing art style called Ukiyo-e aka Japanese comic art. We did the face and the body and outlined it with ink and then put pastel onto it for colour and cut out pieces of our picture and put coloured paper under it for effect.

When we were all finished we walked to the bus and the bus took us to the Dunedin Museum. We went to meet Andy who told us all the rules for staying the night in the museum.

We went upstairs to Discovery World where we had lots to discover, like airguns, also an electricity machine that followed your fingers. When you were two centimetres away it would go crazy and the lights would be all over the place like they were trying to escape.

After that exhausting play, we ordered pizza in for tea. After tea we continued to explore Discovery World where it was easy to be distracted by what my classmates were doing. It was difficult to stick to one thing for any time because I wanted to do everything at once!

We stopped for a healthy fruit supper before we headed through the red door to do the People of the World with all types of countries like Japan, Australia, Egypt, Congo, and Greece. We got into groups. It took one hour and a half. Then the show finished. Then we went back to where we were staying in the museum to get into our pyjamas. Then we went to sleep – well not all of us did.

When all of us got up we had a choice of breakfast; Rice Bubbles or Cornflakes, fruit and water.

We were buzzing in the legs because Rm 8 was going to the Tropical Rainforest with butterflies, frogs, tarantulas, goldfish and turtles. We had to find all stages of the butterfly; egg, chrysalis, butterfly. Some of us saw a butterfly hatch; it was pretty special in that room. When we went out of the room the excitement dropped so much.

Then we hear that we were going to have an Amazing Race through the museum. We went through the roof because of the excitement! It was so buzzing in the legs all the way through it. Through the People of the World, through the Maori Culture gallery, through Animals of the World. It was so much fun, so much fun.

After that we went from that zinging museum. I took every second in, every one. I would recommend it to everyone.

Now we are getting off track. We were going to the awesome Moana Pool, where we splashed and played flippaball. After that fun was done, it was time to go home. We stopped everywhere! In Gore we stopped at the big Gore fish.

When the excited clan got home, it was not an excited clan the next day.

Monday, June 21, 2010

A Message From Mrs H

Hi everyone! I would just like to say how proud I am of all of you and the comments you have posted as feedback on the blog. Your comments show a maturity of thought. You have focused on the message in the writing and provided very specific feedback. I hope everyone reads not only the writing, but also the comments.
You're the best! In the next day or so, I will add my comments to all of the writing. Please check and let me know if your writing is not on here yet.
Keep up the impressive effort.

Ethan's Dunedin Reflections

It was Monday, May the 31st at 6:30am. Room8 went to school to get on the bus to go to Dunedin.

When we got there we went to the Young Leaders Conference to hear some great speakers. Then we went to the Otago Museum to stay for the night in Discovery World.

Before we went to bed, we went to People of the World and I dressed up. I dressed up as an Egyptian person.

After that we had a snack and got dressed for bed.

By Ethan

EJ's Dunedin Thoughts

The Dunedin trip

On Tuesday morning we went to the tropical rainforest in the museum. When we got there it was really

warm and it was hard to breathe. There was one big waterfall – it was my fist time seeing a waterfall.

Then I saw lots of butterflies, tarantulas, goldfish and turtles. My most favourite one was the tarantulas.

We took lots of pictures but then it was time to go back. Then I took the last picture of the waterfall.

Then we went back inside to pack our things because we were going to Moana Pool.

When we got there, we wait for Mrs Hughes to payed. After Mrs Hughes payed we went to the

changing room to change. Then after we jumped to the pool to have some fun. Bailey and I made a

game up, its soccer hand game. In 1 hour later Mrs Hughes called us to change. When we at the main

room Mrs Hughes gave us some lunch. It was a sandwich, mandarine, bottle of juice, banana and a

piece of cake.

Then after we headed back home like always.

By E.J. Ringor

Emma's Dunedin Thoughts

Dunedin

The trip, well where should I start, he conference; the Young Leaders Conference –The speakers were James Blake, Dr Justin Vaughan, Alison Shanks, Mark Inglis, Rob Harley, Matt Gibb and last but not least Nick Tuitasi.

