2015

30 November 2015

On Wednesday, Room 11 went to the Art Gallery. When we got there we met John Neumegen and he showed us around. We looked at some old pictures and some people got to put a yes or no paper and put it under a picture that you liked. Then we went in a big elevator and into a big room that had art on the walls. Then we made some houses on paper. When we were done we had to draw a car and colour it. When we were done we got to play with some cool toys. There was a cool skeleton hand. I played with it. After we had another look at some more pictures. We got to see a picture of Queen Elizabeth. She was wearing a crown and a dress.

by Kaylee

5 November, 2015

(We have been writing "Swap the Squiggle Stories", here is Megan's...)

Long ago there was a witch. She ate bugs! No one ever went to her house because she was crazy. She had yellow teeth because she never brushed them. She had a pet spider it was yuck.

One day she left her house. A little girl went in to look for a spell. She found it but she didn't get out in time and the witch came in and trapped her!

She was missing for days and her family were very sad. They thought she died, but she didn’t. She managed to escape by digging out. She drank her spell so she could dig faster.

She found her family but her family didn’t believe she got trapped by a witch. 

They lived happily ever after.

By Megan

Wednesday  4.11.15

Dear The Once ler,

I am feeling really hurt with you cutting down that poor tree and would like you to come back and help us sort it out. The Coco bears, Musical fish, and Sun birds would really like you to come back and fix your mistake. I personally think that you should plant a few new tree’s for us. Our air is starting to go bad and our sky is grey. Most of us are gone and the rest are going hungry. Please come and help us...someone has to save us!

Yours sincerely

The Lorax (By Mariah)

Wednesday 4/11/2015

Dear Once ler

I think it is very sad that the trees  being chopped down, because the animals won’t live without them. I think that you should stop cutting down all of the trees and only cut some branches and the leaves from the trees.  Then you would have some wood to sell and the animals would have somewhere to live.

Yours  Sincerely

The Lorax (By Brock)

4 November, 2015

It's been really busy in Room 11 so far this term.

We have welcomed Miss McGrannachan, who has been with us since the start of week 2 and is finishing on Friday. We have really enjoyed getting to know her and her teaching.

School Athletics was in the second week back. It was lots of fun and we would like to thank our Sports Activator Expert Naomi, who along with Mr South organised a great day. The popular highlight was the obstacle course.

Professor Dave the Chemistry guy has visited us from the Otago University Chemistry Outreach Programme. He has some fun with Liquid Nitrogen which was very chilly and exciting. He is coming back to visit us next Tuesday.

Our topic of Sustainability has been very thought provoking. Thanks to Miss Benwell and EnviroSchools leader Jennie Upton, we visited the Dunedin Landfill in Green Island. It was a great trip that we came away thinking really hard about what we throw away, how we throw it away, and what impact it has on our environment both now and in the future.

Next week we have a visit to the Art Gallery and more chemistry fun...

14 October, 2015

Term 4 has started with a bang with the arrival of Megan who has joined Room 11 from Andy Bay School. Welcome Megan and we have you enjoy Wakari School!

This afternoon we were very lucky to have the New Zealand Playhouse Theatre perform for us. Their play was about Reducing, Reusing and Recycling - very relevant as our main topic this term is about Sustainability.

Stay tuned for more...

23 September, 2015

On Monday we went on the Year 4 Museum Sleepover!!!!!

When we got there we put are bags on the floor by the stairs. Then when we went in the Discovery Pad and we had afternoon tea - we had 2 biscuits and 2 pieces off fruit.

After eating, Kate the first supervisor took us into a very big inflated ball of air. Inside was a projector of different kinds of symbols from Egypt.

She then showed us what the process of mummification is. We also heard a story about the first mummy in the whole wide world. We saw a mummy in a box. She was a girl. She lived for 35 years. She was from Egypt. She died 2000 years ago. She was kind to people in Egypt. 

For tea we had pizza.

After tea, we went in the "People of the World" room where we had to make up a song, create an outfit and a flag for a country. 

Maddie's group was Bailey, Makayla, Mariah, Libby and Kaisey. They were Greece.

Ambers group was Natalie, Summer, Emma, Keegan, Min and Bradley. They were Congo.

We went on a night walk. at the night walk we went to animal attic and the animals scared us.

We slept in Discovery World. 

