Des Hunt visits Forrest Hill School

We were very impressed to have Des Hunt at our school. It was so cool that he showed us his history as a writer and how he had become a famous book writer.  He said part of trying to have a book published were rejection letters.  Dr Seuss and J K Rowlings received rejection letters for their work just like he did for his first book.  Don't give up. Think about the audience you are writing for and keep making your writing better.

Des Hunt was a science teacher.  He uses science through all his books. He did science experiments for us. They were really cool.  Science is awesome!

To show us how to write a story that keeps the reader interested right through to the end, he started with 2 broom sticks.  He had connected these 2 broomsticks side by side together and had a magnet at one end. Des called the broomstick the book.  He started with a big round magnet and gave it a little push along the broomstick track.  It rolled a little way down and then stopped. The reader couldn't get into this story. Something was missing.

So he added a hook at the beginning and gave the ball another push and it rolled further and grabbed onto a magnet he had placed a little way down the track.  The reader was hooked! The reader now wants to keep reading this story!  Introduce the characters and the setting in the first part of the story in a way the reader just has to know more. 

From here the reader wants to see the action happening so make the story build up through the problem then to a climax near the end. And that is what makes a great story! 

Our favourite part was at the end where he had a huge build up to the main event.  He told us about his machine he had invented that was radioactive. He put on all his safety equipment and warmed up the machine. It glowed and flashed and when he added heat it started to blow up a balloon. The balloon got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger - this is all the suspense and excitement building up to what was going to happen.  He added water and heat and loudness them BAM! The balloon was so big it finally burst with a huge pop!  This was the climax to his story!  

Steel Wool 

Writing a Book  - Attraction and Revulsion

Nuclear Fusion Science

The winning design

Newton and Alan were successful in gaining the most votes for the new design and layout of Rooms 20 and 21 to make change it into one learning space.  

The students in Rooms 20 and 21 were given the challenge of measuring tables, chairs, desks and classroom furniture, then by using a scale work out how to organise the 2 classroom spaces into 1 learning space.  

After all students had shared their designs, Newton and Alan's design has been put into place.  

MOVING CLASSROOMS

Room 21 and Room 22 have swapped classrooms!  Room 21 is now in Room 22 and Room 22 is now in Room 21.  Mrs Robson and Room 22 are going to be focusing on how to learn in a digital environment with their chrome books.  Miss Phillips and Mrs Leggett and Rooms 20 and 21 are going to be looking at how to work within a modern learning environment - sharing a double classroom space and what this will look like.  The door will stay open to Room 22.  An exciting term ahead while we see what our challenges are and how we will manage them.

Thursday 14th May was moving day.  With Miss Phillips and Group 3 out at their last session of Water Wise, the students did an awesome job of moving and setting up their new classroom space. The wall displays were taken down and put back up be the students and the desks arranged to fit the room.  We kept safe by having a spotter behind when climbing any higher than standing on a chair.

Looking good!

 

Water Wise again

Thursday May 7th 

Our last session of Water Wise.   Very changeable wind gusts on the lake made for some interesting conditions!

 Water-wise was very hard today because it was windy and hard to sail. When ever I turned I would almost capsize. I liked kayaking better than sailing because it was easier and it wasn't as hard as sailing. When most people came back to shore after sailing they cried, mostly girls because it was really scary.     Chloe

Hey guys! I'm back.

Water Wise is a water safety programme. You learn to Kayak, Sail, know what to do when you capsize and loads more!

Sailing didn't go too good today. Hardly did 1 lap! (By the way, we were doing this on Lake Pupuke, AKL, NZ) I got hid in the head 24 times, nearly capsized 7 times and grounded 2 times. You probably get the message that I'm not the good old Seaman. 

And what about Kayaking? Much better. Landed in Third Place, 0.6 seconds behind Daniel Ottenhof, which was in hot pursuit of Min Ryong Kim. 
What was the best part of those 3 hours? Kayaking straight through the the Seaweed.    Henry

Water wise Term 2 

7.5.15

Today (7th May) water wise was EPIC. We only did two things though, but these two activities are better than you think it is.
 They were sailing and kayaking. First we went and did sailing. I went and did 3 laps. You had to go around these some sort of bottles across Lake Pupuke. It was boring at the start and when the wind blew that was when I really woke up!
 Next up was kayaking. I already knew it was going to be fun and all but because of me and SOMEONE we blew the show up. Anyways the kayakers had to kayak all around the lake. I pretended that this was a race so I went hard core!

Eventually I had a opponent but I had the advantage because he had to help someone out. Like I said it was EPIC out there and hopefully we can do this again.     Min

We have something to say!

We are all writers in Arataki!   Week 2 Term 2

Our challenge was to write a 50 word story using words that we identified from our reading as being powerful.

On a crisp autumn day, a family rapidly rattled down the station platform searching for Number 10. John, a tall, skinny man towered over people. John wore a pair of battered pants. At precisely 11 o'clock, Johns pants evaporated leaving him standing with no pants on! Everyone howled with laughter!     By Jenny  Room 21


My dog had a rash. It was especially itchy. My mum and dad thought it was dangerous so they took her to the vet. They went to speak to the vet. He explained it was the property. My mum and dad thought it was the food.  Hungry Dog. True Story!    By Jess Room 21

As the sunlight glistens, I stood viciously beside the net, clutching the volley ball, looking rigid. As the whistle blew, I outrageously hurled the ball; it swung back at full speed ... I dived ... but nothing in my outstretched arms. Paranoid, I slathered sunblock all over, ready for round two's revenge ...     By Megan Room 21

Augustus was convinced that wearing a toupee to the party was not cool.  But Jeffery just kept badgering him, saying "You'll look fabulously normal!"  What if it falls off? It will be a nightmare.  No one will know. It looks so real. Come on.   "Ok" relented Augustus, "I'll try it.
By Sebastian  Room 21

Leo the golden lion lay exhausted on his rock in Auckland Zoo. Among the crowd Lulu looked at Leo totally amazed. She loved adventuring and taking photos. As she clicked her camera, trying to capture the lion by the lagoon,  she mastered the perfect photo. Leo had winked at her!     By Ella D  Room 21