Our New Tadpoles

Yesterday, our teacher brought in some tadpoles. We have eight of them and they are quite big. They are kept in a large, transparent tank which is supported by a plastic bowl in our classroom. There are oxygen weeds also and some bugs in the tank too. We feed them with a small amount of fish food now but when they become frogs they will start eating insects. We will enjoy seeing the tadpoles slowly transforming into adult frogs.

Here are a few photos of the tadpoles:

Looking down on the tank.

The tadpoles.

The life-cycle of a frog.

By Gulnoza, Ameleigh and Katelyn.

As you know, the intermediates have been writing and presenting persuasive speeches. In Kea 1, our base topic was Planet Earth. People chose a range of topics - from animal cruelty to tourism.

Everyone in our class has presented their speech and Mrs Whitehead then chose the nine best speakers. These 9 students then had to present their speech again in front of the class. Afterwards, the five semi-finalists were chosen. The people who will be representing our class are: Ezra - Evolution; Tracey - Dog Abuse; Connor - Tourism in Antarctica; Jenna - Whaling and Ameleigh - Recycling. The semi-finalists will present their speeches to Ms Gifford and Mrs McCarty next Monday. Then ten people from the intermediates will present their speeches to the whole team. We wish all the semi-finalists good luck for the finals.

Also this week our decorated blocks of wood were put onto a metal pole, which is now in our garden. They all look colourful and this has made our garden look more eye-catching. We would like to thank Mr Fowler for drilling a hole in the blocks of wood and for assembling the pole in the Kea garden.


Here are some photos:

By Ameleigh and Gulnoza

Calendar Art

As you know, our class has been doing koru calendar art. We used pastels to colour the designs and used permanent marker to outline them. All of our finished artwork looks great!

These are some of the best artwork completed in our class:

Top left: Bobbie
Top right: Gagan
Bottom left: Tracey
Bottom right: Gulnoza

Top left: Ezra
Top right: Sheena
Bottom left: Ameleigh
Bottom right: Jenna

Top left: Rene
Top right: Johnnie
Bottom left: Nishanth
Bottom right: Lauren

Our finished artwork can be printed on calendars, diaries or packs of greeting cards . These cost between $10 - $15 if parents wish to buy them.

By Gulnoza, Katelyn and Ameleigh.

The Busy Start to Term 4

We are now back at school after a two week holiday. This term has had a busy start, with maths, reading and spelling tests to see how much we have improved since the start of the year.

To test our public speaking abilities, we will be doing speeches in week 3. The speeches need to be persuasive and around 3 minutes long. In Kea 1, our topic is 'Planet Earth'. Some people have been writing theirs on recycling, deforestation, animal cruelty and pollution. We have had some experience in persuasive writing already; we wrote on whether schools should have uniforms or not. We had to write our speeches as homework for the first and second week of the term. Our speeches are due this Friday, when Mrs Whitehead will read our drafts. To practice reading in front of the class, everyone chose a passage to read from their novel that they are using for novel study. We had to read for about two minutes and be fluent and clear.

As part of our literacy, we are doing a novel study about a novel of our choice. After reading it, we need to answer comprehension questions and do some research about the author. This will help us understand the plot and characters better.

We have also started our calendar art. Our artwork has to incorporate korus and we are using pastels to colour them. We are blending the colours together to create a better effect and our artwork is also outlined in black vivid to make the design stand out more. Our finished artwork will be made into calendars, greeting cards and diaries for our parents to buy if they wish.

The term ahead will be full of even more hard work and excitement as the year concludes.

The Year 7 and 8 Social

At 6:30pm on Thursday 16th September, the Maungakiekie team had a Hollywood themed social. It was organised by the school council along with Ms Gifford and there were a few helpers on the night. It was held in the school hall which was decorated to fit the theme. Everybody was expected to dress formally. Girls wore fancy dresses and boys wore tidy shirts, ties or suits.


When people arrived, there were camera flashes everywhere and everyone was excited for the night ahead. We started with some formal dances. These included the Snowball Waltz, Circle Waltz, Cotton Eye Joe, the Gaye Gordons and Saturday Night Fever. We had been practising these dances so that we would get used to dancing with a partner and not look like fools on the night. After finishing the dances, we had a 'Statues Waltz' competition. We had to waltz with our partners and when the music stopped, we had to come up with a pose related to the topic Mrs Vincent would call out. If you moved, then you would be out and go to the other side of the hall. It came down to four finalists, and in the end Tracey and Stanley won.





After the dances, the DJ played some music and we had some time to hang around with friends, or grab a bite to eat and some punch. The music seemed to be getting louder by the minute, and before we knew it, everybody was jumping around and singing along with the tunes. People were also lining up to get photos with friends against a back drop of fairy lights and two huge Oscars.