For breakfast Maddie had cornflakes and Amber had cornflakes. Then we went and saw the Butterflies.

It was fun sleeping and playing with all the equipment, and we wish we could go again!!!!!

By Amber and Maddie

23 September, 2015

On the Museum Sleepover for year 4’s, we went to see the people of the world. In the Egypt room we saw a mummy through the glass in a container. 

We had pizza for dinner, it was yum! After dinner we set up our beds in Discovery World, then we went on the night walk. 

On the night walk we went to the animal attic and saw some Lions, Rat Kings and Eagles. Our favourite animal that we saw was the Kiwi because it was cute and fluffy. After our night walk, we went back to Discovery World to sleep. 

In the morning, we went into the butterfly house. It was super hot because it was just under 30 degrees. We saw turtles, goldfish and  tarantulas. The tarantulas were inside a wall of glass and they were crawling around. 

Once we finished at the butterfly house, we got ready to do the treasure hunt all around the museum. We had to find out how to make mummy fingers and had to solve the codes to finish the treasure hunt. After we finished the treasure hunt we got our bags ready and came back to school on the big bus. 

Our favourite parts of the museum sleepover, was solving the codes for the treasure hunt and seeing the Kiwis in the animal attic.

By Brock and Kade

18 September, 2015

Room 11 have been doing persuasive writing this week. We think are selling Driftwood Sculptures at the Fair this Sunday. Mariah thinks you should buy one because…

.They don’t cost that much ($5, $10, or $15)

.You can hang them anywhere

.They’re great for decorations

.You could buy it for a present

.They can be portable

.They make great sounds in the big strong wind

.We use the money for fundraising

.They’re different sizes

.We put in lots of EFFORT into them

Overall we our creations are worth it, so we definitely think that you should buy one (or more)

By Mariah

16 September, 2015

Wakari Kindy came to visit us today and share their Kapa Haka Performance. It was amazing!!

Well done and good luck to all the Wakari Kindy Kids and Wakari School kids who are performing at the Polyfest tomorrow. We are proud of you!

3 September, 2015

We have had lots of fun doing some Koru art. We (Summer and Amber) have done a magical fantastic masterpiece together. It has a very big Koru with lots of different types of greens. It also has a lot of patterns. We used chalk and pastel on a A3 black piece of paper. We have blended colours together and added black around the outside of all the patterns and the Koru. We think the Koru really stands out. We have worked really really super hard on the art. 

We have also really enjoyed  doing kids for kids choir. With lots of long practices it finally was time for the performance. But when Tuesday came Amber was very sick. But after that the choir sung to the school and everything was fine. This term has been AWESOME!!!! 

by Summer and Amber

3 September, 2015

We have been doing Koru art. We really enjoyed our Koru art and colouring it in with pastel and chalk.  We love our Korus and colours of them. We want to carry on learning about Korus. We are having fun colouring our korus. We have used lots of different colours. 

We have learned a lot from Mr Murray and want to learn more. We love doing art and would love to do more. We hope we do more art in the future.

By Maddie, Makayla and Sophie

3 September, 2015

Room11 have been doing Science experiments. Me and Mahmood liked the "Flaming Tea Bag" Experiment. When we lit the tea bag it went up into the air and stayed there a bit and then fell back down.

We have also done the Life Education Bus with Harold. He told us lots about our body and how it works. We found out lots of names of our organs and how they work. 

We also did cross country. My big brother made it up to Hill Clusters.

We also made Koru art with pastel and black paper. My one has lots of colours and a big Koru and a big leaf through the middle.

By Ruban and Mahmood

3 September, 2015

A few weeks ago the Highlanders rugby team came to our school to give out milk. Malikai Fekitoa was giving  out autographs.

We also did a lot of Cross Country. Some of us even got to go to Balmacewan to do Hill Clusters Cross Country.

Three people went to Planting For Penguins. We got to go to Taiaroa Head and plant lots of plants for the Penguins.

The Life Education Bus also stopped by. The whole school went in class by class. When it was room 11’s turn we learnt about “How The Human body works”. Harold taught tips and tricks all about the human body. It was so AWESOME!!!!!

Lately we [room11] have been enjoying Science experiments. Our experiments worked out really well. My friends and I went to the Kids For Kids choir to perform in front of a lot of people. We performed at the Town Hall.

