Room 3’s Blog

                                                          Omana

On Tuesday 14th October we went to Omana National Park in Auckland when we got there we were looking for chicken eggs for our traps. The chickens were getting smart where they were laying their eggs because we couldn’t find any. We started our long walk on the track. There was triangle marks on the trees with numbers that showed us where the traps were. We had a clip board that told us how many traps there were and it was laid out like this:                 Kill/No Kill              Bait Used.       There are 22 traps in total. We caught 3 hedgehogs. The traps were out there to protect the New Zealand Dotterel bird which is an endangered bird. There are only 1300 left. Hedgehogs ferrets, cats, possums eat the eggs and the nests are mostly disturbed by horses, cars and pests that is why there are so few dotterel adults. The baby dotterels are like little fluffy bumble bees with legs sticking out of the bottom. After we finished our bush track we went across a big field with sheep and their baby lambs. There was poop everywhere. We made the long walk across the field avoiding all the poop left behind by the sheep, We found a small soft drink bottle with a yellow liquid. In it we thought some one might have taken a pee in it. My friend picked it up. The seal wasn’t broken so we thought it might have been the real deal. My friend opened it and it was real he said it tasted like pineapple. We took our van down to the beach. The tide had gone out and there was lots of rock pools and shells every where. I teamed with my friend and a teacher Mr.Chris and I went out looking for sea creatures we picked up a plastic bag and went around looking for rubbish, but we used it to hold massive crabs. I found 3 crabs with my friend altogether we found 6 crabs. They were huge and one of them had camouflage on its shell and another one had like tiger patterns on it. Another one was like a spider with its hairy legs. One of my friends found a massive tyre our teacher Mr. Hill found two bottles from the olden days he bet they’d been around longer than he had. One of them had A.B.C on them which stood for associated bottling company. I really enjoyed my trip at Omana.

If you want to know more about the NZ Dotterel
“http://www.kcc.org.nz/birds/dotterel.asp”

GLEN BROOK

On Thursday 4 of September we visited Glenbrook steel mill. When we got there we saw a big security gate because the steel mill is a dangerous place.

 We went to the visitor center and we watched a DVD then we put some safety gear on.

 Then got in the van and drove around the steel mill to have a look at the hot strip mill. We got out of the van and went in side.

We walked along the path to see the big steel slabs and they were so hot that they were glowing orange then we saw the lazar cut through the big slab

.

Then we went to the van then we drove to the iron sand mine.

 Then we saw a big bucket scoop excavator it picked up the sand ready for

It to be cleaned and for the iron to be cleared out.

 Liquid steel is turned into steel slabs.

 These slabs are rolled out like pastry then the get    rolled into a coil. 

When we got there we had to go though a high security fence gate before we could go into the factory, We were fitted with safety gear a hard helmet shiny jacket and special glasses.

The first thing we saw was hot iron slabs being moulded into steel plates it averaged 12 days to cool down.

Next we went inside the factory floor we were on the 3^rd floor the cooled slabs are put through a re heat furnace and flattened through rollers the steel plate is reduced to approx 22mm thick, the strip is coiled and un coiled a few times to make a rolled steel coil.

We had lunch then we went to see where the iron sand was mined it was a big empty crater being mined of iron sand and being sent up a conveyer belt up to the processing side of the plant which turns into 53% iron.

The iron sand came from 3 volcanoes possessing an iron bearing material which was washed onto the shore as black sand.

New Zealand steel is the only steel company that uses iron sand to make steel the heat and the gas give 64% of the company’s power the electric bill is averaged on one million dollars I really enjoyed the trip

It was a cold and wet and windy day and I got up early because today we were going on our school trip. We left school at 8am. Mr h went to get some money for our rides and we picked up Miss J. We set off again and it was still Mr H was driving and I sat in the front.

I played Connect Four and talked with Mr H. We stopped at the BP Station for Mr H it was raining hard. We played some games and had some lollies.

When it was time for morning tea we stopped at Tirau. Mr J surprised us all with bags of hot chips. We set off again and we passed a castle just out of Tirau. About 45 minutes later we arrived at Rotorua. The sun came out just as we were ready to go on the Freefall Extreme. The instructors showed us how to hold our arms and keep our arms up and put on special suits and goggles. My go was third. Before I went on for my

Turn I felt scared of the fan when I got on it hurt my cheeks. When I hopped out it was very cold. But I was laughing then after that we went down to have lunch. We had chocolate drinks and yummy food. After that we went to the shweeb. I versed JC. I blitzed him by miles. I won against JC. After that we went back to school. We stopped at Matamata for an ice cram and petrol.  Then   headed   for school.

DKG

our topic this term is fire

On Thursday 26^th June we woke up, got changed and had breakfast. We quickly did our chores and got into the vans. We started to drive off then we drove to Bombay to pick up Miss Jackie and get some money for the rides. Later we stopped in Tirau for morning tea and we had some chips too. Then we drove down to Rotorua and on the way down there was heaps of wind and rain and it was really cold. When we got to the Agrodome in Rotorua we saw a Bungy jump, a swoop ride, a jet boat ride, the Shweeb cycle race and the Freefall Extreme ride. We went on the Extreme Freefall ride. It was really scary. It gave me shaky knees. I didn’t want to go on it at first but when I did it felt exciting. I would love to go on it again. It was funny watching other people’s faces flap and get squashed by the wind from the propeller. We had lunch and watched a jet boat going around a track. Some people went on the Shweeb cycle ride. It looked cool. After this we headed home, stopping at a gas station to get petrol and an ice-cream. When we got back we were tired but it was a really fun day. It was the best class trip I have ever been on.

CS

How 2 play Crennis
(a cross between cricket and tennis, or like hacky with bats)
by SS and RM

Rules
1. In this game there is a 4 square court
2. Each player gets half of the court
3. We use a cricket ball and two kiwi cricket bats
4. We use a four square court
5. Ball can bounce once in your side
6. You can hit the ball once in your turn (or change to twice or three times for learners)
7. If a player hits the ball out the other player gets a point
8. If ball bounces more than once in your side other player gets a point
9. Point winner gets serve
10. All serves must be hip height
11. Play until winner gets 10 points wins

How do welders work?

Why is Michael Jordan called Air Jordan?

How much toxins are in a fire place?

What is air sport?

How do air balloons work?

How are cyclones made?

How come we can’t see wind and air

Is gravity air?

How do spray cans work

How do you make an air hockey game?

Where dose the air from dry ice go?

How do air pumps work?

How do you weigh air?

How do lungs compress air?

Why do people get sick from air?

How do planes fly?

Do animals breathe the same way?

How do you get air out of a dead body?

How do trees make air?

Can you stink away the stink of air?

Does grass need air to grow?

How can you clean polluted air?

How does breathing work?

Do dead trees still have air running through them?

How do air compressors work?

Why do you need to blow on a fire?

How d gusts of wind work?

How does air support us?

How does a propeller work?

How do lungs work?

What is in air?

Why are some people afraid of heights?

The first of our questions to do with the air topic…. (thanks RM for your super typing!)

Does fire make air or does it need air?

How does air make a trumpet go?

How does a glider work?

Where does oxygen stop?

How much toxins are there in the air we breathe?

How does air pick up stuff?

When was whistling invented?