My favourite speaker was Nick Tuitasi because he had some really interesting stories about his life, there’s one line that I will never forget. Be careful of your thoughts because your thoughts become words be careful of your words because your words become actions. Be careful of your actions because your actions be come Habits; be careful of your habits because your habits become character; be careful of you’re your character because your character becomes you destiny. Next stop the public art gallery with John Neumegan. We talked and explored the art gallery and then we discovered the art room. We put on aprons and John showed us how to make the portraits. So I splattered some ink here and there and I chopped some pieces out and covered it up with some paper that looked like a kimono pattern. We used dye to put colour into there faces, after we finished he showed us a little more around the art gallery. We burst through the doors and saw the big purple and green bus with Jane the driver waving to us. We hopped in and drove to the museum, unpacked and went to Discovery World and played. We had tea then went to do a topic on People of the World. My group was doing Conga. Some other people were doing Egypt, Australia, Japan and Greece. We had to make a song, outfit and flag I designed the flag. After we finished that we went back and then went to bed after supper. My favourite part was the play in Discovery World especially the piano and the bubble machine.

By Emma McLeod

14.6.2010

Jarrod's Dunedin Thoughts

Dunedin

Hi my name is Jarrod and I am here to tell you about the

Young Leaders in Dunedin. It was lots of fun the speakers

were Rob Harley, Alison Shanks, Matt Gibbs, Nick Tuitasi

and James Blake. My favourite speaker was Nick Tuitasi

because he said be careful of your thoughts because your thoughts

become words be careful of words because your words become

actions be careful of your actions because your actions become

habits be careful of your habits because your habits become

character be careful of your character because that determines

your destiny. And I think that will help me in my life.

Brock's Dunedin Thoughts

Young Leaders

On Monday the 31st of May we went on a long trip to Dunedin.
We only had one stop on the way up but I was grateful. Then we went back on the bus and on our way again when we got to Dunedin we got off the bus and started walking down the street we got to the Young Leaders Conference. My favourite Nick Tuitasi because he had cool stories like he as a teenager be careful of your thoughts because your thoughts become words be careful of your words because your words become actions be careful of your actions because your actions become habits be careful of your habits because your habits become character be careful of your character because your character determines your destiny. And that meant a lot to me because he used to be some rebel guy but he changed his life and made new friends.

By Brock

George's Thoughts

The Dunedin Trip

It’s Monday!!!! Time to go to Dunedin. It was a long bus trip up there when we got there we went straight to the Young Leaders Conference and my favourite speaker was Rob Harley. We stayed there for 3 to 5 hours what a long time to sit but we got breaks for morning tea and lunch.

After that we went to the art gallery, which was just down the road and John Neumegan took us for a tour of the art gallery. Then we did some amazing Japanese cartoon characters.

After that we went to the museum and played then we had Pizza Hut for tea and then went back down to play. My favourite games were foosball and the computers; they were fun too. After all that we had to go to bed.

I slept by Harry, Rory and Callum. I slept like a lamb and then we got up and had breakfast and then played some more and we went to the butterflies; it was hot, really hot and I saw a tree frog it’s little and shiny.

After we went back up stairs and packed our bags and went back to the bus and headed for Moana pools we got there and got straight off and into the changing rooms and out to the pool. We weren’t allowed on the waterslide; I didn’t care because there was a log in the water and it was hard to get on. Lots got on for five seconds and then fell off and there were donuts and we made a long line of them and played waterpolo.

After that we went out and got packs of lunch and then we went back to Invercargill, and arrived at 6 pm and then we went home.

By George

Samantha's Dunedin Thoughts

YOUNG LEADERS

On the 31st of May six thirty a.m, Room 8 gathered at the front gate of Myross Bush School to jump on a big, blue bus to go to Dunedin. Once the bus set off all the lights flicked off; was pitch black. After a long noisy three hours we arrived in Dunedin ! Hooray!!!J The big, bus went straight to the Regent Theatre in the Octagon. The Octagon is a street shaped like an Octagon.

