Gulf Harbour School - Check This Out

Tree Adventures

2012-03-07T13:05:00.003-08:00

Welcome to 'The Island'

2012-03-01T02:03:00.001-08:00

We have renamed Room 2 and 3 'The Island'. It is our combined class of year 3 and 4 students. It has been really exciting to set the room up in an open way with completely new furniture. We wanted to create a special feel and look for this new space and have used the Island theme. We have really enjoyed our first few weeks of school and had a special 'Island' day. Check out our video...

Here is our website address http://islandghs.wikispaces.com/

Here's Our Staff this Year!

2012-02-13T01:54:00.000-08:00

We have a fantastic staff this year and here they are...

We are looking forward to a great year!

Welcome back from Mr Petrie

2012-02-03T14:20:00.001-08:00

Welcome back to everyone. We are excited about the new school year. Here is Mr Petrie's new video.

Walking School Bus

2011-12-06T12:40:00.001-08:00

It is with great regret that I need to inform you that the Walking School Bus that meets every Tuesday and Thursday outside 8 Alec Craig Way, will not be continuing for 2012 - due to my commitment and responsibility in transporting our autistic son to Red Beach Special Care Motoura Unit by 8.45am each morning.

I am very much hoping that someone else would like to take over from my role as Co-Ordinator not only for this Bus Stop, but for the Gulf Harbour School Walking School Bus project in the future.

If you would like to find out more about this role, please contact me anytime, Gaylene Chambers, rangchambers@xtra.co.nz Phone 424 8032 or 027 615 0783.

The walking school bus is a safe way for your children to get to school without the hassle of carparking or traffic congestion, plus they are getting exercise too.

Hibiscus Coast Writers

2011-12-06T12:30:00.001-08:00

The Hibiscus Coast Writers (HCW) would like to congratulate all the Year 5 & 6 children who participated in the annual writing competition aimed at Hibiscus Coast primary schools. 43 children submitted over 100 pieces of writing. 20 Gulf Harbour School students are amongst the 35 successful authors whose work was selected for HCW’s 2011 publication, ‘Kids in Print’. This is available for purchase from the HCW for $10. Contact Tanya Gouws on writers@xtra.co.nz. Info available on HCW website www.hibiscuscoastwriters.weebly.comhttp://hibiscuscoastwriters.weebly.com/.

The category winners were:-

Overall winner : Alexandra Wood - Gulf Harbour School

Fiction winner : Angus Wilson - Kingsway Primary School

Non-Fiction winner : Estelle Davidson - Whangaparaoa Primary School

Poetry winner : Wendy-Joy Richardson - Red Beach School

Illustration winner : Isabella Miller - Kingsway Primary School

HCW would like to convey their thanks to parents and teachers for their support in nurturing and encouraging these young writers and artists. There will be a 2012 writing / illustration competition aimed once again at the Year 5 & 6’s. Details of this should be available mid to late Term 2.

Gulf Harbour Village Markets

2011-12-06T12:23:00.001-08:00

Gulf Harbour Village Markets every Sunday between 10.00am - 2.00pm in the Gulf Harbour Town Square. Many new stalls this week including fresh produce, eggs, cheese, gourmet breads, mediterranean foods, mussel fritters, bacon butties, arts and crafts and so much more with over 50 stalls. Santa will be back this week due to the high demand between 10.00 & 11.00am in his grotto offering free photos.

Gulf Harbour School's Website features in Interface Magazine!

2011-12-05T19:33:00.001-08:00

Our new website has featured in an important educational magazine called 'Interface'. It is one that looks at current digital thinking in schools. Check it out!

WATERWISE @ Manly Beach Rooms 25 & 30

2011-12-05T18:34:00.001-08:00

Thank you to all the parents and helpers that made our days down at Manly Beach so enjoyable! We had so much fun learning to sail and kayak, as well as the sand sculptures and beach play that we took part in too.

We couldn’t have done it without you!

On Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd December we went down to one of our local beaches Big Manly for a waterwise focus of sailing and kayaking. I did sailing first and when my partner and me got out in the optimist (type of boat) we realised that we were pretty good at sailing!

