The Amazing Race

To finish off the year Room Nine competed against each other in an Amazing Race. It was amazing and awesome and I know all of Room Nine loved it. We started off at school where we were split into six groups; the Pinky's, the Shifty Bananas, the Great White Sharks, the Awesome Oranges, the Epic Ningers and the Blueberries. After the team names were sorted out we headed to the domain for the first challenge. When we arrived the first challenge was already ready. The challenge was to blow up all the balloons and then have one of your team mates sit in a wheelbarrow and hold the balloons in while another team mate pushed the wheel barrow through the cones. I was pushing the wheelbarrow for my team and it's not easy steering it through cones especially with one of your team mates in it! Other fun challenges followed, like eating a meringue with no hands, performing the chicken dance in public, guessing ice cream flavours, and speaking German properly. On what most people thought was the last clue we headed back to the domain where what seemed like a million more activities were. They were all fun exciting and tiring. The last challenge was a six legged race back to the school. As my team, the Pinkys entered the class, we realised we had won. Only just though. The next group arrived almost just after. Every one was tired at the end of the Amazing Race but it was a fantastic day and I am sure I'll remember it. Special thanks to Sally who organised this wonderful event and all the parents who came along and helped. We couldn't have done it without you.

by Emily

Senior 7-aside Winter tournament-hockey

For the lat six weeks on Tuesday and Wednesday the four Mapua school hockey teams have been practicing for the Motueka 7-aside winter tournament. There are two senior teams and two junior teams even though I am year 6 I played in the senior 2 team because they didn't have enough people. On the 27 of September all the senior teams including 2 hockey teams, 2 netball teams,1 soccer teams and 1 rugby team got on the bus for Motueka. Our first game was against Mahana school and we won 9-0 after that game we thought the rest would be easy, and they were,except the games against Mapua 1 where we lost 1-0 and against Rodolf Steiner we only just won 2-1. At the end of the day the results showed Mapua 1 with 20 points, our team Mapua 2 with 19 points and Roudolf Steiner with 18 points. Then when everything was packed up we got on the bus and drove back to school where my Dad drove me into town to watch Italy vs USA in the rugby world cup.

Senior Winter Tournament Rugby 2011

On the 27th of September the senior winter tournament took place at the Motueka Recreation Centre and Goodman Reserve. The rugby was held between ten teams, and there were people the size of sticks and logs, and we're not exaggerating. It was a very interesting day all in all, and very fun. Mapua came 7th out of 10 teams.

mapua school production

Mapua School has been working very hard on our round the world theme production. Room 9 is doing 'Peter and the Wolf' which is a Russian story. We have been practicing it for weeks. The production is at the end of the term, at the new church and we very excited. We have been practicing our songs. which are 'Back in the USSR, 'Help' and 'Let it be'. Our school songs are 'Revolution', 'Yellow Submarine' and 'Let it be'.

Room 9's awesome poems

This term Room 9 has been learning about poetry. We have written 3 types of poems.
The first 1 was a haiku which has 5 syllables on the first and last line and 7 in the middle, for
example:
Snowflakes
Snowflakes cold and soft
all are different sizes
falling from the sky
By Emily
Then we wrote some cinquain poems which have a 1 word title, then 2 words to describe what it is then 3 'ing' words, a phrase about it and to finish it you write 1 word that is similar to the title, here are 2 examples:
Soccer
Energetic, great
goal-scoring, saving, tackling
soccer is such fun!
Football
By Jake

Netball
Challenging, fun
Passing, shooting, winning
A great team sport
Netball
By Jess
After that we decided to write our own poems finding inspiration in school journals here is an example :
Summer
My feet sinks into the cool wet sand.
The sea glistens in the sun,
The wind blows a gentle breeze.
Summer has begun.
By Bethan

Clay lake monstes

On camp this year Room 9 went to Lake Rotoiti. On Wednesday we got into our groups and did different activities. One of our rotations was art. We were given one lump of clay and some tools to make lake monsters. There were lots of different ideas from massive eels to underwater cows. Unfortunately some broke on the way back, but some survived and were painted.

by Cameron Jones and Monty Wailling

Playing Masters Hockey with Craig

On Tuesday we played hockey with Craig. We learnt some new skills like stopping the ball, passing to other players and speed dribbling. Hockey bullrush was the game we finished with. We continued by playing a game of hockey for senior sport yesterday in the rain! Everyone had great fun with Craig as well as learning new things.

By Sophie

Room 9 Is Dancing

Room 9 has gotten straight into dancing this year. We have made up our own little dance starting with the step snap, you step left, and click down by your side with your right hand then do that again the other way. We've also made up our own 8 beat dance moves by ourselves for homework. We had moves like the robot and the moonwalk. On Thursday we did a folk dance in a big circle. It was fun even though we had to mix up with boys and girls. We just hope that we don't have to dance at assembly! At the start of the year mainly everyone was down the bottom of the scale for wanting to dance. But look at us now, we dance mainly everyday!