At the Regent Theatre we went to a Young Leaders Conference. It was about 6 people who were talking about how to be great leaders. The speakers were Mark Inglis who lost his legs from frost bite in Mount Everest, Alison Shanks a Olympic gold medallist; in cycling, James Blake who wants to record sharks in a cage, Rob Harley is a journalist, Matt Gibbs is on a T.V programme Studio 2 and Nick Tuitasi who was a policeman and said to us be careful of your thoughts because your thoughts can become words be careful of your words because they might become actions, be careful of your actions because your actions can become your character, be careful of your character because your character will become your destiny. This quote has really changed the way I think about being a leader.

I really enjoyed this conference and would love to come again, it was a great experience!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Liam's Dunedin Thoughts

The trip

As we drove off the motorway, I decided turn around and have one more look at Dunedin where I had spent the last night.

When we were coming into Mosgiel 5 minutes later, I was opening my drink as we came over a massive hill and I spilt it all over my lap. When I was shifting around I found a remote on the side of my seat.

At last we came to our first stop the, (wink, wink), great city of Waihola. As everyone else plummeted off the bus I decided to stay in my seat. In less than 5 minutes I was asleep.

When I woke, I had the pleasant surprise of Adam shouting “Wake up Liam, wake up we’re in Balclutha”.

On the rest of the way home Adam, Fraser, Cameron and I decided to play charades… as you can imagine, this turned out to be a rather interesting game. When we had managed to pull ourselves together from laughing, we decided to be quiet and let everyone else on the bus sleep. This only resulted in Cameron and I sharing our most embarrassing moments.

When we got to Gore, we stopped at the big trout (by the way who put all the pins through its neck?). Wait! Hold the bus, big fish? I don’t think so - it was massive! Okay, now that we have had an interruption from the exaggerating, dramatic side of me, we only have the irritating, bias and random side to worry about. We climbed the rocks around the bottom of the statue; some of us accidentally fell into the pool of water below.

In half an hour we were back at home, and I must say no matter how long you’re away for, you’re always ready to go home the day when you are going home.

By Liam Fairbairn

BRAIN AND LEARNING - What have we learned so far?

Hi everyone, this is where you will add your learning as comments. Don't forget to add your name to each comment. You can comment as often as you like and add as much as you like. This is the place for us to share our learning - not just within our class, but with parents and others reading our blog.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

1500!!!!!

We did it!! We've just hit 1500 visits!! Let's talk on Friday and
decide on our celebration for next week.
We've had some great ideas so far. What else could we do??
Add your comments and I'll read them tomorrow when I have
a report-writing break ;-)

The Wonderful Room 8

Hi everyone
Just wanted to say that I am really proud of you!
Your writing is fantastic and you've given
everyone some really great snapshots of
your Dunedin experiences. I hope you get lots
of feedback!
If you haven't got your writing on here yet, just
email it to me and I'll add it straight away.
Keep thinking about those Production ideas.
We could add these to the blog, perhaps and get
some feedback. What do you think???
I was proud of you today Jarrod! I thought that
it was so cool that you shared your learning on the
blog with us. You've encouraged everyone to
have a look at the blog link. Great leadership!!

Brooke's Writing in Response to one of the Photos on Fotovarious

As I walk though the sliding doors my heart is pumping; it feels like it’s going to burst. I look around but I can’t see her anywhere, I’m starting to get worried. What if something bad happened? Wait, I see something like her boots, and the same hair as her. Wait a minute, it is her! Mummy, Mummy! She’s finally home were she belongs. I tried to call out to her but my voice is too small. So I tried to pull away for my Dad’s hand; managed to get away from him. Run faster I say to myself as I can hear Dad behind me yelling to come back. I see Mum, she’s not that far away. “Mum, mum,” she turns around. Now she’s running to me. She gives me a great big hug and says she loves me; I say to her I love you more, a lot more!!! It’s good to see you again sweetie.

By Brooke

Taimana's Dunedin Thoughts

Young Leaders Trip

It’s 6:30 am. Watch as Year 6 students are Young Leaders Trip. It’s dark and excitement is being shared through out all the Year 6 Students of Myross Bush School, Everyone has been waiting for this moment for a long time.

First Mrs. Hughes did the roll to check that no one was missing, Shortly after that we all hopped on the bus and before you new it we were on the road to Dunedin!

