On Friday afternoon for science room 18 made chemical pop guns. First we started off by getting a plastic fizzy bottle. Then we placed a funnel on the top of the bottle. We then pored some vinegar into the bottle. Then we put in a dry funnel and placed two table spoons of sodium bicarbonate into the bottle.We quickly pulled out the funnel and placed a cork or bung on the top of the bottle.We aimed into a clear area and waited for the cork  or the bung to fire out of the bottle.

A few weeks ago we (Alex, Adam,Kendra and Santana) went on an undescribable journey towards the unknown……..well, not quite.

We have taken out 1st equal in the Design a Front Page of a Newspaper competition nationwide along with a Heretaunga Intermediate team. As our prize, we got to travel to the Hawke’s  Bay Today’s office and printing press(the school got a thousand dollars and a camera as well.)

When we arrived, we were shown upstairs and then we met Sharron Pardoe. She took us into the conference room where we met the chief editor and another reporter who did a short article on us. there we discussed all the things that would go onto the front page that day. We had three stories to fit in-Tom Davis’s amazing weight loss (100kg), the extreme wind warnings forHB and an article on $45,ooo worth of stolen meat, as well as the very funny ‘Odd Spot’-several crayfish escaped from a shop in Germany into the street and German police had to round them up!

The editor, Sharron, asked us to decide how we would set the front page up. Originally the lead story was going to be about the stolen meat but we decided the amazing story of Tom Davis was more exciting. So……… that was what ended up on the front page! For almost the rest of the time we were there, we stayed in the office, each of us with a different staff member, viewing their writing and making suggestions just like a real editor and learning at the same time!  

When we finally finished the front page, we all cheered and rushed along the poor staff to the printing room. However, we did pause just long enough to grab a pair of earplugs each and to listen to the staffs instructions. Once the machines started up, they were incredibly loud and we were glad we had the earplugs. We could see the paper going in plain one side and flying out the other end printed in barely a second. We followed the process right through the rooms and even got to have a go at circling the rolled newspapers with a blue plastic strip! Once some newspapers were ready, we got to each have a copy-our very own newspaper that we had designed!

 All of us agreed that the hard work had definitely been worthwhile to do this! 

As part of our homework grid we had to use recyled products to make something artistic.  I decided to make a bucketman because I had this idea in my head.  First I had to collect  the tin cans and think about what I could do next I decided to ask my dad because I couldn’t weld or drill. Not yet anyway.  Next we decided what to use for the eyes, mouth, nose and ears.  My dad started drilling.  The eyes went on first, then i had to bend the can lid for the nose, we then bent another tin lid for the mouth.  When he finished he found a rusty piece of metal that we used for the hat.  We don’t usually recycle but this was fun.  I think Kawekakea likes him to.  Ms H really liked him too!!

Hi everyone out there, this is Kendra.
Recently our poll on our class wikispace site has ended. Doesn’t sound very important, does it? Well, it is. This particular poll was the result of our chocolate fundraising earlier in the year. Our class had sold the most chocolate altogether so as a result, we had a hundred dollars to spend on the class! Our poll decided what we were going to do with that money. The results were………… We are going to have a class party! A lot of planning is going on for the details now and the class is buzzing with the prospect of having a waterfight. Hopefully it’ll have some yummy food, too….

See you next time

I took a long daunting three hour long drive before stoping in the stinky city known as Rotorua.Phhhew the smell was terrible.  As the stinky gases filled his fluffy nostrils I wanted to jump straight back  into the car. but I stayed still.  I stoped in a hotel and had sausages in bread for dinner(If only the air smelled like this food).In the morning I took a car ride through rotorua and saw the Gondela so he ended up heading up the Gondola.  

 When we got up the gondola and I look around and spied the luge. I had a look at the tracks and decided to do the advanced track twice and the Intermediate track three times. Unfortunately we couldn’t bring our camera to and down the louse so we couldnt get any photos.After we headed back down the gondola we looked at the time oh my golly gosh we were meant to leave 1 hour ago.

So it began the second half of the daunting 6 hour drive to Auckland. But time passed quickly this time because we all had a bag of chips and a 2.25litre bottle of coke with us. When we arrived we stayed with some relatives of Kane18 who had a large golden labrador but he didnt like photos.After a good night sleep we had to cool off so we headed down to the pools.I got forced into the rocketslide it was terrifing(but it cooled me of).  About 3 hours later I headed back to Kane18’s relatives house.  “Holly molly” was all I could say when I saw the clock it was 6 oclock we were caught in Auckland’s dreaded rush hour but I had fallen asleep and not noticed.

The next day I went with Kane18 headed to the zoo and saw loads of animals like a tiger, a rhino, a hippo, wallabies, lions and even a crocodile. My favourite was the croc. 

This lion was scary!

We headed back to Kane18’s relatives house to have dinner and get some sleep. The next day we headed out to New Zealand’s favourite themepark Rainbows End.  The carpark was packed and the queue was big but it still only took a few minutes. When we got inside the big guy inn a costume called Bo gave us a map of the park.  After a tiring day we headed out to the log ride for a finalie which is a nice and very calm ride.  BUT WHEN YOU GET  TO THE END AHHHHHH is what you’ll say because you drop 15 meters at a 140 degree angle.

 Now for the good old trip back to the classroom desk ……..