Pet day

Today we had Ranzau School pet day. We have this every second year. There were lots of animals that came to school today. We have a special visit from Christine who works at Natureland and she came with lots of interesting animals. We had a fanstastic morning doing fun activities with our buddies and then we had an afternoon in the ring where dogs, goats, lambs and calves were shared. 

Kapa haka exchange

On Wednesday we had a kapa haka exchange with Stoke School. It was a time for both of our kapa haka groups to celebrate what is special about our schools. We performed for each other and then we shared Kai. We do a kapa haka exchange every year and we alternate between it being held at Ranzau school and Stoke School.

Global citizenship.

Today Lauren from world vision came to talk to us about being a global citizen. We talked about being the change we want to see in the world and making a positive impact to the world around us. At Ranzau School we are great citizens and we are constantly showing other people our amazing qualities. 

Stan Walker Concert by Paris

I felt butterflies deep within me as Bree,Brooklyn,Mum, Abbey and I excitedly hurried into boys college! We all couldn’t believe that we were actually here! We scampered into our seats and waited for about 15 minutes, then a deep voice welcomed Whenua Patuwai to the stage, there were screams coming from everyone! We stood up on our seats so we could see! We yelled, “YEAH STAN!!!” As he sung his opening song Black Box! People were staring at us like we were CRAZY but we are definitely not crazy! Haha! About half way through the concert all the kids went and bought a cap that had SW on it. The lady who gave it to us said that after the concert we could have Stan Walkers autograph!!! We ran back to our seats, Just as we got there Stan was singing my FAVOURITE song of the night Bullet Proof! As soon as Stan said that he was singing his last song we all leapt out of our seats and ran in a mad dash to the small line to get Stan Walkers autograph! But suddenly he stared to sing Take It Easy! At first we were very confused then we saw Taylor and her friends so we had our own mini party because we didn’t want to lose our spots! Finally we got his autograph and a picture with him and headed off home! We had an AWESOME time I really hope he comes back to Nelson soon!!!

James' Rep Tournament

“Come on boys lets win this match!” I said as we jogged out onto the pitch. I realised just how hard this match was going to be. I jogged over to my starting position and waited for kick off. A short sharp burst from the refs whistle signaled the start of play and another burst 40 minutes later ended our first match. Even though we had lost 4 - 0 we had all thoroughly enjoyed it and were looking forward to our next match. Sadly half way through our second match a kid from Canterbury red gave me a painful ankle injury. Luckily we had no more matches on that day. The next day we had a match against Nelson white which we lost 5 - 2 and another match against mid Canterbury. We all really wanted to win this match and thats what we did. We had a great start and put 2 balls in the back of the net. In the second half we only got better putting 4 more balls in the back of the net. The next day we had one last game against Malborough blue which was a 15th and 16th play off. we jogged out onto the field and waited for kickoff. As soon as the whistle blew we sprinted our hearts out and managed to gain a 4 - 0 lead at half time. In the second half we did really well and scored another 3 goals which left the score at 7 - 0. So we finished on a high and ended up getting 15th out of 20 I think. I was so happy the way I played and even though we did not do very well I was still really happy! So thats how reps went.

Gemma and Emma's picture challenge

Earths's oceans

Every Tuesday when Barb comes in to teach us, we have been looking at our world. This week we looked at Oceans and how they were made. Barb showed us this really cool video about it. Check it out.

Max and Ben's picture challenge

We are back!

We are back and already busy getting into our learning for Term 4.   We had heaps of replies from our Blog Buddies about our picture from last term. Ben & Max, Emma & Gemma are going to give us 2 new ones this week.  We hope you enjoy having a guess at what they are!

Ranzau Term News - Term 3

Term 3 News 2013 from Ranzau School on Vimeo.

Picture Challenge

Can you guess what this is a picture of?

Miah's Reading Response letter

Dear Megan & Blog followers

Hi, How are you? Have you had a good week? I sure have! I can’t believe that Term 3 is almost over! Only one more term left! :( That’s crazy! 

Anyway, At the moment my book is at a very interesting point because Simon is starting to have a crush on Rose and he is acting all shy around her. I don’t think that Squint will like this! So the other day Simon and Jem were at Mrs Masons for lunch and so was Rose and Tommy. Simon and Rose went out to the greenhouse to get some veggies. It was dead silent for a while until Rose brought up the fact that her Dad can get quite angry and violent. Awkward! She asked Simon about the day that he fell off his bike, she knew that he didn’t really fall off his bike and she also knew that her Dad was involved somewhere here too. And sure enough she managed to get Simon to spill the truth. So Simon told her all about it, every single part. Simon was surprised around how she took it all. I guess that that situation must be pretty relatable one for her :( After Simon had explained it all. Rose started telling him about her life (mainly about her father though). She told him about the blood stained knees, the bruises on her face, I guess you know how it all happened, Squint. Then she started telling Simon about that, her Mother, Tommy and her hope to move house, to a safer environment sometime soon. But there's something stopping them… Her Mum might be having another child. Rose saw a cot that had been put aside somewhere around the ‘House Yard’ and there are bottles and baby formula in the cupboard under the stairs. Sadly. It looks like they won’t be moving for a while :( I do really hope that they will still be able to move away, because it would be a very bad environment for the child to grow up in (Meaning Squint). And it also wouldn’t be fair on Rose, Tommy and their Mother, being slapped and scratched all the time. I do really hope that the wend will be a good one and their family will be safe :) It has crossed my mind numerous times that this could all be made up and that Squint, Rose and Tommy could be playing a joke on Simon and Jem, but I do really hope that that is not the case.

Have a great weekend!

xx Miah xx

Our last tennis session

This morning was our last tennis session with Ngaire. We are all keen tennis players and our skills are developing nicely. Today we played a tournament which showed great competitiveness! 

Karla's Reading Response letter.

Dear Megan 

Hi, hows has your week been? Mines been great. I’m still reading Thea Stilton and the Ice Treasure. In the morning when they woke up and went down stairs to see the other rats they found out that half of the team had gone to find out who these bad rats are. Then Paulina gets a text from Nicky that they are in the jail on the boat. “That’s it” Paulina says. Then they all thought to go after them. They get on the boat that Kanuk shows them. Hey we can’t go through the water because the water is frozen. “We can break it” Kanuk said. They say good bye and then sail across the sea. “I can see the boat” said Colette “stop rowing” said Kanuk. Then Kanuk and his friend slowly rowed the boat. When they hopped on board they could hear two rats talking to each other then they could see half of the team there!  And thats all i have read so far.

From Karla 

Rock da House

After months of hard work last night was the big Rock da House performance. It was an amazing show and the Ranzau choir did themselves and our school incredibly proud! The most talked about part of the show was the white gloves at the start. Well done to our Room 8 solo singers; Jakie, Megyn and Emma. 

Tennis

Ngaire is back again to take some tennis sessions with us. 

Reading Rocks!

Today Adrian came to do his Reading Rocks show for us. He was funny and he spoke about how reading can take you to so many different places as you read. It is when we use our imagination as we read that our stories come to life! 

Speeches

Room 8 have had two to three weeks to present a speech on the topic of their choice; eg. My summer trip, Health, Reduce reuse recycle, Leaders that change the world, the history of chocolate. All the speeches have been great and a lot fun, but also a heap of work! We enjoyed them all. 

Rock da House rehearsal!

We have been at the Trafalgar centre this morning doing a rehearsal for Rock da House tomorrow night. It sounds amazing! 

Daniel Reading Response

Dear Megan                                    15.8.13

I have started a new Secret Seven book by Enid Bytons. The secret seven have  gone to a circus with Jacks very annoying sister Susie and her friend Binkie, who are not part of the secret seven. Anyway all the secret seven including Susie and Binkie biked down to the circus with Peters dog Scamper. They parked there bikes just outside the circus and left Scamper to guard them. The first ride they went on was a big ferris-wheel after the ride they were really dizzy and after they did a few more rides they decided to go back home. On their way home they saw a house on fire and they called the fire brigade straight away and luckily no one was in the house at the time the house was burning down.  After that the fire man thanked them and said for them to go back home.  Now the Secret Seven have decided to do something nice to help the lady whose house burnt down.

