Callaghan's Ridge

Yesterday room 1 and 8 went to Callaghans ridge for a day tramp. Lots of great parents came as well. It took us four and a half hours. On the track we had to work with a couple of other people for a fun treasure hunt. I worked with Rebekah and Sasha. We found all the things including, a beutiful Tomtit (Miromiro),  interestng button fern and wierd brace fungi. 

The weather on thursday was lightly raining so we had to be carefull of slipping over and falling and hurting ourselves badly. The track was saturated and extremely muddy so it was really fun. In the afternoon the weather got better so that the track was soaked but it was no longer raining.

At lunch time we had to make wind and rain proof bivy's out of a tarpoline and rope. Our team did really well. We changed our plan from what we had decided in class because we hadn't seen where we would be making the bivy's before. Our bivy was really waterproof and sturdy. We tested it by shaking the water droplits on a tree onto the top of the bivy/ tarpoline.

I really enjoyed the walk because I got to walk with my friends. I also liked that it was a day of school. I learned alot yesterday that I woudn't usualy learn at a normal day at school!

I think that we could do games along the way like chinese whispers to make the walk a teeny bit funner. We could also do more challenges like un- muddiest shoes.

Beach Cookout

In teams we will

• Design a menu suitable for cooking on a campfire
• Keep within a $5 budget
• Share the jobs and food provision fairly between team members
• Bring along all equipment we need to cook with/on/in
• Work cooperatively to cook our meal

Today room 1 and 8 went to the beach for a beach cookout. We had teachers
and parents helping us. The kids in my group were Nathaniel, Summer and Charlie.
Our parent was my dad, Tim. Mrs Truman was floating around looking at different fires.

When we got down to the beach we had to make a fire in the spots we had chosen.
We used tinder (tiny sticks like gorse.) After putting the tinder we had to put kindling
on the tinder. We had to arrange the kindling in a teepee shape. After that we had to
arrange bigger sticks around the kindling. In the end you end up with a medium teepee shape.

We went and cooked the food and made the fires at Karoro beach. Karoro beach is on the
West Coast of New Zealand by the Tasman sea. Next to the beach is Watson Stream/Creek.

We went down to the beach at eleven in the morning on the 3rd of April. It was a Wednesday
of term 1. We went down in Autumn because you are allowed to light fires then without a
permit. Mrs Kemp had a permit anyway but of course we didn't need it.

We went down to the beach for a number of reasons.
One of the reasons was because we wanted to do it for
 the William Pike Challenge. One of the other reasons was because we wanted
to learn new skills like lighting a fire and building a safe fire. I reckon the most
important reason was so we could have fun though. I definitely thought it was really fun!

Our team didn't really have team roles. I think we all contributed evenly.
For our food we made Taty Fry for our main and pancakes for dessert. We
were the only team to make pancakes from scratch. I really liked the taste of both foods!

We didn't use too many ingredients. Everybody only spent five dollars because
that was the maximum amount of money you could use. The most challenging
thing for me was not being able to adjust the temperature! The part that I most
enjoyed was cooking the food a different way to usual!

Noho Marae

NOHO MARAE

A few weeks ago room 1 and 8 went the the Arahura Marae.
We had a few parents come with us. The parents and teachers
that stayed the night were, Matt, Mrs Kemp and Mrs Glue and
Kelly. Other parents and Teachers like, Clark, Steph, Phae, Alana
and Miss Ireland came as well. We are very lucky that they came
because we would not have been able to go if they had not come.

When we arrived at the Marae we got welcomed on with the
Powhiri. Once the Powhiri was over we took our shoes off
and went into the Marae for the speeches.
When the speeches were over we went into the wharae kai
(dining room) for some morning tea, we had some savory
pies and some red velvet cake. Next we went back into the
wharenui (meeting house) to share our mihi’s which took a
long time. After  we had shared our mihi’s we went down to the
arahura river to try and find some Greenstone. While we were
down there 2-5 people found some greenstone. We also went
down to the beach to make sculptures of things from the story
pountini and waitaiki. I was in a group with Dakota, Sasha and
Rebekah we made a small waka (boat) that all of us could just fit
in. Once we had judged the sculptures we walked back to the
Marae and had some afternoon tea.