After 3 Long hours of traveling we hit Dunedin, we got off the bus and went into the Dunedin Theatre to watch the Young Leaders Conference, There were 7 Speakers! Including the famous mountain climber Mark Inglis, Alison Shanks the World Track Olympic Cyclist, Matt Gibb the TV Presenter/Studio 2 Producer, Nick Tuitasi the long experienced Policeman, Rob Harley the TV presenter and many more!

Later on in the afternoon, we went to the Dunedin Art Gallery where John Neumegan showed us some artwork and he also gave us a tutorial on Ukiyo-e art. Ukiyo-e art is based on comic art including The Simpsons.

After the big art tour we walked back to the bus and traveled to the Dunedin Museum. When we got to the Museum, we hopped off the bus and walked into the Museum, sat on the floor and a person called Andy talked to us about the rules in the Museum including no running, quiet voices and don’t wander into rooms with no lights on. We went upstairs into a room where we put down our bags. First we went over the rules and then we went down to Discovery World where there was a big bubble blower, A Mind ball machine, A Cloud machine, Electronic Plates and a Stand on piano.

After about 1 hour of playing, we all went upstairs into the kitchen for tea where there were plates and cups laid out on tables. For Tea we had pizza. There was a choice of meat lovers, Hawaiian and Super Supreme.

After Tea we all went into The People of The World Gallery where they had different rooms for different countries, including Japan, Congo, Egypt, Greece and many more. We all had to divide into 5 groups and each group was put into different countries (Rooms). I was in group 5.

In each group you’d get an activity to do. For the activity we had to make a costume, a song and a flag to do with the country your in. After the activity we all went back to the kitchen for supper.

For supper we got to have a piece of baking and a drink. Later after supper we all set up our mattresses and sleeping bags up down in Discovery World. After setting up we all hopped into our sleeping bags and got to talk for about 15 min, Then we all went to sleep. 7.00am the lights came on and we all got up and packed up our mattresses and sleeping bags.

After packing up we all went into the kitchen for breakfast. For breakfast we got a choice of Rice Bubbles or Cornflakes, I chose Rice bubbles.

After breakfast Andy (the person I talked about earlier) taught us about butterflies, including that the mouth is called the proboscis and they taste with their feet! After that we did an activity where you have to put this little scope over your eye so it makes it hard to see, Then you have to suck up nectar (juice) out of little pottles.

After the butterfly activity we all went through the Tropical forest, Then we went into the big butterfly lair where there was butterflies (obviously), Tarantulas, Turtles, Gold Fish and Turtles. The butterfly lair is kind of like a big forest; in the forest there is a big waterfall. After exploring the butterfly lair we packed our packed bags and put them on the bus. Next we jumped on the bus and went to Moana Pool!

When we got to Moana Pool we got changed and leaped into the pool. Shortly after about 1 hour of playing in the pool we got changed and got back into the bus, Once we were on the bus we got given lunch. For lunch we got a banana, a piece of cake, a juice and a sandwich.

After Lunch we headed back to home sweet home Invercargill.

By Taimana

How many people (Anthony's Thoughts)

1444 people have visited our blog - that's a lot of people! We started at the end of February. It has been going for 4 and a half months. That's not long. Bye.

A sample of our Ukiyo-e Art from Dunedin

We will add individual portraits as soon as possible. My goal is for the children to know how to add an image to the blog, (ICT skills), and be able to comment on the process they went through to create the art work and also the history of Ukiyo-e portrait painting. (The Arts).
Please add your comments and thoughts.

Niamh's Dunedin Notes

DUNEDIN YOUNG LEADERS

On Monday the 31st of May, room 8 had to be at school by 6.15 because room 8 had to be at Young Leaders by 9.30.

