The Spaghetti Tower Challenge

Kia Ora Everyone,

Welcome to my blog, today I am talking about our Spaghetti Tower Challenge. In my team was Lola and Molly. Our materials were 20 spaghetti sticks, 1 meter of string, 1 meter of tape, a marshmallow and scissors. At the bottom of our tower we made a triangle then stuck 2 spaghetti sticks together (3 times) and stuck them to the base of our tower. Then, we made ANOTHER triangle to stick on top of the 3 (well, 6) spaghetti sticks then 6 more above the triangle and then put the marshmallow on top. It was a cool team building exercise and I would like to do it again.

Thanks for reading,
Lexie

Zones - Week 4

Kia Ora everyone,

Welcome back to my blog, today I am talking about Zones for Athletics!

Yesterday, the 5th of November, I went to zones! I went for Year 6 Girl Relay and the 80m Sprint.

We had our athletics day at Nga Puna Wai. For my relay I was with my friends Sam, Abi & Greta, we

each ran 50m. I went third out of the four of us, grabbed the batton from Abi (who went second) and

ran to Greta and then we came...... 4TH! In my second event, I went to my 80m sprint, once again,

with Greta, we got split into 3 heats and I was in the last heat, I got second-to-last in that, luckily not

last! We had a great time, rolling down hills, doing our activities and playing games with each other.

Here is a photo of us all:

Thanks for reading,

Lexie ☺️

Production - Week 9

Kia Ora Everyone,

Welcome back to my blog, today I am writing about the School Production. Yesterday, the 19th of September, we had our school production: Goodbye My Friend. Andrew Oxspring wrote "Goodbye My Friend". It's about the year 8's leaving school.

I had a role in it as an announcer in scene 4, School Trip Boogie, I was announcing a birth of a baby panda. My lines were:

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls. We have been informed by the keepers at the panda enclosure that Chi Chi is about to give birth, if you don't want to miss this historic event, please come to the panda enclosure immediately.

This is the final call for anyone wishing to witness the historic birth of Chi Chi's baby. Please come to the panda enclosure, we are moments away.

And there you have it! Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls. A once-in-a-lifetime, never-to-be-missed opportunity. It's a beautiful baby for Chi Chi! What a spectacle, what a day! Now, out of respect for the special couple we ask that you leave the panda enclosure, calmly and quietly. Thank you everyone, and goodbye.

(for my acting role) I wore a white blouse and track pants. Then, in scene 5, The PATS Blues, I was dancing, at the start of our dance, we wore dressing gowns over-top of our full school uniform. We danced to a song called PATs Blues.

There were 9 scenes called...:
1: Monday Morning Routine
2: Hey T.A!
3: P.E Nightmare
4: School Trip Boogie
5: PATs Blues
6: No Scene
7: Silent Night, Not Quite
8: I Wish I Was an Infant Again
9: Yucky Stuff
10: Goodbye my Friend (FINALE)

We had a matinee one, at 1PM, then the evening one, at 6PM. When I was on stage it felt like I was doing a dress rehearsal because the production came so soon.

My Favourite scene was probably scene 7, the nativity scene, the year 5/6/7/8 were pretending to be 5 years old and acting out the birth of baby "Cheeses". All the actors were waving to their relatives and friends and fixing their hair. It was really funny.

Thank you for reading my blog,
Lexie 🙂

Weekly Highlights - Week 9

Kia Ora,

Welcome back to my blog, today I am talking about my weekly highlights.

Sparkle Day

Sparkle day is based on our theme for this year called "Let your love sparkle". We did this last week on Friday the 21st. We all went in sparkly (or bright) clothes. I went in a glittery tutu with a bright blue top, glittery pants & a top with a sparkly bunny on it.
We all had a sparkly day and enjoyed showing our sparkle!

Jubilate

Jubilate is a little 'concert' that the OLA School Choir went to on Monday 24th June - that I am a part of. We all went to St Mary's Pro Cathedral and sung about 15 songs. Me, having a sore throat still went. Bishop Paul-Martin was there and he announced that we all sounded lovely. Then on the way back I sat with my friends, Xanthe, Lily & Amelia.

Thanks for reading,

Lexie

Eel Inquiry - Week 3

Kia Ora Everyone,

Today I am talking about our Inquiry about Eels! In my group I had Eilish & Rose! We decided to make a play (videoed) with a rap at the end!

