Synonym poem - Plain

Plain

Simple, normal, weak and mild
Forget all that, I'm a real wild child.


By Kachina (Year 7)

Jack and the Beanstalk

It all began when Daisy, had to be sold,
She was coughing up spit, and was sadly getting old.

So Jack's mother told him to take her down,
To the finest, richest, market in town.

Jack told a buyer that Daisy, was on her last year,
And all Jack got back was a bean, and half a pear.

When Jack got home he was surprised to see,
His mother was as angry as could be.

She went crazy and whacked Jack with a fork,
But the very next morning outside was a giant stalk.

The stalk was mighty, and mostly green,
Except for the gold leaves, up high in between.

Jack's mum was greedy and wanted the lot,
So she made a quite selfish, evil plot.

She raised her voice, without a frown,
"I’ll be the richest girl in town."

She yelled at Jack to go for gold,
And of course he did what he was told.

When he was almost at the top,
He heard a voice and took a hop.

As curious as could be,
He shot right up the golden tree.

"PEA, CARROT, PEA,
WHO IS BOTHERING ME?
WHOEVER IT IS THEY WILL MAKE MY TEA!"

"There’s a giant up the tree! Jack cried.
"Just get the gold," his mother replied.

So Jack was nimble,
And Jack was quick,
He was beside the gold in half a tick.

He took a step, the leaves went crack,
The giant grabbed his axe and "Smack!"

Jack hadn’t come back for an hour or so,
So his mother thought she’d have a go.

Now she wasn’t the best climber in town,
But after a while she was up and back down.

She had the gold and so much more,
Two mansions and a platinum door.

So that is how our story ends,
Did Jack die? Well it depends…..


By Morgan (Year 7)

11 Things I've Learnt in My 11 Years

1. Life is a daring adventure,
or nothing at all.

2. Take a risk. You never know what might happen.

3. Don't bother arguing. Teachers are almost always right.

4. Work in the week. Play in the weekend.

5. Never give up.

6. Fear is natural.

7. Choose your friends carefully.

8. It's what's on the inside that counts.

9. The book is always better than the movie.

10. Horses have a mind of their own.

11. Everyone's different.

By Morgan

The Animal Quiz

Shania's Invention

I invented a popcorn sift because I find that when I cook popcorn in a pot, some of the seeds don't pop. I decided to invent a thing called a popcorn sift so when you pour your popcorn into a bowl you tip it into the sift first. The sift has holes at the bottom only big enough for the seeds to fall through and then you shake the container and all the seeds fall to the bowl at the bottom.

I was really proud of getting into the Dragon's Den with my invention as only six people were chosen to present to the Dragons.

I learnt to work independently and be responsible for myself and get everyting done on time. I worked on my invention at home as well as at school.

By Shania

Science Alive

On Wednesday 1 July we went to Science Alive and learnt about wedges, wheels, pulleys and levers. I was in a group of 3 with Katy and Mrs Taylor and we went on a school trip.

I like that place it was awesome. It was fun!

This is a picture of the ukulele holder I made for Mrs T.

Sinead

Jump Jam Competition

Jump Jam at Springston School is great, every Friday at ten o’clock the whole school will go out and do three or four songs.

Just recently Springston entered two Jump Jam teams to go to competitions. The competitions were being held in AUCKLAND but unfortunately neither of our teams got in but one team that got so close was the Year 7 & 8 team including Megan H, Georgia W, Ryan B, Phillip S, Libby H, Ffion D, Emma-Rose, Holly P and Lucy C.

Now it sounds crazy, but if that team had more of a natural smile then they would have gone to Auckland and that would have been great. But there was only going to be 10 teams accepted into the finals so we didn’t quite have enough fun, at least that’s what the judges said.

Also both Jump Jam teams would like to say a huge thank-you to Miss Singleton who introduced us to Jump Jam, coached our teams and organized us to go to the competitions. So thank-you Miss Singleton. You where great.

By Courtney J. and Libby B.

Let's Get Inventing

Over the past few weeks we have been working very hard on our topic, Let's Get Inventing. My client's problem was that when she cleaned her teeth, it would take forever and she wasted a lot of tooth paste, water and time. So I came up with the perfect answer.............the all-in-one tooth
brush! The tooth brush has two compartments, one for tooth paste and one for water, and when you squeeze them the substance travels up the tube and onto the brush! Simple, fast fun and easy!

Mollie.

How to make a Banana Split

Ingredients:

1 banana

1-2 scoops of your favourite ice cream

Chocolate sauce

100 & 1000s

Chocolate hail

Spoon & bowl

Method:

1. Cut the banana in half and put it in your bowl.

2. Scoop 1-2 scoops of ice-cream into the middle of the banana.

3. Drizzle chocolate sauce over the ice-cream.

4. Sprinkle your sprinkles over the ice-cream.

5. EAT IT ALL UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hannah D.

Trip to the museum

In Term Two, Week Two, the two senior rooms went to Science Alive and the Museum as part of our inquiry into how machines make our life easier.

We went to Science Alive to learn about mechanisms and robotics. We used levers, cogs and wheels in Lego to build machines like an egg beater, a merry-go-round and a boat pulley. We had to co-operate, be resilient when it went wrong and use the equipment carefully.

