Get Writing NZ!

We participated in School Kit's 'Get Writing,'

Our writing was all about using figurative language to paint a picture in the reader's mind. We came up with descriptive similes and metaphors to describe our class and ourselves!  We based our poetry on the Iain Sharp poem.

We wrote to Oteha Valley School in the North Island and they wrote to us.

Here is a picture of their postcard writing put together. 
Underneath the photograph are some of our metaphor poems!

Clara is the tangerine sunrise, spreading over a slice of bread.

Clara is Luna Lovegood, stroking a thestral with honour.

Clara is a paintbrush, paint and canvas; creating a river flowing into a quick tempered ocean.

Whenever my partly cloudy eyes venture into water, I see my reflection, I shed a tear that shatters the beast. I hope this isn't Clara.

Clara is a warrior, not letting her feelings spill out like a glass of water on a wooden table.

Clara is a sloth, lolling around in the not wanted sunshine.

Look there and here! A trail of blooming flowers erupts through the doors. I turn around and stare at it in awe, hoping one day to be that person.

Arjuna is small black parcel filled with deadly poisons.
Arjuna is a spy sneaking through the night.
Arjuna is a ship lost at sea.
Whenever I peep in mirrors Arjuna growls back at me. It's terrifying.
Arjuna is a prison guard watching over the prisoners.
Arjuna is 15 letters bashed out of the English alphabet.
Look there and there, books of different names fly from door to door. I catch them with joy.
They might be Arjuna. 

Hannah is an otter in the gentle sea, searching for kelp.
Hannah is wild ivy, climbing wherever it pleases.
Hannah is words, waiting to be experimented.
Whenever my dark eyes examine mirrors, Hannah slides in to greet me. It's reflection.
Hannah is a tree, standing tall even in the stormiest weather. 
Hannah is a netball, achieving higher places and going further than others.
Look there and here!
Pages flying out of every book shelf.
I run in desperation to grasp the ideas.
I cling on, being swallowed into its mist.

Brodie is a tiny little falcon peeping around the wise sky with open eyes ready to dive.
Brodie is a small office and he cowers below towering skyscrapers.
Brodie is a sock, more unique than the others and always persevering.
Brodie is a banana glued to the bunch helping up green bananas.
Brodie is a blasting Lamborghini zooming past other cars not waiting for the green light shooting out fireworks from the tailpipe, forming the word 'savage.'
Brodie is an oak branch stretching from leaf to leaf venturing for the top.
I peep in the mirror. Brodie looks back at me. It's joyful.
Brodie is a light bulb full of bright ideas twisting around swimmingly in my socket for fun.
Brodie is a waving flag crashing against the wind, gaining ultimate power in the sky.
Look there and there. Footballs rocketing into the goal.
They might be Brodie.

Dr Phil Show!

Channel 6 News Report

I'm bored, NOT!

Ilam School News!

The Wonderful City of Christchurch

Inquisitive Inquirers!

Our inquiry this term is called 'The Secret Lives of Living Things'!

We are completely in the midst of tuning in to a variety of different things in response to this theme.

So far, we have looked at bees, pollination, flowers, germination, worms and insects! We've had experts in including Nicky who did some artworks on the threats to bees and designed a game, and, we've had Dougal, an expert in worm farms in to talk to us and show us a real, live worm farm! We've also pulled flowers apart to find the male and female parts and found out what flowers look like under the microscope. This week, we're going down to the river to look at water health and other bugs we might find there and we're also going on a trip called 'Fertilising for the future'. 

 

 

Pollination 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

Dougal, the earthworm and Tiger worm expert!

 

Seedpod City: We are observers of our world!

This term we've been observers. We've gone out, explored, jotted down ideas and looked at our environment. We've been noticing and recording what we actually see. We used our observations to write poetry. The language features we have been including in our writing to 'paint a picture in the reader's mind' have been activating nouns; a powerful tool to make writing more descriptive and similes - without going too over the top! We decided to use only 1 or 2 at the maximum. Read some of our amazing writing below!

Pods retaliate against the wind as they try to grasp their young.
Muscular thorns protect their growing seeds from screeching birds.
Leaves roar like hungry lions in the wind.
Thin twigs struggle to hold their young pods as storms kick against their roots.
Pods screech as the wind breaks their connections with the stem.
Brodie

Scaly brown stem sprouting green leaves like a limping tortise on the move.

Spiky balls swinging violently, shielding the little seedlings.

Wavy leaves, feathery soft, brush your face as the wind takes off.

Tiny little seeds squeal with glee as their first prongs begin to break out of their shell.

Leaves huddle together to gain warmth and shelter the stem from rain.

