The Snake's Adventure

This is our snake's adventure. It took us half a day to make it.

Fun in Christchurch!

On Thursday, Harriet, Safari, Izzie, and Josie traveled to Christchurch for the Maggi Kitchen Showdown semi-finals. We had a great time and did really well with our dish. We made a salmon and spinach roulade with roasted vege noodle baskets. The judges said that we should have boned the salmon before we seared it and the butter in the roulade was a bit burnt. They said the salad was a let down to our dish, as we didn't have any dressing. But the colourful, eatable flower petals that Tasman Bay Herbs gave us were delightful on our plate.
If we did well enough on Friday, we will go to Christchurch again to cook our meal and a dessert. But we get to fly down and get free accommodation, with all expenses paid for! We are looking forward to it and will find out if we are in on Friday 15th July on the Erin Simpson Show at 4:30pm. Please go to www.erinsimpson and vote for Mahana School. We'd really appreciate it.

Not only did we cook in Christchurch, but we did some amazing things as well.
We went shopping and had sooo much fun trying on cool clothes and buying great stuff! We each got given $10 to spend and we drove to Dressmart to shop. Whaea Jane, Karen and us kids had a mind-blowing time taking photos of us all dressed up!

We also went to Karen's relatives house and got DIVINE desserts! Debra is a chef for weddings and she kindly offered to host us at her house. She made incredible food that made our tongues tingle! We had Pear and Red Wine Sorbet, Fig Cake with Custard, Orange Meringue, Biscuit Cone with Chocolate Velvet Mousse. YUM!!!

On Saturday morning, we went to Adrenaline Forest and swung through the trees like monkeys! Literally! We were connected to wires by carabiners and had a pulley at our left side which we unclasped and used as a flying fox. We hooked it over the wire and zoomed from tree to tree. There were obstacles up sooo high that you clambered and crawled through. We had such a terrific time there!
After Adrenaline Forest, we jumped in the Hilux and headed back to Nelson. The time went by so fast, we didn't want to leave so soon!

Thank you to all the people who helped us fundraise for our trip and the people who were so supportive! We really appreciate it.

Busking

Today I busked with my Eklipz dance crew and we had sooo much fun!!! The 7 of us are performing at the Shakedown Competition on the 16th July. Aaahhhh! That's two weeks away! I'm very nervous but I will do it. We needed to get money for our uniforms, so the best way to do that is to busk. We raised 200 dollars by dancing for 30 mins. Afterwards, we shopped around and got a pair of pants and a bandanna each. We will busk again sometime and go and buy shoes and tops. It was a great day!

Cadets

Today, Harriet and I went to cadets at the Mapua Hall. We had to put bandages on each other and wrap our arm in a sling. Being a patient is surprisingly fun, if you are not hurt! And we learnt what to do when you are on the scene of an emergency. First, you need to check for danger. So see if there are any objects or people that could hurt you. Second, see if the patient responds. Tap them on the collar bone and ask if they can here you. Tell them who you are and say that you are here to help them. Third, check their airways. See if there is anything blocking their oesophagus. Make sure that the patients tongue has not flopped back and is preventing them from breathing. Fourth, you need to make sure that they are breathing. Put your cheek over their mouth and look towards their feet. If you can feel their breath on your face, that's good. Now place your hand on their chest. See if you can feel their chest rising. Fifth, check their circulation. See if you can feel their pulse on the wrist. If it's not there, check under their jaw bone, and see if it's there. Sixth, check for severe bleeding. Put your hands under
their body and feel for blood and things which feel out of place. Make sure you do not hurt the patient though. Check your hands after you have done each limb and parts of the body.
I hope you have learnt a bit about helping somebody who needs your help.

What a game!

On Friday, the senior basketball team had a great game aginst Parklands school. We lost but I think that we really enjoyed the game. We played at the Mot. Recreation Centre. The afternoon was a good one!

Maggi Mahem!

On the 30th of May, Safari, Harriet, Josie and I fundraised for the Maggi Cooking Show we have entered. The Dicer Chicks cooked our meal we are entering for 26 people and we did very well! We needed to funraise so that we had enough money to go down to Christchurch, where we will cook a Salmon and Spinach Roulade with Noodle Baskets. The Moutere Inn had a great little kitchen that we cooked in and a private dining room that our customers ate in. We earned $480 dollars so we achieved our goal greatly! It was an awesome night.

What a spoonful!!!

In the weeked, I tried to balance lots of teaspoons on my face, and I did it! The world record is 15, so I'm getting close. Ha, Ha! I managed 8 but after that I didn't know where else to put them!! I had loads of fun though! (;

Izzie's Book Reviews

Inkheart
Meggi loves books, so does her Father, Mo, a bookbinder, although he has never read aloud to her since her Mother mysteriosly dissapeared. They live quietly until the night a stanger knocks at their door. He has come with a warning that forces Mo to reveal an extraordinary secret - a storytelling secret that will change their lives forever.

