Green Gold Walk

Yesterday we went on a hikoi (walk) while the enviro people inspected our school. Our school has been working towards Green Gold for at least 7 years. Green Gold is an award for enviroschools, there is Bronze, Silver and Green Gold. Koka Rozie had organized our class to go for a walk on a farm where she rides her horses. 

We walked from school to Scarlys Way as this was where the farm was. On the farm it was very boggy and wet. At first I was a bit annoyed because we had to cross Hamanatua Stream in our shoes! But after not landing my jump across the awa, me and my friends decided to do a challenge. The challenge was when we had to walk through an awa or some mud, we couldn't complain. 

Water was running through my shoes, mud filling my shoes so much, I barely had enough room for my feet! I could hardly wait to take the soaking things off of me! Before we went back, Koka Rozie asked us what we think was a negative impact on the awa. We all agreed that a negative was the farm animals droppings that washed downstream. I also thought that a negative was when the animals would run or walk on the edge of the awa and mud and grass would build up in the stream and make it all brown and muddy.

When we got back something amazing was waiting for us, GREEN GOLD! YAY! I loved the walk, here are some photos from the day:

Jean Batten Day

 This Tuesday MLH had a day all about the famous New Zealand woman aviator, Jean Batten. The teachers had booked the hall for the whole day, so we could work in there. We were put into groups of 3-5 and I was with Betsy, Krissie, Harry G and Mahanga. I was really excited because the teachers said we had codes to crack! I love cracking codes! I have been learning how to crack onomatopoeia codes in my own time.

Our first clue was a little cat tag that said: Buddy, (this was Jean Batten's cat), and J=B. We all thought this meant Jean Batten, but it didn't. After a while we realised it was the alphabet. We finished that clue in about 20 minutes.

The next clue was a morse code. If you don't know what a morse code is, I didn't know either until we did it. A morse code is a group of sounds that add up to a code like, long short, short short long and long long short. This was a bit confusing but we got there in the end.

After lunch we were making buzz panes. Buzz planes are made out of the head of a toothbrush, batteries, lights and when you make it, it should buzz and move on the floor. This was quite tricky and our buzz planes didn't work, but the ones that did work, had a race.

At the end of the day, we each got a awesome badge that the teachers got for us. I got one that said Creative in French. I really wanted this one. It was so much fun learning about a awesome NZ aviator. I really would love to do some more of this learning!

Cross Country

 This Wednesday was School Cross Country. But because of being in Level 2, only year 4, 5 and 6 students went down. Level 2 also meant no spectators, so no parents or family were allowed to watch. I was really nervous! As we walked to the track, my heart started beating just a little bit faster. 

Year 6 girls were up first so I lined up as soon as we got there. When Koka Sue blew the whistle, the sound ricocheted in my ears. I ran as fast as I could when that whistle blew. For some reason I could taste blood. The metal taste felt like money. My asthma made it hard to breathe. 

After the race my breathing got worse. I took my asthma pump and had a drink of water. Me and my friends recreated a photo from athletics, here is the original and the recreation:

 This is the original:

Here is the recreation: