Wonderous Room 14

Cross-Country

2011-06-01T11:26:00.010+12:00

On the 24th of May the whole school competed in the inter-class cross country.

Everybody wanted to win the cross-country trophy, which Room 14 had won the previous year. We were too good for them and took out the win for the second year running. Well done to our year 7 girl leader Taylor H coming at 6th , the year 7 boy leaders Kyle 1st, Josh 2nd, Matt 3rd and Finn 6th. Year 8 boy leaders were Ollie coming 2nd and Aidan at 9th. Another mermorable performance was Riria coming from her sickbed to compete with her class in the cross country. She came 104 which avoided the big zero for non-runners.

And the results were...

Classes

Room 18 in 3rd with 56.10
Room 8 in second place with 56.89
ROOM 14 IN 1ST PLACE WITH 67.25!

Syndicate's

Tui at 3rd with 157
Toroa at 2nd with 158

POUAKAI WIN WITH 171!

Wow look how much we thrashed the other syndicate's and classes.

Room 14's, board games

2011-06-01T11:24:00.005+12:00

On the 30th of May Miss K.T was reliving room 14 because Mr O'C was away sick. First we disigned the game then we did our good copy. There were lots of different themes such as music,dinosaurs ect. Here are some photos of the best presented games.

Mr.Rhys Manchester

2011-06-01T11:11:00.003+12:00

Mr.O'C and Rhys made a bet about Football. Mr O'C supports Manchester United and Rhys supports Chelsea. The bet was about the Champions Trophy match between Manchester United and Chelsea.

Rhys was trash talking Mr O'C that Man U would get thrashed by more than three goals. To teach Rhys a lesson about appropriate trash talking they had a bet about the result. It was no surprise that Mr O'C won the bet and Rhys had to wear Manchester United gear for a day. It should be noted Rhys took losing the bet well and suffered his punishment without to much complaining.

Similes and Metaphors!

2011-04-06T11:05:00.011+12:00

Room 14 has been learning about similes and metaphors during writing time.

Simile- A describing sentence that can use "like" or "as" .
Metaphor- A describing sentence that is unable to use "like" or "as"

We were given a few words to choose from and then we had to write a simile sentence and a metaphor sentence. Here is one example from Rosie... Metaphors are hard so we'll put up more when we get the hang of it.

Friday Fun!

2011-04-06T11:04:00.005+12:00

Most weeks on Friday instead of challenging P.E we have something called Friday Fun. To get Friday Fun we have to work hard in class and be on our best behaviour. Usually we do Dodgeball but sometimes people prefer Neatball or Basket ball instead of Dodgeball. Mr. O 'C' enjoys big hits especially the photos we get to capture such as Michael getting his face smashed with a ball. No pain no Game!

The Great Box Car Race

2011-03-25T07:52:00.007+13:00

Because Mr O'C looks after PE at Tawa Intermediate Room 14 always gets to sort and label new PE gear when it arrives. This week Noodle (a.k.a. Nikki) and Hiren took a close interest in the two empty boxes. At lunch they were quickly turned into cars complete with a wing mirror on the girl's vehicle.

Before assembly on Wednesday we decided to have a bit of fun with the cars so headed over to the corridors for some racing.

Team Noodle line up
against Team Hirenator.

The power of Matai pushes Rhys to a win

The Hirenator has a go as engine and pushes Finn so fast the camera can't keep up

Morgan likes the idea of being pushed by Goergina's strength.

Room 14 couch rights

2011-03-23T11:02:00.006+13:00

As shown room 14 holds a very special activity, rewarding our behaviour and work. Each week 2-4 students get the rights to sit on the couch during class time.

If someone sits on the couch, without

permission, they will have to do 5 belly-ups!

Room 14's Show Not Tell.

2011-03-23T11:00:00.006+13:00

In room 14 we have been learning a writing technique called Show Not tell. It means that when telling a story you not going straight to the point but describing it so you get a picture in your mind. Here are a few of our Show Not Tell samples.

As I limp into the public toilets everyone was in them. As I wait and wait a toilet becomes free. Finally as I put my bum on the smooth lid, a hurricane of poo slid out. Oh that felt good. Oh no! Everyone was watching.

By Zandrea Burdan

As I waddled to the toilet feeling my bladder rumbling, squeezing my massive grey wrinkly cheeks together. I place my bum onto the smooth surface. My bladder starts to empty. Poo oozing out of me, sloppy and runny. I grabbed some white rough patterned toilet paper, I wipe the splattered mess off my cheeks. I proudly look at it and then drop it with a plop! I put pressure on the button and then walk out. “That’s so much better.” But then ... the stench fills the air.

By Bex McAlister

I was on the start line, across from me was Usain bolt from Jamaica. On the other side was Aidan Ritchie from New Zealand. ‘BLAM’ we were off. Soon the only two people in front of me were Usain and Aidan. The finishing line was in touching distance, but then one of my spikes came loose. The ground rushing towards me , ‘Crack’ my wrist , ‘Crack ‘ my spine , ‘Crack ‘ my ankle , ‘Crack ‘ my knee cap . I wasn’t in pain at the moment but I knew the pain would come soon enough.

By Aidan Ritchie

As the strong stench of mud fills my snout, I snort towards it. Caplonk! Sludgy, pongey, gooey mud covers my pink skin. The warm salty taste of mud fills my mouth. I slide across as fast as a bullet. Mud flicks across like a sprinkler. My ears flop up and down as i jump into piles of mud. I love mud.

By Nikki Devine

Room 14's home learning tasks

2011-03-16T11:10:00.005+13:00

Room 14 has to do at least 4 home learning unit tasks each term. Quite a lot of people have handed their tasks in already. This is Finn's completed fitness circuit. It looks amazing doesn't it?

Blogged by Nikki, Bex, Rhys and Jess

Adding Detail to our Writing using Show not Tell

2011-03-15T11:26:00.002+13:00

In Room 14 we have been working on making our writing more interesting by letting the reader know what is happening by creating a picture with words rather than simply telling them. This is called writing with Show not Tell. We have taken boring sentences and rewritten them in an interesting way. Here is a couple of samples.

Original Boring Sentence: It was cold on the beach.

Nikki’s Show not Tell Sentence:

As the wind furiously blew, I fought against it to finally reach the car park. Sand blew into my face, waves rumbled with terror as they rose and clapped back into the ocean. As I reached the car I opened the door, it flung back like a gun that back fired. I quickly jumped in the car. As I struggled to close the door, the wind changed direction and slammed it for me. “Maybe tomorrow”, I said to myself as I drove away from the beach.

Original Boring Sentence: Dad was angry.

Georgina’s Show not Tell Sentence:

Dad’s face was as red as a traffic light, his jaw clenched as if a lion ready to pounce. Steam was exploding out of his ears like a volcano and his veins were popping. I think dad is mad.

Enlargements

2011-03-15T11:13:00.003+13:00

We have been looking at enlargements in maths where we have taken small pictures and enlarged them by a scale factor of three. Here is Josh’s Dog Face and Alex’s Pointing Finger.

Our Reading Table

2011-02-08T15:39:00.004+13:00

Room 14 has a big table we use as our reading table. This table has graffiti art on it. Cleveland, who was in Room 14 last year, did the art work and it is his version of the TIS logo.

Cleveland working on the table

The Finished Table

How to Write Instructions

2010-09-10T11:08:00.005+12:00

In Room 14 we have been working on writing instructions where there is a split part way through offering at least two options for people to choose from. Our instructions must include a title, equipment list and instructions that are in the right order.

Mr O'C in Malaysia - Melaka and Penang

2010-07-21T13:51:00.008+12:00

17th July – Saturday

Travelled back to KL on the commuter train and then had to catch a second train out to Jelatek where Fauziah’s daughter picked us up.

