On Monday Room 13 ventured out of the classroom and
wandered down the nature trail to the bush behind the school. Read about our
adventure in these personal experience recounts. Notice the deliberate language
choices we have used:
The rain was drizzling when we left the
classroom. We were all huddling together under the shelter with our books
tucked beneath our shirts to keep dry. We ran out onto the concrete already
slick from the rain. Before long we had reached the dripping wet greenery
and the rain had subsided, but the sun had not come out.
I stroked my hand along the damp, mossy bark of a towering tree with lush
spring leaves. It was surprisingly thin for it's height.
We all sat down and found a place to sit that wasn't soaked with water. We
jotted down our ideas, when Jayden dared me to lick a tree! To be honest it
didn't taste too bad and had a faint tang of spinach.
Soon enough our time was over, but before we left, as I passed the prickly,
spindly and dark flopping flax I saw... a large, black spider!! I high tailed
out of there and I hope not to go back anytime soon!!
By Jake S
The gentle droplets fell onto my face. I ran into the
bush and stopped... I looked around. It was so peaceful there. The rain had
stopped and the raindrops fell on to the ground with a splash. Drip, drip, drip
went the droplets, as I sat on the mossy stump.
I carefully inspected every single thing. The dewdrops on the spiderwebs
glistening like tiny pearls. The giant canopy covered me like a huge, green
mossy umbrella.
Crunch, crunch, crunch went the stones under my feet, as the cicadas chirped a
sweet melody in my ears. Chirp, chirp, chirp went the birds as they hunted
for food. The water was rushing in the river and I heard dogs barking in the
distance.
The ferns were towering over the fresh
grass. The smell of the grass hit me like a giant wave from the sea.
Suddenly, I heard shouting, (so much for relaxing!) I ran to the small bridge
and saw a huge spider on a web. It was about as big as a screw, but I was
terrified of spiders! This one seemed quite friendly though.
I used my pen to touch the web ever so slightly so it just skimmed the top of
the web. The spider didn't move... so I sunk the pen down deeper. The spider
twitched its leg.
Just then, Mrs Millett said, "Guys
don't scare the spider!" I gently took my pen out and touched the top of
my pen. It was sticky like candy floss!
By Kylie W
Stones crunching, birds singing, cicadas announcing
their battle cry! As I walked down the nature trail of peace, the peace became
less comforting and the trees started to close in on me.
As I left the duck pond the towering kahikatea started making me have second
thoughts about getting out of bed this morning. Everything was so dark! I
looked for a nice, quiet place to avoid the greeny moss that reminded me of
toxic waste!
As I sat down on the cold, damp stairs, I started thinking about what mysteries
would be revealed if I filtered the brown, muddy stream.
All of a sudden everyone was crowding around the top of the stairs on the
bridge. I walked up to see what all the hassle was about. I took one look and
OMG! I stood there staring at a spider bigger than King Kong! (maybe an over
exaggeration). I was terrified!!!
I squeezed my eyes shut because I start seeing stuff! Spiders...ahh!! I felt
like I was going to faint. All of a sudden I was wet. My eyes were leaking...
By Noah H
On Tuesday Dylan shared his love for abseiling and climbing with us. He told us a story about how he overcame his fear of climbing and has developed a love for adventure- very inspiring! He also showed us how to tie a special climbing knot- "The Double Fishermans knot". Have a go trying to tie it at home. Thanks Dylan!!
Thanks for another great teaching session from Annalise and Kylie!
This week we had "Teach me Tuesday" and "Wow me Wednesday!" Andrew and Jayden took us for a basket ball lesson and taught us skills and organised games for us. 
Then on Wednesday, Tahlia and Brooke demonstrated how to ice and decorate cookies (that they had made beforehand). We had fun spreading icing and adding sprinkles. Thanks for the fun lessons Andrew, Jayden, Tahlia and Brooke!
First we learnt some basic "Choi Kwang do" moves where Hugh showed us how to block, punch and kick. Next we practised our soccer skills with Troy. We started by practising our kicking and shooting skills and then we finished with a game. Thanks guys- it was great!!!
We have been really lucky recently at UHPS!! 
Mrs Thompson has 
In Weeks 1-4 we practised our basket ball skills with "Breakers" 
We have developed lots of physical skills and have also had an opportunity to develop our sportsmanship too. It's also been so much fun!! 
After a 3 week process we've come up with a name that represents our community. Congratulations to Olivia's Inquiry group who came up with our winning name: "The Dymanic Dragons". Here's the slide show we used to announce our name to the school:
