Te Point Reptile Park

On 9th November Room 3 went to the Te Point Reptile Park. Ivan (owner) gave us a tour around the park. First he showed us the two different types of lizards that New Zealand has, a skink and a gecko.

After that he started to lead us around his park. First we got to see all the lizards in their

enclosures. Most of them were camouflaged and were hard to see.

Then we kept walking down the hill and past lots of enclosures labelled things like "Blue water dragon" and the "Leopard skink".There were even two Capuchin monkeys called Harrison and Sam. After that we kept walking until we came across the Alligator. Ivan tried to feed it some old possum but it just hissed and shut its eyes.

We kept walking past enclosures for about another half hour and eventually we came across the Chameleon enclosure. Ivan got a bug and held it out about 40cm in front of the Chameleon. The Chameleon curled up its tongue aimed and fired. In a split second the bug was gone.

Then we walked up the path, said thanks to Ivan and went to our camp.

We all had heaps of fun.

Photography and illustration by Luke.

leigh

We started from Seafriends and we walked along the Cape Rodney Road and dropped down into the Leigh Harbour. We walked in huge lines and it was quite tiring walking all that way.

When we got to Leigh Harbour we went for a swim and others went and explored the rocks.

Then we walked through the bush to another bay and we all had another swim.

Then we continued to the Leigh Wharf. We waited while the parents went in a car to collect the other cars so we could get a ride back to camp.

We were all tired but it was a great walk.

Remo

SNORKELLING!!

On the 11th of November Room 3 went to Goat Island and went snorkelling. When we were at Seafriends we got fitted for a wetsuit so we could go snorkelling .

Then next day we went to the beach and got on our wetsuits and got fitted with flippers, snorkel and a yellow hat.

Then we walked down to the beach backwards because we

could brake the flippers.

After all that we got to go in the water.

When we got in we got to go deeper and deeper, we swim all the way to the Goat Island and went along the side of the island.

We had never swam so far in the sea but it felt safe because we floated in the wetsuit.

Some people saw an Eagle ray, then when we had a break we saw lots and lots of snapper. Some were BIG and some were small. The instructers picked up a kina and waved it around then a huge school of snapper came. We were looking at the snapper and they were looking at us - it was awesome.

On the way back Luke saw Monkey face which is a big snapper with a funny face.

We loved snorkelling it felt like we were fish too.

By Holly and Cara

Lee fisheries

On Thursday the 11 of November Room 3 went to visit Leigh fisheries.
When we arived at Leigh fisheries we put on these white suits and a lady gave

us these blue shoe covers because we might have plant stuff on our shoes or

something.

Then the lady took us into the fishery building and showed us some of the

fish. There was snapper, crayfish, marco shark, swordfish, school sharks

gurnard, guts of a tuna and sea basse

When we first walked in it really stank and Korbin said"This place smells like fish."

They were packaging the fish really fast into large polystyrene boxes, then they put ice into the box, wrapped it in plastic and it was ready to send to fly to Japan, Taiwan, Australia, or Vietnam .

It was amazing to see the fish being chopped up, they were so fast and the fish were icky.

By Shane and Sean.

On our way back from camp we went to Mathersons Bay
When we were there we did a rocky shore study.

It was exciting rushing from one rock pool to another, you never new what you would find. Shannon nearly fell in, Larissa and Samantha found a little cave that you could walk in.
We found a purple rock crab,cats eyes,surf barnacles,hermit crabs,pebble crabs,brittle stars and lots lots more.

Korbin went crazy rushing around finding everything and he got so close he was nearly in the rock pools!

There was 45 things to find Hollys group won.

Then we had a sandcastle competition Larissa made a whale, Shannon made a turtle, Luke made a whole medieval village!, Holly and Rebecca made a fantastic mermaid, Ethans group made an enormous Butterfly Bus that they could all sit in, Jack and Kiarn made castles with moats.

Everyone won a lollipop for the sand castle competition cause they were all so unique and creative and Vanessa couldn't choose a winner so we were all winners!

We had a treasure hunt,I was in Shannon's group. For something that looks like a fish we got a rock and for something you could eat but haven't, we found an old piece of cucumber on the playground.We found an old rusty knife for a piece of junk. There were 19 things to find and we found 19, other people couldn't find a feather.

It was fun.

Larissa C, and Shannon.

KAYAKING

On Wednesday we went kayaking in the ocean at Goat Island.

First we got split up into groups.There was group one and group two. I was in group two with my friend Jen.

We wanted to be in the same kayak, but unfortunately there was only four double kayaks so we had to go in seperate kayaks.

All went well at first, but then a huge gust of wind that

blew my paddle under my boat, which caused my head to go under water.

Luckily, I didn"t fall out. The man in the boat came to tow us while we were in our kayaks because we couldn't paddle back to shore as the wind was too strong with the big gusts.

Jens kayak flipped as well as Shanae,Larissa and Samanthas kayak.

Then the man towed us back to shore to Goat Island. We were stuck on Goat Island with Liz the instructor. Liz told us to huddle together cause we were freezing. The man in the boat took us back to shore in groups but we had to jump out of the boat and swim to the shore so he could go back fast and get the rest of the kids.

Mrs Dunn and Mrs Stevens helped us out of the water and Greg drove us up to the camp were we had a hot shower, hot drink and cake.

It was scary but we were OK.

Rebecca and Jen

On the 16th of October Tomarata school had a calf club day.
Cara Doggett brought her Braford calf Doodar.
Doodar got me two 2nds.
There were lots of calves and they were all succesful.

By Cara and Holly

Tomarata lakes pest fish netting

TOMARATA LAKES PEST FISH SURVEY

On the 29th of october room3 went to Tomarata lakes to do a survey on the pest fish netting.

The Tomarata lake managment committee had organised pest fish netting and invited room 3 to come along and do a survey on how many rudd, trout, koi and tench they caught and then weigh and measure them.

Craig Stevens had a talk to us about the lake, the fish and their history.

Tomarata lake is a dune lake and is eutrophic, that means it is murky with higher amounts of nutrients and algae.

The Rudd is just one type of fish that they are netting, they eat the native weed which affects the water quality and also other fish like trout and tench.

At the end of our survey we were left with these results.
85 rudd, 17 trout and 1 tench.

Luke and Shane

ART WITH MRS MCCRACKEN







On Monday the 14th of September our class finished our paper mache pigs.First we paper mached our ballon with six layers .Then we painted it white and let it dry for one week. For the legs we cut out four cups from the egg carton and for the snout we cut the end off a milk bottle. Then we put more layers of paper mache over the legs and snout.
Then we put white paper all over it and let it dry again. Next we put paper towels over it and painted it white.
Mrs Mc Cracken told us how to use the paint brushes properly.Then she told us to do a draft copy of what our pigs were going to look like. After that we started painting. We all had different ideas and designs some kids had tiger pigs, cow pigs, flying pigs, royal pigs, we have even got a Michael Jackson pig and a super hero pig!
We love our pigs!!
Thanks Mrs McCracken.

4 square trip more than a normal shopping trip

We went to the Top Four Square to look at the food that we buy and think about the fat, sugar and salt in the food. Mrs Sutton is a nutritionist and she told us that you should look at the 100g column. When you read the label look for

Total fat - less than 10g per 100g

Sugar - less than 15g per 100g

Sodium (that is salt) - less than 400mg per 100g

Dietry fibre - is good for you and you should have more than 6g per 100g

So you should choose foods that are low in total fat, low in sugar and salt.

Did you know that 4g of sugar = 1 teaspoon?

A can of coke has 12 teaspoons, and V has 17.

So read the label before you buy and make the choose the healthy food.

The Three Little Pigs

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Jos came from Rainbow Valley Farms

to talk to us about the worm farm.

She brought her own worm farm!!!!

It has many layers.In the top goes the food but not big bits, just little pieces of food like not a whole apple.