Dinner that night included octopus. When ordering a drink I was asked if I wanted a large drink, as I drink a lot I of course said yes. The lady then brought over what can only be called a bucket. It took some work to get through it.

18th July – Sunday

Today we had a very long trip to Melaka, which is a historical town on the coast south of KL. The trip there, which included three trains and a bus took four long hours.

While there we checked out some of the historical sites, particularly from the periods the area was occupied by the Portuguese and then by the Dutch. All the history was overwhelmed by me having the chance to get my photo taken with a snake. I know it is very touristy but it was still quite buzz having it slither around my neck and to hold it for the photo.

The trip home to KL took even longer. We only just managed to get on an 8pm bus from Melaka. Stupidly I commented that the bus seemed a bit run down, and sure enough half an hour into the journey we stopped at a roundabout and could not get going. The blokes had to get off the bus and push it backwards away from the roundabout and then we all waited for another bus. This arrived but turned out to be very slow so by the time we got back to KL we were only able to get the first train of two we needed before the trains closed down for the night. We then taxied the last bit to Jelatek.

19th July – Monday

We travelled to Penang today. It is a large Island just off the coast of Malaysia. It is connected to the main lain by a quite impressive bridge. We stayed at the D’Ferringhi Hotel in Batu Ferringhi. Batu Ferringhi translated means Foreigner’s Rock and this certainly was a touristy place.

The beach was beautiful and the empty sidewalks convert into a massive night market at 6pm. Once again the ringgit disappeared.

We had dinner at Sails Restaurant. It can best be described as Fishermans Table on steroids. The restaurant itself resembles Fishermans Table but there was definitely an effort to make the service seem like it was very up market.

20th July – Tuesday

We had arranged for a local tour guide to drive us around some of the main spots on the island. This cost $100 ringgit, or $50 nz dollars, for four hours. So Ayob picked us up at 9am.

The highlight was the Key Lok Si temple. The original part of this temple started being built in 1890 and took twenty years to finish. The temple is now spread over seven levels including the top level where the huge statue of Guan-Yin is. The original version of this statue was done in 1967 but it deteriorated quickly. The new 120 feet tall bronze statue was put in place in 1999.

Mr O'C in Malaysia - Klang

2010-07-21T13:40:00.007+12:00

12th July – Monday

New host family seem just as nice as my first. Veejay and Sheila have a beautiful house that actually has a small grass area that the boys, Kaveesh and Jayshven, can play football on.

My new school, SK (1 DAN 2) Tengku Bendahara Azman, is a lot smaller with only 250 students in the morning session. It has students from standard 1 to 6. It is also different to Pei Chai in that the afternoon session is a completely different school, with even a new principal.

My host teacher, Anira, had arranged for me to visit a number of classes including a music class where I was introduced to two traditional instruments. The first was a bamboo one you shake to make work, called Angklung. The second was a hand drum called a Kompang.

I also had the pleasure of meeting a blind teacher called Lim Mei Huey. She works one on one with blind students and showed me how to use a brail machine.

That evening I was taken to an area of Klang called Little India. This area is full of Indian shops and boutiques. Once again I found some of my ringgit disappearing.

13th July – Tuesday

I was feeling really tired and unwell. I managed to get through the school day where I visited an English class, the special needs area and a science class. This school is a National school with mainly Malay students. The atmosphere is much more like a New Zealand school with students being a lot more free and noisy than they were at the Chinese school in Kuantan.

The hectic pace and heat of the last ten days caught up with me and I died and slept most of the afternoon. I did recover enough to attend a dinner at Chandika’s house where I finally got to taste the supposed king of all fruits, the Durian. This is one of the most popular fruits in Malaysia. Of all the food I have tasted in Malaysia this was the first that I actually did not like. My screwed up face made it clear to my hosts that the Durian was not the king of fruits for me.

