Bringing library time into the classroom

Mrs Stedman and Mrs Meehan are very busy with the annual library stocktake at the moment. To help them out we spent our library time in the classroom this week. We spent some time silent reading before playing some games that really made us think - Chess, Scrabble, Up Words and Mastermind. Amber even did some knitting. What a cool afternoon.

Creative Amy!

Amy has spent many afternoons stitching at After School Care. What a stunning elephant cushion you have made for yourself. Well done Amy!

Posies for the Maungatua Spring Flower Show

On Friday morning we arrived at school with arms and buckets full of flowers. We then made up beautiful posies to enter into the spring flower show. It was such a lovely spring day as you can tell from our class photo.

Transformation Art - Maths

We learned all about rotation, translation and reflection in Geometry. We made these wonderful artworks by making a stencil and transforming it in nine ways.

Rugby World Cup Dress Up Day

The  Rugby World Cup 2011 kicks off today. At Outram School we recognised this by coming to school dressed up as our favourite country or player. Congratulations Emily, Trey and Zak for winning best dressed in Room 3. Ka pai Trey for winning best dressed in the Senior Syndicate also. Good luck All Blacks!

Baking with Emily

Every Friday, Emily chooses two friends from Room 3 to do some cooking or baking with. Tyler and Amber were the lucky children chosen to help this week. They made an Easy Microwave Chocolate Cake and made a face on it with icing sugar. The best part was licking the bowl and then eating a piece with a massive scoop of ice cream. The recipe can be found below, as can some photos of the process and finished product. The amazing thing was that this cake only took two minutes to cook in the microwave!

Easy Microwave Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pinch salt

Directions

1. Spray a medium microwave-safe bowl with non-stick spray and set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and milk; blend together. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt; blend into the mixture until smooth. Pour into greased bowl.
2. Cover and cook in the microwave on high for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched. Since all microwaves cook differently, adjust the cooking time to accommodate your machine. To serve, let the cake cool five minutes, then cover the bowl with a plate and turn both bowl and plate upside down so the cake falls onto the plate. 

Reference: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/easy-microwave-chocolate-cake/detail.aspx

Taieri College Sevens Tournament - 3 August 2011

Taieri College Sevens Tournament

“First game down, two more to go,” Caleb reminds us cheerily as we successfully drag ourselves off the pitch and towards the packed lunch spot. We had narrowly lost our first game at the Taieri Sevens Tournament and the idea of getting into the finals was not looking good. The idea of blaming the plastic sticks was much nicer than facing the truth, but no one was ready to do that quite yet.

“Samantha, over here, pass!” The ball came shooting towards me and I dribbled it up to the goal. So far, so good, I thought until the ball got taken off me. Silverstream were tough opponents.

The next hour slowly crept by. We had won to Silverstream 2-0. This next game would reveal if we had gotten through to the finals. It seemed that the butterflies that had been peacefully resting in my stomach had woken up, invited all their friends and were now thrashing around making me more nervous with every breath. Finally, it was time. We walked onto the pitch clutching our weak sticks and hoping with every inch of our might that we, Outram, were going to win.

By Louise Mitchell (Room 3)

Taieri College Sevens Tournament

Today wasn’t just a Wednesday, it was more of a sports day. All students that enjoyed sports were taken on a bus to Taieri College to compete against other schools in an exciting tournament. This was our chance. Our chance to show that Outram was best.

So there we were, holding our sticks, mouth guards tucked in our mouths, ready to beat the other team. We walked confidently onto the rough blue turf. As East Taieri rushed onto the field, I felt a few butterflies zooming in my tummy. East Taieri… Outram’s toughest enemy.

The sound of the whistle blew in my ears. Off we went, watching the pure white ball zig-zag in between us. The ball seemed to come towards us as if it were remote controlled. I reached out my stick. I missed. “GOAL!” We all sighed.

We had lost our first game. Time for the next match - Silverstream. I had a great feeling about this. Before you could say “Hockey!” the ball was already across the line. We all smiled with relief. Yes, we had won our second game. Before we knew it, we had won two of three games!

By Emma Deuchrass (Room 3)

Margaret Mahy

Room 3 are reading lots of Margaret Mahy stories as part of our Margaret Mahy author study.

You will find one of her famous poems below to enjoy with your families at home.

Also, check out the cool websites about Margaret Mahy down the right hand side of the blog.

"Down the back of the chair"

Our car is slow to start and go. We can't afford a new one.

Now if you please, Dad's lost the keys. We're facing rack and ruin.

No car, no work! No work no pay!We're getting poorer day by day.

No wonder Dad is turning grey.

The morning is a blue one.
Nothing but dockets in his pockets.
Raging with despair
Dad acts appalled! Though nearly bald
He tries to tear his hair.But Mary who is barely two

Said ‘Dad should do what I would do

I lose a lot, but I find a few

Down the back of the chair.'
He's patted himself, and searched the shelf. He's hunted here and there,
So now he'll kneel and try to feel right down the back of the chair.
Oh it seemed to grin as his hand went in.

He felt a tingling in his skin.

What will a troubled father win
From down the back of the chair?
Some hairy string and a diamond ring
Were down the back of the chair,

Pineapple peel and a conger eel

Were down the back of the chair
A sip, a sup, a sop, a song. A spider seven inches long,

No wonder that it smells so strong

Down the back of the chair.

A packet of pins and one of the twins
Down the back of the chair.
A pan, a fan that belonged to Gran

Down the back of the chair . . .

