Year Reflection, Goodbye Lake Brunner

 Just yesterday was my last day of primary school. Over the past eight years at Lake Brunner, I've made a lot of memories and I'm really going to miss my friends and teachers.

At the start of this year, I became a student council member, it was fun because we got to organise things like wheels day, and book character day, where our principal dressed as a snozzcumber off of the BFG.

I've also enjoyed the sports units we've had each term thanks to my teacher. There was badminton and softball, but I think this year handball was my favourite. If you've browsed through one of my posts about handball then you'll know the game I'm talking about. Long story short, our version of handball was basically a cross between netball and basketball. It was really fun.

This final term, my class and I had our school camp. We made camp base in Hokitika, and toured our way through town, taking a short trip to lake Kaniere on our first night for a freezing, but enjoyable swim. You can read more about it on one of my other blog posts named 'Highlights of Camp!' 

And of course we all loved the sailing this term with great thanks to Simon from 'have a go sailing!'

It's been a really amazing year for all of us kids at LBS, and if you're thinking of having your child enrolled at Lake Brunner School you can be sure they'll have a good time.

See you later to my best friends Morgan, Mackenzie, Kaelyn, Zoe and Tui. And thank you to my teacher Nic - it's been the best year ever!

Te Kinga's Big Day Out!

A few days ago, we had First Aid Day, and everyone in class learnt what to do in a situation involving injuries. The following day, our teacher Nic decided it would be a good test to see if the Te Kinga students could put their newfound skills and knowledge to good use.

So a few students in class were chosen to pretend they were hurt on our big day out around our tiny village of Moana. Kaelyn suffered hypothermia, I had a badly bruised leg, Jimi broke his arm, Morgan cut her hand and Tui endured a burn. It was quite funny really for the people acting, as the other students had no clue we had planned this experiment, but  after Kaelyn recovered instantly from her nasty case of hypothermia, they got the general idea. 

After our acting was done, it was time to test our survival skills. First we were split into groups and had the challenge of making tents given only a tarp apart from sticks and things you could collect from the land as equipment. And the tents had to be waterproof. If they weren't? Well, you got wet when Nic splashed a bucket of water over the top!

After our tent-making, we all made fires along the lakeside, and it was time to make smores before we headed back to school.

School Camp Captions!

Today we made funny pictures by adding captions to the photos we took during our camp in Hokitika, here are some of mine below. 

Highlights of Camp!

Recently, my class and I went to Hokitika for our class camp. I would like to share my favourite memories from the time we spent there.

Let's start with the first day. We arrived at our campsite and played about for a while. Don't worry that's not the good bit. The good part is where we went to the Industrial Museum. They had lots of cool old stuff there including this awesome train, but when I say train I don't mean any old train with a roof or walls . . .  It was awesome! There was basically this long bench that you sat on like you were riding on horseback and we went through this cool bush track that looped around to back where it started. We also saw these cool old fire engine trucks!

After our time spent at the Industrial Museum, our next voyage was the trip to Lake Kaniere. We started fires, ate smores and went swimming! The water was freezing but it was still super fun. 

Day 2! This had to be the best day of the adventure. It began with the gorge walk. There were soooo many views - especially over the bridges and at the lookout points. All too soon our walk was over though, and now it was time for lunch . . . And the treetop walk! 

I don't think I'd ever been up so high, but it was really awesome to look down at the creeks and nature. There was this tower at stop number six and after embarking up a spiral staircase, you reached the highest spot! It was really amazing - I don't think I'll ever forget it.

After our walk up in the treetops, it was time for our surprise. Our teacher Nic arranged some stuff at this place in Hoki and BAM! We got to go in helicopters! It was my first time in one or even up in the sky for that matter and when our group went up, I was lucky enough to get the front seat! That had to be the coolest part of the trip. 

The third day. It started when we packed up back at camp :(   Time to get back in the cars and go home. But not before stopping back in Greymouth for our swim at the pools! We stayed there for a while, had pizza for lunch and then it really was time to go home. But it was definitely one of the best camps ever!

Mona Lisa Information Report

 In an estimated 1503, the famed Mona Lisa was painted. It’s well known artist Leonardo Da Vinci made the Mona Lisa at 51 years of age, and the portrait took him four years to master and perfect. His model for the painting was actually called Lisa del Giocondo, and the art is thought to have been a celebration for her new home where she lived with her husband, Francesco del Giocondo and in honour of their second born son, although the art 

never was delivered to it’s patron and Leonardo kept it with 

him throughout the rest of his life.

Many years later, in 1911, disaster struck. 

The Mona Lisa had been stolen! Its thief, the Italian artist Vicenzo Peruggia, had hidden out of sight for two years before he was finally captured and the painting returned.

There have now of course, been many reproductions of 

The Mona Lisa, including the one with the mustache at Pompidou, but the real one remains in it’s rightful place at the Louvre Museum in France.

And we hope nobody will dare to raid it.

Article By: Tara Morgan

Art Smart!

For topic each week we get into groups and complete challenges. We always have the same groups and I am with Krystal, Tui, Grace, Jimi, and Leo. This week, along with two other activities, we had art smart. In art smart, we had to individually take photos that involved water in some way. 

Here are some of the photos that I took. 

Would you like to do an activity like this?

Hand Ball!

Over the first week of term two, my class and I have been learning how to play hand ball. It's a mix of basket ball and netball that my teacher, Nic, created. Some of the basic rules in handball is that we can bounce the ball, but only three times before passing to another player. If you don't pass within three seconds, then it's the other teams ball. Like in netball, you can't be in the another players 'bubble' so you have to be a meter away at all times. 

Today I played as a 'centre', so it was my job to move around the other team's players, so my team could pass to me before I passed to another player, like the 'goal attack' so they could shoot. There was also boundaries for each player, as a centre, I was allowed to run anywhere on the court apart from in the goal circles.

Does handball sound like a fun game for your class or friends?

Maybe you could give it a go!