Learning to save lives:

Shontelle is now confident in around and on water:

On our first session at the Papakura Pools I learnt how to do the dog paddle, when I couldn't swim at all. By the time we finished at the pools, I could nearly do breathstroke and freestyle.

I thought that the water safety unit was very good, as I have learnt all the 5 rules. My mum is going to get me into swimming lessons this year, so I can learn how to swim and it will be much safer for me. I wish I could go next year, but I will be a Year 7 so I can't go.

Brooke's Water Safety Rules to keep us safe!

The 5 rules of water safety are: 1. Wear a fitting life jacket 2. No alcohol on the boat 3. Take a VHF radio with you 4. Check the marine weather forecast, and... 5. Let people know where you are going and when you are coming back.

Who is this???

Water Safety Week

This week we are learning how to stop us from drowning and try to get the drowning statistics down by keeping us safe in, on and around the water.
Today is surf lifesaving, tomorrow we are going to the Massey Park Pools to learn water rescue activities and Friday is Coastguard at the Waiuku pools.

Cultural Challenge

The challenge was to draw an image of your culture on to a t-shirt, so that people would instantly recognise which culture you come from - this required quite a bit of research and thinking!

Champion Swimmer - Ben!

On Saturday we had Club champs where we all swam against the clock to beat our usual times. If you come first or second and beat a time over 16 seconds, you get a spot prize.

I swam 6 races of freestyle and backstroke and in all of those races I came first, as you can see from the certificates and ribbons in the photo.

The race to the Spelling gold medal!

Katie says:

We didn't take our spelling notebooks home last night because Ms Clydesdale had them. We got them back this morning and we tested each other before school. When we saw Finn and Ben testing each other, Natasha asked if me was fast at spelling and then we aimed to beat the boys, because they had started a minute before us and were already about four spelling words in.

We went faster and beat the boys up to the teacher's desk for the gold medal.
We feel happy, and Finn and Ben feel aggrieved.

Niwa is ABOVE average!

Niwa feels really happy that she is now a stanine 6'er in the recent PAT test, because she didn't get average all the time.

She is now at a higher level and she feels brainier, which is cool!

Room 11's Top NZ Brains!

Natasha, Finn, Nadia, Jamie, Jack, Maygan and Samuel all scored a massive NINE in the PAT tests that Room 11 has just finished, that makes them some of the cleverest brains in the country!

Natasha scored a stanine 9 for both Reading Comprehension and Reading Vocabulary.

Finn was going for a massive THREE Stanine 9's and missed out by one frustrating point, but with 2 stanine 9's under his belt and a stanine 8, we could call him 'Super Brain'! Impressive Finn!

Top Room 11 Mathematicians:

Charis was the only Year 5 who scored a Stanine 8 in the PAT Mathematics test today. While both Finn and Jack scored a massive Stanine 9, making Charis, Finn and Jack some of the best mathematicians in the country!

Well done, Charis, Finn and Jack!

Samuel's Stanine 9!

Samuel scored a massive Stanine 9 in the Year 5 Listening PAT test, which sees him joining Maygan and Jamie as three of the best listeners in the country.

Congratulations Samuel!

Niwa's intersting ancestor:

Renata Kawepo is Niwa's important ancestor. This painting of him is by the famous New Zealand painter, Lindauer:

Room 11 Lifesavers!

Ashlee, Sage and Katiana are Junior Lifesavers at Karioitahi Beach.
It's good fun and a good experience, because you can learn to be a proper life guard and do CPR. We get rides in the IRB and lst time the waves were massive.
If their ared no lifeguards, we can save them.
The Karioitahi Lifeguards recently revived a man who was fishing with one of our mums. That's what lifeguards do!

Congratulations Jamie and Maygan!

It is the start of the PAT testing season and Room 11 kicked off with the Year 6 Listening PAT test, and both Jamie and Maygan scored a whopping stanine 9!

This is the highest mark you can get and puts them in the top 5% in New Zealand - well done, Jamie and Maygan!

The Year 5's will be tested on their listening skills tomorrow.

Finn our triathlete champion!

Finn says:

Today I went to the Fulton Primary Schools Triathlon at Clarks Beach.

You had to swim 100m, bike 4km and run 1km. Once you finished the race you were given a medal and a bag full of stuff like a drink bottle, apple slices, Fulton Swim School vouchers, etc.

I don't know how I went, because they don't know yet until they get all the results in.

I feel quite good about finishing the triathlon, when some people wouldn't even try. The best part was getting a medal.