Planting

A few weeks ago, Room 9 did a planting project with David from Tane's Ark. He told us about how to plant flaxes and hebes.
We planted flax from a seed and we planted hebes from a clipping. We used special planting mix so the plants would be healthy. We had to wear gloves so the mix wouldn't get into our skin and infect us.
After we had planted the plants we had to bring then back to school with us so they can grow.
Since that week the plants haven't made much progress. We have to water the plants twice a day.
Hopefully our plants will become big and healthy.

Lake Rotoiti Camp 2011 RM 9

This is a camp our class won't forget. It was so fun-filled that we hardly had time for a break (Not that we wanted a break). The best day would have been Wednesday rotation day. The activities were camp art, orienteering, biking and kayaking. We were going to go on a boat trip but the lake was too rough so we did another bike ride instead. We biked down to the Buller River and made rafts out of twigs and leaves and raced them down the river. Even though we didn't get to go on the boat trip on the time planned we still managed to fit it in. The boat trip was a thumbs up. It was one of the most fun activities we did on camp. We visited Whiskey Falls and and had a drink of the fresh water then we had a peek in side Coldwater Hut. Kayaking was quite hard because the waves were still quite big but waves didn't stop this never-giving-up class so every one made it to our destination. Orienteering was also a great success and the fastest time was about 45 minutes set by Cameron. Camp art was also great fun. We made clay monsters and we painted rocks. If the teacher asked who enjoyed camp I'm sure every one would have there hands up high. This was one FANTASTIC camp!

What we get up to in the weekend!

Car Boot Sale
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the trees were swaying and the shopping was happening at the car boot sale at the school. We raised about $800 for camp. Kate and I were working at 'Chocolate Mistakes' and we mads $61. Almost all the beverages and food was sold out. It was a great success. Ellie

On Saturday 12 March there was a car boot sale at Mapua School. Lots of people were there with their friends and families. Of all the items on sale, the only one that I bought was a foam ball gun. We raised $800 for our camp that is happening next week at Lake Rotoiti. It is going to be heaps of fun. Peter

The Mapua car boot sale on Saturday 12th was a huge success. $800 was raised for Year 5 and 6 camps. Quite a few people came so everything sold quickly. The food and drink tables were brilliant and almost completely sold out. Everybody was happy and went home with a full tummy, plus some extra bits and pieces.

I was completely satisfied with the day. Our family went home with a years supply of sweets and a new CD player. Thanks to all the people who contributed towards the event.

The car boot sale was definitely worthwhile - altogether it was a great afternoon.

Room 9 tribute to Dr. Suess

Room 9 have made a tribute to Dr. Suess and written poems like he did. We read the story "O the places you'll go!" And got some ideas from that, on Dr. Suesses 115th birthday.
Here they are:

One day my teacher asked me to write
a wee little poem, that won't give you a fright
Although I just sat there, just thinking, (people didnt know I was all right)
My page was blank, just sitting right there.
I scratched my head, all through my hair
Then pop! Came my idea into my head
My page is not blank,
It has been 'fed.'

By Catherine

The things you will read
The words you will write
If you practise very hard
You might get it right
You will reach for your goals
You'll reach the stars
You might even go past the moon and Mars
You'll go up, up and never stop
Until you come to a sudden stop
Life will become hard, your life may go slow
But when you life gets better, you start to go
And up, up and on you go.

Emily

Today is the day
Its finally here,
Where parents say "you may"
And everyone will cheer
We could fly up to space
And never come down
We could laugh at a face
Or maybe a clown.

Oliver

I wish I could fish, to fish I will
To make a dish
Oh I wish I could fish
I could fish in the sea
I could fish in the bay
I wish I could fish
A splishing fish
Would make a flipping good dish.

Jack

Up came the sun
Creating the morning
Then the geese and sheep all started yawning
Oh I cant wait to test out my new boat
Oh I cant wait
I hope it will float
Up it went onto the trailer
Oops
I forgot my new inhaler.

Ben

A kitten, a kitten
I would like to hold onto and squeeze very tight
I want it fluffy and cuddly,like a big teddy bear
And then I will feed it, lots of pears.

Kate

I wish I could go
On a dish far away
To a big wide lagoon
Perhaps sometime in May

Phoebe

Video games are so much fun
You can run
You can hold a very big gun
Everywhere you , you an see the sun
You can lose some weight, you can gain a ton
When the enemy has gone, you know you have won.

Derek

In the country of Spain
There fell frozen rain
I thought it was hail
So I caught some in a pail
The cold numbed my toes
And they went red as a rose.

Cameron