Our walk in the bush

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