Last Day

I don't know if I'm allowed to write a post but....

This year has been great, good luck to the year 8s for college and year 7 s I hope you enjoy being the leaders of the school, so good luck. I will miss you all!

Caitlin R:D

Weekly Tasks Term 4, Week 9

This is the last task sheet of the year!

Remember all the upcoming events for this week:
Tuesday - Year 7 retreat
Wednesday - Year 8 retreat (bring food for a shared lunch)
Thursday - Carol Service & Prizegiving- 6pm at church
Friday - Reports sent home
Sunday - Yr 8 Leavers' Dinner

Joaquin & Teh Epik Peeps

By popular demand, here is the encore performance of What Does the Fox Say? performed by Joaquin & Teh Epik Peeps at the talent quest last Friday. Teh Epik Peeps are Nicole, Matthew, Daniel, Joe, Aiden & Caitlin. Congratulations on winning the People's Choice Award!

The Alyssa Norton Show and The Hungry Games

This year's theme for the Year 8 Assembly was The Alyssa Norton Show, including a trailer and guest stars from The Hungry Games. Awesome job everyone!

Here's the Hungry Games movie trailer that Joe, Daniel and others made.

And here is the hit song 'What does Joaquin say?'

Weekly Tasks - Term 4, Week 8

Here are the tasks for this week.

Dino Day!

We had a great time making dinosaur movies today. While some of the Yr 7 & 8s were at the Interzone Athletics, and some of the Room 8 students were in our class for the day, we decided to focus on dinosaurs for the day.

After watching a few cheesy clips from Walking with Dinosaurs for inspiration, groups of students chose dinosaurs to research. They then had to create a set to use with dinosaur models, and write and film a script.

Here are a couple of the movies:

Weekly Tasks - Term 4, Week 7

Here are the tasks for this week. 

Remember the Interzone Athletics is on Tuesday (now postponed until Thursday) and the Talent Quest is on Friday.

Victory!

Good news! We just got told that we won the Minecraft competition!  We will hopefully be receiving our prize of an iPod Touch this week.

Here is the video tour of our Medieval Villages in case you missed it last time. All of the students in Rooms 11 & 12 worked on the villages as part of our Medieval Times unit in Term 3. Great job everyone, and a special thanks to the A-team (Anthony, Arthur, Anastastia & Alyssa) who made the video.

Edit: iPod received - thanks to Interface Magazine.

Dinosaur video clips

Here are the short video clips to watch as part of your reading follow-up task. You need to watch four of them and make a note of an interesting dinosaur fact from each video.
Sorry about the cheesy voiceovers!

Walking with Dinosaurs clips

Weekly Tasks - Term 4, Week 6

Here are the tasks for this week. The speech finals are on Thursday so remember to wear your sports gear on Wednesday instead.

Book Character Day

Here are a few photos of some of the awesome costumes people came up with.

Weekly Tasks - Term 4, Week 5

Here are the tasks for this week.

Since it's book week, pretty much all the tasks are book-related. Don't forget you also need to be ready to deliver your speech any day this week.

Medieval Village video

We finally got around to making a video tour of our medieval villages from Term 3, because we're entering a Minecraft competition. Here's the video:

Renzo's Essay

Here's another great essay, this time by Renzo.

Animal Adaptations

A definition for adaptation is when an animal will change physically and behaviourally to be successful in their surroundings. Animals not only adapt for their survival, they also do it to attract mates. Around the world, there are many animals that have adapted through millions of generations. 

The polar bear is one of the most extraordinary animals that has adapted to live in in the harsh environment of the Arctic and Alaska. They grew long, rigid hair between the pads of their feet so they are protected from the cold. The hair also helps them to walk on the ice without slipping. The polar bear developed small round ears to stop so much water coming in freezing their ear drums. Their white fur is convenient when they are hunting as it obscures them from prey. Also when hunting they cover their black nose. They grew canine like teeth and claws to hunt for food. Their legs became stronger helping them to swim after prey. These legs are also used for jumping over giant fissures of water. They are known to have the ability to swim to up to the speeds of 10km per hour and have the stamina to continuously swim for 100km. Due to the cold weather they have a coat of blubber of 11cm thick. The polar bear has adapted to this since it would have to travel very long distances searching for food. 

