Poetry

                                    This is Room 7 writing their poems on memories of 2013.

Remember
Getting a sugar rush on Mc Donalds
Running up a steep skate bowl
And sliding back down
Someone shooting a basketball
At the oppositions hoop
Finding an old teddy
And people throwing it at people
Running up and down stairs
Until it feels like you have no more legs
Spraining your arm on the first day of the year
That was Room 7

Written By Jackson E

Technology

On Wednesday, the year 7’s and 8’s had their last technology session for this year. For technology we have had three different stations, Cooking, MaterIals and Wood/Plastic work. I have really enjoyed taking part in these and think that the sessions help you learn many different skills that we may need for the future.

This week in cooking the year 7’s made gingerbread houses.

by Alice K

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Yesterday four members from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra came to our school to do a performance. Here is a picture of one their performances. It was very entertaining and my favorite part of the performance was when they did Goldilocks and the Three Bears as a musical. Thanks to Mark Santy for organising them to come at such short notice. 

by Matthew and Callum V

Creating Enterprise

Room 7’s Term 4 inquiry is about “Growing Enterprise.” We have to create a product to sell at the Week 7 community evening. The product has to do with outdoor living. People have been planning to create many different things such as bird houses, wind chimes, flower pots, bird feeders and lots more. 

We have been doing a lot of thinking about how well these might sell and how much to sell them for. We would love you to leave a comment on whether you would buy these items and an idea of how much you would pay for them.

- Alice K

1. A unique candle holder that has shells in the bottom, water and a floating candle.

2. A decorative jar filled with coloured sand.

3. Glass jar planter - Will have three glass jars across the wood backing and planted up with herbs.

4. A fabric hanger to put on your clothes line and keep all your clothes pegs - will be available in different colours.

5. Wind chime made out of bicycle parts - beautiful sound.

Working in Room 7

This is Callum V and Macca doing their inquiry. They are making friendship bracelets for the market. We are working in groups and coming up with ideas to sell. We have to think carefully about how much things cost to make and how much we will sell them for.

Written by Jack T

Athletics

On Thursday 24 October, the students from ages 8 to 13 took part in the Springston School Athletics. This included long distance running, sprints, shotput, discus, long jump and high jump. It was a great day and it was good to see so many people trying their best and encouraging each other.

By Kailey

First Day Technology Challenge

On Monday we were given a challenge to design a tool to get the balls from one table to another. We were only given paper string, tape, ice cream sticks, paper clips, plastic bag and straws.
During this activity we had to:
Respect people's ideas.
Show perseverance.
Not laugh at other people's thoughts.
Remain positive even if you fail - keep trying but perhaps try something new.
Adapt to situations.
Reflect on what went right and wrong.
Be brave to share ideas.
Communicate and listen to others.

Year 7 Camp

This term the Year 7's went to camp at Tekapo. We went with a great group of parents, Mark, John, Robin, Lawton and Mike.
We stayed at the cabins in the camping ground. When we arrived we went ice skating. Lots of us fell over, we also had some races.
The next day half a group went tar spotting up the lake while the other grouped walked up Mt John. That afternoon we went snow tubing. It was fun speeding down the hill. My favourite part was hitting the bumps.
That night we went to the hot pools - it was a bit cold getting from the changing rooms into the pool. After the pool we watched the ice hockey teams train.
On Friday we went skiing. This was my favourite activity - I went snow boarding. There were lots of bumps and little jumps to go over.
Overall the camp was great and a real big thanks to all the adults that helped us.


Year 7 Camp on PhotoPeach

School open Friday

Congratulations on your A+ Adaptability as we struggle with the challenge of no power. We have no indication as yet when power will be restored to school. We plan to open school on Friday provided the weather is fine, regardless of the lack of power.

Some things you need to know: The back gate to school via the field and Secret Garden are both locked and closed until further notice. This is a safety issue because of tree damage and it is likely that these gates will be locked for the rest of Term 3.

On Friday afternoon we are planning a fun event at the Domain for the children to welcome them back to school. We will be leaving for a picnic lunch and activities at 12pm and welcome you to join us. Subway will run as normal. Icy-slicy will be postponed until next Friday.

Please note that with the power being out, we have no phones, heating or alarm systems. We will leave it to your discretion as to whether you send your children to school. If the weather should turn cold or wet, these plans will need to be reviewed. The school will open unless you are advised that it is closed by school websites, Facebook and the More 92 FM radio station.

School Closed Thursday 12 Sept

Power is still out in Springston so we have decided to remain closed today.

School Closed

We are closed today Wednesday 11 Sept due to the power outage and trees down in the back field.

Our Space Seed Experiment

Last week Wendy registered to take part in a seed experiment where seeds will be grown in outer space and also on earth. The seeds have been taken to the International Space Station.