We tacked our way up to the buoy in the distance more than ten times! Ittook us a while but we persevered. My favourite part of sailing was using the tiller (which is like a steering wheel in a car), because I was really good at it. I nearly got hit by the boom as it was pretty gusty out there, I just had to make sure my partner warned me before taking.. It was so much fun!

Sailing can be quiet hard as it matters if the wind is strong or not. Both days had times where it was rather strong, and we had to make sure we sailed into the wind as it helped us not to capsize. Capsizing is when you tip the boat over and generally you fall out. Although if you get stuck there is always a pocket of air to breathe from.

It was such a fun two days, and was awesome doing this so close to home at one of our local beaches. I’ll definitely be wanting to do again sometime soon.

By Max

Room 30

Learning Your Times Tables With Jamie!

2011-11-25T01:18:00.001-08:00

Here's a Video that Jamie from Room 16 made about learning your times tables. He starts off with a grid showing you the answers to multiplication problems from 1 x 1 to 10 x 10
He than examines how you can learn a lot of the tables with certain rules. In the end there arn't that many difficult problems to learn. Check it out. Go Jamie!

Great Blue Day to Support Diabetes on Friday

2011-11-23T01:50:00.001-08:00

On Friday we dressed up in blue to support Diabetes awareness week. We brought a gold coin donation. Nick gave a fantastic speech at the school assembly. Room 27 did a fantastic job organising the event and $383 was raised for the cause. Go Room 27!!!!

Click here for the Diabetes website for more information.

Gulf Harbour School Now A Travelwise School!

2011-11-19T15:37:00.000-08:00

TRAVELWISE LAUNCH

We are proud to announce that Gulf Harbour School has became a TravelWise School. Thank you to the parents who came and watched our launch on the 4th of November.

From Auckland Transport we had Matthew Rednall, (Manager Community Transport), Jacki Dawson, (North Team Leader, Community Transport) and Bridget Farmiloe (our TravelWise community Transport Coordinator).

We also had Bernie Watt our school Police Education Officer and Maxx the Pukeko.

Gaylene Chambers our Walking School Bus Co-ordination gave a delightful talk about the walking school bus and some things that have worked well, such as bring a friend week.

After a visit from Maxx the Pukeko we ended with an appropriate jump jam song "We like to move it, move it!"

As a TraveWise school this means we are commited to working with Auckland Transport to make travel to school safe and sustainable. We will try and get as many people as possible using other modes if transport than the car but we understand that we will still have some cars around our school so we want to make sure it is as safe as possible. We will help our students learn about road safety and we will do lots of fun activities throughout the year to promote safe behaviour and activities such as walking and cycling. We want to make Travelwise part of our school culture and hope that students and parents and the organisations that support Travelwise can all work together.

A big thanks to all those involved.

School Goes Crazy Over Teacher Creature Cards!!

2011-11-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

Are you collecting Teacher Creature cards?

You most probably are, because we sold 1000 packs in only 5 days!

We are very happy that they have become so popular because we worked hard on them.

It all started when our school had a focus on entrepreneurs in Term 3. We looked at two entrepreneurs: Michael Acton Smith, the creator of Moshi Monsters, and Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon. We were inspired by them to make our own characters, and to sell them on trading cards.

But how could we get students interested in characters since they weren’t on a TV show, or website? That’s when we decided it would be good to base the characters on teachers in the school. That way, students might like to collect teachers that remind them of people that they know.

First we explored the design of existing trading cards, so we know what to include on ours.

Then we started the long procress of designing the characters. We gave questionaiires out to all the teachers and staff asking them things like, “what are your skills” and “what things do you dislike?”. Then we used this information to design the characters.

The first character we designed was based on Mr Barrow. We decided he would be a good dinosaur because then we could call him “Barrowsaurus”. Later, Mr Barrow paid us to make him a dragon! So we added some wings and called him “Barrowsaurus Dragon”.

Sometimes we knew what animal to do a teacher because their name already sounded like an animal. Like Mrs Metcalfe. She has “calf” so we made her a cow and called her “Mrs Pet-calf”.

When we had finished our designs we voted on whose one we liked the best. Mr Wesbonk took the winning design and did a final version of it.

Finally we had designed all 37 characters! Meanwhile, we wrote letters to businesses’ asking them to sponsor our cards. We were lucky enough to raise $400!

Adam Doocey (Karyn Doocey’s husband) offered to print the cards for us cheaply. It was very exciting for us when the 4000 cards arrived. We had fun putting 4 into each pack so that we eventually had 1000 packs.

It was an exciting day when we were finally ready to sell. The money poured in fast, and there were lots of kids queuing up. Even teachers were trading our cards in the staffroom!

There were a few disappointed kids when we sold out. But don’t worry, because we ordered some new cards, and we will be selling them very soon!

Room 4

Our very own 11.11.11 student!

2011-11-11T14:02:00.000-08:00

Our very own 11.11.11 student!

As you are aware this date is a bit of a special one, being one of the last same digit date that we will witness in a long while!

Rustam Akrami celebrates turning 11 today! He celebrated with his friends in Room 30 by having an icecream cake!

What a great choice of cake on a really hot day!

Happy 11.11.11 everyone!

From

Room 30

Taniwha found in Gulf Harbour School!!!

2011-11-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the bin area lately?

Well, Rooms 19 to 22 have recently made a huge difference in our school.

Go and have a look...

They created a giant Taniwha mural. It is painted red, orange and yellow

with an island around it. It is simply amasing, fantastic and eye catching.

A big thank you to Stu Duval (parent and local author/artist) for helping us

and making it so wonderful and interesting.

Reported by Room 20

Here are some shoots of the process....

Google Doodle Winner - Olivia!!!!

2011-11-06T18:49:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Olivia from Room 17 who won the 'Doodle for Google' competition in the Year 1-3 category. It's a national competition and quite an achievement. The overall winner still has to be decided and they will have their design on the Google New Zealand website for a whole day. Olivia will be heading to the Auckland Art Gallery on Thursday for a special day. She wins a laptop for herself and a smart board for the school. Well done Olivia!!!!!

Well done to Sato from Room 29 who also got into the finals for his age group.Thanks to all the people who voted.
What talented artists we have at Gulf Harbour School.

Here are some shots of Olivia's great day at Auckland Art Gallery.

Click here to see photos...

2011 Hibiscus Coast Writers - Year 5&6 Competition Winners

2011-11-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

Hibiscus Coast Writers’

2011 Hibiscus Coast Schools Children’s Writing Competition

A huge congratulations to all the children who contributed to our annual Hibiscus Coast Schools Writing competition - we wish we could publish all of their submissions. Unfortunately, there can only be one overall winner of the Val Shearer Memorial Trophy, and this year we've introduced four additional prize sections, i.e: Poetry, Non-Fiction, Fiction and Illustration. Commended pieces of writing will also receive a copy of our
publication.

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S and thank you so much for participating, your contributions are greatly appreciated - we sure had a tough task judging them!

Tanya Gouws
Competition Secretary
Hibiscus Coast Writers Group

OVERALL WINNER, and winner of the Val Shearer Memorial Trophy

Alexandra Wood
Gulf Harbour School

Sailing, Cyclone Wilma 2011, A Day in the Life of a … can you guess what I am?

FICTION WINNER

Angus Wilson

Kingsway School

Drama on Macadam Street

NON-FICTION WINNER

Estelle Davidson

Whangaparaoa Primary

My J-Rock Performance

POETRY WINNER

Wendy-Joy Richardson

Red Beach School

The Woman in Waiting

WRITING CHOSEN FOR PUBLICATION:-

Gulf Harbour School
Alexandra Wood	(Overall Winner) Sailing Cyclone Wilma 2011 A Day in the Life of a … can you guess what I am?
Jack Markey	Twister
Lucy Hatfield	A Holiday in Heaven The Kiss I Died in Love
Connor Gentry	The Sky so High
Keagan Modlin	Tree Wave I Hate Rugby
Philippa Gouws	Diamante Poem - Rugby A Day in the Life of Me
Giancarlo Moretti	Atomic Bomb
Pierre Duval	A Windy Wellington Poem B-Ball
Oliver Reeves	Happy Father’s Day Dad The Secret of the Colosseum When I was a Famous Movie Star
Bree Stiven	Daffodil
Josie Simmonds	What Makes a Friend Danny & Me Rotorua
Rhiannon Tarr	I Love Fashion
Hannah Maguire	If I Could Ask a Cloud Square Eyes ‘Round the World
Campbell Morrison	Bad Plane Ride
Amy Watson	My Dolphin Experience Spring Flowers
Sophie Doocey	Dragon’s Den
Andrea Nixon	The Talking Dog
Alesi Hertzke	Kids are like Gold
Halle Mitchell	Animal Cruelty
Raymond Yang	Combat Wars






