Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year form the class of 2010! All but 3 of us are moving on to new schools in 2011 as we continue on our learning journeys. We hope those of you who have dropped in to take a look at our work have found something you like, and a special thanks to those of you who have left comments. There will be a new class of students in 2011 to carry on this blog, so we will hopefully see you next year. Happy Holidays.

Tech Wizards

On the 1st and 2nd of December we had the final tech wizard challenge. We could use as many pieces of software as we liked but we had to use pivot as one of them. We used pivot, I Can Animate, powerpoint, paint, newsmaker, video camera and windows movie maker. We came 2nd by 1 point. Check it out and enjoy.



By Sam

Sam's Blog

Hello, Sam here..

Come and check out my cool as blog.
My blog can be found at..

http://samlock10.blogspot.com

The Castle of Doom

We have been working on writing good beginnings to our narratives. We had to use language features like similes and metaphors as well as exciting vocabulary. This is my one.

The castle that had stood by the sea for one hundred years was howling at me as the wind swirled among the dark and empty rooms. The crumbled walls looked as if they were begging to fall down and be relieved of the pain of holding up the heavy slate roof.

The cliff that it sat on was carved into the face of the first King to rule Antopia. The raging sea had worn away at the nose and mouth, as for the city nothing was left except for battered walls and rotting wood.

The hairs on my legs were standing like soldiers in the snow. The smell of decay assaulted my nostrils as I paddled on grimly. My boat was swaying from side to side, when suddenly my paddle slipped.

"Ahhh!"

I gained my control again but only just, my oar must have got caught in the seaweed.

My hands were sweating madly and I was breathing like a fish out of water. The castle didn't seem to be getting any closer and I realised the current must be pulling me away...

By Chris D.

Camp 2010 - Te Wera Forest Camp

Early in the 4th term Room 9 & Room 8 went on their annual camp to Te Wera. We stayed there for 3 days and two nights and involved ourselves in a number of challenges and activities. We went kayaking on a local lake, we went tramping high into the forest and we all got very muddy on the mud run. We scared ourselves on a nightline in the forest and we built stretchers and raced with them. We went orienteering and we also had physical challenges to overcome. As well as having a go at cooking some damper over an open fire we got cold and wet on the water slide.

The camp was a lot of fun for both us kids and the parents that accompanied us. We want to thank the Mums and Dads that came to help us - you were totally awesome!!

Four Seasons In One Painting

We have been learning to use colour to create mood and feeling in our paintings. We chose to try and create an image of a tree as it goes through the four seasons of the year from WINTER in the top left quadrant to SUMMER top right, AUTUMN bottom right and to SPRING in the bottom left corner. These are just a sample of the paintings created. Were we successful?

Congratulations Are In Order!

If you go back to earlier blog posts (June 2010), you will spot a photo exhibition by James Hall called "Secret Spaces" and fantastic it is too. Well, James chose his favourite 5 shots from his exhibition and we entered them into the national competition run by the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children.
From hundreds of entries James scooped 3rd prize in his age group category!! James' prize consisted of some books and some DVDs, so he is looking forward to receiving those I'm sure.
Well done James, we are all so proud of you and hope that you will continue to take photos for all of us to share. I can see the smile on mum's face from here.


Mr. P

New Video Cameras From the PTA

A while back our school P.T.A gave all the syndicates in our school a new digital video camera. To thank the P.T.A we did a video about the boxes that the cameras came in. We decided to do a news report with Sam as Alistair Wilkinson,Georgia V as Pippa Wetzel and Genevieve as Wendy Petrie.
When Genevieve was on they were getting ready to enter room 9, but they couldn't find the class so they went down the corridor looking. When she opened the swing-doors, she let it swing shut on Mr. Pillette who was the cameraman. Poor Mr. Pillette.
Finally they arrived at the door of room 9. Genevieve looked through the door and saw all the kids screaming. She went in.
Chris said "Hey guys I think the package is from the Parents Tea-party Association!"
Everyone looked confused and Cormac said "No, I think it's from the People's Terrorist Army!"
Everyone yelled "Oh no it's a bomb!"
Then Jiah came in pretending to be Mrs. Shoemark, P.T.A. President and asked "Did you get the presents?"
Jonty replied "Do you mean the bombs?"
Mrs. Shoemark said "No, the new digital video cameras."
Everyone then yelled "Thankyou P.T.A!"

