The Lion group read the book, 'Treasure Island' and then pretended to be pirates, just like the characters in the story. They even read bits of direct speech, where the pirates were talking, aloud to the class in rough pirate-y voices! They made pirate hats and, of course, maps to show where their treasure was buried. When the maps were finished, the Lions dyed them with strong cold tea and very carefully tore the edges of the paper so that they looked like old treasure maps from long, long ago.
As part of Book Week, Room 18 read and discussed 'Peter Rabbit', 'Benjamin Bunny' and some of the other books by Beatrix Potter. We talked about how mischievous and naughty theses little rabbits were, (and the ways that we were sometimes mischievous and naughty too!)
It was interesting to learn that Beatrix Potter started drawing woodland animals and writing stories about them to send to her nieces and nephews in letters.
Instead of drawing and painting, we decided to make Peter Rabbits out of clay. Later on, if we have time, we might make little blue jackets as well. Now the clay figures have to dry out for three weeks before going into the kiln.
Here is a video of us preparing the clay by slamming it down to ensure there were no air bubbles trapped inside, which can make the clay figures explode in the kiln.
Here we are shaping and attaching the (all important) rabbit ears:
The two Eco-warriors in Room 18, Adam and Wilson, spent a day at the Zero Waste Zone run by the Auckland Council. At the zone, all the CBS eco-warriors looked at waste, where it goes and how to reduce it. They enjoyed the discovery trail made entirely of waste and also visited the learning centre where they did lots of hands-on activities to do with composting, planting and worm farms.
Everyone in Room 18 found the briefing by Adam and Wilson very interesting when they returned to school - you will be able to read in their news report in the Room 18 News Book. Following their lead, we will be looking at ways to reuse plastic in Room 18 - watch this space!
Cockle Bay School is an Enviro School with bronze certification - we are working towards silver. Mrs Bigwood was presented with this award at a recent Enviro meeting organised by the Auckland City Council.
On Wednesday, Room 18, Room 2 and half of Room 1 went on the Weka Day Camp, held every year at the in the Auckland Botanical Gardens. Luckily we had the perfect day, not too hot and not too cold with none of the Spring showers that the weather report predicted.
Our day started straight after bag inspection, when we all alighted the bus at 9 o'clock. When we first arrived at the park, we had morning tea and a toilet stop while our parent helpers joined us. Then it was a long walk down through the gardens to our camp site. We walked past a whole forest of monkey puzzle trees, some big and some just baby trees. It was interesting to read that non-flowering trees like these were around when the dinosaurs were roaming the planet.
The students were organised into three groups and rotated through three different camping activities: cooking sausages over an open fire and erecting tents; orienteering; and tramping through the bush using map skills and learning about some of our native trees.
Most people enjoyed cooking sausages on a camp fire best, and absolutely everyone liked eating their sausage, even the parent helpers!
Erecting tents separated the sheep from the goats - you could easily see who had put up a tent before and who hadn't! However, everyone got there in the end. It was nice having a (short) time to relax inside the tents once they were up.
Then we had to take them down and roll them up, ready for the next group.
There was an orienteering HQ where you picked up your compass and orienteering sheet as well as choosing a map. Each map was marked with a red triangle which indicated the campsite, a red circle indicating where the orienteering flag was and a red line connecting the two for you to follow.
Mrs Burnett from Room 1 was in charge on this orienteering session.
The orienteering flags were all around the bottom part of the park. Who will find these two flags?
When you found a flag, you marked your orientation sheet by stamping it with the special stapler on top of the flag pole. Each flag has its own two letter code and each stapler made different pattern so you could easily see which flags you had found. If you look carefully, you can see the holes the staplers made on these sheets - Lucas's group found nine flags and Chloe's group found seven.
Here are some of the orienteering groups . . .
And here are some in action out on the field . . .
The tramp was a great way to enjoy the bush, learn something about native trees and have a go at map reading. Here is our video as we enter Totora Park bush:
We learned about some of the native trees. The Maori name for this tree is punga but the common name is Silver Fern because the underside of the leaves are silvery white. It is a famous New Zealand icon.
The Maori name for this native tree is Rangiora but its common name is Bushman's Friend. The underleaf is very soft so you can use it as toilet paper in the bush.
These spiky leaves from the Rimu tree can be useful in the bush too. You can use them as a little comb to tidy your hair!
It had been a FULL day so the trip back to school was MUCH quieter as we rested and relaxed in the bus.