In Kapa Haka we have been practising for the big performance. We will perform at Polyfest for Kapa Haka.

My personal favourite was when we did some Koru Art. We used chalk,and pastel. First we drew our outline with chalk on a black piece of paper. Then coloured in with pastel. We will be showing at assembly.

We’re  really looking forward to the Year 4 Museum Sleepover.

By Mariah, Natalie and Dawson       

21 April, 2015

Today, Delhi came to talk to us and show us some of her war memorabilia.

We learnt that soldiers had 3 different types of hats. They had different types of uniforms for different times.

1) Lemon squeezer (Worn in parades, marching)
2) Battle helmet (worn in a trench during a battle)They even had to sleep in these helmets!
3) Casual every day hat

Soldiers were very small, as they were allowed to sign up at 16 years old. Some though were as young as 11! (they fibbed because they thought war would be a great adventure)

Soldiers dug their trenches out at night time so enemies wouldn't see them.  Big pieces of wood were used to keep them holding up so the trench didn't collapse. Soldiers dug trenches using shovels by hand.

Soldiers didn't have a lot to eat. The Red Cross would send them parcels. Now days soldiers are given packs that last them 2 days.

Soldiers uniforms were khaki and olive drab.

Mrs Maguire then read "The Red Poppy" which is written by New Zealand author David Hill.

26 March, 2015

Today at Syndicate Assembly, our Public Health Nurse Laurie came to visit. She shared with us about how to stay healthy by cleaning our hands, using the hand sanitiser, and covering our faces when we sneeze. Laurie showed us using silly string how far a sneeze travels (it travels over a metre!)

There are different posters around the school. Click on the one below, download and print if you want one for home.

19 March, 2015

The past couple of days we have been looking at different countries and the cultures within those countries. So far we have learnt about Japan, Ireland, and Brazil.

Then yesterday, as part of our Cultural Cafe we tried Sushi and Miso Soup from Japan. There were mixed reviews...

17 March, 2015


This afternoon, Jennie Upton joined Rooms 10 and 11 to talk about "Enviroschools".

Jennie began by asking what we thought enviroschools might be, and then asked "What part of Wakari School is our special/ favourite place?

Our answers ranged from our classrooms, library, top field, sand pit, tree hut playground, and the swimming pool. We then drew quick pictures of why we like those places and placed them on the large map that Jennie had with her.

We are looking forward to continuing on with Enviroschools during 2015.

This weeks writing was using a Sheena Cameron activity based on the above picture. Enjoy...

I heard ... the splashing of kids in the water dancing about.

I saw ... people diving into the water with confidence.

I felt ... I was gonna chicken out and run away

I wondered ... what if I took a giant jump.

By Amber

I heard ... water splash.

I saw ... children scream as they hit the water.

I felt ... the water cover up my face as I jumped.

I wondered ... if anyone did backflips.

By Ruban

I heard … the splashing and the shouting  of everyone

I saw … people swimming back to the to the wharf.

I felt … scared and excited because I had not done it before.

I wondered … how deep the  water was and if I could do it.

By Summer

I heard ... screaming kids

I saw ... lots and lots of boats

I felt … the water hit my stomach and I was scared

I wondered … if it was deep or shallow.

By James  

13 March, 2015

This week I learnt that a squid has a beak at the end of its tentacles. I really enjoyed learning about Grandpa Chatterji because he is funny.

By Ashley


I really enjoyed learning about Maths. I have improved writing this week because I talked less and worked more. I would like to find out more about Culture. Something new I have learnt this week is how to edit my writing.

By Makayla

11 March, 2015

3 March, 2015

On Monday, the whole middle syndicate went to the stadium for a sports day. We met the famous Mike Powell who holds the long jump world record of 8.95m. Everyone got to do different activities like javelin, hurdles, balls, and throwing pole vault. We got to sit down and have a banana, and a cool drink. I enjoyed getting to go there.   

By Mariah 

On Monday, I went to Forsyth Barr Stadium with the Middle Syndicate to see the long jump world record holder Mike Powell. At the stadium there was lots of other schools. We did obstacle courses, pole vaulting, and threw vortex. It was very hot. I had a super time!  

By Natalie

Kia Ora, welcome to the 2015 version of Room 11's class blog. We will use our blog as a one stop shop of our learning over the year. Feel free to create an account and comment.