14th July – Wednesday

I felt terrible when I got up so did not go to school. Instead I slept until 12ish with just a small break to get some food in me. I also increased the amount of water I was drinking to even more than I was drinking previously. Even after the sleep I felt terrible so I was taken to the doctors. It turned out I had a chest and throat infection so I was put on a course of antibiotics and predisone. I was expecting a huge bill and to need to make a claim on my health insurance policy, therefore I was amazed when the cost of everything was only 50 ringgit, or 25 nz dollars.

In the early evening I was taken to see the night markets. This was an interesting experience as I looked around the vast range of food, clothes and pirated DVDs / CDs. The health department in NZ would go crazy if they saw the raw chicken hanging around in the heat.

Later that evening VJ and Sheila took me to a Seik prayer service. Seikism is a religion that is only around 400 years old. It is a combination of Hindu and Islam. Its first prophet was born to a Hindu family in a Muslim villiage and he obviously combined the two to form Seikism. The service involved a lot of chanting, none of which I understood, but it was quite captivating and I found myself rocking slightly in rhythm with the chanting. The service was of course followed by food, any opportunity to eat is taken in Malaysia.

15th July – Thursday

Last day at Tengku Bendahara. The day is dominated by a hour and a half farewell to me which included me being allocated thirty minutes to talk. Fortunately I was able to get a data projector set up so I took them through my presentation on NZ. The school put on a wonderful show of traditional culture including Kompang, a Sumazam dance, a Joget dance and Choral speaking. Choral speaking is best described as polite rapping.

16th July - Friday

Went to a religious school called SAMT Sultan Hisamuddin. This is a secondary school covering the full range of secondary forms 1 to 6. The school is very similar to other schools in Malaysia but places more emphasis on religious studies than other schools do.

In the evening we drove to Bukit Belimbing, about an hour out of Klang. There we went on a tourist trip at the Firefly Park Resort. This involved going out onto a river in a small boat at night to see fireflys. Initially this was rather unspectacular as the lights were just sitting still in the trees and I thought someone had just put a few thousand LEDs up. But when we got closer you could see the lights moving and it started to look more like a fairy scene out of a movie as lots of the glowing lights began to fly around. A highlight was when Sheila tried to point out one flying above our boat which, much to her embarrassment, we all immediately worked out was a plane flying overhead.

Tomorrow we leave for KL. Another great week in Malaysia despite being sick. My host family have been very kind and I am sad to be leaving them.

Mr O'C in Malaysia - Kuantan & Pei Chai School

2010-07-20T22:44:00.017+12:00

6th July – Tuesday

School starts with a full school assembly each day where notices are read out. I talked to four classes about New Zealand and found their grasp of English to be very good. Each of the classes had about forty students in them. This is normal in Malaysia where even the new entrant (called Standard 1) classes have forty students.

I was taken to lunch at an Indian Restaurant by a group of teachers. We ate a range of dishes straight off a banana leaf with our hands. In Malaysia it in traditional to only bring food to your mouth with your right hand, so I was very careful to follow that custom. Some of the dishes were quite spicy but I also discovered my new favourite drink which is fresh mango blended with yogurt.

It was hotter today than it has been and I was really feeling it. I was sweating lots and feeling really drained and low on energy. So much so I needed an afternoon nap.

Around 5pm Ai Li (my host) took me to play badminton. It is one of the biggest sports in Malaysia and the people I was playing with were good. The combination of the heat and my lack of skill meant I was pretty average despite the efforts by Ai Li's friends to tke it easy on me. It was easily the hottest I have ever felt and it took a long time for me to cool down afterwards.

7th July – Wednesday

Another day visiting classes at my host school of Pei Chai. Pei stands for educate or develop, and Chai stands for successful people. Also watched the practice for the Pei Chai sports day. It is going to be a very big affair with a marching band as part of the opening ceremony.