I will tell you more next week.

From Daniel

James Reading Response letter

Dear Megan and our blog readers                                                                 14.08.13

I have finished the Hatchet and I really enjoyed it. I thought the writer really did a good job with a really nice ending. I am now reading a book called Conrad’s fate written by Dianna Wynne Jones. So far this has been a fantastic book I’m so happy you gave it to me.

The book starts off with Con { who’s Conrad } talking about the Stallery mansion which he thinks is some kind of fairy tale castle.

His uncle and his father owned a book shop until his father demanded money and sold his half of the book shop to his uncle.

His father died a short time later. Con has been working for uncle Alfred for ages. When he had free time he would rock climb and do other dangerous things like his father. One day his uncle found him climbing Stall Crag. His uncle told him to never do it again other wise there would be consequences. That day Con was trying to find the last Peter Jenkins book.  He never found it and went back up to the house. The next morning Anthea declared that she was going to university because she hated the life she had at the moment. 

So far this has been a book that has not let me down. Con is a real character and I can not wait to read more about him. A fantastic book that I would think that most people would really enjoy.

Yours sincerely 

James

Suter Art Gallery

Today we went to the Suter Art Gallery in Nelson. We went to see an exhibition created by Fran Maguire. It involved 700 ceramic sculptures! It is called Op Art. 

Making legs.

Today we have made the legs for our bugs. We used pipe cleaners and covered them in making tape. We have attached them to our bugs and tomorrow we will paper mâché our legs. 

Bug making!

We are in the process of making paper mâché bugs. Today we have started the messy part. We will keep you updated with our progress!  

Abby's Readers Response Letter

Dear Megan

Geronimo just got on the 10th floor and saw a fortune-teller she said to get the girls attention you have to become famous by going exploring . When I read with you this week, you thought that this book was too easy for me so I got new book called Ramona and her mother

Ramona is having Willa Jean, Ramona's best friends little sister over and Ramona does not like her. So ramona is hiding everything that she loves so that Willa Jean can not play with anything that ramona loves and then Ramona thought of something. She thought she could give Willa Jean a present that takes ages to open so that Willa Jean will not bother her! So Ramona can have some fun with out Willa Jean. Ramona had no idea what to give Willa Jean so she sat in her room and then she thought of something a bathrobe because she had 2!

I am enjoying this book and it is more of a challenge for me.

From
Abby

Emma's Reading Response letter

Dear Megan

Hi, how are you? Hope you have a great weekend.

This week I have just finished The truth about Verity Sparks-by Susan Green.

Verity Sparks has an extraordinary talent she can find lost things just by thinking about them. Verity Sparks was working/living in a hat shop and was delivering one to a rich lady called Lady throttle. Once she was inside the house, Lady throttle declared that Verity had stolen her big diamond . (She hadn’t). As Lady Throttle was yelling at an investigator to search Verity for any evidence Verity suddenly had a tingly feeling in her hands and they got itchier and itchier and in her mind she saw the diamond in Lady throttles purse. Well she was right and she ran out the house as fast as she could. She went back to the hat shop and the next day they received a letter from Lady throttle complaining that she would not pay for the hats she got and neither would her friends unless Verity Sparks left the hat shop to live on her own-Verity is 13 years old. So Verity left the shop to see her aunty and uncle (she didn’t like them). Finally she got there and her uncle was mean as usual. He told her that she was an orphan and she deserved to live in the gutter. Well you see Verity had a mother and father but they both died when she was young so she went to the hat shop to work and it slowly became her home but now she was being told that she had a real mother and father and the others had just adopted her. Anyway while she was down the road she  realised she was being followed and as she was trying to run away she got attacked and the man that was following her .He was the man that inspected Verity for Lady throttles diamond. He found out about Verity’s power of finding lost things just by thinking about them and all that. So Verity came to live/work with the man and his family and she got a job with them  her job was investigating anything stolen and lost from her amazing power. But some people had some different plans for Verity.

Join Verity Sparks as she receives forged letters, gets chased followed and unlocks the secret of her real life

Yours

Sincerely

Emma

Gemma's Reading Response Letter

Each week in Room 8 we write a letter for Megan, sharing what we have read for the week and what exciting things are happening in our text.

