06 December 2009
10 November 2009
Hat Day
Hat Day
Hat Day was a big success.
We saw tons of AMAZING hats.
Above you can see just a few wonderful hats!
08 November 2009
02 September 2009
Thorrington School of Rock Top 3 in NZ
Our school band, "Thorrington School of Rock", recently came third in the Nickelodeon TV Nick Rocks competition.
Paul Sparkes, a school parent, was also recently in the top 3 for the Qantas Film and Television Awards for his editing of the Close Up documentary on Thorrington School of Rock.
30 August 2009
Presentation to Staff
I was very impressed with the presentation that the 3 students gave to staff last week. You ran us through a very clear process with easy steps to follow. I hope that all staff have a go at "blogging" over the next few weeks. I can see a couple of examples from R1 and R6 where student work is being shared - well done.
It was also great to see learning through the "eyes" of our students - well done again Mr G! It is vital we continue to believe in the abilities of our students and provide them with opportunities to expand their cognitive abilities... after all one of our key goals is to keep expanding the capacity of all our students to learn.
It was also great to see learning through the "eyes" of our students - well done again Mr G! It is vital we continue to believe in the abilities of our students and provide them with opportunities to expand their cognitive abilities... after all one of our key goals is to keep expanding the capacity of all our students to learn.
17 August 2009
13 August 2009
10 August 2009
28 July 2009
26 July 2009
11 June 2009
Room 16 Camp Arthur's Pass 2009
Slideshow created and uploaded by the fantastic Courtney Johnson, one of our two chief bloggers. The other blogging genius is MataHana Tikao Calman. Check out her pivot review below.
07 June 2009
The day we lost our moon
The day we lost our moon
The horror of that day!
Here’s the story of the day we lost our moon… first one clear night I looked out of my bedroom window and saw something I’ve never seen before. The moon, it was tiny a dot in the sky, nothing else but total blackness. Then I realized the moon was losing the earths pull. It was getting smaller and smaller every night. One night, as I pulled back the curtain the dot was not there. The earth slightly moved, an earthquake I thought oh no not an earthquake but the moon went BAM! Into the sun. We went to the beach that day. I was thinking about nothing else but last night. I should tell my parents, I thought. No, maybe I’ll keep it a secret. I looked down at the sea, all bluish with white ripples coming closer to the fine, sandy shore. The ocean, still as a statue, hung there, right in front of me. I thought of the poor fisherman and how they might starve and go thirsty. I sat down on the sand and stared at the ship thing that scoops water out of the sea.
By Penny, R13
The horror of that day!
Here’s the story of the day we lost our moon… first one clear night I looked out of my bedroom window and saw something I’ve never seen before. The moon, it was tiny a dot in the sky, nothing else but total blackness. Then I realized the moon was losing the earths pull. It was getting smaller and smaller every night. One night, as I pulled back the curtain the dot was not there. The earth slightly moved, an earthquake I thought oh no not an earthquake but the moon went BAM! Into the sun. We went to the beach that day. I was thinking about nothing else but last night. I should tell my parents, I thought. No, maybe I’ll keep it a secret. I looked down at the sea, all bluish with white ripples coming closer to the fine, sandy shore. The ocean, still as a statue, hung there, right in front of me. I thought of the poor fisherman and how they might starve and go thirsty. I sat down on the sand and stared at the ship thing that scoops water out of the sea.
By Penny, R13
The Day We Lost Our Moon
The Day We Lost Our Moon
It seems like yesterday was perfect, our last speck of light glowing in the dark black night sky. I can just imagine it, everyone, out there, in their PJs staring at it, our last moon. Now today every fisherman is poor, starving, cold, and tired.
I feel sorry for my friend Laura whose Mum & Dad are both fishermen. For the last few weeks I have been giving her half my lunch and we have been having lots of sleepovers. Today in about one minute my and I family are walking over to the beach, about one km from here, in fact about 1million years ago, every year the moon would go that distance 1 km from planet earth! We are now walking down to the beach. We live on the hill so I can just make out the beach sand. It is all yellow no other features at the moment. I can see lots of houses with spider webs in and on them because all the fishermen cannot pay the price of owning a house. I am now at the beach. The sand is burning and my feet don’t feel anything sharp because there is not much sea life. And now looking at the sea it is basically all flat and low plus warm. After a long day, I am in bed and the sky is black.
THE END
By Maeve Cleary Room 13
It seems like yesterday was perfect, our last speck of light glowing in the dark black night sky. I can just imagine it, everyone, out there, in their PJs staring at it, our last moon. Now today every fisherman is poor, starving, cold, and tired.
I feel sorry for my friend Laura whose Mum & Dad are both fishermen. For the last few weeks I have been giving her half my lunch and we have been having lots of sleepovers. Today in about one minute my and I family are walking over to the beach, about one km from here, in fact about 1million years ago, every year the moon would go that distance 1 km from planet earth! We are now walking down to the beach. We live on the hill so I can just make out the beach sand. It is all yellow no other features at the moment. I can see lots of houses with spider webs in and on them because all the fishermen cannot pay the price of owning a house. I am now at the beach. The sand is burning and my feet don’t feel anything sharp because there is not much sea life. And now looking at the sea it is basically all flat and low plus warm. After a long day, I am in bed and the sky is black.
THE END
By Maeve Cleary Room 13
01 June 2009
Pivot
Have you ever heard of Pivot before?
If you haven't its free to download just click this link: http://www.snapfiles.com/php/download.php?id=107965&a=7122592&tag=496085&loc=2
If you haven't its free to download just click this link: http://www.snapfiles.com/php/download.php?id=107965&a=7122592&tag=496085&loc=2
Here are some screenshots:
Click for full screen.
28 May 2009
Room 16 Arthur's Pass Camp
On Monday 25th May Room 16 went to Arthur’s Pass Outdoor Education Centre. We travelled by train there and back. The train trip took about 2 hours. Once we finally got to Arthur’s Pass we met Hamish and Briony, our camp leaders. After we had lunch the class went on the Devils Punchbowl / River Crossing, the water was really cold! At night Hamish took us to see the glowworms, after we played spotlight. The next day we walked the Bealey Spur day walk it took six hours. At the end everyone was tired so Hamish took half the class to a forest track for a blind trail. A blind trail is when you get blindfolded and set off on a track holding on to a rope. Then we got taken up to the old school to make a stretcher out of jackets and poles. In the morning we tidied up the lodge and did orienteering and then had lunch outside the chapel and met up with Room 15, then finished with going to the DOC information centre. We then went down to a bank and did a rock sculpture competition. After we left on the rain for the long trip home.
By MataHana
14 May 2009
31 March 2009
El Grego Interview
This was recorded on a Dictaphone, hence the sound. MataHana and Courtney recorded from the tape onto Audacity on a school computer, then exported the recording as an mp3. Blogger doesn't let you upload mp3s, just pictures and video. So they made this slideshow using iMovie, then added the audio recording as the sound track.
It was a mission working out how to do this; and one we thoroughly enjoyed!
It's so good to have students making the blog posts. It's an example of the great eLearning going on in our school; as are the many samples of classroom work on this blog, which students have produced using the MacBooks.
If you're new, welcome to our blog: watch this space. (If nothing changes, hit refresh; if still nothing, bookmark the site, and check in a few weeks. We are uploading every few weeks at this stage.)
Tofa.
- Mr Gemmill
30 March 2009
24 March 2009
10 March 2009
05 March 2009
03 March 2009
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