When we finally got there we listened to some really good speakers like Matt Gibb, Nick Tuitasi, Alison Shanks, James Blake, Rob Harley, Mark Inglis and Dr Justin Vaughan. Matt Gibb’s speech was about the 40 hour famine and why he was raising money. He raised around $9000 for people in Africa without homes or food. Nick Tuitasi’s speech was my favourite. He spoke about when he was a police officer and some bad choices. They were my two favourite speakers. After Young Leaders we went to see John Neumegan and did

Japanese cartoon characters using ink, dye, pastel and tin foil-it was really fun. Next we got on the bus to the museum. When we got there, we dragged our belongings up 4 flights of stairs. We played in Discovery World for 15 minutes. After that we did People of the World Idol. Our group was doing Egypt. We had to make a song, a flag and an outfit. Callum H and I were doing the flag, Brock invented the song, Callum B created the outfit and Ethan was modeling it. When we got the box there was only newspaper, tape, colored paper, one pair of scissors and some felt pens. It looked hard to make the outfit. But over all I think we did pretty good. After that it was time for tea we had pizza Hut then we played some more. After that we set up our beds, then we tried to get some sleep and that was the end of a long day.

By Niamh

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Bailey's Dunedin Thoughts

Bailey’s Dunedin Trip

On Tuesday in Dunedin room8 walked through the Tropical rainforest in the museum to find all of the different types of butterflies; man there were lots. But when you walked in it was like 30. The butterflies were small and big. I like seeing the fish because they were huge. There were different types of caterpillars. There were two different types of tarantulas. Seeing them was fun, but it was time to go, like always. Before we went back, I had one last look. Then we back to pack our bags. Then we hopped on the bus to Moana Pool. We had to wait for Mrs Hughes to pay. After that we had a big play. EJ and I were playing soccer but with hands also playing piggy in the middle with Cam. But it was time to go but Harry and I got stay in for 2 Minutes to get all of the stuff that we played with. We got lunch it was nice and I wanted more. I was sitting next to EJ on the way home and we were talking and playing I-spy. When we were in Gore at the big fish, Anthony fell in the water it was funny but I missed it. When we got back at school my mum was waiting there. It was fun seeing my mum.

By Bailey

McKeely's Dunedin Thoughts

The Dunedin Trip

At 6:15 on Monday the 31st of May we were getting ready for the experience

of a kind, we were going to Young Leaders in Dunedin. When we got there

we listened to six speakers called: Allison Shanks, Rob Harley, Mark Ingill,

Nick Tuitassi, Matt Gibb and Justin Vaughn my personal favourite was

Nick Tuitassi he amazed me with what he said. After the conference we

went for an art lesson with John Newamagen we did Ykiyo-e Japanese

art and drew a portrait then went over in ink and coloured in with dye.

Later we went to the museum into Discovery World. We played and did

an activity called People of the World where we

Sang, made a flag, dressed somebody up. Later on we had

pizza for tea. We slept in Discovery World. The next day at 7:00 am

we were ready for action. We talked about the butterflies and room 8

did an activity. After that we went to the Tropicial rain forest we saw

lots of animals. After that we got on the bus and went to Moana Pool

and played a game of flippa-ball. We had a few stops we got back to

school at 5:00pm. We were all really tired but we had fun.

THANK-YOU MRS HUGHES YOU ROCK :-}

By McKeely

Hollie's Dunedin Views

Young Leaders

On Monday the 31st of May Room8 went to the Young Leaders Conference in Dunedin…

I ran into the theatre in Dunedin, my heart is pumping; this is the day that will change my life!!! I take my seat with all the schools, we are a wee bit late so one of the speakers are speaking it’s Justin Vaughan; he is talking about his days in cricket, never giving up and going for it. All 0f a sudden it’s over and I’m thinking “that went fast!!!” Next up Mark Inglis who climbed to the summit of Mount cook, and Mount Everest with artificial legs; because the first time he tried, he lost his legs from frostbite in a snow cave for 13.5 days. I’m just thinking “How does he do it?” I found out he couldn’t of done it with out a dream!!!! Next up James Blake. James Blake is Sir Peter Blake’s son, and he is going in a shark cage underwater, in August. Also he said: “Never give up!!” Now It’s morning tea time. After morning tea it was Nick Tuitasi. He was a police officer; He told us what to do and what not to do. One of those things were, be careful of your thoughts because they become words, be careful of your words because they become actins and be careful of your actins because they become habits and be careful of your habits because they become and they become your character and your character controls your destiny. I thought about this very carefully, and thought… that’s a GREAT leader and he is a great leader because he goes to these conferences, and changes other peoples lives not just his own!!!!

