Christmas Decorations made from recyclables!

Love to Read Bookclub Draw

This term Miss Pitt started the Love to Read Bookclub. For every book we read we sat down and had a chat with Miss Pitt about it, and earned an entry into the draw. Over half the class joined the club by reading at least one novel this term, some reading up to 13! 

On Monday of week 9, the Bookclub got together and Miss Pitt pulled out 4 names from the draw. The lucky winners scored some goodies to enjoy over the holidays. 

Keep on reading room 12A!!!!

Ripper Rugby Lunchtime Sport

Getting quick at our Basic Facts with the Maths Slide on the iPads

Basketball Brilliance!!

Congratulations to Matt, Tristan, Josh, Brodie and the rest of the HNI Hurricanes who won the HB Intermediate Schools Basketball Tournament last night!!! The Team from Poukawa were very tall competition but the boys skilfully managed to beat them 24-22 in the final. Awesome stuff!!

Grace moving to Christchurch

Today was Grace's last day at HNI as she and her family are moving to Christchurch. We'll miss you Grace!

A typical day in Room 12A

Learning about financial terms in Maths

Bailey is the HNI Lions Peace Poster winner for 2014 - Congratulations!!!

Space Monkey - It's not a planet, it's our home. Writing inspiration

Space Monkey - It's not a planet, it's our home. by riddler-mp

Through Chimp’s eyes

The green and blue blotched sphere welcomes him home. Chimp could feel the relief washing over him as he gazes lovingly towards Earth. The affection he could feel for his home over whelmed him. A smile. A smile that has not been seen for over 65 years snaked across his face.

He could not describe what he saw. His eyes could not be deceiving him. How could they? There were buildings stacked one on top each other. They rose far above Chimp, they towered above like grotesque giants. The bushes and shrubs had lost their leaves years ago by the debris that was scattered around the skeleton trees. But either way he was jubilant to be home. His eyes scoured the ghost town, he did not see his family anywhere. A tear trickled down his face.

- Bailey

It strikes me like a punch. It carves a familiar pain into my sinking spirits, as I see this sight I have requested for an aching many years. I think of all the things that are out there, making a hopeful smile creep up on my face like a caterpillar. I refuse to let the smile slip away to a grimace, glaring at something that has overwhelmed me with fear and longing for so long, and so hard. My train of thought just derailed as my heart just leapt to the roof as my happiness and faith drowned out my sorrow and despair, fueled by the vision of silver glitters sprinkled across the threatening black of the night. I reach out, trying to grasp it. I gather myself together and take my first wobbly step onto the soil, ready to be drowned in happiness, feeling hope like a build up of belief. Then reality slaps me, cold and hard in my stricken face. Everything is in a trance, waiting to be woken. It’s grey and bleak. My heart lies in broken shards on the cold, forgotten ground. I lose my awareness and my face crumples. I stare at what was once a home, but now is a maze of concrete forgetting. And then a tear trickles down my face.

- Milou

I see earth for the first time in 65 years it's unbelievable so amazing with the faded blue and green in the distance it’s so beautiful. Seeing the faded round earth in the window was so emotional. I felt a tears welling up in my eyes they were joyful tears. I reached out to grab earth as if it was so close it could've grabbed it with my old wrinkled hand.

As I look around I get a flash of anger and disappointment. I can't believe that humans have let the area became so run down it’s a disappointment. Its grey and lifeless no trees have leaves. Its like a jungle but dead and made of concrete. And then a tear trickled down my face  

By Caitlin

I clamber out of the space-ship and I am shocked at what I see. All my feelings are compacted like concret. Where are all the people? Where is all the colour? Where are the plants? There are no people. All the plants are dead. The sky is grey. It is all dusty and perished. What once used to be a green, colourful and busy city has gone. My home. Destroyed.

A tear trickled down my face.

- Hannah

I have been in space for sixty-five years now. I am finally coming home. Right now I can see the blue and green sphere with white clouds floating around it. I had started forgetting how beautiful Earth looks. All the stars and the navy blue surrounding this planet is just amazing. It’s such a great feeling coming back after being away for so long, not being able to do much. I can’t wait to see everyone again. I am so happy, but I feel a longing to get back home as quickly as possible. I can’t help but smile.

- Aimee

Sustainability and the Marine ecosystem

For the marine ecosystem to be sustainable, we need to minimise or ideally eliminate human threats to the ecosystem.

Some threats are: 
Overfishing
Farm run-off
Carbon dioxide in the air (turns the water acidic)
Oil spills
Dumping rubbish 
Littering at beaches

All of these things disturb the harmony of the ecosystem, wreaking havoc on animal and plant life.

My marine ecosystem:

Y7 Social!!!

Measurement Madness

Getting Fruity in Maths

We are learning about capacity at the moment. Today we created delicious fruity concoctions using our knowledge of litres and millilitres.

Mass in Maths!

