Levi's US Trip

Info/Photos can be found at the www.meekernz.net website.  I'll keep this updated with a few of the best pics over the next few days and the holidays.  Remember to post Levi a question as well. (see post below)

Ask Levi a question...

Levi is at the moment hanging out in the state of Washington, USA.  He's having the opportunity to experience American life - family, school, etc.  I'd be interested to hear if you have any questions for him about his time in America.

Post your questions below.

More Character Writing - with illustrations!!

Read some more great descriptive writing in this post.  As well as the descriptions, check out the illustrations that a classmate added to bring the character to 'life'.  Some great writing and awesome artwork :)

Comment on which of the illustrations match up with what piece of writing.

Who Am I?

Check out the character descriptions below - we are working on providing in-depth descriptions of characters.  If you know who it is, leave a comment!! :)

How Far Should A Country Go To Win Gold?

During the London Olympics, China placed second on the overall medal table.  It is no secret they spend tens of millions of dollars developing elite athletes.  In order to get the 'best of the best', China is a country that identify potential athletes at an extremely young age.  They are then put through gruelling training schools where they begin to be 'shaped' into elite athletes.

I've attached a link below to a clip on a gymnastics school.  Have a look....

Chinese Gymnastics Training

I'd welcome your comments below on the following questions (Remembering that China won the second most medals at the Olympics)

1)  Do you think that this type of training is appropriate?  Give a reason for your answer

2)  Should children be training at such a young age? Do you think that there are any advantages to this?

3)  Would you be willing to put yourself through that amount of training in order to reach your goals (or even win a gold medal?)

I look forward to reading your responses.

Keep in touch with Alex!

Keep up with what Alex is up to in Wellington and also let him know what's happening down here.....be cool for heaps of people to post!

Drugs in Sport - Performance Enhancement

As part of our topic around 'Excellence' we are looking at the role that drugs play in elite sport.  I'd appreciate your views on the following questions - we can use them as discussion points in class:

1)  Why do you think athletes would want to use performance enhancing drugs when there is a good chance that they will get caught?


2)  What are some of the 'costs' of using performance enhancing drugs (also think about other people that might be effected.)


3)  What athlete's do you know of that have been caught using performance enhancing drugs in the past?

Awesome Imaginations! Creative Writing

We've started to spend some quality time on our creative writing this term with a focus for the first couple of weeks of being more descriptive in our writing.  Stories will be written individually, in pairs and in groups.  Examples of what the kids have been doing can be found below.  Check it out and give some feedback!

Olympic Links

Check out these links for information on the Olympic Games

Official Website:  http://www.london2012.com/

NZ Olympic Team:  http://www.olympic.org.nz/

LONDON OLYMPICS!!!

The biggest sporting/cultural event in the world is only days away......  there are going to be untold examples of excellence on display.  Hopefully our athlete's can bring back a swag of medals!!  Great to see SIX ex-Hargest athlete's competing at the Games.

There will be a prize for the first person to comment that identifies who the six athletes are competing at the Games that attended Hargest AND the sport that they are competing in.

I'd also like to hear from people about what sport you are most looking forward to seeing.  I'm hanging out to see the cycling, triathlon and rowing. It's going to be awesome :)

Excellence and Motivational Quotes

We have hunted down quotes that inspire and drive us.  We have listed our quotes below with a quick blurb about why we picked them.

Learning Journal #2

We've been looking at excellence in nature during the past couple of days, some interesting facts have been found by the class!

Post your reflective response below answering a different question from the one that you used last week.

I look forward to reading them.

Excellence - Learning Journal #1

We have started off our Excellence topic in earnest during the past week.  As part of the topic the students have to reflect on each weeks work and answer ONE of the following questions...

• What have I learned this week?
• What have I found the most interesting this week?
• Is there something that I want to find out more about this week?
• Have I found out something myself this week?  What is it and why is it relevant?

What is 'Excellence'?

What do you think are some of the characteristics of 'excellence'.  When we did our role model exercise last week a lot of us chose sports people and entertainers - what are some of the traits that these people display that make them 'excellent'?  Is is just people that can display 'excellence'?  Post your comments below.

Who is an inspiration for you?

We're about to kick off our journey into 'Excellence'.  I want to know who is a 'role-model' for you or someone (or group) that you might look up to.

I'd love for you to share a photo of the person/group that you have chosen and why you look up to that person.  So, get a photo and get posting.  I've kicked things off below with one of my role models:

Lance Armstrong

Lance was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer in 1997 that had spread to his lungs and brain.  He was given less than a 10% chance of surviving, but survive he did, going on to win the Tour de France (a 3000km cycle stage race) a record seven consecutive times.  I appreciate his single-mindedness and perseverance and being driven in his goals to be the best that he can be in anything that he does.  Now over the age of 40, he is competing in ironman competitions (4k swim, 180km bike, 42km run) and has qualified for the world ironman championships this year.  He is a legend :)

Ok, enough from me - get posting!

Finished Product!!

The class are coming to the end of their poetry topic and there has been some excellent work done.  Everyone needs to share their favourite poem.  Feel free to comment on these.

Poetry

The class have just started their poetry assignments.  These are based around their experiences at Deep Cove and also personal interests that the kids may have.  There is some awesome writing going on!  So much so, that I've asked the kids to share some below.  Have a browse through and feel free to comment.

Deep Cove 2012

We had an awesome time at Deep Cove last week.  Highlights for many were getting to see the dolphins while on our cruise, conquering the tramps (especially the Hanging Valley one) and doing a lot of fishing!  Another cool thing was to also stand underneath Helena Falls - not many people get to do that!  Over the next couple of days I'll get the kids to record some of their experiences below.  Check them out and feel free to comment!

Hunger Games - Character Descriptions

As part of our class novel study, the class each chose a character from the book that they had to draw and also use words to describe them - the more descriptive the better!  The kids produced work of a really high standard and I've shown just a selection of the portraits below.....feel free to comment :)

Mr M.

Hunger Games Novel/Movie

We're reading the 'Hunger Games' as our class novel at the moment and loving it!  We've been doing a few activities surrounding the novel, including some character descriptions and excellent creative writing.  Have a read and look through what some of the kids have been doing below......

Feel free to comment!