		*

Rugby Chaos Game

2011-10-06T02:44:00.000-07:00

Are you bored? Try Room 16's new game called 'Rugby Chaos'.
Available from Room 16. Here's the ad...

The Rippa Festival was a Ripper!!

2011-10-06T02:33:00.000-07:00

Room 27 organised a great Rippa Festival. Check out the highlights on the video below!

Walking School Bus News!

2011-10-06T02:16:00.000-07:00

Monique Chambers from room 20- thought that we should have a special day for WSB- "bring a friend- promote day"- so.......invitations were sent out to her whole class, and friends around, and we got 20 altogether last Thursday 1st September!- great way to start the first official day of spring"- prizes were given out and lots of fun was had! We hope this can be done again real soon- Will let you know when!

This was for the Walking School Bus held every Tuesday and Thursday @ # 8 Alec Craig Way, corner of Du'rvell and Alec Craig Way, Caramel coloured house, with black steel fence- look out for flags and signage....Join us one day, and have some fun!- you never know what prize you will get!

The other Walking School Bus is run every Wednesday @ corner of Midshipman and Alec Craig Way (round-about point)- we rely greatly and appreciate the support of our great teachers Miss Wium, Mrs Vrettos and Mrs Southgate for their help!- Thanks ladies you help us make this BUS happen!- WOOP WOOP! Who know's who might come on the WSB- MR PETRIE EVEN- YAY!

Would you like to organise another Walking School Bus in your street?- Let us know- happy to help you set another one up! Its real easy!- GO FOR IT!!!- Let's cut down on the traffic in Gulf Harbour!- and get some exercise together!

Bye for now!
Gaylene ( Walking School Bus Co-ordinator for GHS)
randgchambers@xtra.co.nz

Real Life Learning - Entrepreneurs

2011-09-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

Have a look at all the innovative ideas classes have come up with after they looked at what are the characteristics of an Entrepreneur.

Kids Getting Creative in Rooms 5 and 18!

2011-09-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

Check out what Room 5 and Room 18 have been up to this term - looks like great fun!
Room 5 have been testing a variety of recipes to find out what makes the best play dough.
Room 18 have been designing healthy food snacks for kids that are easy to prepare and taste absolutely delicious. Last week they made fruit kebabs.

Top 8 Google Doodles sent off today!

2011-09-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Good luck to our 8 Doodle for Google entries! Entrants range from Year 2 - Year 6.

Keep an eye on our website to see how we go in the National Competition. Overall Winners will be announced by the 19th October. Click here for more details: http://www.google.co.nz/doodle4google/prizes.html

Secret Garden Looking Amazing!

2011-09-11T04:19:00.000-07:00

In the Secret Garden there has been some planting. Lots of kids have joined in to help to develop a beautiful garden. There are lots of different plants going in including strawberry plants and a mandarin and apple tree. There are students doing a great job at gardening. They are digging into the ground and then putting the plants in the holes. Then they cover the plants with soil. Next they pour a bit of water on the plants. They have planted lots of nice plants some are tasty like the strawberries!
The people have been working so fast and so hard we can not believe our eyes! Mrs Lenton and Mrs Waxman have done a fantastic job. From our class Kera, Imelda and Joshua have been involved. The garden is expanding at the speed of light and getting more and more plants. We are so happy!

By Christopher and Jonathon

Ex GHS Student Making Great Music!