You can't throw everything in , orange peel, kiwifruit, and meat are bad for the worms and they could die.

They like some paper that is ripped up into small pieces, vacuum dust, hair, fruit and veg scraps.

The worms eat the rubbish and make worm tea which is fertilizer for our gardens.

VEGGIE PINWHEELS-

Room 3 made Veggie rolls. We used heaps of silverbeet from our Room3 garden. We had cool fun making it, but our eyes got watery from cutting up the onions.

We washed the silverbeet and had to shake it to get it dry. It smelt real good when we sauted the onion,garlic and mushrooms. It was easy to roll up the silverbeet mix, then we baked them.

The best part was eating them - they were yummy,yummy,yummy in my tummy!

Try making this at home.

INGREDIENTS - 2x sheets of puff pastry olive oil for frying

- 1 bunch of silverbeet or spinach 1 onion

- 200g mushrooms 2 eggs

- 2 cups of cottage cheese salt & pepper to taste

- 3x crushed garlic cloves

1) Cook the silverbeet or spinach in boiling water, drain well and set aside.

2) Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil, add chopped mushrooms. Saute until tender.

3) In a bowl add spinach or silverbeet, mushroom mixture, cottage cheese, eggs, salt and pepper.

4)Roll out your sheet of puff pastry, just to make it a bit thinner.

5) Layer half the mixture over a sheet of pastry leaving 2cm from the border.

Using baking paper to assist, roll up each sheet like a swiss roll.

Repeat with the second sheet of pastry.

6) Glaze with egg.

Bake till golden at 200 C for 20 minutes.

Slice into vege rolls and enjoy!

Our class entered the Whitcoulls Kid's Top 50. We had to vote for our favourite books that we liked the best and say who the author was. Our whole class entered and we all learnt how to send an email. Everyone had three favourite books because we all like to read.
My first choice was "Winnie the Pooh" by AA Milne
My second choice was "Restless Spirit" by Suzanne Brocker
And my third choice was "Can't catch me" by Elizabeth Pulford
The prize was the Whitchoulls Kid's Top 50 books that were voted in by all the kids in New Zealand.
And I won 50 books for our library!!!
Mrs Dunn spread them out on the classroom floor and everyone started to read, it was so cool.
I can't believe that I won 50 books and everyone can't wait to get them out of the library.
We're going to try and read them all.
Jennifer Thomas

Aliens in space

We drew our aliens in paint from Microsoft works then we took a mugshot of our face and cut around it on the computer and copied it onto our picture in Powerpoint.

They look so cool!

Cassarndra, Sean, Remo.

BOTTLE ROCKETS - THE PINK PANTHER.

We used a plastic drink bottle and made it look like a rocket.

Then we got the ball pump and a stopper with a tube so we could pump air into the bottle.

We filled a third of the bottle with water and tightly fitted the stopper into the bottle. Then we sat it in an old box for the launch pad and pumped the air in.

At first it was easy to pump and then it got harder, and harder -

Mrs Dunn said "Keep pumping, go for it Shanae!"

Then "Whoosh!" - the rocket went way up and we got some water showered down on us.

Shanae

"HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM"

We had some trouble with the tube letting the air out. We needed

tape up the tube so no air could escape, then it went really well.

Also our stopper needed to fit tighter so it sometimes let air out too.

It was best when we used about a quarter of a bottle of water.

HOW DO BOTTLE ROCKETS WORK ?

The pump forces air into the bottle. Soon, there's so much air inside the

bottle that it pushes out the cork. The water inside the bottle shoots out so fast

that it pushes the bottle in the opposite direction (up into the sky)

Room 3 made pop-rockets. First we got a toilet roll and cut it to make it smaller .We cut a circle out then cut it to the middle and made a cone for a lid then we put tape so it will stick together.Then we made wings on them [we had three wings on them] .Then we painted them all different .The next day we set them off with a borocca tablet and a splash of water.They did not go that far.

