Rocket!

On Tuesday Hilary's budgie Rocket came to visit us at school! Before he arrived Hilary shared a book about budgies and answered questions about keeping a budgie as a pet.

We discovered that budgies make very good pets. If you talk and play with them each day they will sit on your finger or your shoulder!

Rocket lives in a cage. Inside his home he had bird seed, water, a cuttlefish bone, a mirror, a swing, and perches for him to sit. He even had a beautiful flower on top of his cage! These are all the things that Rocket needs to keep him comfortable.

Hilary was able to get Rocket out of the cage and hold him carefully with two hands. She told us all about Rocket. We found out that he is a very young bird.

We were excited to meet Rocket, but we all sat very still and quietly, so that we didn't frighten

Rocket. 

Rocket's wings have been clipped which means he can not fly away. He still likes to jump and flutter his wings though!

Hilary explained how to touch Rocket gentle on his head while she held him. We said that he felt soft and feathery. 

And then Rocket sat on Hilary's shoulder! He wanted to stay there and we decided that he didn't want to go home! Thank you for coming to visit us at school Rocket. Now lots of us would like a budgie as a pet too!

The Whakatomene Mystery continues!

On Tuesday we discovered another parchment and message! It was from the same person who left the first message and treasure map. We have been wondering who this person is, and what they have to do with the 'Whakatomene - Explore and Discover' banners we have been seeing all around the school.

The message told us that the person's name is Tupaia. We decided that Tupaia is an explorer, who travels over the sea and is from the past. Gyzharn wondered if 'Tupaia' was one of the men shown on the 'Whakatomene - Explore and Discover' banner.

Donna thought  she recognised the name and she found a video all about Tupaia. Have a look what we discovered about Tupaia below.....

Buddy Class 2020!

Room 11's Buddy class this year is Room 7. Room 7 is an awesome group of Year 5 & 6 students and their teacher Megan Judd.

On Tuesday Room 11 and Room 7 spent some time together getting to know one another. We had a 'buddy' chat, had some fun dancing together and visited the junior playground for some fun in the sun!

It was wonderful to see new friendships forming. Room 7 are going to be fantastic role models and helpers to the students of Room 11 this year. We are going to have a lot of fun together!

The Mystery in Room 11

On Monday afternoon we returned to Room 11 after playtime to discover leaves and bark spread all over the floor. This was VERY strange and we all rushed to tell Donna about this peculiar occurrence. Gyzharn wondered if it had happened in other classrooms, but Room 10, 12 and 14 remained the same.

The mystery begins!

We excitedly set out to discover the treasure map

On closer inspection we discovered an old parchment attached to the whiteboard with a message from an explorer.

We all wondered how the message had arrived in Room 11 because the door was locked at lunchtime.

"It's like a mystery" exclaimed Maddy.
Leo thought he saw a stranger outside of Room 11 at lunchtime and we all realised that the windows had been left wide open!!!

The message explained that there was a treasure map hidden in the classroom that would help us explore our school. "It's curiouser and curiouser", said Clemence.

Angela discovered the treasure map tucked into the maths trolley. We could hardly contain our excitement. Neveah said that her heart was racing so fast!

The treasure map discovered by Angela.

The Map told us that if we worked as a team we would find some hidden treasure at a special location marked with an X.

We had to solve a riddle to discover the treasure....

I’m made into a castle

Although I am not a brick

I might get into your food

If you have a beach picnic!

Peter thought that the treasure must be hidden in our school sandpit. 

With magnifying glasses in hand we headed out of the classroom to explore our school. We followed the arrows on the treasure map and looked for clues along the way...

Looking for clues!

A discovery!

A fire pit. Did it belong to the mystery explorer that left the parchment and treasure map!?!

Another clue!

A clue!?

Room 11 Explorers!

What's this!?

Finally we arrived at the sandpit. Where was the treasure? We decided it was time to dig! We had to work as a team because the treasure was buried deep in the sand....

We discovered a treasure box! Inside was a special treasure of polished glass gems and a secret message....'Whakatōmene - Explore and Discover.' 

We thought the message in the treasure box was also from the explorer. 

We discovered the Whakatōmene means 'explore and discover' in Maori. 

The teachers were dressed up as explorers and Mrs Fletcher had talked about 'exploring and discovering' at our whole school assembly. We wondered if all of these things could be linked!? 

All will soon be revealed!!!

Room 11 had an exciting adventure and proved that we made an awesome team! We shared the treasure to unite us as a team. We all can't wait to see what other discoveries and adventures take place in 2020!

Looking to the Past

On the first day of school we discovered something a little bit unusual in our school car park. Instead of all the teachers cars there were lots and lots of old fashioned cars!

Where had they come from? Why were they there? Why were they so old? These were some of the questions that we asked.

We enjoyed having a chance to pile in to the back of this old Bradford truck. We could fit lots of us in the back!

We enjoyed looking at all of the cars. We could sit in some of them and we heard their loud horns tooting!

We looked at some of the old engines. One of the cars could be started by cranking a handle at the front of the car. Watch out for your fingers!

One car had a seat right at the back. Another car had a special case at the back for more storage.

It was exciting seeing all of these cars from the past. Some of us even thought that our parents would know about these cars because they were also born in the olden days! I wonder what other things we will discover about the past this term?