2011-09-11T04:04:00.000-07:00

Ex Gulf Harbour School student Nicola Morrison has just placed in top 50 of 'Play It Strange' NZ Secondary Schools Songwriting Competition. She composed and sung a wonderful song called 'Paper Planes' and got to do a professional recording for a CD coming out later in the year. Her song is currently available on iTunes, so go and buy it. Go Nicola!!!

What a great song, check it out!!!

Great Things Happening with Food and Music!

2011-08-31T21:43:00.000-07:00

GHS Chefs

A group of Year 7's and 8's chose cooking as their 5 week elective. 'Brunches' has been the topic and we have had fun following recipes, learning techniques and creating our own dishes. This week we have a chef from Sparx, Little Manly Village to taste our 'Brunch Tortilla' we have designed. Simon Roadley, owner of Sparx, not only gave 3 GHS 'chefs' the awesome opportunity to visit his restaurant kitchen, if he is impressed with it, Simon has generously offered to trial our dish on Sparx menu! Fingers crossed!!!! All our tasters so far have enjoyed it and the 'chefs' definitely have -

here's hoping Sparx likes it too!

What's Cooking in Food Tech!

Recently Year 7/8s have been looking at technological modeling - the brief - " Design a pasta shape that will hold a sauce of medium consistency. We learnt to make our own pasta, models and prototypes and came up with some interesting shapes!

Musical Profits

Profits from this years musical production " A Kids Summer Night's Dream" by our talented Year 7's went some of the way towards the purchase and installation of these fabulous mirrors in Room 8 - Performing Arts. The Drama Elective have made the most of the mirrors, Year 1's are finding them useful in helping them prepare for their production, there are dance/movement classes happening and GleeHS are enjoying the mirrors- working towards their debut later this term.

Music from Junk.

Year 7's have been combining junk instruments with other percussion, working on creating and layering rhythms and have come up with some unique arrangements. Check out this video with our lovely Korean students showing us their rhythmic skills. They all play orchestral instruments too so hopefully we will manage some more videos.

Room 29 Animators in Action

2011-08-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

Room 29 are busy creating Claymation and 2D Animations for the Animation Festival they are putting on week 9.
Watch them in action in our short film and be sure to enter our Animation Festival - click the link below for more details
http://gulfharbourschoolnews.blogspot.com/2011/08/taking-entries-now-for-ghs-animation.html

Gulf Harbour School Welcomes Japanese Rugby Team

2011-08-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

What great excitement for the school today as we welcomed the Japanese Rugby Team. There were flags waving and signatures being signed all over the place. The students got their first real taste of World Cup fever as we lined up outside the lodge to greet the players. It was especially exciting to see All Black legend John Kirwan there, with the team as coach. I'm sure the players appreciated the welcome and we certainly enjoyed the moment. Good luck to the team!

Check out the Youtube clip below...

Knights and Princess Ball - What a night!!!

2011-08-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a fabulous night!

Our Princesses and Knights looked amazing and a magical

evening to remember was enjoyed by everyone. Dancing,

'how well do you know your daughter?' quiz, games, belly

dancing & jump jam performances, delicious princess food

and great music all helped to make it a fantastic evening. It

was so special to see Dads walking in arm and arm with their

Princesses. A really big thank you to our wonderful committee

of parents who worked with such passion to make this evening come together.

Ms Wesley Visits Gulf Harbour School!

2011-08-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

“Yippee!” shouted Room 16. Ms Wesley was finally visiting us! Ms Wesley worked at New Century International Elementary School in America and Room 16 have been communicating with the class most of the year. We have exchanged movies, slideshows, photos, emails, voice threads and more. It has been such fun and we have learnt a lot about each others schools. In term one made them a movie for them about the Christchurch earthquake. (see below)

Did you know Ms Wesley taught here at GHS in the past? She then went to America to teach and came back to New Zealand a couple of weeks ago. She brought letters for our class from New Century School. She also bought American coins and even lollies! (They do not call lollies, lollies in America, they call it candy)

The class really liked meeting Ms Wesley. She is so nice! We had lots of questions for her and it was great to meet her. She is off to Dubai to teach now and we wish her well with that.
By Mirin

Year 8s Win Mathex Competition

2011-08-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

Our Winning Team

Last week we took part in the Yr 7/8 interschool Mathex competition (Math Problem Solving). It was held at Stella Maris School and was a fun, energetic race to the finish. Congratulations to our Year 8 team who came in first place out of the 18 teams attending. They not only won but did so by a landslide gaining 18 out of possible 20 points - second place came in with a total of 10 points. Our Year 7 team also did well coming in 6th equal - we look forward to seeing what they will be able to achieve next year!