First, we made an action plan with all the details we need to get started. Then we did a 'Job Description' which said when we were doing what and who was the leader. Then the interesting part, recording and practising the play and rap! On Wednesday we recorded the play part, Today we recorded the rap part. We had to include lots of information to help people know what we are doing to our eels. I was a 'bad' person (doing things you shouldn't do to eels), Eilish was the good person (telling me off) and Rose was an eel! We had lots of fun recording it and spent A LOT of time on it! The end result was actual quite good considering it only took a week.

Thanks for reading,

Lexie

Weekly Highlight - Week 2

Kia Ora Everyone,

Welcome back to my blog. Today I am giving you a highlight of my week.
This week we have done cross country and catholic schools sports tournament.

Cross Country

On Wednesday, we did cross country. We had to run two point something kilometres and I was super tired. At the start I sprinted and then pasted my speed, from sprinting at the start I got at the front. There was 15 of us, so I got really good but keep reading to see what I got. On a downhill part, I went streaming down and I nearly got past my friend, Sam she was just in front of me. I didn't end up getting past her because I started slowing down, sadly. But at the end I tried going as fast as possible as I tried smiling for a photo. I got..... 5th!


Thanks for reading,
Lexie

Chapter Chat

Kia Ora Everyone,

Welcome back to my blog, today I am telling you about Chapter Chat. Chapter Chat is
where we read a book aloud. This term we are reading Fish in a Tree and you read a
certain amount of chapters (from a book) and then the organisers create questions to
do with the book. Then we have to make up a creative answer to the questions and post
it on twitter. Also, there are some activities that we do for example, this week we had to
do what Ally (main character) describes herself as.

For our questions we are put into groups of 3, in my group there is, Manu & Adele.
We all like it very much and it is super enjoyable to post on twitter, for some of us, it
is our first time. Last year the year 6’s did chapter chat, It was very exciting too. I was
super happy that we are able to do it this year!

Here is some more information.

1. Book: Fish in a tree, a book by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.
2. Chapter #7 (What chapter we’re up to at the moment)
3. Hundreds of schools in NZ are participating.
4. Thousands of children are doing this.
5. Every week on Friday we all post our answer to a particular question on twitter.

Hope you enjoyed my blog post. I am excited to tell you more about chapter chat.

Thanks for reading,

Lexie

Cycle Safety | Week 11

Kia Ora,

Welcome back to my blog! Today I am telling you about Cycle Safety!

On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the year 6’s did cycle safety!

Cycle safety was super enjoyable and we had great fun.

Our instructors were, Lacey, Stacey, Jolleen, Yasko, Norm, Jeff and Monika.
My instructors on the first day were, Lacey & Stacey, on the second day I had, Lacey & Norm.
In my Group I had, Abi, Bryn & William.

On the first day we were in school doing some lessons preparing for the road and what to do if a car
is coming and lots more cool things! But after lunch we got to go on the road for the first time!
(well my first time). Before we started on our bikes we had to do ABBC’s, A stands for Air, B stands
for brakes, B stands for bolts and C stands for chain. I had a ball of a time, the most exciting part was
that I got to lead us back to school!

The second day, Thursday we got to go on the road for the whole day! But we were back at school
for the best parts, morning tea and lunch! As soon as the bell rang in the morning I knew what to do,
go get our bikes and get ready for blast off! At first I was a bit nervous but I got the hang of it.
When it came to my left turns… I wasn’t the best but as soon as I kept going, turning left I could
do a nice strong indicator. I wasn’t too shabby at my right one, this was my better side even though
I am left handed I could do it better with my right one. In the end we finished our lessons after lunch
and we got to ride around for the rest of the day! Once again, I led us back to the back gate in school.

Overall, I had a great time. A big thank you to our instructors coming to our school and teaching the
year 6 students all about cycle safety.

Here are some photos!

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Thanks for reading,

Lexie

Refugee Day - Week 10

As-salaam‘alaykum everyone!

Welcome back to my blog, today I am talking to you about refugee day.
Yesterday, Thursday 4th of April we did a refugee day. We had refugee day to remember the people of South Sudan and so we know how they feel and how much effort they have to put into their life everyday.


We built huts like the tents that the South Sudanese people. It was very stressful at some points but very fun! I built my hut with my Team, Isla, Eilish, Rose, Julia, Simon and Hannah. Our team name was Team Talent, because we're talented or another reason that you might find out in my blog next term! We were probably the biggest group - we had seven people - imagine living in a small hut with six other people, that would be a disaster! For lunch we all had ... Rice! Funny thing, I had rice for breakfast that morning. We all had to bring our own bowls to put the rice in, the best part... We all had a chance to get seconds!