The rest of the conference flew by, and I learnt heaps!!!! I also thought about everything, and I’m going to listen to everyone of those speakers. After the conference I thought Nick Tuitasi was the best speaker. By the way I forgot to tell you, all the speakers were… Justin Vaughan; Doctor and cricket player/CEO, Mark Inglis; he climbed Mount Everest and Mount Cook with artificial legs, James Blake; son of Sir Peter Blake, Nick Tuitasi; he was a police officer, Alison Shanks; gold medalist in track cycling, Mtt Gibb; Studio 2 presenter, Rob Harley; Journalist.

Thank you for reading my Recount.

By Hollie

Room 8's Wonderful Writing

If you can't see the fabulous writing from your wonderful children, please
click on older posts when you scroll down to the bottom of the page.
The writing is rather lengthy so that's where they've gone to.
I wanted to give them the opportunity to see their writing on the
blog rather than it being hidden as a link.
Next time I will link it as that makes it a little easier to manage!
Thanks for all the comments and feedback.

DUNEDIN KEYNOTE

Cameron's Dunedin Thoughts

=] Dunedin Art Class [=

If you are reading this then I have been to John Neumegan’s art class. Oh and it was my favorite part of the Dunedin trip! We painted the ancient Japanese art “Ukiyo-e” but we painted with dye and ink. We also looked around the gallery. It was annoying we couldn’t take pictures! My favorite piece of art was the sparkly island made of metal sheets.

Harry's Dunedin Thoughts

The Dunedin trip

On Monday the 31st of May we went to Dunedin; it was a long trip up. When we got there we went straight to the Young Leaders Conference there were amazing speakers. My favourite speaker was Nick Tuitasi because he had some cool stories. After the conference we went to the art gallery to see John Neumegun we did some amazing Japanese art. My favourite part was using the dye. After that we went to the museum when we got there we put our gear upstairs and then we played in the discovery room it was awesome. My favourite things to play foosball, mindball and use the magnetic crane. Then we had pizza for tea. After we went to the People of the World gallery and did some amazing activites. After that we went to bed and went to sleep.

By Harry

Callum's Dunedin Thoughts

On a freezing Monday morning at 5:30 I woke up and by 6:15 I was at school all geared up for a three hour bus ride to Dunedin. At 9:30 we arrived in the Octagon/ centre of Dunedin. 9:35 we were in Young Leaders, inside we heard Rob Harley, Nick Tuitasi, Alison Shanks, James Blake, Mark Ingles, Justin Vaughan and Mat Gibb speak about their lives, it was really interesting. My favourite speakers were Rob Harley and Nick Tuitasi. Rob Harley because it had a heap or humor with how dogs are both one of the dumbest and smartest animals in the world at the same time. My favourite part was when he said.”Dogs are really faithful, example: If you lock your dog and sister in a cupboard for a hour, then open it and see who’s happier to see you.” I also really liked Nick Tuitasi because he had some amazing stories of things he had come across in his life. And that was only the start of our trip. So read other peoples’ stories for the rest of the trip. I really enjoyed it. So I guess this is THE END.

By Callum H

Brayden's Dunedin Thoughts

Dunedin  tripDunedin Trip

Dunedin trip after a long time traveling on a bus my class and I finally got there to Dunedin. My class and I walked across the street and into a big building into the theatre and I’ve listened to Nick Tuitasi, Matt Gibb, Mark Inglis, Alison Shanks, Rob Harley and much more. My favourite speaker was Nick Tuitasi, because he did not border on and on. Then we went across the road to the art gallery and painted Japanese cartoons. After that we went to the museum and we took all our sleeping gear in with us so we could stay the night at the museum. It was fun because we got to play in Discovery World and we did tours, trails and fun activity’s. We looked at the butterflies, Tarantulas, Quails roaming around, some gold fish and some turtles. Tuesday the 1st of June. In the morning we packed up our beds and sleeping bags, Then played at Discovery World. After that we went to Moana Pool and played there for ages. Before you know it, it was time to go home.