I have become very aware of how hard students here work. As well as school, where they learn three languages, Malay, Chinese and English, they all generally go for tuition for various subjects after school, or before if they attend the afternoon session. These tuitions are often very late at night with my host family’s children often coming back after 9pm or 10pm.

Food plays a big part in Malaysian culture. I am hearing "Makan Makan Makan" lots which means "Eat Eat Eat". I was taken to lunch twice today by the school principal Mr Goh, once with some of their Board of Trustees, and once with some of Mr Goh’s friends and other school parents. Each meal I eat I am introduced to new food including Rice Porridge at my second lunch. Also tried some new fruits called Mango Steen and Rose Apple. Both were very nice.

I was taken to a Karaoke bar that night by Mr Goh. Him and his friends had great voices. Unfortunately they made me sing and I let New Zealand down with a very poor rendition of “I did it my way”.

8th July Thursday

I forgot to mention that in Chinese people’s full names tend to have the surname first. Therefore all around the school I was known and introduced as Mr Jimmy, rather than Mr O’Carroll as I would be in New Zealand.

A day of visits today. I went to the District Education Office where Mr Goh introduced me to the district manager. He spoke only a little English so Mr Goh acted as translator for our conversation.
On our way back to school Mr Goh took me to visit a music school run by one of the parents from Pei Chai. The school was quite impressive with a large number of tuition rooms, all with a high standard of musical equipment, and at least two performance spaces that I could see. The school has hundreds of students signed up for tuition.

In the afternoon we were taken to visit the Pahang State Education office. It was a very grand building and we were ushered in to meet the head of State Education for Pahang, the state Kuantan is in. We were given a tour of the many departments they had for each curriculum area. Subject areas appear to work very independently of each other.

After the visit it was home for a shower and short rest. The temperature is so hot I have had 3 to 5 showers each day.

In the early evening my host Ai Li and her son Shi Rong took me out to Telok Chempedak, one of the local beaches. It was a very beautiful beach with a couple of beach resorts, and plenty of monkeys.

After the beach Mr Goh took me out with his family for my fourth big meal of the day. I found out it was his wife’s birthday so his family made me feel very special by including me in their celebration. I think they thought I was missing western food so they took me to a restaurant that served steaks. I did take the opportunity to sink my teeth into a good steak. It tasted good.

9th July – Friday

Went into two classes today and shared about New Zealand. The students almost treated me like a super star, wanting autographs and even to know my blood type. I happily shared that my blood type was red.

After school we went out to a Batik Factory where cloth, including silk, is either printed or hand drawn on. Some of the work was amazing, with spectacular patterns and colours. The initial design is done with wax, and then dye is used to create the colours. The material then goes through a process to clear away the wax leaving only the picture or pattern. Spent some Ringgit (Malaysian dollars) here.

We also went out to view a turtle sanctuary and stopped to drink coconut juice straight from the coconut at a stall on the way home. Another refreshing drink to battle the heat with. I was fascinated by the old lady who hacked open the coconuts, six for our group. She must have been at least 75 years old.

10th July – Saturday

This was very much a tourist day. We drove out to a town called Sungai Lembing which is an old tin mining town. At its height it had close to 20,000 people living there but now, since the mine has closed, has a permanent population of only one or two thousand. The museum there is quite impressive and very informative. The conditions the miners used to work in were horrific but the money at the time was very good so many took the risk.

We visited a few spots around the town including the cottage of an old miner who now collects crystals from around the area, and went over quite long swing bridge. The interesting part of the trip across the swing bridge was meeting a man on a scooter using the same bridge, there was not a lot of room to get past each other.

On the way home we stopped in at Charas Cave. This is a lime stone cave which you get to by climbing up steep steps. I’m not sure why but this country seems to like getting overweight Kiwis to climb stairs in 32 degree heat. Once there it is worth the climb, deep into the cave is a reclining Buddha.

