Room 4 Twizel Area School: September 2011

Yesterday our class went skiing at Ohau Ski Field.
The snow was hard and in some places it was icy.
The weather was cold and windy.
BUT ...
We had a great day because of everyone's fun and positive attitude.
Thanks to the parents who came with us.
Thanks to the staff at Ohau Ski Area - we love skiing at Ohau!

Today 53 students from Twizel Area School are at the field, including 8 of our class. That's because today is Race Day! Go racers!

Here are just a few photos of our day yesterday.

Here is a link to the Ohau Ski Area web-site.
Have a look ...
http://www.ohau.co.nz/

Did you know that Ohau means place of wind?
O means place of and hau means wind. Put them together and you get place of wind!

Have a great day!
From everyone in the Room 4 Learning Team

We have been writing stories about a house that went to sea, or about something else that happened at that house.
They are narratives - stories with problems and a solution.

Our writing was inspired by the new picture book 'The House That Went to Sea,' written by Melinda Szymanik and illustrated by Gabriella Klepatski.

Here are some of our stories:

The House with Silver Wings

“Save me,” said Mac. His words trembled.

Dark black rain clouds closed in on the old creaky house. Mac ran to the doorway and flung open the door. “Help” he yelled. I don’t want to be alone! I want my dream to come true! I want to fly! I want to live in Hawaii!” He waited.

The only sound was of the wind racing past his ears.

Mac slammed the door shut. He closed all the windows as tightly as he could, and then ran to hide under his bed.

As Mac dived under his bed he grabbed Nibbles, his pet mouse that lived in a hole in the wall, and stroked him. “Don’t you ever wish you could fly?” he asked Nibbles.

That night Mac went to bed dreaming of soaring through the bright blue sky and having all the adventures he wanted.

“Good morning Nibbles” Mac said, with a yawn. “I hope that the storm didn’t do any damage to the house!” He went to grab his cup of tea and go sit in his deck chair on the porch.

When he opened the door he nearly dropped his cup of tea. All he could see was fluffy white clouds! “What’s happening?” he asked. Then he saw something silver poking out the side of the house. His house had grown silver wings overnight and was flying about high in the sky!

With no warning Mac started doing a little dance on his porch. “My dream has come true, my dream has come true, hooray!” he shouted.

The little house started to slope down towards the ground. As the clouds cleared Mac could see a little dot of land surrounded by water. It was Hawaii! For all his life he had been dreaming of living in Hawaii and now he was nearly there!

The house landed in a village and a crowd of people swarmed around it.

For the rest of his life Mac was never alone, and (the best bit of all) his dream had come true.

“I love my life,” Mac said to himself, and I always will!”

By Morgan

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The House That Went To Sea

Splash! Another raindrop fell from the sky. It got heavier. The grumpy old man did not want it to rain. He stomped his foot.

Thunder and lightning started. That night the thunder got louder and the rain got heavier. The rain started to come through the cracks of the old man’s creaky house.

”Help!” shouted the old man, waving his arms wildly. “I don‘t want a flood in my house.” The water started to get deeper. It covered the whole downstairs floor.

Crash! The big oak tree beside the man’s bedroom window fell on the house. Cracks began splitting in the roof.

“Oh no,” the old man shouted. “I am going to die.” His heart started to tremble. He was so terrified inside his body. He wanted something to eat but his food was all soggy and wet. He could not go to bed, so he just grabbed a blanket and sat on the ground and tried to close his eyes, but he couldn’t because he was so scared.

The next morning the old man woke up and looked out the window. He was in the sea!

So he opened the door to the balcony and it looked like he was in the Atlantic Ocean.

“Wow!” he said to himself. “How could this have happened?” he asked.

He looked over the edge of the balcony and there were fish flying up in the air and dolphins blowing bubbles.

Will I get home? he wondered. Will I survive in this part of the world?

One night when the old man was in bed a rescue helicopter went by. It saw the old man’s house. “Look at that house floating in the sea!” they said to each other.

The old man was asleep. He did not hear the helicopter. The rescue people thought that they should drop some food and water in cause the old man didn’t have any. They dropped it on the balcony.

The next morning when the old man woke up he went to open the door to see if it was sunny. He saw the bag. He picked it up and had a look inside it. Just as the old man was looking in it, the rescue helicopter went by again. The old man saw the helicopter so he started waving and shouting. The rescue team saw him waving and heard him shouting, so they sent a person down a rope. He landed on the balcony. They rescued the man and took him to safety. He went to live in a little town with lots of friendly people and he got a pet mouse called Squeak.

By Sarah

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The Hurricane

The old house rattled. The hurricane had arrived. Creak, creak, smash. The dead tree with the crooked braches next to the bathroom window had fallen on the house.

Rua, a golden Labrador with a thick winter coat, barked twice and ran under the table. He snarled at the door.

Manu, his owner, a man who had a dream of going to New Zealand, walked to the window and saw three waka parked on the island.

Manu quietly walked to the door and opened it. “AH!” he said with a big shocking look on his face. It was his old tribe.

By Nikau

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A Dream Come True

Crash! Clang! Click! Smash!

A brick fell from the tall thin chimney on Joe’s old house in Australia.

"Help me - my house is falling to bits, piece by piece!” Joe yelled. “I don’t want to die, I want to live! I want to live to be able to go to Auckland!”

CRASH!!

Joe ran into his room and jumped into his bed. His body was trembling with fear.

Sally, his chocolate Labrador, barked fiercely at the rain pelting on the windows. Wind blew cobwebs off the tall, boney tree by the back door. The waves were getting bigger and closer and louder.

In the morning Joe woke up and saw…

He was on an island in the middle of the ocean.

Now he had a big problem, he was alone with his dog and he was in the middle of the sea.

“I’ve got an idea,” said Joe. “Why don’t we build a boat?” So he broke some wood off his house, and some branches off the tree.

He had made a wooden boat.

“Sally, I am going to make my dream come true by sailing to Auckland.”

****

When they got to Auckland after 3 weeks on a stormy sea, they looked for jobs. Joe found a fishing job. When he got his job he made some friends.

“My dream has come true!” he said, and smile appeared on his face.

By Maddison

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