This is our video, enjoy.

By Brayden

A.W.E Water Safety Programme

I dived down deep to retrieve the ring from the bottom of the pool... got it! I raced the bubbles to the surface, my goggles fogged up as I flicked the water from my face. My bright green rash-top reflected in the water as I swam dolphin-like to the edge of the pool. I grabbed the cold wet handrail, climbed up the ladder step by step to safety and the next activity. My classmates followed me like a pod of green frogs, Glen was waiting patiently for us with rescue tube in hand and a mountain of flippers.

"Are you ready guys?"asked Glen.

"Yes" we all replied excitedly.

We buddied up and half of us slipped on flippers and the other half strapped on the red tubes, the tube dudes were the drowning victims and those of us with flippers were the rescuers.

It was HEAPS of fun - I didn't drown once!!!

Over the following three days we experienced lots more challenging water safety activities, it was a wonderful experience and most of my classmates would love to do it again. Thankyou A.W.E and N.P.D.C for including us.

Story by Olivia Birkett, Video by James Hall.

Plane Crazy!

While most of the senior school were off competing in the Fitzroy School organised Rippa Rubgby Tournament, the rest of us had a competition of our own. Mr. Pillette taught us how to fold a pretty neat paper plane which we then decorated. We took our planes over to the school hall and held a three phase competition with them. Round one was DISTANCE (whose plane could fly the furtherest), Round 2 was DURATION (whose plane could stay up the longest) and Round three was ALL UP, LAST DOWN.
Sam was the eventual overall winner after taking out rounds 1 & 3, while Genevieve totally blitzed the field in round 2.
Sam was awarded a massive prize and has promised to take us all on a trip to Fiji. Hopefully NOT on the plane he built! :-)

Modigliani Portraits

For our latest art project we looked at the artworks of Armedeos Modigliani, an Italian artist who died in 1920 at the young age of 36. His portraits are characterized by the elongated effects he applied to his subjects. We have tried to do the same with ours.

By Georgia L

Tech Wizards Greenscreen Challenge - Term II

Last term the Tech Wizards went up to NPGHS for a greenscreen challenge. Each group decided on a country to base their stories on. Fitzroy chose England and Brazil. They thought up a story and went into the studio to break up their story into scenes. Once they had done that they went into the greenscreen room and filmed each scene separately. This is the result!





By Georgia.V

My School Holiday... yeah right!

In the holidays I was heading north to visit the Waitomo caves. On the way to the cave I had a car accident on the Mahoenui hill.
We were driving up the hill when we slid on black ice. We started fish tailing and Mum said "its going to be ok." We went into a three sixty degree spin and Tracy said "Everbody hold on!" Tayla and I were screaming, but then we stopped.
We flipped. "BANG!" the air bags went off. Tayla ran out of the car, she was screaming her lungs off. I tried to calm her down but it was no use. It was so scary.
We were all out safely and lots of people came to the scene, then a guy said " Do you want me to take you to the top of the hill?" So Mum and Tayla went and rang Dad and Darren.
After witing for to hours Dad and Darren came and we made up our minds and we were to go to the Fat Pidgoen Cafe where we sat around talking about the car crash. Everyone was staring.
I am so glad that noone got seriously hurt. It was a pretty scary experience and I never want it to happen again!









By Mckenzie

How Gus The Tow Truck Operator Began

This is a follow-on from my last movie, Gus The Tow Truck Operator (see earlier in the blog). I thought I might want to show everybody how Gus became a Tow Truck Operator. This time I used a program called Pivot Stickfigure Animator and because I haven't narrated this movie I had to be quite clear about the story line. I hope I am successful. Watch and enjoy!