The gas that came off the borocca tablet and made the pressure, when the pressure was too great it pushed off the lid and the rocket popped off - this is called thrust. If you didn't put the lid on properly it didn't work because it had no thrust.

We found the smallest pop rockets went the furtherest and the film canister with no decorations went the furtherest. It worked best if you just put a little bit of water in covering the pop rocket, if you put too much water in they didn't go so high.

They were fun cause you never knew when they were going to pop!

Larissa Came

On the 24th of june the Tomarata speech finalists went to the Wellsford community centre to say their speeches.This is my speech:
It was so exiting! Going to Roturua and seeing all the amazing birds, animals and reptiles at rainbow springs.First we went to a thermal mud resort called "Hells Gate".
Well they got the hell part right!I felt like I was in an oven!
Some of the pools were little others were quite big and some were even black!
My dad would'nt stop sniffing the sulfur in the rocks,which to me wasn't a good idea.
We decided it was time to get going,and I don't blame them! That place gives me the creeps!
We jumped into the car and continued our journey to Rainbow Springs.
It's called that because there are lights underneath the waterfalls. There were ducks, eels, trout, keas, owls, swans - oh the list is endless.
Finally we came to the conclusion that it was time to go home, but that certainly was a day to remember.
Rebecca Keven.

MY SPEECH

On Wednesday 24th the speech finals were held at the Wellsford hall.
Three year 5 & 6 pupils went and said their speech.
This is my speech:

As the gates clink shut behind me the first thing I hear is a bunch of horrified screams.
"Uh oh," I think to myself.
As we queue up in the long noisy line my adrenalin starts to rush.
As another pail pair of people walk out the gates I really start to get nervous.
One more group to go until it's our turn.

I gulp as I hear the last bunch of screams fly down to the ground.
"Please take off all your accessories", I hear as I get into my seat.
As the saftey bar clinks tightly into place we slowly start to go up.
I look over to mum who's as white as a ghost,
I try to force out a laugh but nothing comes out, I
guess it's because I am too nervous.

As we keep going up a breathtaking veiw came into my sight.
"Wow what a great veiw, I can see the whole of Auckland.
"Hey this isn't so ba.....Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As we fly down as fast as lightning My feet nearly fly up and hit my face.
I fell like my gut has gone up into my.....Hey it's over already.
That wasn't so bad, I think to myself as we walk out the gates.
It truly was a day to remember.
Although now I know why it's called THE FEAR FALL!!!

By Luke Stevens.

ONE TREE HILL

On wednesday room 3,6 and 1 went to the starsdoom and we went

for a long swetty walk up one tree hill.On the way we saw rock writhing it looked cool. There were heaps of messages and pictures. One was a cancer cisioty ribbion and lots of other things. Then we continued our walk. We finally got to the big stathew. We had a look around, took photos and we made our way down again. It was really fun at one tree hill and we bet everyone will want to go there again!

By Larissa D

THE RECYCLE FASHION SHOW.

In Room 3 we have been talking about recycling and the problem of having too many plastic bags.

The girls in room three wanted to have a recycle fashion show. Michaela organised it.

Michaela was the host and she wore a black bunched dress decorated with feathers.

Larissa D made a one strapped top and a mini skirt made from shopping bags and bottle tops.

Jen had a mini skirt an off the shoulder top and a waistcoat made from new world bags.

Shanae had a mini skirt made from a shopping bag and a flower shirt made from plastic bags and recycled paper.

Shawnee wore a plastic bag tee shirt and skirt decorated with paper and feathers.

Larissa C wore a pair of togs made from a glad bag and purple and black felts.

Rebecca wore a side top and a mini skirt made from plastic bags and feathers.

Miss Recycle was voted on and Rebecca won.

It was cool fun

THE PLAYGROUND AT STARDOME.

On Wednesday rooms 3, 6 and 1 went to the Stardome for a school trip.

First we went on the playground.On the playground we saw a flying fox everyone was lining up to have their turn. On the flying fox we went real fast , we were flying through all the pigeons - they went CRAZY - we could have hit them!Then we hit the tyres at the bottom -
we nearly fell off BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ouch that hurt.