Zebras adapted to avoid predators. They changed to have a striped pattern to cause confusion to predators like the lions. They have a strong sense of smell that when they smell a lion they scurry away frantically. They grew sharp teeth despite being herbivores, but that are used for a defensive action. The zebras’ legs, like the polar bears, became stronger to kick predators away. These legs were also used for running away from predators. Their legs were essential to travelling to new grazing areas. The zebras’ digestive system adapted to consume coarse grass it grazed on. Their herd instinct became strong to guard themselves and each other. The zebras’ unlike the other animals in the horse family herded with the giraffes. This gives them the advantage of more eyes looking out for predators.  

The crocodile is a reptile, and all reptiles they have the ability to absorb energy from the sun. In cold months they bask in the sun trying to warm up, and in hot months they lie in the water. Since crocodiles usually digest their food above water to avoid drowning they adapted to have a fleshy palatal valve to help prevent them from drowning. The reptiles lay their eggs in elaborate nests on land so that the eggs won’t flood with water. For the fear of the eggs drying out the crocodiles would lay eggs in the wet season. The females would look after their young for several months; this parental care is rare in reptiles. The crocodiles have to have a high tolerance for salinity, but they can also be found in freshwater rivers and swamps too. Though the crocs don't truly migrate, they do move between different habitats during the dry and wet season. In addition to this movement, they also change habitats depending on how old they are. The crocodiles are born and raised in freshwater areas. As juveniles, they are forced to more marginal and saline areas. 

Animals have adapted in many ways to their habitats and mating seasons. The animals would evolve throughout millions of years trying to suit their requirements. Adaptation is vital in animal life, without that they could die quite easily. Scientists and Biologists are observing the animals cautiously looking for any changes. Animals can change both physically and behaviourally which is absolutely fascinating.

Weekly Tasks - Term 4, Week 4

Here are the tasks for this week. Remember the adaptation essay is due on Wednesday, and your speech needs to be finished on Thursday.

Astin's Adaptation Essay

Astin has finished his animal adaptation essay already - have a read if you need a bit of helping thinking of what sort of things to write about. Great job Astin!

Animal Adaptations

The world is a jigsaw of environments. Occupying various habitats, animals have changed over generations in order to survive within their territory, or have adapted to their surroundings. Snow littered peaks, dry grass carpeted savannahs and dense rainforest, animals have made exceptional physical and behavioural transformations to accommodate their homes.

In the Central Asian mountain range a species of big cat has made remarkable adaptions to survive the arctic climate where it dwells. The snow leopard is very well adapted to its home. Its silver black spotted coat of fur blends in with the snow to maximize camouflage. It also has an enhanced nasal cavity and a big chest so it can breathe in high altitudes. The snow leopard’s eyesight is excellent and can spot prey from long distances. Snow leopard’s paws are cushioned by fur to stop them from getting torn on sharp rocks. The ears of this creature can flatten to prevent frostbite and its tail is used to balance while bounding at speeds of 40 miles per hour. But the most amazing attribute is how far it can jump. The snow leopard has a great muscular build and its powerful hind legs can propel the beast up to 15 meters in the air-six times its body length. The snow leopard has made many fitting changes for its habitat in the mountains.

Corallus caninus, more commonly known as the emerald tree boa, is another example of remarkable adaption. It resides in the rainforests of South America where it lingers in the trees waiting for prey. Like the snow leopard, the boa’s green scales blend in with the vegetation of the rainforest so well it’s virtually invisible to unsuspecting prey. Emerald tree boas also have an athletic build. Their long and extraordinarily strong bodies are built to kill. Boas are constrictors, they have strengthened muscles to squeeze their victims until their blood pressure is too high, ultimately killing their prey. Their fangs are relatively long and are known to snatch birds while they’re flying by. Emerald tree boas have brilliant eyesight and can see when it’s pitch black, their pupils grow exceptionally big to let in the available light.  But what makes the emerald tree boa a successful predator is two pits on the side of its diamond shaped head. These pits are able to detect heat produced by prey and can also locate where the heat is generated. With this useful information the boa can react as soon as the animal is in range. Emerald tree boas are efficient killers due to all their numerous adaptions.