Yr 8 team
- Charlotte Doocey
- Brae Southern
- Jenny Cho
- Mia Davis

Year 7 Team
- Tarushna Dayah
- Erica Simmonds
- Tessa Weston
- Jasmine Tufuga.

Walking School Buses had a Penguins Day!

2011-08-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

In celebrating the release of Mr Popper's Penguins, 20th Century Fox and the Walking School Buses had a Penguins Day for our Walking School Bus during the week of 8th-12th August. We were encouraged to dress like penguins and "waddle" to school (keeping in mind to stay road smart whilst doing so!)

One Walking School Bus from each Auckland region will win a double movie pass and a Mr Popper's Penguins stationary set for each child. All children who participated will receive a set of Mr Popper's Penguins stickers.

Our Walking School Bus for Gulf Harbour School called "Alec Craig Sloopers" had around 15 kids altogether whom participated on each of our Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday WSB days. All were spectacular- and "PENGDIFFERERICUOS"- some kids made their own individual masks, body suits made from black clean sacks- beaks, hats, bowties. It was FUN!

A big thank you to Chad Phillips (Father of Logan) who made x10 cardboard Penguins like what you would see at the actual cinema over the weekend, leading up to the event -they were lifesize, complete with hand and arm movements and eye holes and velcro to stick together at the back for complete "Penguin look"- these were AWESOME!

Thanks also to Mrs Southgate, Miss Wium and Mrs Vrettos for participating, and joining in the fun too!
Its great to have our Teachers on board our BUS TOO!

WE SHOULD WIN THE PRIZE GUYS-SO WATCH THIS SPACE OK!

Gaylene Chambers

New Gulf Harbour Sign

2011-08-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the new Gulf Harbour School sign out by the front car park? It has our new vision statement 'Be the difference' on it.

Wow that looks shiny and clean because it's brand new. The old one was over 10 years old and needed replacing. The new one was put up in the holidays and matches our new website.

So next time you are at the front gate, have a little look! We hope you enjoy it.
by Isabel and Lily.

School Goes Crazy With Ned Yo Yos!

2011-08-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

The Ned Show
On Tuesday 'The Ned Show'‚ came to GHS. Clyde, who hosted the show, was there to show us how to work a Yo-Yo and give some advice. The advice was what NED stands for...
The N stands for 'Never Give Up'
The E stands for 'Encourage others' and...
the D stands for 'Do Your Best'.

Clyde was really funny! He brought his friend Ned. Clyde told a story about what happened to NED before he got to GHS. While telling the story he was also showing tricks with his Yo-Yos. It was really cool. The story was about Ned and how he got into so much trouble by doing the wrong things. Everything came right for Ned when he decided to do the right thing.

There was also a competition and James won. He got a hat made out of balloons and a free Yo-Yo that he could clip onto his waist. Some of the tricks he did with his Yo-Yo were - the Eiffel Tower, Spaghetti, Elevator, Ski Lift, walk the Dog and go around the world. Clyde said that practice makes permanent not perfect.

After, when The Ned Show had gone everyone at GHS went crazy and started buying Yo-Yos.
If you want to buy a Yo-Yo, a DVD of how to use one, extra Strings or a Yo-Yo Holster then go to the office.
Here is the NED website. http://www.thenedshow.com/
By Amelia and Kera

DOODLE 4 GOOGLE COMPETITION!

2011-08-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

2009 Winner

It's time to sharpen your pencils! Doodle for 4 Google is back in 2011!

Google like to reflect the ever-changing world of users through the logo designs on their homepage. These ‘doodles’ celebrate different people, events or special dates and are designed by a team of Google Doodlers.

In 2011, they’re asking young people from across New Zealand to design their own doodle. The theme is ‘My Wish for New Zealand’. Google would love to see how young people want New Zealand to look like.

