Ben Stone

Intelligence. It sounds like something everyone would want but for Ben Stone he wanted nothing more than to be like the other kids. But his brain would not shut off. All day at school he was switched on, learning. As good as it sounds Ben hated his brain. He found it hard to have fun because emotions to him were just chemicals in his brain but he did believe that the maximum amount of dopamine to be received  is a fine line between eating a whole spoon of peanut butter and making a life changing break through.

On the first day of school his teachers had high expectations of him but this year it would be different. He had spent the whole holidays hanging out with his friends being ‘normal’. So when it came to math time Ben pushed his morals to the side and when the teacher left the room he projected all the answers onto the white board for the whole class. At that moment he felt like he was a normal kid, he felt like he had been put on this earth to live. Not just to serve a purpose.

After school his parents lectured him about his genetic purpose and at that moment he realised that there must be something wrong with this town. It was like everyone was brainwashed. Then he realised someone must be behind it! His friends were the only people who would listen so he talked to them about the idea. The investigation began. They planned a ‘sleepover’ to discuss their plan, they had to find out what was going on. After days of research they found what they were looking for…

It was night and the three boys were out walking when they saw a flash and a man duck into a bush. They followed him and he led them far from town to an old amusement park. He lead them to a building where there was a data projector showing multiple symbols and numbers repeating 86149278. The man hung up his trench coat and fedora and said “I’ve been expecting you”

“How?” Ben asked .

“Stop playing games I know why you’re here.”

“What do you want and what do these symbols mean?”

“Meet me at the old chapel at lunchtime. Find me if you want the answers.”

“Why don’t you just tell me?”

“If I had all the answers why would I need you?”

Ben jotted down the symbols only to find the man had left so he went to regroup with his friends.

He found the chapel, showed some men the symbols and then dropped out cold. When he woke up he saw a secret passageway with all the symbols and all their meanings. He knew what he had to do. He flashed the symbols around town.

Next day it felt different, there was no one to be seen. Then he saw it! A rocket coming straight for the town ..

Now the town was nothing but a waste land, a failed experiment. But what happened to Ben Stone will remain locked away in government territory.

By Hunter

A FREE FOOTBALL GAME      

I was 11 years old and Barcelona and Real Madrid came to play in Christchurch but I didn’t have tickets. So I went to where it was being played.

There were lots of security guards so I went round the back and sure enough there was a gate. But it had banners over it so I couldn’t see. I looked around for a while until I hit the JACKPOT! I found a V.I.P ticket but an 11 year old couldn’t show them that. But then I found a hole “YESSSS” I climbed through the hole, scanned the V.I.P ticket and sat down in the best seat.

It was half time and my adrenaline was pumping as I looked back to see the security guards standing around the hole. “oh god!” I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Part of my sock had got caught and ripped off when I was climbing through the hole.

I got distracted when all the players came over and started giving signatures. Once half time was over and the game started I forgot about everything until I was leaving and a security guard asked “Who are you here with?” I knew my friend Caleb was here so I said his name, then the security guard asked “Where is he?” I replied “In the bathroom. I’m meeting him outside.” “Ok” they answered.

I made my way home and jumped into bed “Ahhhhhh…..they don’t know.” But when I woke up in the morning I heard three loud knocks on the door. I answered it “Hello young man” the three mysterious men say in a voice I’m not too fond of. “Is your mother here?” “Yes.” I go and get my mum. “Now I believe your son was at a football game yesterday is that right?” “Ummm yes” my mum replies maybe just a little bit too fast. “Did he have a V.I.P ticket?” “Yup.” “Ok. Was he there with his friend Caleb?” “Yes.” “Ok well it’s not him.” The three mysterious men mumble to each other and storm out the door in frustration. “That was close” I say. “Yes it was” sighs mum. “Ahhhhh i’m safe!” “And you’re also grounded!”

“DANGITTTTTTTTTTTT.”

By Lachie

The Room Behind The Door

THE ROOM BEHIND THE DOOR

I walk up to the cracked and ruined door. I put my hand on the door knob, the rusty old door knob. I start to turn the door knob, SQUEAK! I push the door open at a sloths pace. I peak my head around the corner, scared  of what might happen. Then I hear a creak as I open the door a little bit more. I step onto a broken wooden plank. CRACK! The whole wooden plank snaps in half. It falls through the floor and I don’t hear it hit the ground. I get on my hands and knees and look through the gap in the floor, all I see is blackness. I get off my hands and knees, I see cobwebs everywhere. I see a bookshelf with spiders crawling all over the the hundred year old books. I see a smashed window, a flash of a shadow. Swoosh there it goes again! The shadow was a shape of a person. Just my imagination, hopefully. I stand still because I see something coming towards me. I start to run for the door, I look behind myself for a second. I open the door. Just one more step to go. SMACK! I wake up in hospital.

By Lewis

The Key Hole

The Key Hole

As I lumber down a dark alley way I see a vivid blue and solemn looking door. I am so curious that I take a peek through the old rusty keyhole. All I see is an endless void of darkness. I step back to examine the house but I hear a light sound of nails scratching on a chalkboard. The sound is so putrid that I immediately cover my ears. Suddenly the noise stops and I notice a beaming light coming from the keyhole. As i approach the door once again I slowly bend down. As my eyes find the keyhole I stare through the hole and the light suddenly flicks off. There is nothing to be seen.

I feel a massive clump of butterflies in my stomach but I ignore them and pump up the courage to open the door. As I slowly raise my arm to grab hold of the grimy door handle I hear a loud BANG! I swing open the door and creep along only to hear yet another BANG! As I scavenge around I vaguely make out a flight of stairs.

As I tiptoe over to the stairs the floorboards creak under my feet. As I take my first step I hear light footsteps coming from upstairs. I immediately turn around and go back to the door but unfortunately I can’t make my way through the darkness. As I walk around trying to find the door I bump into something. Only this is not just something but a person.

I feel his cold breath raining down on my face, a deafening scream comes from upstairs. Suddenly he starts to shout  and as he is about to finish he screams “Get out of here!” I faintly make my way around the room trying to find my way out when suddenly I see a bright light coming from the keyhole. I kick open the door and I am free at last.

By Beth

The Red Bike

The Red Bike

Bam! I see it again. The red bike with the basket, just in front of me. I reach out to touch it, my fingertips centimetres away, when I fall in to the bottomless pit of darkness.

I feel something brush past my face and open my eyes to find myself lying, submerged in grass, in the field behind my house. I pick myself up and look at my watch 12:01  just as I expected.

It happens every four hours- the bike -the blackouts. I walk back to the house and, anticipating the next blackout at four, decide to do my chores now. I pick up the tin bucket and head outside passing the hallway. I stop to look at the photos of my family. The ones when we were all here. I pick apples and pears, feed the chickens and milk the cows.

It took longer than I expected and four ‘o clock came. The bike there as usual, except further away and this time its tyres are muddy. There was something else there to, a dark shape like a…. Then everything goes dark.

My mother gets home from her work tired. The dark circles under her eyes more noticeable than this morning. We eat dinner in silence and I go to bed at seven ‘thirty. I look at the photos on the wall in my bedroom of our whole family at the beach. It must have been taken years ago, when my father was still here. He disappeared four years ago, when the blackouts began. I’ve looked at this photo a million times, but this time I notice something different, something in the background…. There it is again the red bike, closer this time, but something is not right, someone is on the bike, no it can’t be…. Darkness.

The dew drops glisten in the morning light and everything is quiet and still. My mother has already left for work, so I go outside to get the mail. Something is there leaning against the house. The red bike. I check my watch the time reads eight ‘o’ one. I wait for the blackout to begin, but it doesn’t. I look up to find someone standing next to the bike. Someone tall, with dark hair. Someone who I could never forget, my father. A single tear rolls down my cheek, I brush it away and run to him expecting everything to go dark. But when I wrap my arms around him, the time on my watch flicks to eight ‘o’ one.

By Rena

The Door

I had to go in, it was like I was drawn towards the door. I reached out to grab the rotting handle. Before I even touched it, the door creaked open. I took an uncertain step inside. It was pitch-black. I yelled out “Hello”! (Hello!,Hello!,). The room was so big that things echoed inside. I heard a creaking sound and looked back. The door slammed shut. I tried desperately to open the door, but it was locked. I tried to look for a second exit but there were no windows or any other doors and the walls were made of thick concrete. I searched everywhere, frantically looking for a way out. The atmosphere was cold and chilling and the floor was damp and cave like. I knew it was late. I grew anxious. I banged against the door, desperately trying to get out. Over and over again, I banged and banged and banged, screaming for help. Finally I collapsed on the floor, it was then I knew there was no way out. I was going to die here, if only I hadn’t gone through the door.

By Marley

Science Interchange #2: Genetics - DNA!

Over the last 2 weeks for Science our focus has been on Genetics, DNA. In small groups we researched the following questions...

1.What is DNA?

2.How does it work?

The following websites were used to help us take notes of key information...

Next up was time for a wee bit of a competition. Teams raced each other around the class in order to be the first to hand in the correct answers for our DNA Quiz.

We then worked in groups to build a strand of DNA for a "secret identity" based on a specific genetic code. 

Once we created our DNA strand we swapped it with another group to see if they could de-code the strand and find the identity of our "secret identity".  

Room 13's Memorial Art

After the horrible event on Friday 15th of March Room 13 made some art for the memorial. We made a huge paper chain consisting of over 400 loops with reassuring, comforting, and caring comments. Poppy and Beth had the idea of doing the piece of art shown in these pictures. They designed and drew the centre picture, with the help of the rest of the class they got enough reassuring, comforting, and caring comments to sellotape around the outside.

NZ Opera Visit St Martins!

The Year 5-8 syndicates had an exciting visit from NZ Opera, they preformed an opera called the Barber of Seville, it had a couple of twists but  everybody still enjoyed it, they even pulled our very own Miss Hill into the act as a police officer. It was amazing to watch, it was great fun and it had quite a bit of humour that the children could understand as well.