To finish the afternoon I was treated to examples of all three of the main religions in Malaysian, visiting a Muslim mosque, a Hindu temple and a Buddhist temple. All three were in close proximity of each other.

I needed a quick nap before Mr Goh took me out for another big evening. Somehow he and his friends had managed to get me an invite to a Chinese Wedding Dinner. This was a huge event with around one thousand people seated at approximately one hundred tables. I was surprised to be put in a photo with the bride when we arrived and could not stop simply looking around in amazement. There were nine courses for the dinner as nine is a lucky number in Chinese culture. I was made very welcome by Mr Goh’s friends, particularly Mr Yee who I think wanted to find out how much Carlsberg I could drink. I politely resisted and behaved myself. The entertainment was mainly people from the attendees who has been prearranged to sing, karaoke style. They generally were very good but even I could not hold back the smiles when one lady attempted to yodel in a high pitched Chinese accent.

11th July - Sunday

Last day in Kuantan, and at Pei Chai school. The sports day that they have been practicing for all week has finally come. Most of the 1800 students are involved in some way, either competing, in the marching band, helping organize and filling one of the many other roles required. Almost all parents come so it is a huge event. The teachers, including me, needed to be at school at 7am to start the organisation.

There is a real mix of events. The more serious individual events are short distance (up to 200m) track events, with the 4 x 100m meter relays events ranking as the high status. There are also a serious of fun events such as ping pong ball and spoon or sled events for the younger children. All the events contribute points to the totals for the four teams that students are split into when they join the school. The points for the sports day contribute to the overall school competition for the teams.

I was treated as a dignitary and was seated on the nice cushioned couches that had been set up by the side of the track. I was in the company of the school board and a representative of the Pahang State government.

There was also an event for teachers and parents involving throwing a very light ball, and catching it in a cone. I represented New Zealand’s sporting prowess well with a perfect record.

As part of the closing ceremony I had to give a five minute speech. It was a little nerve wracking but once I got through the very short Chinese and Malay parts of my speech I loosened up and enjoyed the rest of it.

I loved my time in Kuantan, where everyone looking after me was very kind and generous, but it was a very tired Mister Jimmy who climbed on board the bus for the trip back to Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately the bus was a double decker that understandably was designed for Malaysians, therefore little leg room and space meant not a lot of rest was had during the bus trip.
Once in Kuala Lumpur we were picked up by Fauziah and dropped off at KL Sentral which is the main train commuter hub. We then had to sort tickets and catch a commuter train to Klang. If you picture a crowded commuter train in Wellington, add more people so it is even more crowded, and then add two foreigners with massive suitcases you will get a feel for how ridiculous we must have looked.

We were picked up at Klang station by Chandrika. She then took us to her house to meet and pick up her family and we all went out for dinner. So by the time we were dropped off to our new host families it was close to 11 pm. I was shattered but still loving the adventure.

Mr O'C in Malaysia - July 5 & 6

2010-07-08T11:50:00.004+12:00

5th July – Monday

Travelled by bus to Kuantan which is on the eastern coast of the Malaysian peninsular. My host family made me feel very welcome and I even had a little tour around the school I would be attending. The school is called Dewan SJK (C) Pei Chai and is a Chinese school.

6th July – Tuesday

Up early ready to for the start of school at 7.30. Most Malaysian schools run two sessions each day. The first runs from 7.30am to 1.10pm, and then a whole new group arrives and is in school until around 6pm.
School starts with a full school assembly each day where notices read out. I talked to four classes about New Zealand and found their grasp of English to be very good. Each of the classes had about forty students in them. This is normal in Malaysia where even the new entrant (called Standard 1) classes have forty students.
I was taken to lunch at an Indian Restaurant by a group of teachers. We ate a range of dishes straight off a banana leaf with our hands. In Malaysia it in traditional to only bring food to your mouth with your right hand, so I was very careful to follow that custom. Some of the dishes were quite spicy but I also discovered my new favourite drink which is fresh mango blended with yogurt.
It was hotter today than it has been and I was really feeling it. I was sweating lots and feeling really drained and low on energy. So much so I needed an afternoon nap.
Around 5pm Ilee (my host) took me to play badminton. It is one of the biggest sports in Malaysia and the people I was playing with were good. The combination of the heat and my lack of skill meant I was pretty average. It was easily the hottest I have ever felt and it took a long time for me to cool down afterwards.

