Camp

Last week, Ruru and the year 6`s from Piwakawaka Learning Spaces went to Camp at Kokako Lodge in the Hunua Rangers. It was definitely a great oppurtunity for the students to push their boundries and step outside their comfort zone. Our favourite activity was the High Ropes. It built up our confidence and challenged us a lot. Some of the other activities we did were Kayaking, Abseiling, Raft building, Archery and Orienteering. On the first day we did the Hunua Hunt which was basically a 5 hour tramp. The only difference was along the way we had to find fifty places and mark them on a map. At night there were three different activities which were the Gloworm Walk, Burma Trail and Spotlight. These activities were also much enjoyed by the students. We would like to thank the parents for cooking the meals, supervising us at all times, transporting and making camp much more enjoyable.

By Madison and Lauren
(Ruru Learning Space)

Definition Poems

What is Passion?
It is affection
It is a desire to accomplish a dream
It is a love and an attachment
It is a fierce fondness that helps you through the hard times
It is something you would be helpless without
That is Passion

By Lauren

RWC Quiz

Cross Country

     Yesterday morning I was up early, trying to find everything. Suddenly I realised that the time was eight o'clock on the dot.
     When I arrived at school, all the Cross Country runners had all ready arrived. I couldn't wait until it was time to set off.
     Finally we were in the car, ready and on our way to the school (Paparimu) in which we had the Cross Country at. When we were at Paparimu School we set up our Gazebo.
     All the schools that competed had to gather and have an assembly. We then were showed all over the course where we had to run. As soon as we got back to the Gazebo, the year fives and sixes had their turn to run. I was screaming for all of my Ramarama School mates to do well. I had hoped that none of them would come last. When I saw the saw the competitors come up the soggy, moist mud, I then realised that I saw Sonny. I was yelling. He obviously heard me because he looked back, with a face so sour.
     It was soon my turn to run. I tried to sprint across the sharp rocks, but my feet wouldn't let me. The sharp rocks lasted most of the way on the course. When we came up the last hill, I was already tired. But I saw everyone from the Ramarama School Cross Country team. The last lap I tried to do the best I could. I ran past a lot of girls. As soon as I got back on the sharp rocks I slowed down. I felt my red, hot and sticky face pounding. At the end I now knew why Sonny had pulled such a sour face. Everyone was so noisy, and all I wanted peace and quiet.
    The day went fast, and I came twenty-sixth. I was so relieved I had finished the race.

By Sophie

School Speeches

For the last few weeks we have been doing speeches for the school speech competition. My speech was on Bacteria. Writing my speech was quite easy I searched through books, went on the internet and i ended up with pages and pages of information. I read it through and put it on to my speech but, it was too long so i had to cut it down. Once i did that I typed it up and set it out on to cue cards. Then i practiced and timed myself and my time was 2 minutes 47 seconds which is good. I practiced so much I actually knew it off by heart. Then the day came where I had to say the speech in front of the class. I was very nervous I did not like saying my speech in front of any body not even my mum! Well I did it and I think I did alright but i could of stopped moving around I think I have a habit of doing that. Also I kind of needed to slow down and speak a bit louder but I nearly got in to the semi final. Overall I think I did a great job and I sort of hope I get in next year because it seems very fun.

By Jaime

Term Reflection

I have had a great term, apart from the fact that Mr Clarkson was away for two weeks!!! The cool thing was that we have done another presentation to do with our topic, 'Migration'. Mine was on 'Le Francias' (The French) and how they immigrated to New Zealand. I did my presentation with Charlotte and thought we did pretty well over all. Next time though I think we could improve on getting some of our facts right. We have also been doing 'The Beep test'. The Beep Test is a fitness test. To do 'The Beep Test' you have to run 20 metres before 'The Beep'. My highscore is 13.1. We have also been working on pamphlets. The pamphlet has to convince people to come to NZ. Mine has pictures and a short paragraph about Whale Watching in Kaikoura, Maori Culture and The Sky Tower. This term I also performed in the school production (The Little Mermaid). Mrs Rowe and Miss Deed put a lot of hard work and effort into the school production. I played the role of 'Flow' in 'Neptunes Court'. I think I performed well and hopefully I will get a main part in the next production.

By Madison.

Ruru Learning Space Term 1 on PhotoPeach

Disco Art Summer Raging

On Wednesday the 6th of April Ruru created some surf boards for the disco the theme was Summer Raging. Here is one of the finished project, it is also mine.

        As you can see my picture is a octopus with a chained mace, but at the end of the chain where the mace should be there is sun-->-->-->-->-->-->-->    First we had to draw a draft on a picture on a surf board we had drawn in our pads. When we were finished we had to show the teacher. If he said it was good we got to publish it onto a piece of card. Later we had to outline the surf board and its pictures with sharpies. For the design we had to have something related to summer, but still be fun and different.



If ours were good enough we could publish them onto a big piece of paper, here is one being drawn.

