Logan's Awards

Last Sunday 2 September, the rugby prize-giving was held for the Nelson Rugby Football Club.  Logan started playing rugby this year in a team called Nelson Under 10 Blue and every week they have practised at Neale Park on Thursdays. During the season, he has played "away" games at  Murchison, Takaka, Motueka, Stoke, Jubilee Park in Richmond, Riwaka, Brightwater with every third game at Neale Park. 

At the prize giving, Logan was given  the "Sportsman of the Year" Award and the trophy for the most outstanding player for his team.  What  a wonderful way to start his rugby career and just maybe we will be seeing him at Trafalgar Park in the future.

Congratulations to Finn and Isla

Congratulations to Finn and Isla who both won prizes at Ecofest last weekend.  Finn entered a vehicle in the Ecofest Alternative-Powered Toy Car Challenge and won his section with his aerodynamic car.  Isla entered in the Op Shop challenge in a gorgeous creation made of recycled ties and won her section. Well done to you both and your team of family supporters.

Catch up time

We have had a gap in our posting but there are things waiting to be added even though they happened a while ago so keep checking.

In the meantime we have an interview to share.  It features Funky Fashion designers, Chani and Zoe, talking about the garments they prepared for funky fashion at Ecofest this past weekend.  Unfortunately other commitments with sport made it very difficult for them and their model Wesley to attend.   We could see they had put a lot of effort into their creation so we decided to interview them instead and share it with you on our blog.  Bea was the interviewer and Olive the movie-maker. 

Pizza Party

Last Friday on the 15 June, 12 kids from Room 4 (plus Chi) went to the soccer tournament at Saxton Field. The remaining seven stayed at school and made pizza.

We made the dough at school and brought the toppings from home. While we worked we listened to Emma’s music. We cut up the topping and grated a whole block of cheese. After a break to wash our hands, we kneaded the dough. While we were at assembly we let the dough rise on the fire in bowls. They looked like butt cheeks because they were all squished together.

After assembly we kneaded it again until we could feel it was soft and stretchy and then we rolled it out. We each put some toppings on our own and popped then into a hot oven. Not long after that we ate them and they were delicious.

The recipe that we used was really good. Jane has been using it for years after a parent gave it to her. If you would like to try it out, the recipe is below the photos. 

Pizzas – thanks to Julie

(A parent at Hira School back in the 90s!)

Two cups white flour                          At home you could half this

One teaspoon salt  recipe                      to make two middle     

Two teaspoons sugar                               sized pizzas.

Two tablespoons Surebake yeast

(Or four tablespoons plain dry yeast)

One cup of cold water

One cup hot water

Put both two cups of water into glass jug to mix, then stir in.

Mix together in a big bowl and leave for three minutes.

Add three cups of flour and one tablespoon of cooking oil to make a soft dough.

Knead for five to ten minutes on a floured surface.

Leave to rest in the bowl while it rises, cover with damp cloth.

Divide into how many pieces you want.

Roll out each piece on a floured surface with rolling pin and make into a circle or any shape you like. Make it thick or thin, depending on which you prefer.

Put on greased tray.

Put on your toppings and cook for ten to fifteen minutes at 230 C.

HIRA BOYS PLAY AT TRAFALGAR PARK

TRAFALGAR STADIUM – 11^TH GRADE VS 12^TH GRADE

It was a chilly morning and our first soccer game of the season and there was the 11^th grade development coach watching us. After the game he had Steffan (our coach) that he would like Nathan and Wesley to go to the development practices. We did them every Tuesday for six weeks and we are still doing it.

On Monday, Queen’s Birthday weekend, our development squad played at Trafalgar Stadium against the 12^th grade team on full size pitches and goals. We had to be there at 10.30 am for our warm up. Then we went into the changing rooms and had a talk. Five minutes before the game, we lined up in the hall in our teams, with the referee in the middle with the match ball.  We jogged out to our sides.

We got kick off. We got the opening goal. A boy called Lochie got it. It was a moment of hope when we scored the first goal. Five minutes later they had put the ball into the net one all. We were pleased how we played but in the end they were a little bit stronger.  Final score 5-2.