Mr O'C in Malaysian

2010-07-07T16:38:00.007+12:00

I will try to put some updates about my trip to Malaysia whenever I get the chance.

3 July – Saturday
The trip started badly with the loading computers at Wellington Airport going down meaning they had to do a manual check before we could take off. The flight was delayed an hour meaning when we go to Auckland we had to rush from the Domestic Terminal to the International one. We ended up being one of the last to get on the Malaysian Airlines flight. Now I what know what those people who hold up flights feel like when they do the walk of shame to their seats, all the while being angrily stared at by the waiting passengers.
Eleven hours later, after a pleasant but uneventful flight, we arrived at Kuala Lumpur. The airport is massive and we had to walk for bit plus catch a train just to get to luggage retrieval. Customs etc was quick and efficient and we were met in the terminal by Kohan from AFS.
As soon as we walked out of the air conditioned terminal the heat hit us. It was still 28 degrees and I was pleased to get into the taxi for the one hour trip into KL where we were staying. The taxi ride was a great introduction to Malaysian driving. It appears staying in one’s lane is optional and you need to be watching out for motor bike / scooter riders who can suddenly appear from anywhere, including coming the opposite direction on the motor way.
We stayed the first night in Tasman Keramat at Fauziah. She was a wonderful host, greeting us with iced drinks and a freshly baked cake. A nice supper before we going to bed at about 10.30pm local time, or 2.30 in the morning New Zealand time. I was lucky enough to get an air conditioned room to myself. Fiona, who is the teacher travelling in Malaysia with me, also got an air conditioned room but had to share the room with our host and two girls who were german AFS students staying overnight in the house. There were also two lads, one German and one Argentinean, and Fauziah’s AFS son from Costa Rica. So it was a full house.

4th July – Sunday
At 5.45am I was woken by a megaphone voice nearby calling the local Muslims to prayer. It was a very surreal experience and made it clear for me I was in a very different country.
We went to AFS for our orientation briefing from a woman called Chandrika. Her and Kohan then took us to lunch. Food is a big part of Malaysian culture, and with the base Malaysian cuisine mixed with the Chinese and Indian influences there is a massive range of flavours and tastes.
We then went out to the Batu Caves. This is an holy Hindu sight where you climb up 272 steep steps to get to the massive lime stone caves. In the Malaysian heat this was no easy task. There is also a 42.7m (132 feet high) high statue of Lord Muruga. This was unveiled in January 2006, having taken 3 years to construct. It is the tallest Lord Muruga statue in the world.
In the evening we were driven around the centre of Kuala Lumpur which included taking photos of the very impressive Petronas Towers.

Using Speech Marks

2010-06-11T18:35:00.005+12:00

In writing we are learning to use speech marks correctly in our writing. Two goals we have come up with are:

· Speech marks surround the words that are spoken

· Each new speaker gets a new line

Gigantic Burger - By Temuera

“Wow, that’s HUGE!” shouted Sam, as the big squishy greasy rounded thing was placed on the table.

Sam said “You can’t eat that, it’s way too big for your mouth.”

Liam replied “I can eat it like it’s a cheeseburger.’’ They both stared down at the Big Triple Deluxe Boss Burger, the burger that was twice the size of their heads. So Liam attempted to take a bite of this monster of a burger. Then Liam took a gigantic bite into the burger.

“Delicious!” said Liam with half of the burger still in his mouth.

