Stanley Student Volunteer Army

Over the past two terms while the Year 7 members of our class have been at Tech we have been participating in a Student Volunteer Army initiative. As part of this programme we have identified who volunteers are within our community, what they do and what they mean to us. We have then thought about how we could be more involved in our community. We came up with three things that we wanted to be part of - helping out at the local rest home, the local kindergarten and cleaning up Boyd Park.

On Tuesday 21st November we spent the morning baking goodies to take with us over to Lawrence House in the afternoon. We had a great time baking a range of goodies - Gingernut Crunch, Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate Chip Biscuits, and Chocolate Brownie, and spending time reading and talking with the residents at the rest home.

It was lovely to see so many happy faces. We look forward to going back next week and doing some Christmas Art together.

Three Little Pigs Assembly Item

Week 6 was Room 3's time to shine at this weeks assembly. We showcased the work we have been doing with our Novel Reading and a Readers Theatre.

Here is a video of our Three Little Pigs Readers Theatre, written by Roald Dahl.

Reading

This week we are on assembly. Our assembly item this term we are highlighting our amazing reading. We look forward to showcasing this with you tomorrow. For those of you unable to come to this weeks assembly check back in on here over the weekend for a video of our showcase.

Here are some photos of us reading together and enjoying our reading.

Novels

This term each student in Room 3 has selected a novel to read as part of a Group Novel Study. Everyone was given the choice of Saving Sam, Hatchet, Holes, The White Giraffe, Wonder and The Twits. 

Everyday students log in to their Group Tasks Page where there are set pages to read, and independent tasks and group activities to complete. 

It has been great to see the engagement and enthusiasm that all students are showing for their novels. There are a number of fantastic group booklets being created, and individual creations to demonstrate their knowledge of the texts. We would love to show you them, so if you have a chance pop by the classroom and check them out. 

For now try your knowledge of some of our novels with our crossword and word find puzzle creations:

And we will leave you with a giraffe joke from Joesph:

Why are giraffes so slow to apologise?

 It takes them awhile to swallow their pride!

Year 7 Writing

While the Year 6 members of our class have been away having a great time on camp the Year 7's have been busy back at school.

They were lucky enough to have Mr Byers on Tuesday to take them for some writing. This lead to a quick writing session focussing on Metaphors with Mrs Knyvett on Thursday.

Check out some of the fantastic metaphor writing.

The lightning is an illusion appearing from the unknown abyss. Magic, it is scaring people with it’s presence alone. Flames emerge from the strike points causing the dirt to erupt in sparks and fire. Sending electric currents through towns and towns alike, power disappears. After all the havoc and all the distress it disappears into the abyss once more.

By Thomas

Metaphors

The lightning is strands of Neurons pulsing inside the brain.

The lightning is red fireworks bursting in the night sky.

Yellow vanes creep up the starry sky unleashing havoc of immense force .

By Jacob

The lightning is an abominable Villain striking the Earth.

By Liam

The lightning was a light bulb flickering in the night. Colours in the sky were paint dripping from a canvas. Brightly lit. Dark mist fills the air. The lightning was a bullet shooting through the dark aroma, as all lights go out….

Jenee

Metaphors       

The lightning is a meteor hitting earth.

The lighting is the stars twinkling in the night sky.

Lightning is a unknown magic unleashed to create chaos to the city.

The evil magical power of the underworld emerges to get its revenge.

The untreated devil emerges out of the haunted acilime to haunt the night spreading powerful cursis over the night sky.

By Scott

Middle Syndicate Camp

Our 9 Year 6 class members are currently away having a fantastic time at Lakes Ranch Camp.

Mrs Knyvett has just returned with tales of misdirections in orienteering, mud runs, hot pools, colour tag, glow worm walks, rock climbing, slug guns, archery, water slides, horse riding, kayaking, raft building, team work and burma trails.

We can't wait to hear all about the wonderful time they are having from them all when they return back tomorrow. But for now have a look through some of the pictures Mrs Knyvett has taken from the first two days.

Top Team Fun

Rock Climbing

Kayaking

Horse Riding

Slug Guns

Archery

Team Gathering

Stanley Olympics

During Week 6 a wonderful group of 49 Year 6, 7 and 8's participated in Stanley Olympics. While the Stanley Avenue Winter Olympics Team was away at Totara Springs competing in a wide variety of sporting events, the remaining students stayed back at school and participated in a range of fun events.

The week started off on Monday morning with an Amazing Race around Te Aroha. The weather was not looking promising and there was a lot of running around on Monday morning to organise a back-up plan, but when 9am rolled around the skies were fairly clear and we decided to go ahead. Everyone had a great time running around town, completing tasks, taking photos and trying to decipher clues. A huge thank you to the parents who gave up their time to lead groups, the businesses for letting us into their stores and giving us a range of activities to complete. It was a lot of fun and extremely tiring (we think each group walked between 9-13km over a 3 hour period).

 Over the next 3 days we completed a range of different T.V inspired activities - Hottest Home Baker, Masterchef, Survivor, Whose Line Is It Anyway, American Ninja Warrior, Minute to Win It, and Family Feud. Each activity was a lot of fun, and proved crucial to work together as a group, be creative and inventive. Each group successfully completed all the activities and it was amazing to see all the cooking efforts come together. The judges had a wonderful time tasting them all to determine a winner of each section. 