We are going to share some of these every week.

Here is Gemma's!

Dear Megan                                                                                                            31.07.13

Hi, I hope you have had a good week. This week at school I’m reading Tussock.

Kate and Madeline’s father has gone missing and it brings Kate to the old tin hut her father passed on to her for her 5th birthday even more. Every night kate lights a lamp to help guide her father home. 10 year old Madeline has been building a stone man to help find their father. The stone man is an old legend that has been in the neighbourhood for a long time. The legend says once a man was stuck at the bottom of a lake and the stone man came and rescued him. Before their dad went missing he agreed to let a boot camp on his land and now the boot camp has come and a boy called Troy from the boot camp keeps escaping. Kate is too fearful to tell her mother about Troy even though her mother made strict orders that they must tell her if any of the children from the boot camp escape.

The main characters in this book are Kate, Madeline, Troy and their mum

from Gemma

Science Fair

Lots of hard work has gone into our science fair projects and there have been some interesting investigations going on. They will all be on display in the multipurpose room towards the end of the week.

We are back!

It was a great start to Term 3 yesterday. Everyone was happy to be back at school. It is going to be another great term at Ranzau School.

Ranzau News - Term 2

medium from Ranzau School on Vimeo.

Rock da House!

Today we are at Stoke School for a Rock da House practice with 7 other schools. It is sounding awesome and it is going to be great concert at the end of August. 

Ranzau Cross Country

Yesterday we had our school Cross Country at the Hope Domain. It was a really warm afternoon and lots of whanau came to support us. Everyone ran their hardest and we all supported each other. Next week some Year 4-6 children will represent Ranzau School at the Interschool cross country.

Exploration

We had lots of activity happening during exploration this morning. It is awesome to see our Ranzau students actively engaged in self-directed learning. 

Launching 'EXPLORATION' - Rube Goldberg

Today we have launched the start of our EXPLORATION time. This is something we are going to be doing every Friday and we can choose something we want to learn, create or discover. This was our starting motivation. Next week we will be creating our own Rube Goldberg in small groups. We will share with you next week what we come up with.

Peak of the Week

We are back and ready for another busy term with lots of exciting things happening. Here is our 'Peak of the Week'sharing for Week 1. Filming by Max.P

Peak of the week T2 W1 from Ranzau School on Vimeo.

Ranzau News Term 1

Term 1 2013 from Ranzau School on Vimeo.

Kid Power

Today Kate and Cornelia from Kid Power came to do a session with us. We talked about making choices to keep safe and having the courage to say NO to our friends if they are doing something we don't like. We know how to walk confidently and use our hands to create a fence and say STOP to help ourselves.

Leadership Skills with Janice

Yesterday Janice from Sport Tasman came to work with the Community Council and Sports Committee to help develop our leadership skills. This will help us to run activities with our leadership groups.

Burma Trail

Burma Trail

“Aaaaaah,” “that’s definitely Miah hey William,” “yep.”, “Hahahaha,” “that’s Taine,” “definitely.” Declan called us up for our turn and we were off. He led us to the start of the Burma trail and put our blind folds on.

William was up first but luckily our plan of attack was that William would wait 7 metres up the trail for me. We met up and quickly set off. After about another couple of metres there was this faint rustling sound which gave me the creeps! A couple more metres along the track there was a crazy Kookaburra sound that emerged from the darkness which sent a shiver down my spine. Then the rope changed and started getting lower. About 10 metres along from the kookaburra sound someone started stalking us but 10 seconds later though they went away. Then someone started chucking stuff at us, which really made my day! Then that person stole William’s hat and started tugging at my jersey, which was pleasant. Then some annoying ropes that took a couple of minutes to get through. Then a down hill slope to the final person MEGAN! We walked along and then “Aaaaaaaaah,” which scared the living daylights out of me. Then we took our blind folds off and Lily gave us a fruit burst. The next day we walked through the Burma trail and we found out who was scaring us. The track only took us 5 minutes in daytime but at night time it took about 10 minutes to complete. It was AWESOME!

By James