Then this rumbling noise got louder and louder, and then, POP! Liam’s Fat belly popped right out of his t-shirt.

Sam yelled, “Woo hoo! Dude you’re a fatty!”

Good Guys

2010-06-11T14:58:00.004+12:00

By Losi, Peter and AJ

Good Guys is a group of students that are trying to make the school a safer place. Throughout the first term we have been working on a project for keeping our school and the environment clean.

We were working on a fence so that we can store bins in safely. Then we can lock them up and keep the vandals from burning them or tagging on them. There is going to be one or two people from each syndicate to take out the bins each day.

This term we have been thinking about rebuilding the boy’s toilets. We have been planning and sketching the toilets out. After a while we will be getting into it and start redesigning the toilets.

Good guys are not only about building projects, it’s about being a role model for the school. Ever since Mr Rickard has chosen us we have proved to him that we can be big role models to the other people, so that other people look up to us and say, “No don’t do that, what would the good guys do?”

Short Story by Stephanie

2010-06-03T13:56:00.006+12:00

Room 14 has been working on our writing. We are trying to use similes and use show not tell. E.g. “The sweet luscious deep red fruit covered in pale green seeds”, instead of saying, “strawberries”. We are also trying to use the correct punctuation and grammar.

Mixed up
By Stephanie Han

I had watched the river flow continuously for the last ten minutes. I had run for all that time. I had run for miles and now was tired, gasping for air. I stood up and started to walk, slowly but steadily. Hearing the water sway helped me to calm down. The strange scary man was still following me, down the old alleyway. As I looked back to see if he was still following me, I heard something move in the bushes. “Must be a rat”, I whispered quietly to myself. It’s been a while since I had last been out. It felt so good to be out in the fresh air.

When I started running it was still light but now the sun was setting. In a few minutes it would be down and it would be pitch black.” How would I be able to get home?” I thought . I sat down on a nearby rock to think; not knowing it had something carved into it. Finally I saw what it said,
“This magical stone
Is real to the bone,
It’s used to foresee,
What is next to be.
Just kick it three times
And your luck will ties nine”.
Not knowing what else to do I kicked it ,three times . at first nothing happened then the middle started going transparent and started to glow, then I saw two figures, one tall and one small, then it went blank. I guess my luck still hadn’t changed, I was still lost, still had nowhere to go and could barely see anything. I wanted to go homes so badly but didn’t know how ...then it hit me. In every single story there was usually someone living in the forest so if I find a house fast enough they might take me in for the night, well it was worth a try.

I started t o run once more, faster this time. Until I saw a big tree trunk that looked just like a house. I was so happy I could have cried, but of course I didn’t. As I knocked on the door no one answered, so I just came in, shut the door and flicked on the lights. Seven little dwarfs then stared at me in silence until one of them said ,”Hey, you’re not Snow White”.”Cut”, yelled one of the directors.
“Ughh...they must have mixed up the scenes again”, I muttered.

Short Story by Ally

2010-06-03T13:43:00.005+12:00

Fun Run by Monica & Nina

2010-06-03T12:02:00.006+12:00

The Fun Run

That’s right, we won the Fun Run.

We raised the most money ever by an individual class in the history of Tawa Intermediate, with the amazing total of $2,805.80. All of us had contributed to that BIG total. What we did to raise this money was to get sponsors for a 5km run/walk around the top field of Tawa College. We got sponsors by knocking on doors, asking family and friends, and some even did a bake sale.

We all got to dress up and we decided to dress up as geeks/nerds. We had some awesome costumes. Moving on, two of the students in Room 14 raised over 400! Those great numbers came from the awesome Kitana and Losi. We also had a lot of people raise over $100 and everyone in the class contributed to the total. One of the reasons for our success was all the Syndicate teachers motivated us to put in all that effort, which led to us winning the trophy, speaking of the trophy here’s a pic!