Thursday afternoon wrapped up our Stanley Olympics Competition with a Wall Ball Tournament, Skits Showcase and Prize Giving. After all the points had been tallied it was the Super Unicorns who came out the victorious winners, only 1 point ahead of the Spinner Winners.

Our fantastic week came to a finale with an amazing week away in Tauranga going to Rocktopia and a short walk around the Karangahake Gorge. Everyone had a blast tackling different rock climbing walls, giving the Leap of Faith a go, and braving the Vertical Slide. Unfortunately the rain came in over lunch and we were unable to walk around the Mount, instead changing the plans for a quick picnic (to finish off the Hottest Home Baker Slices) and a quick walk in the Gorge, on the way back over to school.

 


 

A huge thank you to all parents/caregivers who provided transport, guidance and support throughout our week. We also want to thank Mrs Moleni, Miss Malone, Lynn, and Kat for all their efforts and support throughout the week, we couldn't of done it without you. However our biggest thanks must go to Mrs Horan - we honestly wouldn't of had this week without you and we cannot thank you enough for your efforts.

We have had a great week and cannot wait for next years Stanley Olympics. Keep a look out in the coming weeks for a video from the Winter Olympics Team.

Speeches

This term all Room 3 students have been working hard to write and present fantastic speeches. Everyone successfully presented their speech, with a wide range of topics being selected. Topics ranged from Pukeko's to How To Get Fit, Rugby, Cricket, Money, Space and even the Tarantula Hawk.

It was hard to select only 4 speeches to go forward to the School Speech finals, but in the end Jacob, Charlie, Rico and Charli were selected to represent Room 3. All four worked extremely hard to perfect their speeches and did an amazing job of presenting to a large audience. It was great to see their confidence presenting in front of others, and to see their improvement from when they presented to the class till the speech finals. It really showed how much they have taken on board advice and worked hard to perfect their speech and performances. A huge congratulations to all four of them for having the courage to represent themselves and our classroom so well.

We had great success with Rico winning the Year 6 group and Jacob placing third in the Year 7 division. A fantastic achievement for both boys. Unfortunately Rico is away next week and is unable to present his winning speech at the Rotary Speech Finals, instead the two runners up (Jessica and Anna from Room 4) will represent Stanley Avenue School as the Year 6 speakers and we wish them all the very best.

Here is Rico's winning speech. Note that this is his classroom presentation, as we did not record speeches at the School Finals.

Cross-Country 2017

Loud bursts of cheering echoed along Stanley Avenue on Thursday 17th August as the whole of Stanley Avenue School chanted house songs and cheered on their team mates at the school cross-country.

Runners had optimum racing conditions with the weather holding off for all races, creating an overcast and slightly chilly day, but with no rain. With these peak conditions came amazing races. It was fantastic to see so many flushed faces at the finish line, evidence that everyone had given their very best effort. There was a lot of tight finishes and a number of personal bests!

Well done to all participants, place getters and those who have been selected for the Stanley Avenue School District Cross-Country Team - we wish you all the best.

Term 3

Term 3 has started back with a bang!

We were extremely lucky to have Mrs Horan teaching us during Week 1 while Mrs Knyvett was away. Throughout the week we worked in groups to complete the Survivor Shake-Out Challenge. From working through the challenges we have strengthened our team work skills, and thought creatively to problem solve.
(Keep checking back in over the next few days to see excerpts from our work and the final team standings.)

Things to note this term:

Cross-Country
Stanley Avenue School Cross-Country is in Week 4. To help prepare for the event and increase our fitness we are training around the cross-country track (around the Wetlands) every Tuesday and Thursday. It has been fantastic to see the effort everyone has been putting in, and to most students remembering their change of clothes and running shoes.

Winter Olympics Lunches
This week the Winter Olympics Team are selling hot Chicken rolls for $2.50. Please support the team and get your orders in by Wednesday. It is important that orders are in by Wednesday as Mrs Hayes needs to buy the ingredients on Wednesday afternoon.

Speeches
The School Speech Finals are set to be held during Week 8 of this term. All Year 6-8 students are required to write and preform their speech to their class, where the top speeches will be selected to represent their class at the School Speech Final.
During the past week we have been looking at Informative and Persuasive Speeches and the important components of each. We have brainstormed a list of topics that interest us and have begun planning our speeches. Over the next few weeks we will be busy writing, editing and rehearsing our speeches.
Year 6 speeches must be between 2-3 minutes and Year 7/8 speeches must be between 3-4 minutes.

Stanley/Winter Olympics
Please make sure that you have received a notice home recently about what to expect during Week 6 with Stanley and Winter Olympics. If you have any questions please contact Mrs Knyvett.

Science Fair

Today Room 3 opened the doors to our amazing Science Fair and showcased our incredible animal creations. 

It was fantastic to have so many excited visitors come through and ask in-depth questions that challenged our knowledge of our animals. We were blown away by the questioning of some of the junior classes, and were particularly excited to show around our family members. 

A huge thank you to all the visitors who came in and admired our animals today. It really was fantastic to see so many classes, teachers, parents, caregivers and other family members. 

Check out some of the photos from our Science Fair today.