PS Josh and Roderick were playing in the 12th Grade Team.

Dhillon's magic balloon

 

A whoop of delight and we looked around to see a balloon hanging on the door! 

Dhillon had done some magic.

He repeated the process for us as he was videoed and here is the video.

 

And here's where it ended up.

Friday Plays

Sophia and Chani each had the job of choosing a play from the School Journals, selecting their cast and directing the practices, all of which they took very seriously.  On Friday 25 May they presented their plays, several times in fact as we were joined by the other classes arriving for assembly so we did them both again.  Sophia's choice was "Animal Court", a variation on the Hare and the Tortoise, and Chani's play was "Who wants to be a super flower?" which had a twist on the idea of talent quests.
 

 

Te Hora Marae 2012 - our first movie

Here is the movie we made to explain  some of te kawa (protocols) o te marae that we learned from our visit to Te Hora Marae.  Olive did the filming and most of the editing. This is the first movie we have made like this.

Airborne

On Wednesday Room 4 went to three places, Riverside pool, Suter Art Gallery, then the skate park at Neale Park. Now, that was the fun part. Jane took a photo of me airborne.  You need heaps of speed to get airborne.  Kevin got Nathan, Ruby, Emma and I an ice block. It was a fun big day out.

By Dhillon   

What a great day

Staying at the Marae

Here are the some of our stories we wrote in class about our trip to Te Hora Marae. We have more displayed on our classroom wall.  For some reason, many of the children chose to write about the night time!  Now why would that be?

DAY ONE AT THE MARAE

By Chani

“Are we there yet” Finally we are standing at the gate getting called in by the Tangata Whenua into the marae. We listen to the tangata whenua saying their whaikorero. We are the manuhiri and Kevin, Tama’s dad and Chi reply. After the whaikorero we sing our waiata. Then we do the hongi.

We all lined up and some people shook hands and some people pressed noses. Afterwards we shared our lunch with Canvastown School. In our free time we looked in the urupa and played Kev’s special. 

PACKED INTO THE WHARENUI

By Harry 

After we had finished star gazing, we got into bed. There was a person that did not stop snoring so we did not get to sleep easily.

During the night Fabian rolled over on top of Finn, so he rolled over on top of me, so I rolled over right beside Logan.

At home my dog Poppy sleeps on my bed so I immediately thought Logan was Poppy. I elbowed Logan dreamily and said “Poppy”. Logan woke up and said “leave me alone!” but in minutes we were both sound asleep.

                                                                                     

SLEEPLESS AT THE MARAE

By Grace

Giggle…… “Girls…! Shhhhhh!”

A snore erupts from a group of people. Another giggle. “Sophia, Grace, go to sleep now.”  Snuggling under the sleeping bags, a few people let off a few smells. Ripppp, giggle…

“Sorry Grace, I think I broke your sleeping bag zip with my foot,” Sophia whispers between stifled laughs.  I giggle too.

Zip, zip, and rip, comes from Ruby’s direction.

“Ruby?”

“What?”

Jane growls a message, “Be quiet!” 

Giggles rise from the covered floor.  Heat forms on the windows. The door opens.  Cold air rushes towards a huddle of whispering girls and boys.

“Brrr,” I say to the wriggling worm beside me.  “Sophia?”  A mumble slips out from her closed lips. In a split second Sophia is already bouncing on Chani.  Opening the door, I shiver.  I scurry back to bed.  

Mist hangs low as a crowd of drowsy kids walk over to the kitchen. I fill my glass greedily. A delectable selection of toast and cereals are laid out on the table.  “Yum,” I say.                                                         

URUPA AT TE HORA

By Zoe

On Te Hora Marae there’s an urupa which is a cemetery in Maori.   There are lots of graves and a lot of them under the name of Wilson. The graves have lots of stuff on them, like dolphins, flowers and lights. The whanau (family) and hoa (friends) put decorations on the graves to remember what the people loved.  

I am kind of scared of the urupa because Dad says, “Zoe, if you stand on a grave, it will haunt you for ever”.