Thomas

Seeds dance to the sound of the whistling wind twirling and frolicking as they go.

Beautiful seeds cluster together on a stem like a seed pearl bracelet gripping tightly to my arm.

Seedlings like little snowballs tumbling to the ground.

Seeds live on a glimpse of light, just enough to grow.

Erin

A seedpod whips around in sudden wind like a medieval flail.

Soft feathery seeds burst out of their spiky shells fluttering lightly onto the ground to join their feathery friends.

Leaves shut out the air with their curly hair like bars cage prisoners.

Spikes stand their ground as roots sit heavily in their class chair.

Stems dressed in their favourite old, patched clothes.

Elijah

Orange jewels roll out of seedpods and get lost in the soil.

The fragile stems collapse over the lily pod's weight.

The seedpods steal pearls and hide them inside their glorious rooms.

Leaves mimic dying autumn grass.

Charlotte

Lily pods drooping down like crystal chandeliers hanging off a ceiling.
Orange seeds playing on a white sheet.
A lily seed pod splits open like pop corn kernels bursting out.
A white velvet coat wrapped around an orange pearl necklace.
McKenzie

Lily pod is a pickle waiting to be eaten by the seasons.

Branches gasp in the thunderous stormy wind.

Autumn leaves twirl and whirl like a ballerina in her grand performance.

Silver scales cover the seeds to act as an incubator.

Isabel

Seed cages like a woman's powder brush dusting her dull cheeks.

Layers of long white fluff poofing over grouchy, crisp leaves.

A long prickly leaf standing guard protecting his princess form the dangers of the wild.

Smells of warm gooey honey straight from a beehive.

Delicate seeds force their way to the top, ready to catch the whistling train of wind.

Maia

The wind charges off on its journey to destroy seed pods.

Storms embrace then embezzle the twigs' leaf money.

Twigs shiver as the wind shakes them like the gods walking the earth.

Seed pods salute the cold as it uppercuts each one up into the thin air.

Leaves on the twigs drop down as if they are tears crying for help.

Armand

Weeping branches like dry roses begging for water.

Seed pods execute the seeds out of the tree to swoop to the cold ground.

Seeds learning to glide like young lady birds.

The seeds depart as if a blasting passenger jet landing onto the ground.

Mitchell

Leaves plaited like a girl's black hair.

Leaves stretching to escape the stem.

The wind blows gently at the seed pods.

Seeds looking down as if they want to escape out of their shell.

Genevieve

Harakeke seedpods like a raucous flock of starlings perching on the fence, gossiping about the days events.
Seeds squeal as they plummet to the ground, departing to seek an adventure.
The seedpod smells of a summer beach where the salt has blown into its clutching fingers.
Harakeke seedlings yawn like morning glories greedily, ready to swallow the generous sun's rays as a ravenous shadow, hungrily devouring the light. 
Ashwini

Literacy through The Arts!

Rooms 3, 19 and 20 have been collaborating together on literacy through the arts. We have been unpacking poetry through dance and drama and what a way to comprehend figurative language, learn new vocabulary, be creative, and have a lot of fun in the process!

In groups, we have been using space, timing, energy, levels and relationships to create a series of moving scenes, with each one ending in a freeze frame, that represent the poem . We have been working on trying to be creative and figurative in our movements rather than literal to represent the poetry we have been studying.

The most recent poem we have been working on is 'If I Were A Storm...' by Katie Boom.

The poem reads:

If I were a storm,

I would range over farms and plains,

houses, cities and seas.

I would beat against the window panes of houses

with warm fires inside.

I would whip the leaves off trees.

I would flood rivers while I could,

for all too soon, the sun will peep out

from behind a cloud

and I must pick up my black billowing skirts and leave

to whine over the oceans and beyond.

Below, you can see photos of us cooperating, creating, discussing and using team work skills to come up with our presentations on a beautiful spring day!

See our performances at our school assembly below....

Save the Date!

Ilam School is selling calendars. Each child has created an art piece that is the main picture on the calendar! Check out the adverts below.

i-time

During Term 2 on Friday mornings, Room 3 children have been working on a project of their choice that relates to the Ilam School environment.

Some children chose to paint a sign for the Room 3 garden, some chose to research winter vegetables, weed and prepare the garden and then plant, and some children chose to design and paint planter boxes for outside our classroom. 

Last Friday, there was a frenzy of activity and due to the lovely sunny (although chilly) weather, our Room 3 vegetable garden was planted and some of the planter boxes finished.  

We found out that when planting onions, you have to separate them rather than plant them in bunches as there are quite a few in a punnet! 

The children should be very proud as they have done ALL of it on their own!

Have a look below!