A crumb, a comb, a clown, a cap
A pirate with a treasure map,
A dragon trying to take a nap
Down the back of the chair.
A cake, a drake, a smiling snake,
Down the back of the chair
A string of pearls, a lion with curls
Down the back of the chair
A skink, a skunk, a skate, a ski,
A couple of elephants drinking tea

The bandersnatch and the bumblebee

Down the back of the chair.
But what is this? Oh bliss! Oh bliss!
(Down the back of the chair).
The long lost will of Uncle Bill
(Down the back of the chair).

His money box all crammed with cash

Tangled up in a scarlet sash

There's pleasure, treasure, toys and trash

Down the back of the chair.

‘I've found my dreams,' our father beams.

(Down the back of the chair).

‘At last I see how life can be.

(Down the back of the chair).

Forget the keys! We're poor no more

Just call a taxi to the door.'

A taxi shot out with a roar

From down the back of the chair.

The chair, the chair, the challenging chair,

The champion chair, the cheerful chair,

The charming chair, the children's chair,

The chopped and chipped but chosen chair

To think our fortune waited there

Down the back of the chair.

Buddy Time

Every Friday we spend time catching up with our young buddies in Room 10. We read to them and they read to us, we help them with art and craft tasks, and we share work we are really proud of such as our writing and topic activities. We also enjoy playing games and singing together.

Year 5 Camp to Pounawea

 

We wandered through an old train tunnel at Tunnel Hill, visited the rocky shore, checked out native trees on the Pounawea Nature Walk, tramped in to the McLean Falls, explored the Cathedral Caves, challenged ourselves on the confidence course at Tautuku, kayaked and fished in the Pounawea estuary, visited the Owaka Museum, completed an orienteering course, met the sea lions at Surat Bay, appreciated the view from the Nugget Point lighthouse and played in the surf at Kaka Point. Thank you to Mrs Tansley for organising such an outstanding camp.

Here we all are listening to Mrs Tansley explain our task down at the Rocky Shore. We learnt how important it is to always be facing the ocean, as the tide certainly came in very quickly!

 

 

The walk in to the McLean Falls was definitely worth climbing all those stairs for!  What an impressive sight to see.

 

The Cathedral Caves were really fun to explore. It was also a cool place to take some interesting photos.

A tourist to the Cathedral Caves took this great photo of us all!

The Tautuku Confidence Course was a good challenge for all, even some of the parents and teachers had a go. It was soooooo good to have our wonderful parents station themselves around the course. They did a superb job encouraging us along the way.

We went kayaking and out for a ride in Mr Cuthill's boat.

We also jumped or were thrown or pushed from the pontoon!

 On our final day we clambered over rocks and down the beach at Surat Bay to see...

...these stunning creatures - the sea lions. 

We were amazed at their size.

One of our final stops was at Nugget Point. We climbed up to the lighthouse and from here we were rewarded with this beautiful view of the nuggets.

Time for a bit of lunch and a quick play at Kaka Point before Kevin our bus driver delivered us back to school. We were all tired, but full of exciting stories to share with our families.

Fish For Tomorrow

Today we watched a short DVD sent to us by the Ministry of Fisheries called Fish For Tomorrow. Some of the important points we learned were...
1. The sea is not a magic fridge - food doesn't just magically reappear in the ocean. It is a renewable source, but needs time in order for this to happen.
2. We need to think about future generations - we don't want our grandchildren having to visit the museum in order to see paua! Fish for tomorrow.
3. Don't gut fish into the ocean as it can attract predators such as sharks.
4. Abide by the limits for certain shellfish and fish in your area.
5. Ask the fisheries officers if the fish are the right size (or check on the website before you go.)
6. Obey the fisheries rules. They are there for a reason.
7. Take any rubbish home with you, as this can be harmful to sea creatures, and it also makes our beaches look untidy.
8. Sea creatures are an important part of an interacting system.
9. If you take the right amount (or less) there will be plenty of seafood for others to enjoy.
10. Don't destroy marine habitats and take care when touching sea creatures.

Hermit Crab Character Descriptions

  Hermit Crab

Hermit Crab is reddish-orange. He has long black antennae and is shyly very creative. His small black dots as eyes stand out like disco lights on a starry night. Every time he gets too big for his little shell he finds a bigger one. He creates a whole new idea so his shell is colourful with all his friends; the rough coral, spectacular sea star, super-clean sea snail, a fierce kina and much, much more. 

He is very lucky and likes to wander around the pearly yellow seashore bed. His shell is as colourful as coloured coral and seaweed and is a big friendly ocean aquarium. He is polite and never bothers anyone in the middle of something. He is small and different, but unique in an amazing way. He is a very quiet thoughtful little crab and is never afraid to try new things. He has a flock of small orange legs crawling underneath him. His smile is like a rosy red little rose. You would want to be friends with him.

By Macy

Hermit Crab

Creative Hermit Crab was looking for a home. His bare skin was red and orange as a basketball. Once he found a shell big enough. It was a very plain shell.

Afterwards the shell was beautifully created with spiky hurtful sea urchins, lovely glowing lantern fish, spiny coral, snails all slimy, a sticking starfish and a sea anemone with its waving tentacles.

By Toni
 

Aquarium Visit - Mon 21 Feb

To begin our unit on The Rocky Shore and Interacting Systems, the Year 5 and 6 children visited Portobello. Whilst there we met the friendly creatures that live in the touch tanks at the aquarium, scrambled over the tidal zones on the rocky shore, and sketched spectacular peninsula landscapes. It was a great way to get our brains ticking about the rocky shore.

Swimming Lessons with Swimsation

During the first three weeks of Term One, all the Year 5-8 students participated in swimming lessons with instructors from Swimsation. We all made huge progress and should feel very proud of ourselves.