At the moment we're learning about Mass. We made some estimates about the mass of different objects around the classroom, then we weighed them and compared that with our estimates. We have recently learned how to convert between grams and kilograms.

Social Dancing - Coconut Cream & Sha La La

Y7 Sheppard House Beep Test Reflections

Defining A Changemaker

Comparing and Contrasting Kiwi Change Makers - O'Sullivan and O'Keefe

Maths fun: getting started with Algebra

Change Makers Inquiry - NZer of the year: Dr Lance O'Sullivan

Created with Padlet

Room 12A playing 'Yellow Bird' in Mrs McHattie's music class

Maths: Problem solving with area and volume

We have been learning about measurement in maths, so Miss Pitt gave us this problem to solve:

'The volume of water in a pool is 240m3. What might the area of the pool cover be? Explain several possible solutions.'

We have each created a 'Fotobabble' to show how we solved the problem using our new knowledge of volume and area. Here is Amber's clever work.

Human Machine Expert Panel

Yesterday Rooms 12, 12A and 12B were very fortunate to have three parents who work in the Health profession to give up their valuable time to come and talk to us. We learned all about their fascinating jobs and what it takes to do what they do. We were all left feeling very inspired, with many thinking about how they might like to someday work as a health professional.

Group 'I' the budding chefs at Food Tech

Rippa Rugby Lunchtime Sport Finals

Today Room 12A played Room 4 in the lunchtime sport final in Rippa Rugby. Unfortunately we didn't have a win but we played like champions!

A big thanks to Catrin, Mia and Laura G from 12B for the cool shots!

We are getting our reading on with Reading Bingo!!

This term Miss Pitt has challenged us all to read more. Our goal is to cross off any line on the Reading Bingo board. (Some really avid readers are aiming for the whole board!) To do this we are going to have to get into the habit of reading at home. We have a class challenge to meet, for everyone in the class to achieve their Bingo line by the end of the term. Support and encourage each other!! 

Read 1 Book that is part of a series	Read a book that your best friend loved	Read a non-fiction book about the body	Read a ‘true story’ novel
Read 2 books that are part of a series	Read an autobiography	Read a book that has been made into a movie	Read a magazine
Read 3 books that are part of a series	Read a mystery novel	Re-read a book that you LOVE	Read a sci-fi novel
Read 4 (or more) books that are part of a series	Read a book from an author you haven’t tried before	Read a book set in a different time	Read a ‘classic’

Rakau Sticks with Miss Kay for Kotahitanga Week

Group J Masterchef Challenge

Group J take their Masterchef Challenge.... on PhotoPeach

Addition and Subtraction Strategies - check out each student's own video on the individual blogs!

Science: learning about reflection

Pizza Pizza Pizza!!

Saint Patrick's Day

Today being March the 17th, we took some time to think about St Patrick's Day. We did a KWL chart together:

K: what we know

W: what we want to know

L: what we learned

We realised we only knew the bright, fun side of the celebrations but had little knowledge of how the day came about. We then came up with some questions on what we want to know.

After watching a clip and listening to some prior knowledge from our peers we added to the chart what we had learned.

Te Reo Skits

For the last 6 weeks, we have been learning morning greetings in Te Reo Maori. To demonstrate our learning, we created short skits. Enjoy!

P.S: You may need to listen through headphones as Miss Pitt is still working out how to get the sound right! Fingers crossed for next time!

Vocab: 
Morena - Good morning
Ata marie - Good morning
Haere mai ki te kai - Come and eat
Ko wai to hoa? - Who is your friend?
Ko ________ taku hoa - This is ______. 
No hea koe,______? - Where are you from?
No ________.  - From _________
Kia ora - Thank you. 
Mama - Mum
Papa- Dad
Whaea - A mother,  or aunt 
Titiro ki te wa! - Look at the time!
Ka kite ano - See you next time
Haere ra - Goodbye (to someone who is leaving)
E noho ra - Goodbye (to someone who is staying)

Statistical Investigation

For the last few weeks we have been studying statistics in maths. Miss Pitt presented us with a problem which led to us conducting a statistical investigation to come up with an answer/solution.

We gathered data, analysed it, displayed it in different ways and used it to draw conclusions in response to the initial problem.

Here are a few of our histograms displaying some of the data we collected in our investigation.

Recount writing - A Memorable Moment

Over the past 5 weeks we have been working on recounts in writing. Together we came up with 6 success criteria to meet in order to achieve our Learning Intention. The task was to recount a memorable moment in our lives so far. We brainstormed hilarious/embarrassing/scary/magical/pivotal moments in our lives and chose one to write about. 

Learning Intention:	We are learning to recount a memorable moment to entertain our reader.
Success Criteria: We will know we are successful when we have:	* Used a variety of ways to keep the reader interested * Used descriptive language and language features to paint a picture       in the reader’s mind * Kept the writing focussed on the event/s * Structured the writing correctly * Used the past tense * Checked our surface features are in order

Read a couple below by Michael and James dG or visit individual student blogs to read others.