The New Laptop Holder

Once upon a time at Springston School, their laptops would always lie all over the place (and that's how some of them got scratched). So Philip and Zach came up with a solution to help the laptops from getting scratched as part of our inventions inquiry. We measured, cut plastic foam and got a perfect fit for the laptops.

The school is still using our design to store our mini pod of seven machines.

By Philip and Zach.

Student Council

This year in Springston School we have a new and improved Student Council, (according to Mrs Taylor).

So far this year they have already organised a Wacky Wear and Hair Day mixed with a Mufti Day, which actually turned out quite well. They raised nearly $200 for the Westpac Helicopter Appeal so it turned out to be a pretty good day.

Now the positions of the Student Council are: Georgia as the Chairperson, Tayla is the Secretary, Megan is the Treasurer, Sion is the Vice Treasurer, Tyler Jis the Public Speaker and the Student Council's Media Group includes Courtney, Jahna and Kachina.

The upcoming events are Daffodil Day and maybe a Pyjama Day (not if Mrs T can help it!). We have also created an Ideas Box to go in the office so parents can also go up and put their ideas, along with another one in the sports shed for kids on the go.

By Sion and George

The Netball Tournament

On Tuesday Term 3, Week 4, Year 7 and 8 had a netball tournament. It was from 10 am until 2:30pm. We had 9 games all together.

We didn't win any games but we tried our best and in one game it was 4 points to 5. It was fun but hard and we were very tired at the end of the day.

Katy's positions were GS, GK and Chloe's position was WD. Katy did a very good job at defending the goal. Chloe did a good job at defending the ball. We completed a game every ten minutes and practised our ball skills to be ready for the games. We had a very good day.

Katy and Chloe

The Netball Tournament

The netball tournament was good fun. Two of our teams got 1st which means they will get into Canterbury Zones. The Junior B team played at Lincoln Primary School while the Junior A and Senior A & B played at the Lincoln Domain. Junior A played 9 games they won 8 and drew 1. With lots of small breaks the girls and boys had no time to relax. I would like to give a great thanks to all the people that helped out to make the netball tournament a great day.

By Jahna. W

Let's Get Inventing!

Over the last few weeks we have been working very hard on our topic, Let's get Inventing.

Our client was Liz. Her problem was when she went to the gym with a runny nose she would wipe it all over her face. So we invented a product that would make life easer. We called it the "The Super Snotless Towel". We used velcro so when you go to the gym with a runny nose you could detach the hanky from the towel.

Doesn't that sound easy? Well it is.

by Madison and Ana (Year 6)

Inquiry - The Chicken Feeder

This last term, Springston School’s inquiry was all about Let's Get Inventing! At the start of the term most of the school went to visit the Museum and Science Alive. There we were given a special card with a problem on it. Next my partner and I had to design and build a machine out of Lego to solve the problem.

Later on in the term back at school we had to start thinking about what we would do for our invention. Morgan and I decided to invent a chicken feeder and entertainer because we felt bad about leaving them in a small run all day.

Our final design is the picture above. All you need to do is fill the tray with ether grain or scraps and then the chickens will climb off the ramp and start pecking through the hole. This is a good way to keep your chickens happy for longer.

By Kachina (Year 7)

Junior Chess Tournament

Chess Tournament

On 5 August 2009 the Zone Chess Tournament was held at Halswell School. Springston School entered a chess team into the A grade. The team included Andrew, William, Mollie and Alice.
When we got there, we were told the rules and that there was a team of Year 7 & 8 children called Halswell X and if you had a bye you would play Halswell X. Then we were told who we would be playing.

As it turned out, Springston would be playing Halswell X. No one on our team beat Halswell X because they were much older than we are. Our next game was against Halswell A, but we didn’t have any luck against them. In the third round we were against Cotswold A and we had some luck. We had two draws and two wins. Alice and I drew our games and William and Mollie won their games. Then it was morning teatime. After morning tea in the fourth round I was the only person to win a game. William and Alice drew their games and Mollie lost. In the last round nobody won against Cathedral Grammar A.

In the end Cathedral Grammar A came first, Cathedral Grammar B came second and Halswell A came third. Springston came one point away from tying for third.

By Andrew

The Scooper Invention

Our invention was the scooper. I was in a team with Courtney. The reason why we invented it was because my mum had a really sore back when she bent over. It scoops up things from the ground so that you don't have to bend over. Unfortunately you have to use your feet. We made our invention out of Glad Wrap rolls. We were really good at making our invention, but we need to work on making our invention more stable. I learned to work in a team.

By Hannah L

Emily's Invention for Headaches

For five weeks we were learning about how inventions work and what is an invention. Then we got another five weeks to decide, plan and invent.
The problem I decided to solve was something to stop people getting headaches. The invention I made was only a prototype. On Wednesday 19 August it was our school's Dragon's Den Day. There were three guest Dragons going around and judging people's inventions. If you got called up you had to answer questions about your invention. Some of the inventions that were called up were The Popcorn Sifter, Firewood Dryer and more.

By Emily

Change Inquiry Update

Emma-Rose, Morgan and Kachina (all Year 7 students) interview students from around Springston School for their 'all new country news programme'. Go with them and find out what great things are being achieved at Springston School this year, and enjoy the unique humour they put into this news bulletin! (Also posted on Podomatic).

4:53 minutes, 5.5 MB, .mov file