“Stop being silly Dad,” I say and Dad just laughs. 
                  

Easter round-up

Thank you to Isla, Zoe and Ruby for organising a scavenger hunt today.  Chani and Olive worked hard as sports leaders, helping Helen.   The new trees have been watered by Nathan and Wesley and we have had our end of term assembly and shared our blog with everyone.  Blog confidence is growing and next term the responsibility can be shared amongst the class.  I have changed the comments setting so I hope it is easier for you to leave comments.

The blog is a lovely way of connecting with our families past and present and for those further away who can not visit us in person. To be at Hira School,  for a short time or longer, means you are always part of the Hira School family. Have a happy and safe holiday.

Latest stories - by Nathan and Dhillon

Capsized

“Toot, toot.” Nana and Grandad are here.

“Come on Cam, get your pack”.

“Bye Mum”.

We set off.  We were going to Kaiteriteri for three nights.

Zzzzzzzz…… after a while, I drifted to sleep.

Then I heard Nana say “We’re here.”

 “Nathan, can you help me get the dinghy off the back” Grandad asked.

“Yeah, coming.” Whoa that was hard work.

“Lunch time, everybody.”

 “Yum, let’s go to the beach after lunch and take the dinghy.”

The water was cold. “Grandad and I go first” I said. This is fun. Hey what’s that? A bait fish?  I leant over and tried to catch it but I leant too far.

Too late.  The boat capsized.  I don’t think my Grandad was very happy. Saturated, we trudged back to our camp site and got changed.

 When we got home the next day, Mum asked, “How did it go?”

I said, “Ho hum.”

By Nathan

 

A Bad Day

My brother Logan had a friend called Doc well he used be a friend of Logan’s.  We were biking down to the old house where my grandma now lives.

Oh no, he slipped. Doc saw some of the fall. Poor Logan, he was crying. Doc had to ride up to my parents at the house. They came down with the van. We took him to the hospital and they took an x-ray of his collarbone.  He needed a sling because it was broken.

I love my brother. He is the best brother in my life.

By Dhillon

Cicada posters

The cicada summer chorus is on its last legs and, if we were cicadas, our cicada science work would be the cicada eggs now deposited in the stems of plants for the winter and waiting for a new cycle to begin!  We hope our study has planted a seed in our minds, another layer of understanding insects.

During our study we have been looking at how diagrams are pictures that show information.  We have used the wonderful book by Betty Brownlie called "The Life Cycle of the Cicada".  It is packed full of information and diagrams.  The children have worked on posters to practise organising information.

Inaugural Car Wash

Thanks to everyone for supporting our first Room 4 Camp car wash on Interview Day.  We hope your cars are still sparkling clean.   The children had a lot of fun and are keen to do it all again so keep an eye out for the next car wash event.  Thanks to our amazing Sam who supplied some of the gear, trained them up and set some quality standards.  She even made them re-wash a few cars at practice time. Guess whose? Clue – they’re both blue and Toyota Caribs! We have added about $100 to our Wellington camp funds.

LIfe cycle of the cicada

The Life Cycle of a Cicada – By Dhillon and dictated to Chris

The male cicada has two wings to hide its sound information from the female. The male cicada has a long tail and likes to sing. The song it is singing is “will you mate with me?” Everyone knows that the male cicada wants to mate.

Female cicadas are mostly green, have a short tail and do not sing.  The female chooses whether she wants to mate with the cicada. If the female wants to mate the male, the male will stop singing and she will let the male stroke the ends of her wings. The longer the male mates with the female the more eggs the female will lay. If they want to lay about 700 eggs they would need to mate for about 10 minutes.  Cicada eggs take about 60 to 120 days to hatch.

In Spring time the Nymphs (the children) want to find some roots to eat. They have beaks like tubes that help them pierce the roots of trees.  They have large front legs for digging. They need to keep warm because they will die in the cold. The nymph stays alive underground for 4 or 5 years.  The nymphs are just like rabbits, they burrow out of their tunnel to the surface.  They come out at night when it is warm and when the birds are asleep.