 My recount of a memorable moment

SPLAT!! iT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. A big lump of warm gooey bird POO landed on my head (gross). My lunch nearly came back up. I said “OMG  what do i do” in my head. I think the bird  must have had a good time ?

  

It happened when I was about 4 and I was sitting under a big oak tree at daycare with Adam, Sean and Jack.. We had just had our lunch.  We had noticed the birds squawking.

After the annoying  bird pooped on me I looked around and everyone was looking at me. I went bright red in the face. Suddenly out of nowhere, another bird poo nearly landed on my shoulder!  I jumped up and everyone started  laughing at me.

I felt  embarrassed because I knew that I had to wipe it up and the smell... it Stank  , I mean really stank,  but I knew it would give me luck so I smiled for the whole day.And thats what happened the staff let me go to see my sister Brenna when she was  little when it was her birthday . It was very fun.

It was the best day ever and knew that bird poop was lucky so i went home and had a good night. The next day is a long story….

By Michael

The Alpaca Incident

Kuppow! It felt as if I had been smacked hard in the face. And when I realised what had happened my stomach started to churn with disgust and repugnance.

I was at an Alpaca farm just across the road from my house. It was always a pleasure to go there with my family but on this expedition I encountered more than just a relaxing day out as you will soon see.

Soon me and my family came across the first of the alpacas munching politely on the supple healthy grass around the paddock. They were fascinating. Their long majestic necks leading on to a pointed snout and two large velvety ears. They chewed carefully as if every blade was precious enjoying their food in a quiet and behaved manner. As they ate their fur swayed slightly under their bellies as if they wore chunky natural coats. They were a little smaller than a horse and had wool softer and more comfortable by far than any sheep.

The sun felt gorgeous on my back as I crossed from paddock to paddock looking with interest at each and every animal in the place. The light frost refreshed my body keeping my body temperature to the perfect degree, this was an ideal morning to be out and about.

Soon I saw an alpaca that seemed to be more tame than the others. It stood confidently next to the fence watching us curiously with its miniature unblinking eyes. I came casually closer step by step. But still it stood like a statue of stone not at the least affected by my presence like the others in the field. I quickened my pace making brisk jolts in front of it but still his body didn’t flinch.

“Look at this dad” I yelled as I lurched at it again and again.

At that moment the alpaca suddenly decided to take revenge and deliberately with a sickening belch he spewed a powerful mass of vomit, spit and some half digested grass straight, bang on, in my face. It smacked me with such force that it propelled me back a few steps and, for like eternity, I just stood there, unable to believe what had just happened to me. Then out of embarrassment and shock I began to cry. As you would have expected my brothers started to snigger noisily about the event as dad started to clean up the mess.

And now because of that horrible happening I’ve never mocked an alpaca again, ever! They are more intelligent than they look, trust me.

By James

Little Scientists At Work (or is it at play?)

Here we have group I learning about forces in Ms Hawtin's Science class for technology.

Food Technology Fun

Here we have group J, having a great time at Food Tech with Ms Bassett.

Our final softball session

Today we enjoyed a fun game of softball in the sun with Alex, our expert coach from Sport Hawkes Bay. We used our new fielding and batting skills. Some of us even scored a home run!!! 

Thanks Alex!

Statistics: The Mean, Median and Mode Toads

Softball session #3

Today we learned some batting skills and started using them in our game. We learned to get our hands into "knock knuckles" position on the bat, lift our arms into an "A frame", body is side on to the ball. Step with the front foot as the ball is thrown, and do a "squashing the bug" twist with the back foot as we turn to hit the ball so our hips end up facing the pitcher. We are loving our softball sessions! 

Exploring the 'Kiwi' Identity

Created with Padlet

This afternoon we discussed the "Kiwi" Identity and what sets us apart from the rest of the world. We talked about the idea of 'Identity' being relevant to the individual. So what one person considers "Kiwi", another may not.

What is Room 12A's favourite....... (Tally tables)

For the next couple of weeks we are learning about statistics in Maths. Today we learned about Tally tables as an easy way to record data. Here's Room 12A collecting data from each other on their own tally tables.

Softball Session #2

Today we went out for our second Softball session with Alex from Sport Hawkes Bay. This time we worked on our throwing and catching skills and learned how to use a softball glove. Next time: batting!

Our interests and inspirations

Check out our first piece of art for 2014! Miss Pitt thought it would be a great way to learn more about each other's interests and inspirations.

Have a look at Georgia's, Lachy's and Imogen's:

A Softball treat

HNI is very lucky to be having expert softball players/coaches from Softball HB come to teach us how to play over the next few weeks. Yesterday we had our first session with Alex. We learned the basics of fielding and how to work the bases. We had a ball! Next session, we'll be ready to start using gloves, then bats after that. We can't wait to learn more skills!