Since we have finished our last novel "Ocean without End" Gypsy thought that we had to get onto another one straight away. She wasted no time in giving me a timeless classic called " The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I'm not sure if we will get to finish this before the year ends, but we will give it a 'good go' anyway. Thanks Gypsy for the suggestion.

This term we have spent time reading through and studying Myths and Legends from around the world. Some legends were local, some were from Australia and some were from as far away as Africa and China. We have been fascinated with different peoples explanations about our world around us. I thought it might be a good idea to post some photos of some of the titles we have read so you could read them yourself if you are interested.

Our class novel this term was called "Ocean without End" by Kelly Gardiner. It was a fantastic story about how a young twelve year old girl gets kidnapped by pirates and eventually becomes their captain. It is a gripping story full of adventure and mystery. Here are some of the comments from the class:

Blair: It was a good story and I learnt that pirates aren't really that bad.

Amanda: I liked how it was an adventure because I like adventure books.

Matthew: It had a lot of mysteries and adventure.

Caitlin: It was a good book because you can learn about exploration.

Madison: It was a lot more adventurous than the Hatchet.

Calvin: I liked the describing words in the story.

Click here people to go to InAnimate Alice.

Thank you to all the Staff at Manchester Street School for a wonderful morning tea shout and an awesome video.

On friday the fun began we went to manfield to see all of the old carsand take some photos.and after we went to my uncls house to ring my brother and say hi.At 7:00 we wathed shortland st then we wathed australian idol it was good then we went to bed.in the morning i woke up at 7:30 to go to my brothers house when we got there we went to the army camp to watch touchthen we went to the movies to watch 2012 it was awsome.Then we went back home and watched heaps of tv we watched chanels 2,12,14,40,62,63,70 and chanel 11then me and my sister played a game of cards then went to bed.On sundaywe went to the marketand we got chines food and some vedges.After we went to the plaza and me and my sister got 10 dollars each we walked all over the the plaza but there was really nothing we wanted.So my brother took us home and we sealteld down by watching the 8:30 movie in the room.
PS.i think Qbear would like to come back cause he was a good friend to have.

This year for the Cushion Concert we will be singing a version of "Swing on a Star". The original was sung by Bing Crosby but it was recovered by 'Spooky and Sue'. We will reproduce the 1970's version of it. Have a listen kids and get familiar with the words.



Swing on a Star

Would ya like to swing on a star
carry moonbeams home in a jar
(one moon beams, two moon beams)
and be better off than you are
(ahaha)
or would you rather be a mule
(Yeah, yeah tell ‘em ‘bout a mule now)
A mule is an animal with long funny ears
he kicks up at anything he hears
(aha)
His back is brawny but his brain is weak
he's just plain stupid with a stubborn streak
and by the way if you hate to go to school
(which I do)
You may grow up to be a mule
(I don’t want to grow up to be a mule)
Would you like to swing on a star
carry moonbeams home in a jar
and be better off than you are
or would you rather be a pig
(Yeah, yeah tell ‘em ‘bout a pig now)
A pig is an animal with dirt on his face
his shoes are a terrible disgrace
He’s got no manners when he eats his food
He's fat and lazy and extremely rude
But if you don't care a feather or a fig
(which I don’t)
you may grow up to be a pig
(I don’t wanna grow up to be a pig)

Instrumental

Would ya like to swing on a star
carry moonbeams home in a jar
(One moonbeams, two moonbeams)
and be better off than you are
We could be swinging on a star
We could be swinging on a star
We could be swinging on a mmm
We could be swinging on a star
We could be swinging on a star

The children at the moment have practised retelling a myth both orally and in written form. With a buddy they made their best attempt to retell with as much detail as they could remember. With all that information they have tried their best to sequence the story together and add a lot of content specific words to help them improve their literacy skill as writers and story tellers.

The latest release on Homework is looking to reinvigorate what learning should look like at home. Mr Neil O'Reily a principal from Christchurch, has other ideas that show us that while children at Primary school level should still maintain a daily practise of reading and basic fact recall, they should be doing other things at home like preparing the family meal. Click here for a great read.

On Tuesday we had the Interschool Cross Country at Victoria Park. Our school did so well that we won the whole competition. Here are some comments from some of the runners from our class.

Jamie: Race day was really tough. All the different schools came together to race. I could see that the other runners were really competitive. When we were coming to the finish line I had two little battles. One battle was with a boy from North Street School. He tried to pass me but I sprinted him off. The last battle was with a boy whom I have never beaten before. I felt that I still had energy inside of me to beat him so I went for it and beat him to come second overall.

Layton: It was really hard during the race. People kept on passing me and I kept on passing them. The ground conditions were really slippery and muddy and it made it difficult to run. But eventually I overcame all of those things to come sixth overall for the year 4 boys.

Thomas: At the start of the race I felt really nervous and I ended up missing the start gun. I had a false start and when I was backing up to get ready to run the lady pressed the hootter button for everyone to go. When I ran through the bridge I got really muddy because I stepped in the middle of the mud puddle and it was really deep. Somebody almost tripped me up because he fell over in front of me when we were running down the hill. But I got eighth equal overall.

Chris: It was really awesome being there because it was funny watching people fall over in the mud. I enjoyed it.

In Room L we really enjoy singing. We have been singing this song for most of the year and we were pleasantly surprised when we heard this re-make. It is by Stan Walker and it is one of his songs he performed on Australian Idol. Have a listen.

On friday it was Matthew`s Nan`s birthday so we went to her house for afternoon tea When we were there we had fruit salad, roll ups and bars. Matthew`s Nan`s neighbours came over too. On Satuday we went to my aunty Helen`s and Phil`s storage home and they let me have a small toy box. After they gave me the box me, and Hannah my sister were being unsafe so we had to go to my Gran`s house. On Sunday Q bear, his friend`s and me were playing mathletics on the computer. At 2:00 we went to my friend Lukas house to play and have tea. Just before tea Luka and I were playing mud war with real mud and it was fun. For tea we had hamburgers it was delicious! After tea Luka and I played ps2.

THANK YOU FOR COMING Q BEAR AND FRIENDS!

This is a post from an iPod Touch. I think this whole thing rocks because I can do this at my desk and not at my computer so what do you think about the whole thing ? I think iPod's my be the solution to providing every child with a computer at a really low cost. There are so many benefits to it, it is actually mind blowing. Anyway if you are thinking of a Christmas present for your child I would highly recommend this.

This term we will be making a "Block Buster Movie" during literacy time. We will be using "Myths and Legends" as our inspiration to make our movie.