House athletics

This year athletics was done at Springfield oval and this year there was some big shocks. Riley (Red) had had smashed the relays and in 100 meter came 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd but Bradman (Blue) winning the long distance runs and Freeman (Green) where coming second and third most of the time and Perkins (Yellow) had not did that well but were 1^st once or twice. This year’s humongous and just plain not even thought of upsets were strange ones. The places were Perkins (Yellow) 4^th, Freeman (Green) 3^rd, Riley (Red) 2^nd so that makes Bradman (Blue) the winners and House Athletics had finished. It was one of the most exciting athletics I had ever seen it was so nerve racking all the way.                                   

Samoan Hand Clap Game

Recently in Performing Arts, our class has been learning about Pacific Islander music and as part of that subject we have learnt the Samoan Hand Clap Game! This game consists of a whole lot of patting, slapping and clapping with your legs, arms and hands. There may be more to this really fun game, but we don’t know that yet! Since we learnt the first three steps, everyone in the senior level has been practising and playing this hand clap game together! The teachers have also spotted us doing it and some have even joined in the fun! The grade sixes may be doing for graduation this year because we have gotten so good at it and it would be great to show our family and friends what we have learnt! Of course, we all can’t wait to learn the next steps to this awesome, Samoan Hand Clap Game!!!

By Niamh Mebalds

High jump and hurdles

Recently this term, in PE, we have been practising high jump and hurdles for district athletics. First we did hurdles and we were allowed to jump over hurdles on the oval. Most of the hurdles were about 75cm or at your waist’s height. It was very high so I could only jump the 75cm ones, and not the 80cm ones. I enjoyed being out on the oval and jumping over the hurdles. It was nice to practise for district athletics, although I don’t think I am going to participate in any hurdles race. It was a nice experience. Then a week after that we started to practise high jump for district athletics. I was jumping from the left side and we started jumping with 75cm and then we went all the way up to a metre. I made it up to 90cm and then I started hitting the bar on the 95cm bar. It was fun but the first couple of goes it was a bit scary and I was nervous but then I got the hang of it after a while. It was great and I liked doing high jump again.

-Jasmijn V

Last week, Mr Blamey, the Advanced Maths teacher came to teach us about the brain and its characteristics. There were 2 activities, one was weighing and comparing the weight of different mammals’ brains, and the second one involved making jelly, which I desperately failed at. In a nutshell, the paper mat everyone had was dry, whilst mine was sopping wet with a sugary liquid. Needless to say, I was appallingly clumsy. We got to crack walnuts, prod jelly, and poke cantaloupes. Luckily, we didn’t have to write/type too much about what we did (I was secretly expecting a whole writing session dedicated to it), but boredom reigned if you weren’t making any jelly.

-Jen C.

Snow Leopard_Phoebe Gu

Snow Leopard

      

    Snow leopards are large cats native to the mountain ranges of central and South Asia. It's listed as endangered on the 'IUCN Red List of Threatened Species', and in 2003, the size of the the global population was 4080~6590 adults, of which fewer than 2500 individuals may reproduce in the wild.

    Snow leopards have long, thick fur and their base colour is smoky gray. Unusually among cats, their eyes are pale green or grey in colour because the moutain environment. Their bodies are stocky, their ears are small and rounded. Their tails are very thickly covered with fur which allow them to be used like a blanket when they sleep.

    Snow Leopards live in South Asia on the mountains. They love rocky places. They can travel without difficulty in snow up to 85cm deep, although they prefer to use existing trails made by other animals.

     Snow leopards are predators. Like many cats, they also eat whatever meat they can find, including carrion and domestic livestock. They can kill their own weight, such as the Bharal (a Himalayan Blue Sheep) and Argali (mountain sheep).

                                          The Yeti Crab

 

The Yeti Crab scientific name Kiwa Hirsuta was first discovered in 2005 in the deep blue of the sea. It is 15cm long and arms are coverd with fury white hair. It is from the Kiwaidae family. It was discvorered by Robert Vrijenhoek.

 

It looks like a crab or lobster with long fury arms and little eyes. It has claws and six feet with skinny long whiskers. Its legs are fury also.

 

It is found in the South Pacific Ocean off Easter Island. It lives deep in the ocean and is believed to live in treasure chests what a place to live.

 

It can brack in to a treasure chest. They have bad eyes so instead they use there hair to navigate.

 

Thanks for reading. By Max

Mantis Shrimp By Joel

 

The Mantis Shrimp

 

The Mantis Shrimp is part of the Stomatopoda order and can grow up to 30 cm. There are more than 400 species of Mantis Shrimp throughout the sea. They can live for over five years before they die.

 

Most of the 400 species of Mantis Shrimp look completely different, although they all pretty much do the same thing. Swim and kill. Their eyes have six rows of ommatidia (compound eyes ) which gives them a strong advantage on their prey. Another crucial thing they need to kill is claws. They have two claws the Spearer and the Smasher. The Spearer is used to stab their pray and the Smasher is used to smash their prey so they can eat it while swimming.

 

The Mantis Shrimp can be found in tropical and subtropical seas and oceans such as the Indian and Pacific Oceans or anywhere like Hawaii and other tropical islands.

 

Mantis Shrimp can break through glass even bullet proof glass. There eyes can have hundreds maybe even thousands of different sections that make up a Mantis Shrimp eye.

 

By Joel.C

Mantis Shrimp drawing

Report_Poison Dart Frog_Linda Ma