This book is written by Cornelia Funke. I would recommend it to kids aged 12 to 15. I would give it a 4 star rating.

Inkspell

Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggi thinking of the amazing events of Inkheart, and the story whose characters strode out of the pages and changed her life forever. But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater, torn from his world of words, the need to return has become desprate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the magical ability to read him back, he sets in motion a dangerous reversal that sees the characters of Inkheart transported to a charmed Inkworld, about to be fought over by rival rebels and princes.
This is the second book in the Inkheart trilogy, and I would recommend it to kids aged 12 to 15. I would give it a 5 star rating.

Pollyanna
Poor Pollyanna! Penniless and orphaned, she doesn't seem to have much to be happy about. And when she moves in with her harsh Aunt Polly, things start to look even worse. Luckily, Pollyanna has a speacial knack for seeing the bright side of life - and she'll need it!
This book is a retold novel by Eleanor H. Porter. I would reccomend it to children aged 10 - 12. I give it a 3 and a half star rating.

Man vs Beast

Every day thousands of animals die in laboratory experiments. Some say these experiments prvide essential scientific knowledge, while others commit acts of extreme violence in order to stop them. James and Lauren Adams are stuck in the middle. They're CHERUB agents. Trained professionals with one essential advantage: adults never suspect that children are spying on them.
This book is written by Robert Muchamore and is the sixth book in the series. I love the CHERUS series and would give it a 5 star rating! I would recommend it to kids aged 12 - 15.

The Tale Of Despereaux
Here, reader, is the tale of a tiny, sickly mouse with unusally large ears; a mouse who takes his fate into his own hands. It is the tale of a beautiful, flaxen-haired princess, who laughs often and makes eveything around her seem brighter. It is a tale of a poor deaf serving girl, who entertains foolish dreams of splendour. It is a tale of impossible love, of bravery and old-fashioned courage. And, reader, it is a tale of treachery; unlimated treachery.

This book is written by Kate DiCamillo. I would give it a rating of 4 and a half stars and would recommend it to kids aged 12 to 14.

Inkspell

 The blurb from the back of Inkspell:

Let The Imaginary Become Real...
Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggi thinking of the extraordinary events of Inkheart, and the story whose characters strode out of the pages and changed her life forever.
But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater, torn from his world of words, the need to return has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the magical ability to read him back, he sets in motion a dangerous reversal that sees the characters of Inkheart transported to a charmed Inkworld, about to be fought over by rival rebels and princes.

I would recommend this book to ages 12+ and would give it a 4 and 1/2 star rating. This Book Is GREAT!!!

Maggi Cook Off

On Tuesday, 9 year seven and eight's competed to get into the Mahana School Maggi Cooking Team. There can only be 4 people per team so we had to battle it off. We got put into teams of three and baked our hearts out! We each made scones and were judged on presentation, taste, and mainly teamwork. Our scones turned out great and the teachers loved them! We had 40 minutes to prepare, cook and clean up, then after the teachers were done we shared them with the class. The teachers had choosen Harriet, Safari, and Izzie so far but needed one more person for the team. So the next day we saw how fast the others could slice and dice! They cut up apples and timed them as they went. So congratulations... JOSIE! She made it into the team. Everyone did a great job and in our minds, they are also part of the team! We had a awesome day!

We Will Remember Them

I'm sure you will know about the Pike River mining disaster. Well, our school choose to do something, so we sent them down 29 tissue flowers which we made. The flowers were very colourful. We put them in a black box and glued their names on it. Mr Neal took it to Hampden Street school because a teacher was going down to the ceremony. We hope all the families are OK.

The Power Of One

Briar, Izzie, and Georgia have been reading 'The Power of One' by Bryce Courtenay.
The book is about a young boy called Peekay who wishes to be the Welterweight Champion Boxer. Peekay is English and faces a hard childhood in South Africa. He starts of at a boarding school full of Dutch children and grows up to care for everyone. Peekay makes many friends during his challenging years, and learns that life is about everyone being happy and in on it together. This is the power of one.
Our opinion on this book: We like 'The Power Of One' because it challenged us enough to make the book interesting, but didn't bore us to death either! It also has many very stong morals we should all remember in life.
We recommend this book to 12 and over because it has some bad language and violence.
**** star rating.

Variety Bash

Some of the highlights were... GIVING OUT FREEBEES! About five people in fancy dress had bags and boxes filled with goodies like key rings, mints, balloons, note pads, badges, pens, pedometers, etc.
Then Variety Bash and us had a huge water fight. We used water and buckets.
It was a great day!

HANDS

Last Friday for art the Senior Room did visual illustrations of their hand(s).
We got inspired by a famous artist named Albrecht Durer who we saw on the internet.
The learning intention of the lesson was to draw what you see, not what you think you see.
We are proud of our art and have posted some of them on our blog for you.

Bunnies

The bunnies jumped out of the recycling bin, HOW WEIRD! Then hopped all over the classroom. One left a surprise on the floor I wonder what the teacher was thinking!