BY BRAYDEN

Olivia's Dunedin Thoughts

YOUNG LEADERS

We jump of the bus with excitement. We enter the theater, we take our seats Justin Vaughan is speaking he is a doctor and a cricket player then he finishes. Mark Ingills up next, mark Ingills is amazing climber he has climbed mount Cook and Everest, away goes Mark Ingills. Then my favourite guest speaker Nick Tuitasi goes up, he is my favourite because just his life I loved how he told us how one minute he is a gang member then a police officer. But that day was not to

miss!!!! By Olivia

Ellie's Dunedin Thoughts

Dunedin

Young Leaders

2010

As I race into the theatre, my heart beating all the way. I push open the doors to where all of the other school pupils are sitting. As I make my way to my seat, I hear Justin Vaughan talking about what he does, which by the way, he is a Dr and CEO of New Zealand Cricket. Anyway while Justin was talking about what he does; I was writing what he said. Although it was a rather long time it, was still very interesting. Each and every speaker had their turn and, as you know, 1 of the speakers was Justin Vaughan, Mark Ingles, Alison Shanks, Rob Harley, James Blake, Matt Gibb and Nick Tiutasi. They all had something to say about leadership. That’s why the conference was called Young Leaders. I especially liked something that Nick Tuitasi said and that I really admired; it was be careful of your thoughts because your thoughts become words; be careful of your words because your words become actions; be careful of your actions because your actions become character; be careful of your character because your character becomes your destiny. I think that those words really mean something to me and that they will really help me later on in life!

By Ellie

10-6-2010

Shinikka's Dunedin Thoughts

Dunedin!!

In Dunedin I loved the Young Leaders Conference. I liked Allison Shanks. She is a world champion She is a good cyclist.. She bikes on road and in the Velodrome. She won four gold medals.

My second favorite thing was the art gallery. I learnt how to do ukiyo-e portraits using ink and dye. They were fun because I liked the colours of the dye. The colours of he dye were yellow, green, red, blue, pink and purple.

The final thing I loved was the butterflies. They were all cool, there was even a quail on the floor. The forest was hot .

By Shinikka

Kiera's Dunedin Notes

THE DUNEDIN TRIP

On Monday the 31st of May Room8 went to Dunedin. Firstly we had to get up at 6.15am but left school at 6.30am. Secondly we put our bags on the bus and drove away. Thirdly it took ages to get to Dunedin and we were just a bit late for the Young Leaders Conference. The Young Leaders was about what the speakers did in their lives and then we asked questions about them. After that we went to the art gallery with John Neumegan and he showed us around the art gallery. Also we did Japanese portraits and we used ink, dye, pastels and bits of coloured paper. Then we went to the museum and took our bags inside and sat down to talk to a guy called Andy and he showed us where we go to sleep. Then we went up the stairs down to Discovery World and we played around a bit until we met Lucy and she stayed the night with us. We also had dinner and we had pizza. Then Lucy took us to see the mummy in the Egypt room. Also we did a next top model dress up and we used newspaper, tape and bits of coloured stuff. My country was Australia and in my group was Jarrod, George, Liam, Shinikka and me. Then we went to get our pajamas on and went to bed.

Then on Tuesday 1st of June we got up at 7.00am and we got dressed, had breakfast then got ready to start the day. We played at Discovery World then Lucy said… “ Did you have a good sleep” and we all said “ yes”. After that all of us went upstairs so Andy could tell us more about the butterflies. Then we went to the Tropical Forest and took some pictures of the beautiful butterflies swooping around in the hot air. Finally we went back up the stairs , grabbed our bags and headed for the bus to go to Moana pool for a nice refreshing swim. Then it was time to go home. I was so excited to see my mum and then I told her all the things we did.


Adam's Dunedin Thoughts

The museum

Well what a long day after the magnificent speakers and the incredible art work we got off the bus again grabbed our bags and setoff into the amazing BIG museum. I walked into the museum we went up the stairs through discovery world up more stairs we put our bags down we had a play then we had pizza for tea. Then we did people of the world idol the we went back and had supper. Then we went to sleep.