Here is all of our surf boards.
                   By Matei Paveluc

 

Cinquain poems

In class we have been looking at Cinquain poems. There is two different ways you can write these.

One of the ways is;

Line 1           2 syllables
Line 2           4 syllables
Line 3           6 syllables
Line 4           8 syllables
Line 5           2 syllables

Here is an example this:

                  Easter
             yum  delightful
     Eating laughing chewing
 Delicious chocolate breakfast
                  Candy


And there is also another way:

Line 1           1 Noun
Line 2           2 Describing words
Line 3           3 Doing words
Line 4           4 Feeling words
Line 5           1 Synonym of the first noun

Here is an example of this:

                   Fire
              Red   hot
   Glowing burning pacing
   Nice warm feeling inside
               Flames



By Billie

Cricket Workshop Reflection

Today we did some cricket skills.Shane was the instructor.He plays cricket for East Counties.He has had heaps of experience.(I could tell) He was great at cricket skills and cricket itself.Our first skill was how to catch a ball.He told us to clap our hands together, separate them so they look like a book shape and then spread your fingers apart with your pinkys side to side.Next we did some warm ups to do with catching the ball.The warm ups were:
-Throwing the ball up in the air, clap as many time as you could and then catch the ball.
-Throwing it up in the air, clapping behind your back, then in front and then catch the ball.
-Throwing the ball up in the air, touch your nose, touch your toes, clap once and then catch the ball.
After we had those drills we had a competition.The competition was to throw the ball in the air and then catch it behind your back.I found it seriously hard.After that we had to concentrate on bating.Shane said if we were right handers we would have to put our right hand on the bottom of the bat and our left hand on the top.We had to try and hit the wickets by hitting the ball of the tee with the bat.As soon as we had finished that drill we played a game of non-stop cricket.In the game of non-stop cricket, I think I did pretty well.Our team lost, but that`s alright because I thought we did well!The stand out person in the other team was Sonny because of his awesome bating.The next time we play non-stop cricket I think I need to improve on catching the ball properly.

ECCS Swimming

   Brrmmm! The bus screeched to a stop. It was Friday the fourth of March, this day was not an ordinary day - it was the ECCS swimming sports day. With us were the children who had been selected for swimming sports. I looked out and saw the sign 'Jubilee Pools!!'
   I remember clearly what it felt like to be walking out into the grand stand. I felt so excited... and nervous, but I had a right to be, the pool was huge. 
   My first race felt like hours later. It was my B grade backstroke race. The pool was freezing! I knew that if I didn't get used to the water soon I was going to freeze in the middle of a stroke, so I used the advantage of starting in the water, and I dunked my head right under it. I heard the person with the whistle shout
'On your marks,' He paused, 'Beep' I was off! My biggest fear was hitting the lane ropes. Fortunately I did not hit either, the race seemed to go on forever and just when I thought it was going to go on forever, I hit the end. I came 2nd! I hopped out of the pool and grabbed the second place stick. I gave it to Mr Brindle!
   I found my money and dashed over to the food store. The next thing I knew I was eating the most delicious sausage sizzle ever. 
   I was called up for my next race. This race was A grade freestyle. I dived into the pool but I didn't do very well. I came last. It was a bit of a disappointment but now my goal in swimming is to become better at freestyle.
   Next was breastroke - A grade - Breastroke is my favourite stroke! I was so excited! I was stroke for stroke with the person next to me and we were coming =1 but they suddenly pushed in front of me, I came 2nd! Yay!! 
   The loudspeaker said my name, I was in the finals for breastroke! When I started I tried as hard as I could but couldn't keep it up so I came 5th.
   Over all it was a great experience and I can't wait for next year!

By Lauren   

Our Kowhaiwhai Patterns

One of the things we looked at in class this term was Kowhaiwhai Patterns. You would usually see the Kowhaiwhai patterns at a Marae (a maori meeting house) and we thought it wold be a good idea to decorate our classroom with them. The Kowhaiwhai patterns have three colors white,black and red. Each Kowhaiwhai pattern has different patterns which are made up of Koru’s. Some are the hammerhead shark, flounder, Kaka beak, moon and speed. 

These are the steps on how to make a Kowhaiwhai pattern:

You Will Need :

35-40cm by 16cm piece of card

white,red and black pastels

Indian ink

scrap piece of paper

pencil

Step 1: Get a piece of card.

Step 2: Draw your pattern on a scrap piece of paper.

Step 3: Draw your pattern on the piece of card lightly.

Step 4: Use your white pastels to colour in the Koru’s, now use your red pastels to colour in some of the background and then use your black pastels to colour in the rest of the background.

Step 5: Go over the lines in Indian Ink.  

Here are some of our results don't they look awesome!

By Flynn and Ronan

Our new Blog

Welcome to Ruru Learning Spaces' new blog. On this site we are going to record some of the things we have been doing in our learning space and around Ramarama School. Mr Clarkson and the students will both be adding to this blog. This will be a place for us to reflect, publish and demonstrate our learning. We hope you enjoy it and welcome your feedback.