By Sam

Pig Hunting with Dave

On Saturday I went pig hunting with Dave, Dad and Joseph. When we got to Bruce’s, we asked him if we could go onto his land. He said that we could. When we got to the place we were sent to, we left the 4WD and started to walk.

We saw soo many fresh rootings but we didn’t find any pigs there. About an hour and a half later when we were getting our doubts that we weren’t gonna get one, we heard the dogs start barking and barking.We thought it was going to be a boar because the dogs were bailing it up.We got excited and started running. Dad carried on telling me to slow down but I was too excited so I carried on through the bush and ferns. Then we got to it, it was a......sow!!! Dave and I were so annoyed!

Dave stuck it because the dogs had mauled it quite badly. We then chopped its head off and gutted it and Dad carried it back. Joseph and I had a go at carrying it too but it was pretty heavy.

Later on at home Dave, Joseph and I butchered the sow ready for the freezer. I had a go with the skinning knife but it wasn’t all that easy and VERY gruesome. I’m looking forward to the best part though and that’s eating it. Next time I hope we get a boar.

By Reuben.B

By Toby

More TOP CLASS Animations..

We are becoming pretty clever animators in Room 9. Here is a couple of the latest for your amusement. The first one called "MUSHROOM PICKING" is by NICKOLAI, creator of BLOB CHASE and the second one "PET ROCK TRIX" is by TOBY. This is Toby's first independent effort and I have to say I'm mighty impressed. Enjoy.

"Secret Spaces" A Photographic Exhibition by James Hall

James is 10 years old. He has an "eye". He was asked to take the class digital camera and take images from around the school, but to make them a bit of a challenge so that his classmates could try and guess where they were taken. I briefly taught James the rule of 3rds and how to compose an image and sent him on his way. The following photos are untouched and uncropped, they are just as James took them. I think they are stunning, so much in fact that these images are presently being exhibited in the school entrance in all their glory. If you are passing, pop in and take a look!

Nice work James..

New Plymouth Brass Band Shows Its Class

Today, Friday 18th June, the award winning New Plymouth Brass Band gave Fitzroy School a taste of their talent. During their half hour concert (all the band members gave up their lunch hour)they played a variety of tunes from 'God Defend New Zealand' to 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and 'The Flintstones'. I really enjoyed the short concert because it was so different to what I normally listen to. If I was in the band I think I would like to be the drummer. I thought he was really good - he was in the New Plymouth Boy's High brass band as well.
The band played one encore and received a huge round of applause from the whole school. Thanks New Plymouth Brass band for coming to Fitzroy School.

Chris

Irish International Rugby Players Visit Fitzroy School

On Friday 11th June 2010 we had a visit from 5 players from the Ireland International Rugby Team. The players were welcomed in the hall with a traditional welcome action song, followed by the singing of our National Anthem and Ireland's Call. The players were gracious in there interactions with the children and joined in with the singing. They answered numerous questions before heading outside for a bit of a run around with the oval ball and the students. We were privileged to have them visit our school and the students definitely found the experience rewarding.

Blob Chase

Blob Chase is the story of two Blobs who meet each other. One gets annoyed and leaves, the other one chases him. They go through a maze of doors and conveyor belts until they meet in a final showdown. Only one survives.
Blob Chase was a great success although it took a long time to produce, I hope you enjoy it and please leave a comment so I can improve my movies.

By Nickolai

Fantastic Fishing..

It was a beautiful day when Dave, Dad and I went for a fish. When we got out to the mark which was 73 meters deep, Dave and I had a bet whoever got the biggest snapper won $2.
We were waiting and waiting and waiting with our big baits on the sea bed. We ended up catching lots and lots of little snapper but then the big ones came. I brought up a 6 pounder from 73 meters, she was a beauty. Dad was excited, it was a mission and a half getting it up to the boat. When we got it up, we straight away put it in my hands and took a picture then put it in the chili bin.
Ten minutes later I saw Dave struggling with something... It turned out he was reeling in an 8 pounder! I was so annoyed, I had to owe him $2.
After that we went home and and filleted them, Mum cooked a nice fish pie for tea and I said to Dad "Thanks for taking me fishing!"

By Reuben