The best doodles will be voted on by the public, and one winner will be shown on the Google New Zealand homepage for a day, to be viewed by millions of people. You will also win technology prizes for yourself and your school!

The competition is open to all students at GHS, once you have completed your Doodle 4 Google along with a title for your doodle and a supporting statement that explains what you have portrayed and why (no more than 50 words), hand in to Miss Mills in Room 29 by 16th September.

Click here for the design guidelines:
http://www.google.co.nz/doodle4google/info.html

As a school, we will vote on our top 8 to enter into the competition.
Get google-doodling everyone! Good Luck!

Year 5 and 6 Speech Finals

2011-07-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

The speech finals for the Year 5 and 6 children were held today (14th July) with a great group of finalists. It was really exciting for all the students who took part and also the audience who watched on eagerly to see who the winners were.

The speech finalists spoke very clearly and confidently in front of their peers (even with the heavy rain to contend with). This made for a fun, informative and interesting morning.

We would also like to thank the guest judges Miss Pride and Mr Brown for their time and the hard decision of picking the winners. Well done to all the competitors!

The winners were:

Year 5

1st - Nick Rm 27

2nd - Chelsea Rm 29

3rd - Alex Rm 27

Year 6

1st - Deanne Rm 30

2nd - Josie Rm 25

3rd - Michael Rm 28

By Ben and Alfie Room 30

Red Sock Day!

2011-07-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Sir Peter Blake made a big impact on this planet. He gave up his career and free time to let the people know what they are doing to their environment. He also informed them how it affects the animals but most importantly us. Sadly in the year of 2001 Sir Peter Blake was shot. Room 25 think it’s important that we carry on his legacy.

First Room 25 learnt a bit about pollution. We then found a website and learnt how other schools had been making an impact. We decided to make an impact too. We found a trust called the Sir Peter Blake Trust and decided to participate by celebrating RED Sock Day.

As you may know Sir Peter Blake had a famous pair of RED socks. The one time he didn’t wear those socks lost the race. The Sir Peter Blake Trust provides RED socks to sell. The money goes to the Sir Peter Blake Trust and they then use the money to clean up the environment. We celebrated Red Socks Day because we wanted to let the people know that the world is very close to dying. We need to stop pollution. NOW!

By Lucy

Room 25

Great Night at the Disco!

2011-07-13T02:30:00.000-07:00

The disco was a real success and it was great seeing everyone up there dancing the night away! Mr Westbonk, Mrs Southgate and Miss Wium were right there in the thick of it showing their dance moves. What a great way to celebrate the end of the term!

Library Open Day - Check Out New Books!

2011-07-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to all parents for your support and generosity with food days and fundraising in our school. As a result we have purchased some fantastic new books for our library. It’s really great to see our children benefiting from your support. Please come into the library and see all the new books. They're WONDERFUL!

Jenny Vincent

Room 16's Movies About What Makes New Zealand Unique

2011-07-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago Room 16 were working with New Century International Elementary School in America. We made a movie to tell them about the Christchurch earthquake. Then we started looking at the differences between the two countries and two schools.

We made some movies for them on youtube about what makes us unique. We decided to have a contest to see who could get the most hits. Here are the winners. They are Amelia, Lyndon and Jamie. You can check out the other little movies if you like.

By Eadie and Isabel

Getting To School with Travel Wise

2011-07-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

Last week we had Travel Wise in our school. Travel Wise is a organisation that encourages kids to get to school under their own steam. Travel Wise developed the Walking School Bus and ensures options for safe active travel are available to students.

A large map of our school community was set up in Room 14 for classes to visit. Each student was asked to use a ‘monopoly house’ to mark where they lived. You had to put a colour coded sticker next to your house showing your type of travel e.g. blue sticker if you walk, red sticker if you come in a car. We shared problems we had coming to school like scary dogs or busy roads. Parents were also invited to view the completed map and add their ‘issues’.

Overall it was a great success and an informative couple of days. We would like to thank Bridget Framiloe (School Transport Coordinator) and Yvette Nicholls for running these 2 days.

Did you know that 179 tonnes of carbon dioxide are released by vehicles travelling to school in the Auckland area alone! That is the same weight as 76 hippos!