I had a good time building a fort with my mates... It got a bit stressful and annoying at some times because of the wind blowing down our huts but that's okay, it made us persevere more. In the end we all had a good day, eating rice and having fun in our huts!

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Thanks for reading,

Lexie

Life as a Refugee in South Sudan - Made Up Story

Kia Ora Everyone!

Welcome back to my blog, Today I am sharing my little made up story about life in a Refugee Camp in South Sudan.

Life living in a Refugee Camp in South Sudan

I am a girl who lives in South Sudan, I am living in a refugee camp which is full of people all ages from babies to adults. In our tents we have a very cramped space and it is very dark.

We have to walk to get our water because we do not have much water at all. To wash we have to pour water on our bodies to keep us clean. I like to help providing water and food for my family but it is very hard to get water, I have to buy it with my money and I don’t have very much. To get our water we have to swing on a lever to make the water pour out into a bucket, then I have to carry it on my head back to home to be safe.

To get food we could either go to markets and buy food or walk around looking for wild berries. We do not have much money so we don’t go to markets often.

For our entertainment we can play games like knucklebones - That one is my favourite! My friends and I play together everyday, I always win but the best part is that I get to play with my friends!

The hardest challenges in my life is probably not having much food or water. Here’s the disgusting part, we have to squat over a hole in the ground to do our business so I’m saying our toilet is a hole in the ground.

In my camp we have a little area for a tiny weeny school, it has a small cover to block the sun from our body.

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Thanks for reading,

Lexie

Korfball - Week 9

Kia Ora everyone!

Welcome back to my blog, today I am telling you about Korfball! Korfball is a sport which is a mixture of Netball & Basketball. The Batten Team and the Hillary team are very lucky that we had Youri and "Youri" to come over to OLA and teach us the rules and how to play Korfball! Some rules are....

1. No contact
2. You have to pivot (You can't move with the ball)
3. You can't take the ball out of someone's hands
4. 4 to a team for year 5/6
5. 7 or 8 to a team for year 7/8

And many more rules. We enjoyed it very much, a huge thank you to Youri and "Youri" for coming to our school. 

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Thanks for reading,

Lexie

Don - Eels

Kia Ora,

Welcome back to my blog. Today I am talking about our visit from Don. He catches eels - We have been learning about eels, so this is handy. Here are some interesting facts he told us:

• Eels have slime to slip through small spaces
• Eel can swim forwards and backwards
• Spots on longfin means that it is an Australian Spotted Longfin
• The biggest they've seen longfins grow is 2 meters!
• They have an amazing sense of smell - especially longfin
• Longfin are cannibals - Eat other eels
• They can grab a hold of something they wanna eat and if they can't bite it off they twist their body round and round until they get it off
• Longfin usually have 112 vertebrates (things on their backbone) 
• Eels can breathe through their skin
• You can tell how old eels are by cutting their ear bone in half, every year they get a ring in the ear bone - this kills the eel
• Females are bigger than males
• They don't eat while travelling
• Eels try to eat crabs
• Eels don't like sunlight - they come out during the night
• Eels like hiding in pipes
• When you put something in an eels mouth it can't get out - this is due to their small, sharp teeth.

Thank you for reading,

Lexie

This photo is about the largest eel he has found - 2m long

South Sudan

Kia Ora,

Welcome back to my blog. Today I am talking about South Sudan, some people who work in Juba, South Sudan called Janet and Phil came over to our school. They talked about what it is like to live in South Sudan and more... 34c New Zealand, is $30 in South Sudan. Isn't that amazing! Did you know that roads are dangerous in South Sudan? I didn't. Roads are dangerous because if they is lots of people running around on the roads and cars driving not knowing that people are on the road, that would be a disaster! Here are some interesting facts they told us:

• Sometimes at night, it is so hot that they have to put their sheet in the shower to cool it down.
• A 100 pound note is $1.14 New Zealand money.
• They have no electricity, no water (only from the Nile), no toilets and no sewers.
• The reason why they have no toilet is because they can't afford a toilet so they dig a deep hole in the ground and squat over it and do their business. 
• It is 4km to the Nile - it takes 1 hour to walk from Juba  
• Not many tourists come - 0.01% of people come to stay at South Sudan
• The way you greet people in their language is : As-salama alaykum then you greet back : Alaykum as-salaam
• The most common food is beans & rice
• They cook using charcoal
• Girls don't grow out their hair - it gets very curly
• Children are scared of white people
• They play volleyball
• There are around 500 people in Juba
• They get red in their hair from... Cow pee 
• They mark their skin to show where they're from/what tribes they are in - They use razor blades
• They love posing for photos
• They use a stick to brush their teeth
• They fly planes because it's too dangerous to travel on roads
• Because of heat - planes break down
• 4 guards at night
• 3 guards at day
• Dancing = Jumping around
• Their music is very different from ours

Hope you liked my facts, this was all from Phil and Janet. Huge thank you for them from coming to our school. Here is a few photos:

Thanks for reading,

Lexie

LEARNZ

Kia Ora, 

Welcome back to my blog. Today I am talking to you about LEARNZ. This morning we did a video call with some scientists! They talked to us about water. We asked lots of questions about how water works in our environment.

Points

• Fossil water
• Salt water turned into fresh water 
• Groundwater will never run out because of our water cycle 
• Plants and soil never go into the water
• Special feed for cows and animals

Explanations

Fossil water is old water that has been stored underground below a dry land, this can be called an aquifer.

Sea water being turned into fresh water, this is called desalination.

Water takes nutrients so that plants cannot go in the water

Special feed for animals is better for water ways.

Thank you.

Lexie

Swimming sports

Kia Ora Everyone!

Welcome back to my blog, I am blogging about our swimming sports on, Friday 1st March. I was doing backstroke, freestyle, and breaststroke. I got 4th in freestyle, 1st in backstroke and around last in the breaststroke (all the girls were better than me). I was so nervous I was about to pee my pants, although I've already done it, it's still nerve-racking.

Eel Trip - Te Tuna Taone - Urban eel

Hi Everyone!

Yesterday, Thursday 8th March we went to Centennial Park to visit the Heathcote river. We went with Hillary Hub and the rest of the Batten Team, I was in group 2 with my friends Bella, Finn, Rubi-lee, Maddie and many more children but most importantly, My Mum. We did small exciting activities... The first one I went to was Water Bugs with Matt, in this activity we had a tray with all sorts of water bugs in it and we had to pick them out with either a alien

Global Play-Day Week 3

Hi everyone!

Two weeks ago on Friday, we did another global play. This time, I didn't do much, all I pretty much did was sewing. I was sewing up a top for my friend, Rose. Rose has a doll, that's what I was designing the shirt for. The shirt has black with polka dots and a layer overtop which has green with stars, this fabric is a little transparent so it fits.

Here is a photo!

Thanks for reading,

Lexie 🌝

Science in a Van

Hi everyone!

Yesterday, Wednesday 20 February, we had two people from science in a van over! Their names are Emily and Allen. We had so much entertainment with their cool topic 'Forces'! First, before our individual sessions, we did a mini session with the whole school. In the session, we did balancing... They balanced a ruler, a mop and a trow. When this mini session ended, we went back to class and our class started balancing our rulers and adding rubbers, pens, die, plastic coins and many more!

Next, after morning tea. We did our individual session and it was about 'Force'! This time, they had a special guest called... Steve! Steve is a chicken. They did a rocket experiment with Steve. There was a string that went across the room, they made Steve a rocket using string, straps and an L&P bottle. Steve didn't make it far the first time, but the second time we used a bigger rocket (Bigger L&P Bottle), he made it further but still not at the end... Third time's the charm... We had to change the mass because he's too heavy, so they put him in a linen sheet and it burnt some skin off, it turned him into a peeping duck! We got him ready for lift off and off he went... All the way to the end! We had so much enjoyment! Thank you to the people from science in a van who came over to OLA!

~Lexie 🌝

**P.S The chicken or duck was not real!**

Playday!

Hi Everyone!

Last week on Friday, we did a playday! We brought dolls, board games, cardboard boxes, playing cards and just toys in general. I brought playing card as in, the old maid, go fish, crazy eights and war. It was SUCH an awesome day! We all had such a great day!

In this photo, I am playing old maid with my friends, Eilish, Rose, and Julia. As you may see... The girl closest to the camera, Rose, has the old maid. We all had such an amazing day! 
-Lexie 🌝

My First Post for 2019!

Kia Ora,

Welcome to my blog! This is where I'll put my work so that you can read it, and comment on it.
Please enjoy, and please comment.

Thanks for reading,

Lexie