THE SPACE EXPERIMENT

The Azuki bean will be grown IN COMPLETE DARKNESS and WEIGHTLESSNESS from seed for 7 days onboard “Kibo" inside the International Space Station.

Astronauts will film the sprouting of Azuki beans grown in space and transmit the images to Earth.

• Azuki beans, Vigna angularis cv. Erimowase, are implanted into a rockwool block under dry conditions and sent to ISS.
• Once in orbit, the rockwool is wetted with water so that the beans will start germinate. The seeds are put inside an opaque bag and kept inside the Kibo module.
• Seven days (TBD) later, the bag is opened and the growth and the shape of seedlings are observed. Video images are taken and downlinked.
• Downlinked video images are distributed to participating students.
• If extra crew operations are possible, astronauts can pick some sprouts out and touch them to examine its stiffness and other physical properties, i.e. gravity resistance.

Our seeds arrived on Friday and yesterday we set up our seed experiment. 

On Friday we need to do our first check of our seeds.  If you want to find out about the space seeds click on the image below.

Canterbury Hockey....

On Thursday the 29 August the Springston hockey team set off to the Canterbury Agricultural Park for the Canterbury hockey tournament.

We arrived and found a suitable spot to place our belongings.We got ourselves organised and ready for our first game.

Harriet was our captain (and she made a great one too). She had all our positions written down for every game and was very organised.

When it was time for the first game, we played hard and did our best.

We played about 5 hard, tough games against different schools. Soon after the results were announced, we were all very proud and happy to know that we were in the quarter finals. In the quarter finals we played Ashburton. We fought really hard and played our best. The final result made us proud because we were into the semi finals.

In the semi finals we played against Villa Maria. The score for that game ended up being 1-0 to us with a winning goal scored by Haidee (while on the ground).

Our next and final game was the final against Tai Tapu. This was a very hard game where we had to play to our limits. Unfortunately we were unable to score during the final, but luckily the points, when added up from the previous games, declared us the winners!!

Written by Alice K

The New Classrooms

How exciting we are starting to see the floor plan for the new classrooms.

Term 3 Science Inquiry

Hopefully by now everyone has their science topic planned and their experiment under way.

I found this interesting experiment that I thought as a class we might like to be involved in:

Space Seeds 2013 (click on image to take you to the website to have look at the experiment we will need to set up).

I wonder if plants will grow in space the same as they will on earth?

Young Writer's Day

On Thursday 15 August Emily and I were given the opportunity to go to Ferrymead for the Young Writer's Day.
We talked with an author who gave us lots of advice for us to use with our own writing. We discovered that if you have silly ideas you can be an amazing writer.
We also discussed writing ideas with the starting… ‘What if…?’ e.g. “What if nightmares and dreams came true?”
We then used the Ferrymead Heritage Park to help build a story which was very cool.

Emily and I had a great time and we met some really cool people. I learnt lots and couldn’t wait to share.

Anja

Cantamath Competition

A big congratulations to our Cantamath team who competed on Wednesday night. Georgia G, Haidee, Kailey and Alice T worked very hard to get their 30 points. They had to use their mathematical skills to answer problem solving type questions in a very noisy and competitive environment.

Challenge yourself by attempting one of the questions they had to answer:

I think of a number. I multiply it by 4. To this I add 6. I then divide the answer by 8. The answer is 7. What number did I originally think of? Express your answer as a decimal.

Leave us a comment with your answer in it.

If you want a true sense of what it was like on the night, work this question out at the food court in Riccarton Mall at lunchtime (or somewhere else that is really loud and busy).

Cantamath Designs

Team Inaka have been working hard on their Cantamath designs. They will be on display at the CBS Arena on Wednesday after school.

Our Cantamath team is competing at 5pm on Wednesday. Come and support them and have a look around all the displays at the CBS Arena in Addington.

Cantamath Famous Mathematicians

Click on image to enlarge

Rugby/Netball Tournament

On Tuesday the 6 of August Room 7 went to Lincoln Domain to compete with other schools in the Rugby/ Netball Tournament.
There were two teams in each event (A&B). We all really enjoyed the day and we showed leadership and sportsmanship to the other teams.
The Year 5/6 teams are competing on the 8 of August and we wish them the best of luck.

Kiwiana Wearable Arts

In Term 2 we saw the children working very hard on their Wearable Arts. Have a look through this e-book to see the hard work in action.

Our NZ Book

We hope you enjoy our writing about New Zealand. Click on the image to take you to our book.

New Zealand Author Studies

Last term some of Team Inaka reading groups focused on New Zealand authors. One of the activities was to use QR codes to embed work onto a presentation poster. We have produced some great posters for the library about NZ authors and some of the books they have written. Springston children make sure you check them out when you are next in the school library.
These posters are by Annabelle and Millie