Here's the Travel Wise link http://www.travelwise.org.nz/

By Arabela and Miss Wium

Drawing like Quentin Blake with Eadie

2011-07-06T04:06:00.000-07:00

In Room 16 we have been looking at the drawings of Quentin Blake. That is because Eadie has inspired us with her fantastic drawings. Quentin Blake is a famous illustrator who has illustrated hundreds of books. He is particularly well known for his illustrations of the Roald Dahl books like the BFG and Witches. Here is a great little movie that Eadie and her Dad made. Check it out! Quentin Blake has a lovely scratchy style with a great sense of fun and movement. Thanks Eadie and Matt!

Stunning Year 7 Performance!

2011-07-05T04:03:00.000-07:00

A Kidsummer Nights Dream

The Year 7 students were great tonight with their wonderful performance of A Kidsummer Night's Dream. The singing, dancing, costumes and acting were stunning. Get in on the last performance on Wednesday night. You'll be in for a treat!

The Year 7 students, Lynda Morrison, Silvie Watts and Wendy Turton have done an amazing job!

Mr Widdowson gets hitched!

2011-07-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Mr Widdowson who got married on Saturday in Devonport.
It was a great day had by all, even members of Room 21 attended.

We wish you all the best Mr W!

Golf Superstar from Gulf Harbour School

2011-06-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and girls!

Check out this article about Nathan ... he is a star golfer! Click on the picture to expand.

Year 7 Production sneak peak at rehearsal

2011-06-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

The Year 7 students have been working extremely hard this term – learning lines and how to act, songs, dances as well as working on props and digital backdrops and are now ready (well nearly…) for the shows!

We will be performing ‘A Kidsummer Night’s Dream’ (named after the famous
Shakespeare comedy) at Whangaparaoa College Auditorium.

Monday 4 July, 12.30 pm
Tuesday 5 July 11.00am and 7.00pm
Wednesday 6 July 7.00pm

Come and join us for great songs and lots of fun! Tickets only $5.00 and can be purchased from Gulf Harbour School front office or at the door before the show.

Check out video of us rehearsing a song last week! Not everyone is in full costume as we don’t want to spoil the surprise!!!

Enjoy!

Writing Workshop with Stu to launch the 2011 Val Shearer Memorial Trophy Children's Writing Competition for Year 5 & 6 Hibiscus Coast school children.

2011-06-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

A fantastic morning was had by 8 different schools when Gulf Harbour School hosted the Hibiscus Writers yr5/6 Writing Competition Workshop.

We were very lucky to have Stu Duval along to give 107 budding writers inspiration in their writing.

Each contestant will now submit a fiction piece, a non-fiction piece and a poem by September 16th.

Section prizes include copies of Stu's books and the overall winner will receive the Val Shearer Cup, currently being held by Kingsway. An Anthology is also produced of the winning works.

Full details are available on their website www.hibiscuscoastwriters.weebly.com

Wonderful Websites #1

2011-06-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hi, and welcome to the Check This Out blog. Every week, we'll be showing you "wonderful websites" or "Cool Classes" to show you what's going on around the world wide web, or right here at GHS!

You know, sometimes I get the writing bug - it’s itchy and scratchy, and wont leave me alone until I’ve filled pages with ideas.

But what happens when you know you want to write, but don’t know what to write about, or need a new, creative way to display your writing? It’s called “Writer’s Block” and it’s like banging your head into a brick wall!

I’ve been searching the web for some really neat websites that can help you out! Here’s what I’ve found...

http://www.pimpampum.net/bookr is a really neat tool. It uses pictures from Flickr that you choose, and text that you write. When you are finished creating, press publish, and you can email it to your friends, parents and even your teacher!

Suitable for Junior, Middle and Senior

http://www.tikatok.com/ is fabulous! It has a range of story prompts to help you when you get stuck.
(Parents, registration is free, and there is the option to purchase a finished masterpiece!)
Suitable for Middle and Senior

www.wordle.net is lots of fun to see what words you use in a piece of writing.
Suitable for Middle and Senior

Enjoy, and happy writing!
Love From,