Later in the evening we had dinner which was chicken
with salad and potatoes and bread. For dessert we
had more red velvet cake and pavlova. When we finished
dinner and desert we went outside and did some activities.
I did weaving for  45 minutes and then I played Ki-O-Rahi for
another 45 minutes. While we were playing Ki-O-Rahi it got
really dark so we couldn’t see the ball so we went inside for the
last 5 minutes. Then we went and sat outside around the fire
and had s'mores while we were having s'mores we sung some
waiata (songs) like Pukanakana and Karoro e. Then we went to
bed at 10pm. The next day we got up and had breakfast at 8am.
Then we packed up and left to go and do the  Mananui Tramline
walk. That took two hours, along the way we had a checklist with
some plants that we had to find. Then once we finished the walk
we went back to school just in time for lunch.

We went to Arahura Marae on the West Coast of New Zealand.
Arahura Marae is very close to the Arahura river.
The people that are the tangata whenua of the marae own
the river. The Arahura Marae is close to the Tasman sea as well.

We went to the Marae on Wednesday the fifth of March 2019
staying overnight. The season was Autumn.  

This experience worked because we had so many adults
helping us. For making the sand boat we used sand, grass
and rocks. We had a wonderful cook making the meals for us.
She must have been working so hard! When we went looking
for greenstone a man from the marae came with us and showed
us what the greenstone looked like. He was really helpful.
He knows what greenstone looks like because he has seen
it so many times in his life and he has probably been taught
how to recognise it.

• By Mackenzie & Dakota.

Onomatopoeia Poem

Hiking

I can feel wind

whistling through native fern trees.

making my skin

crack and freeze.

I can hear piwakawaka.

chirping loudly to each other.

My words,

Float and silently smother.

I smell oxygen.

Crisp, fresh.

My grin,

Feels like a lonely whisper.

A river

crashing by smooth boulders

makes my liver

Feel like a scared soldier.

Mahatma Gandhi

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela is famous for fighting for anti apartheid and segregation.
He lived in South Africa. He was in jail on Robben Island for 27 years.

What is Apartheid And Segregation And Why Is
Nelson Mandela Against It?

Nelson Mandela is famous for fighting against apartheid and segregation.
He did not like apartheid because it was really unfair to the race that was
forced to do different thing to the other people. Apartheid is when different
black people have different things to use than white people. For example white
children were allowed to go to any school but black children had to go to a
specific school. I think that this is really unfair because people should have
the same chance in life.

Where was Nelson Mandela Born And Raised?

Nelson Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo in Umtata on the 18
of July 1918.  

His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa was a chief. His mother Noqaphi
Nosekeni was the third of Mphakanyiswa wives. They had nine daughters and
fours son’s. Nelson Mandela went to school at a local missionary school.
A teacher named him Nelson as a practice of giving South African children
English names. In 1939 Nelson Mandela attended the elite university of
Fort Hare which was the only university at the time to take in South African blacks.

Why Was Nelson Mandela In Prison?

Nelson Mandela was arrested and put in Robben Island Prison, Pollsmoor
Prison and Victor Verster Island Prison throughout his 27 years in prison.
He was in prison because he boycotted against He helped to start the Artists
Against Apartheid in the UK to campaign and help enforce the cultural boycott.
While Nelson Mandela was in prison he still fought against apartheid and segregation
and he secretly joined a banned south African communists group called

S.A.C.P. Pollsmoor Prison is located in a cape town suburb of a place called
Tokai in South Africa.

A Recap On Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela is someone people look up to. He helped the world start
to solve apartheid and segregation. His childhood was ok because he was
born in a royal family. I think that it is sad that he was sent to prison
because he could have done so much more to help people in those 27
years. Nelson Mandela started of as quite an agressive protester but
when he came out of jail he decided to be a peaceful protester.

We think that Nelson Mandela was an amazing person and that what he did was right. We are anti apartheid as well.