By Adam

Shannon's Dunedin Thoughts

Art Gallery I see it, I’m jumping up with excitement we’re here!

Finally, yay!! Wow, it’s amazing. We are a wee bit early but that doesn’t matter. We go sit down for a wee bit. Round the corner is John. He comes and we go look at all the paintings in the galleries. They were magnificent!! Then we

went to another room while John set up for our painting session, we were finishing off some buildings that other kids had started. Then it was time for

our lesson so John took us into the art room. He took us through a couple of steps before we started our paintings. We painted with ink then dye.

Once we had finished we got a white crayon and a type of spiral card to make the back round look cool. We rubbed the white crayon on the paper and the spiral card was under the paper. Then we give our paintings to the parents so they can dry them.

Once they are dry we dye the back round. Then we put them on the drying table again.

After Samantha had said thankyou, we left to go to Discovery World, it was amazing and I had an AWESOME time!!!! I wish I could go again.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Callum's Dunedin Reflections

Hi my name is Callum Botting and I here to tell you about the Young Leaders Conference in Dunedin.

There was 7 speakers. Their names are Justin Vaughan, Alison Shanks, Mark Inglis, Rob Harley, Matt Gibb, Nick Tuitasi and James Blake.

My favourite speaker was Nick Tuitasi because he had awesome tips like...

Be careful of your thoughts because your thoughts become words. Be careful of your words because your words become actions. Be careful of your actions because your actions become habits. Be careful of your habits because your habits becomes character. Be careful of your character because your character determines your destiny. Also he said...

Once you are doing something you should never quit and to me that is called leadership.

Scott's Dunedin Thoughts

Young Leaders Conference

It was Monday the 31 of May and Room 8 were about to board our trip to Dunedin… the bus. It was a frosty cold morning on the way up, so we got some great photos. When we finally got there, we were rushed straight into the 2010 Young Leaders Conference; all the seven speakers were outstanding. The names of the speakers were: Allison Shanks, a world champion cyclist, Mark Inglis, the first double amputee to summit Mt Everest, Rob Harley, a TV documentary maker, Matt Gibb, a Studio 2 presenter, Dr Justin Vaughan, CEO of New Zealand Cricket, and Nick Tuitasi, a former Police Constable, plus James Blake, Sir Peter Blake’s and an environmentalist.

I thought that the message they were trying send was to never give up and then you can do anything. My favourite speaker was Mark Inglis because he really showed leadership by sticking at his goal ( to climb Everest) even when he had no legs, and to me that is real leadership. I think if you don’t chase your dream then your never going to be a true leader.

By Scott

Wallwisher and Other Notes

Hi everyone
I would like to embed the wallwisher onto our blog, so you need to make
sure that you've commented. We will transfer it across tomorrow.
Our next job tomorrow is to put all of your writing onto the blog.
Many of you have published. I can't wait to share your work with
everyone!
I have all the photos now so I will get busy in my report-writing
breaks and add these so that you may comment on them - and your fans may
comment too, of course!
I love the questions you're asking when we are proofreading and
editing your writing. You always want to do more and learn more.
What a fantastic class!!!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Stunning Ukiyo-e and other thoughts





I've added some examples of this wonderful art form to the blog. More to come shortly. The children will add the images and add their thoughts to them.
Please add your comments.
Fraser shared the Into Books link with us this morning and took the class through this process.
Please get your lovely children to show you this link.
It reinforces the reading comprehension strategies we use.
Don't forget to add your thinking to the wall on wallwisher.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

HOMEWORK

I am experimenting with ways to add your homework to the blog each week.
This is just another way of trying to simplify processes - and save a few trees.
The application I'm using has scrambled a little of the page but only in
the layout, not the content so that's great.
I will also put the Science Fair link on here.
This is another way to help you out - particularly if you've lost your sheet
or have forgotten to take it home. Now, you can just click on the link and
it's there!
Add your comments and let me know what you think of this. Don't worry
if you are having computer issues at home, you will still be able to get the
hard copy.
Have a lovely long weekend and I will see you on Tuesday.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Comments

A quick note to let you know that comments should be able to be added now.
They will come to me first for moderation - just to keep an eye on what is
posted. I will then put them straight on.