In Greek these gentle giants’ name means ‘Water Horse’. Hippopotamuses are situated in the savannahs of Africa where they wallow in the mud. They have made many changes to suit the dry environment. Hippo’s eyes, ears and nostrils are positioned strategically so they can breathe, see and hear while the rest of their body is submerged. They also have the power to close their nostrils while under water and a clear membrane concealing their eyes allows them to see under water as well. Due to the lack of sweat glands, pores on hippo’s skin produce a red substance. This keeps the beast constantly moist and prevents sunburn. Hippos have carefully constructed webbed feet which helps with swimming and supporting its enormous weight when walking on land. The canine and incisor teeth of the hippos are very intimidating and are used for fighting.  They can grow up to 40 centimetres and are kept constantly sharp by rubbing the upper canines against the lower canines. All these adaptions help the hippopotamus survive the barren grasslands of the savannah.

All three animals have adapted extremely well to survive in their own different environment. From muscular hind legs to heat sensitive pits, animals all around the world have made remarkable adaptions.      

By Astin

Animal adaptation essay info

Here is the structure outline we talked about today for the second essay.

The topic is 'Explain the concept of animal adaption.' 

Introduction

- define adaptation*

- Include a sentence that says what you will be writing about and leads on to your paragraphs.

Paragraphs 1 - 3

- In each paragraph, choose an animal, identify its adaptations and how it is suited to its environment.

Conclusion

- Summarise what you have said.

- Mention the essay topic again.

*Definition

Here's an example of how to explain animal adaptation. Try to put it into your own words if possible:

Adaptation is the process by which animals change over time to become more suited to their environments. This change happens over many generations.

Ideas for animals to write about:

- giant tortoises - shell shape

- marine iguanas - swimming/eating seaweed

- finches - beak size

- tigers - stripes

- moths - colour
- cormorant - wing size
- booby - air sac for diving
- beetle - shortened wings
- or research any other animal you like

Remember to proofread!

Weekly Tasks - Term 4, Week 3

Here are the tasks for this week. There is quite a lot to do and it's a short week so you'll have to work fast! However remember the second essay isn't due till next Wednesday.

Info for Tortoise paragraph

Here is a link to the website where we got the tortoise information for our reading groups. You can use this to help you write your 'perfect paragraph' about something to do with Galapagos Giant Tortoises.

Galapagos essay info

Now that you have watched the first Galapagos video, you can write your essay. Remember it is due on Thursday, as we are going to discuss them on Friday.

Here's a link to the video on YouTube.

And here's a suggested essay framework to help you get started:

How did animals get to the Galapagos Islands?

Introduction

- Discuss Galapagos Islands background, e.g. volcanic, 16 of them, where they are, how they were created.

- Say what you are going to talk about.

Paragraphs (3-5 paragraphs depending on length)

Each one about how a specific animal got to the island, e.g:
- lizard (iguana)
- giant tortoises

- cormorants
- spider

- insect

- carpenter bee

- penguin

Conclusion

- similarities to NZ

- sum up what you said

- tie back to beginning

- what makes the islands special/important

Weekly Tasks - Term 4, Week 2

Here are the tasks for this week. Remember the Galapagos essay is due on Thursday, not Friday.

Science videos

Here are links to the videos we watched today. Watch them again and make some notes in your Topic book about the most important information.

Big Bang

Origins of Life

Term 4 Reading Challenges

Here are the reading challenges for Term 4. They are all optional except for the 10 book challenge. 

Books can count in more than one challenge. Try to complete as many as you can!

10 Book Challenge: Read 10 books in one term                                                     

20 Book Challenge: Read 20 books in one term

Non-fiction Challenge: Read 2 non-fiction books                                                             

Cover Challenge: Read 2 books:  - one with an ugly cover but interesting blurb

                                                        - one with an appealing cover  - don’t read the blurb        

School Book Challenge: Read a book that is set in a school

Ye Olde Booke Challenge: Read 2 books that were written before 1990 

Library Challenge: Read a book from a section of the library that you haven’t used before

Island Challenge: Read a book set on an island 
One-word Title Challenge: Read a book with a one-word title