After about two hours of excitement and LOUD music, we did a few more formal dances before the social was over. While we were dancing, the teachers were picking winners for some of the prizes given out at the end. There were prizes for best dressed, best dancers, best ball spirit and the winners of the Statues Waltz competition.

The social was fun and enjoyable for everyone that attended. Here are some comments from people who went to this fun night.

Rene- 'I thought the social was fun and the decorations were pretty. The only thing I didn't like about the ball was how the hall was split half way through the night.'

Baldeep- 'I thought that the ball was really fun, I also liked making the punch and being a helper.'

Jenna- 'I really enjoyed the ball. My favourite part was the dancing and seeing all my friends in dresses.'

Nishanth- 'I really enjoyed it. I never thought dancing would be fun, but it was.'

By Ameleigh, Gulnoza & Katelyn

This Term's Homework Projects

Earlier this term, the intermediate team got a homework assignment in which we had to create a plant pot using only recycled materials. Our finished product had to be weatherproof, colourful, creative, original, of any size and marketable. Kea 1 had to also use recycled soil and have a real plant planted inside. We had to include a written description of how we made it, what materials were used, and why we thought it had all the key requirements. We also had to say how we would sell them, who we would sell them to and how much we expected someone to pay for it and why.

On Tuesday 17th of August, our homework was due. They were brought in and placed in our classroom. There were a range of different styles and designs and our hard work paid off. We each had to present our plant pot to the class and talk briefly about it. The 28 plant pots are now sitting on a bench by the window so they get plenty of sunlight. A lot of people have been admiring at our marvelous products. The assignment was a great idea because our topic this term is conservation. Most people enjoyed this fun, arty project and look forward to our next art assignment.

Here are some of the best pot plants:


In week eight we received a project involving earthquakes. We had to write an explanation about earthquakes, we also had to include labelled diagrams. On a map we had to locate various New Zealand earthquakes and write a paragraph about each one. We had two weeks to finish the assignment, but also did some research in class about the Christchurch earthquake.
Go on this website to get more information about it.

We learnt that earthquakes occur when tectonic plates rub, collide or separate. Earthquakes only happen on fault lines, the place where two tectonic plates meet. The movement of these plates create seismic waves which are measured using the Richter scale. The magnitude for the earthquakes are expressed in whole numbers and decimals ranging from zero upwards. Earthquakes can cause major damage and result in falling buildings, cracked water and sewage pipes and power cuts. They can also cause ground rupture, floods, tsunamis, landslides and avalanches. It is best to be prepared just in case one strikes in your area.

The Kea Garden

Just before the end of Term 2 Kea 1 found out we would be getting plant boxes for our garden area. On the last day of term we all took home a piece of wood to decorate using paint, pebbles, poker art, carving or nearly anything else we wanted. These pieces of wood would be put onto metal poles and made into decorations. This was the start of the many things we are going to do for our new garden.

Some of the finished blocks of wood.

While our class was on holiday the first two boxes were made. They were beside the pathway and were both fairly large.

The larger boxes.

By our classroom there was a large lidded box that we were growing seeds in. It had 4 trays of seeds that grew very quickly. When they grow big enough we planned to put them in the garden along side our other plants.

The seedlings in the lidded box.

On the Wednesday 21st of August during second block, we started to move 4 cubic meters of soil from behind the Poutama Centre into the planter boxes in front and beside our classroom. This took a block for about half our class to do, as well as our teacher and some students helping out during the wet break. With this were able to fill our first two large planter boxes which were the only ones there at the time.

The truck delivering the dirt.
The pile of dirt.
Students moving the dirt.
Pouring dirt into the plant boxes.Moving dirt with a wheelbarrow.

A few days later Mrs Whitehead brought some plants to school so we could plant them. A team of about 8 went and planted them during second block and it added some colour to the dark soil.

A plant in the gardenSome plants for the garden.

About a week later some builders came and moved some benches around the other side of the path. Mrs Fowler also spoke to them about getting some more small plant boxes in between the benches and so they built another 4 small boxes for us to use. Some students who live close by brought some wheelbarrows to move more soil into them. The next week in break time we moved another lot of soil from beside the junior playground up to the small boxes.

The smaller plant boxes.

Now we have 6 plant boxes and also a frame for growing sweet peas in one of the gardens.

The Sweet Pea frame.

We all enjoy planting and working on our garden. It makes the Kea area more colourful and interesting. We hope we can do more of this sort of work in our own gardens and also at school.
It is a fun way of learning basic skills and helping the school look better. It also ties in with our 'conservation and growing' topics this term.

By Gulnoza, Ameleigh and Katelyn.