There were six characters, The barber - Figaro, The Count/Lindoro, Rosinna's Step Mother - Dr Bartolo, Countess Rosinna, Dr Bartolo's lawyer, and last but not least the Police Officer played by our very own Miss Hill.

The Barber of seville is a love story between The Count/Lindoro and Rosinna, but Rosinna's mean Step Mother, Dr Bartolo, doesn't approve of there affection for each other and tries to shatter their relationship by trying to marry Rosinna to another (rich) man as quick as possible. She tries to trick Rosinna into thinking they are fooling her, and taking away the escape ladder.

But all in all everybody loved it and its humour!

Science Interchange #1: Chemistry!

Our first Science lesson got off to a flying start with a wonderful and keen bunch of scientists in Room 13! 

Our focus for the afternoon was on ...

We spent a bit of time researching about the basic building blocks of matter - atoms - and created a poster to share our understanding around them.

After this we worked in small groups to create our own models of the atoms Lithium and Beryllium. Check out our awesome models below. 

We also had a quick look at the Periodic Table of Elements and had a go at keeping up with this song...

Korfball

High Fliers Pod 2 have had a great time and lots of laughs during our sessions of Korfball. Korfball is a fun sport that is new to most Year 7's, it includes a mix of good defending skills, good attacking skills, lots of running, and all round heaps of energy. We all had a fantastic time, it was really fun and enjoyable. 

Here are the rules of Korfball:

• Teams consist of eight players - four female and four male.
• Korfball matches consist of two halves.
• Each team has four players in each half and during the match they cannot switch zones. 
• In Korfball, the aim is to score by throwing the ball through the opposition’s basket.
• Once two goals have been scored, the teams change zones, with attackers becoming defenders and vice versa. Teams also swap ends at half time.
• On receiving the ball, a player may not dribble, walk or run with it but can move one foot with one remaining planted to the ground as in netball.
• Tackling, blocking and holding are not allowed in Korfball.

Welcome

Welcome to our blog!

Please check out the Orientation Video and Pod Newsletter below ..

Dear Parents/Caregivers

We are very excited to be working as a team this year and teaching your fabulous children. We have really enjoyed the beginning of 2019 and look forward to what the rest of the year will have in store for us as a Pod.

Home Learning:

As part of our Home Learning programme we encourage all students to have a go at completing at least one area (Arts, Whanau, Sports, Community and Academic)  per term. The Home Learning tasks are displayed in both classrooms and have been shared digitally with students via their school gmail account. It would be wonderful if you could support your child in thinking about one area they might be interested in completing this term.

Inquiry:

Our Inquiry looks at 'Our place in an Economic Community'. We are using Banqer as our platform to explore income, careers, the economy, financial literacy and much more! All students now have their own Banqer login and have been encouraged to take the quick quiz at home as part of their introduction to Banqer.

Maths Buddy:

This year, we are trialling Maths Buddy as a syndicate, instead of running Mathletics. Maths Buddy is a programme similar to Mathletics, but provides tutorial videos on concepts the students can watch when they get stuck. Students will have maths tasks uploaded to their accounts, so they will constantly have work to do. All students have their own login and are encouraged to keep up to date with their tasks, both at school and home.

Reading:

During Term 1 we will be participating in Chapter Chat, getting to collaborate with schools across NZ who will all be reading the novel 'Wonder' by R.J Palacio. Each week we will have comprehension activities to complete about the book and some creative and collaborative projects to take part in related to the book. These activities have been shared with the students, so they can access their work at school and home.  

Writing:

This year for writing we have developed a programme focusing on creativity. Students will have the opportunity to free write during the week, where they can continue writing large stories or can try their hand at poetry. Each week, students are introduced to two prompts; picture and written. Students decide which prompt they will use for inspiration, and write descriptive stories throughout the week. At the end of each week, students edit and proofread their stories then finish with a self and buddy reflection; this way each student is aware of what they need to develop in their next piece of writing. Each term there will be a specialised writing concept, we are currently writing CVs for the classroom jobs.

Hui:

We meet as a Pod each morning to start the day. This time allows us to share notices and news together, and sets us up well to transition into writing. We also begin the day with a whakatauki, creating a presence of unity and positivity. We have Hui leaders who plan out each Hui session, communicating with the teachers and who run the morning Hui.

Extras:

Students have been encouraged to write a short speech (1-5 minutes) about any topic of their choice. We would like them to prepare and give a speech at least once a term as this will be great practise for our Speeches in Term 3. We are also encouraging all our students to prepare and teach a short lesson (10 minutes) with the whole class around a personal interest, strength or hobby. This will also be done once each term.

Please check out our blog as we will regularly update it with important information and it’s a great way to keep up with the things we are doing at school.

If you have any further questions, please send us an email.

Many thanks,

Katelyn Hill and Susie Keenan

katelynh@stmartins.school.nz

susiek@stmartins.school.nz