At the stardome trip there was a little playground at the bottom. My favourite

bit was the steep slide.Woooooooooooooooooooh that was fun.

At the bottom playground there was a tiny train that you have to push around the

track. We went running fast and faster and faster until the little train was nearly coming off the tracks!

Did I tell you that we even went on a SPIDER ? It was CREAPY. Nah it was actully a octopus with big tyres that you sat on and it swang you up and down and around STILL CREAPY THOUGH.

Then we went to one tree hill but that is another story.

By Shanaae and Jen

sports day

On the last lesson of bible for Term one we made HOT CROSS BUNS!!! First we washed our hands, then we got the bowl and the ingredients.We put in yeast and hot water which made the bread rise. After that we put in two types of flour they were whole meal, normal and we mixed raisins, ginger and spices with it.Then we mixed warm water with yeast,flours,raisins, sugar and salt. Then we waited for it to raise.We made them into balls which represents the rock that covers the tomb.Then we put the cross on top which represents the cross Jesus was cruified on. We put them into the oven for twenty minutes and then we glazed the top with sugar and water. They were delicious!!!
By Holly and Jen

Seaweek

On Monday Tomarata school went on a trip to Whangateau Harbour. The first place we went was Matakana wharf we saw two flounder and one crab it was cool. Then we saw an exhibition of underwater photography from marine biologists who had taken photos around the Whangateau Harbour. They were awesome.
Then Roger Grace a marine biologist showed us a slide show about the marine life that you would see in the harbour and he also talked about how the Whangateau HarbourCare group have a 10 point plan to protect the harbour from pollution and damage.He told us about the fish and where the protected places were along the harbour and the protected spots where he also had pictures of birds like seagulls and dotterals. Mr Grace had a tank with hermit crabs, sprats, mud crabs and yellow eye fish that was like a mini estuary and it was so cool.
By Sean Keven

Hi my name is Rebecca,and I was chosen to be in the student council reps.
The student council talks about how we can help improve our school,e.g: our schools education,surroundings and play areas.
We decided to make a box that people use to put notes in about how we can help add things to our school ,not only for their entertainment but also for education.
This month we talked to our class about what makes a good citizen. Room 3 decided it was

• always doing the right thing (even when no one is looking!)
• Someone who cares about others
• Someone who thinks about others and does something thoughtful to help them.
• Someone who cooperates with others
• Someone who values and respects others and shows courtesy.
• Someone who is friendly
• Someone you can rely on and they are responsible.

Are you a good citizen?

Our garden

Room 3 has been making a garden like the rest of the school. We have carrots,broccolli
flower,capiscum,lettuce,chillies,cauliflower and pizza thyme.

We have watered it and our garden has had lots of sun.

We have watched it grow since we planted it.

Ray Tischik made the base out of wood then Steffania and John filled

it up with soil, then we put string to mark off each class.

We enjoy having a garden because we hope to be able to bake some food out

of it with all of the ingredeints - we could make a pizza!

Imagine a soft but crunchy deli pizza with some pizza thyme,

capiscun and chillies on top with home made dough for the base.

Year 5 and 6 Cricket Team Gets Great Results

On the 18th March Tomarata sent a year 5 and 6 cricket team to the Warkworth tournament.Our first game was at 10.00am against the Warkworth Greens,the final score was Tomarata:229 Warkworth:225.
Our second game was Tomarata vs Kaipara flats, they won by two the scores being Tomarata:223 and Kaipara flats:225.
Our last game that would decide if we were in the finals or not,was another very close game.
The final scores were, Tomarata:229 Matakana:224 which ment we would go through to the finals.
In our last game of the day, the scores ended up to be Tomarata:209 Mahurangi:270.At the end of the day we ended up getting a second place trophy for the third year in a row!

A special thanks to Tazz, who was the coach that helped us to reach our goal.

Published by Luke Stevens.

SEA WEEK TRIP