The triathlon

On the 13th of March 2009 it was the school triathlon at CLIFTON TERRACE SCHOOL.First the year 6 girls had their turn and then it went all the way to the year 1s. The year 1 and 2s didn't bike. At last it was year 4 girls' turn! I ran like I have never run before! I felt like a jet plane was chasing me! At last I was getting on my bike! NUTS. A bike pushed against my bike. Luckily Lilyanne's dad helped me. I felt like a speedy rocket! I felt great! I dumped my bike roughly then I raced to the swimming pool. Finally I touched the finish line. I came third to last. Abby and Kate were behind me! Amy came first, Holly came second and Emma P came third!
By Amanda

Our vege stall

On the day of the triathlon we had a vege stall to sell some of the veges from our class garden. We sold tomatoes, parsley, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots and silverbeet. The cucumbers sold out first! We made $43.00.

What's Happening In Our Vege Garden?

At school on Tuesday at we ate a delicious salad made from the veges in our school garden. In the salad there was lettuce, crunchy carrot, crisp cucumber, tomato, beans, parsley and chives. Yummy, yum!

Welcome to 2009!

On February 3rd 24 children arrived back at school ready to begin the new year in Room 15. That afternoon a scrub-fire broke out in the hills behind Dodson's Valley and some of the children and their families had to evacuate their homes.
The fire gave us a wonderful opportunity to practise expressive writing. The children were trying to draw a picture with words so that those who didn't see the fire would know what it looked, sounded and smelt like as well as how the people who were there felt at the time.
Here are some of their recounts:

The other day there was a bushfire. The flames crackled up! It was because it was very dry and hadn't rained in a long time. it was quite windy so the fire leapt over to another spot and the fire got bigger. It was scary. .Just as I was going to bed my Granny and Granddad came to my house. Granny told me that a fireman had to go to hospital because he breathed in too much smoke. I could not get to sleep because of the fire.
By Sophie P.

There was an inferno last night in Atawhai near Dodson Valley. I saw helicopters racing to the sea to get freezing cold water. I saw the blaze when it was coming over the ridge-line. The smoke was grey, it was like a volcano. The crumbly, warm ashes were on people's houses. The smoke smelt funny. Some people had to leave their homes.
The blaze was like a rocket shooting through the sky.
By Charlie

The bushfire was red. It was flaming hot and there were helicopters with buckets. We were near to the fire. The fire was steaming, it looked like lava, it looked like it blew up. And I thought it was scary when I first saw it.
By Emily

On Tuesday 3 February 2009, there was an out of control bushfire. It started at Dodson Valley. The blaze ripped over the ridgeline. There were two Westpac helicopters, one rescue helicopter, one blue and white helicopter, one red and white helicopter, one news helicopter and one special helicopter with two water tanks. I saw three cop cars. With the breeze the fire threatened to come even closer. It tried and tried but the breeze went against it. One of the two Westpac helicopters rumbled over our house.
By Michael

I saw a big monsoon bucket. Then we saw the heavy smoke. Soon the smoke covered our house. We had to evacuate and we stayed there very late.Then the fire went out. Yippee, hooray! It was scary and exciting.
By Emma

On my way home I saw a red and white helicopter flying past with a full monsoon bucket. I saw a helicopter putting some sea water on the crackling fire.
By Nuni

On Tuesday there was a big fire that started up the hill by Atawhai. It was flaming hot. It had burnt down heaps of big trees.
There were six helicopters. They had to spray water on the fire. It was amazing. Cars that were driving to get up to their houses weren't allowed to go up the road. The breeze made the fire get worse.
By Sarah

Weighing and measuring Fluffy

Sketching Fluffy

More about Fluffy

Fluffy is very friendly and tame.

Fluffy

Here is Fluffy two days old.

Incubating eggs

We have a new member of our class. Her name is Fluffy. She is a Rhode Island Red chicken. We hatched her out in an incubator. It took 24 days, longer than the usual 21 days for hens' eggs. We had to roll the eggs over twice a day for the first 17 days and keep the temperature inside the incubator constant at 39 degrees celsius.
We named a second chicken that hatched out Duffy but she died. We buried her in Nature's Way.

Book Week

During Book Week we had a special day when we came dressed as our favourite character. Can you spot a pirate, Tintin, Mother Bear, Snow White, Pippi Longstocking or any of your favourite characters amongst us?

Nelson Provincial Museum Trip

Last term we had a very interesting trip to the Body Alive exhibition. We found out lots of things about our bodies and tested our strength and speed. Room 15's favourite activity was the Guts game. We climbed up the ladder into the mouth then slid down the throat into the stomach. We followed the intestines and ended up on the toilet!

Atawhai Cycleway Opening

On September 21st 2008 the Atawhai cycleway was opened. Now we can ride our bikes all the way to town without having to ride on the road. We decorated our bikes and the cycleway to celebrate the opening.

Terrific tennis

Tree planting at Corder Park

On Tuesday morning we walked up a steep hill and down a big hill to Corder Park. When we got to Corder park we had morning tea then Tracy, Ben and Glen from Nelmac gave us a demonstration on how to plant some trees and bushes. Then we got with partners and got a spade. The spades were sharp and shiny. Under the ground there was hard clay. When some people dug deep holes they could not dig any deeper. There were all kinds of trees and bushes, some were kowhai trees, flax, long grass and some other trees and bushes. In the holes there were millions of wriggly, long, brown worms.
We had lunch on the wet green grass, there were puddles on the grass.
On the way back we all had muddy shoes. My shoes were heavy and a little wet. When we were walking back to school people started to slow down because they stated to get tired. When we got back to school we all had to take off our shoes and put them outside.
by Holly

On Tuesday 26th of August we went tree-planting at Corder Park. We found lots of wriggly worms. Abby and I planted kowhai,flax, hebe, toitoi and pittosporums. I think we planted nine trees. There were lots of worms, nearly every boy in my class picked up the worms. There was clay in the dirt, it looked like the clay we have at pottery art class.
by Cedar

Room 15 and Room 2 went tree-planting. First we got into groups then we hiked to Corder Park. Tracy, Ben and Glen gave us a fabulous demonstration on how to plant trees. Keegan planted 25 trees. We got partners and got one spade. when Amanda dug through the top soil she couldn't dig any more so I had a try. We planted two flaxes, two tussocks and one kowhai.
by Callum

A few days ago the whole of Room 15 walked along way from Clifton Terrace School. We went a long way because we were going to plant trees. You go around Room 15, up the hill to the top then exit Clifton Terrace. Turn right at the pole, walk to the parking sign and cross the road. Cross another road and keep following the footpath. When the footpath has a dead end go down the driveway. Then you will find that you will be on the new footpath. Keep walking to Corder Park. If you go to Corder Park you will see the trees growing. For the long walk I did not get the stitch.
Eleus and Cian were collecting worms. There were big worms, little worms and black worms. One worm tried to bite Zack! The spades were sharp as can be. They were sharp to dig deep into the ground. It was very hard to dig deep. The dirt was very rocky.
We learnt how to dig easier. Ben said, "Make a square instead of in, out ,in, out." There was lots of trees, some people planted ten.
by Jarod